Dr. John A. King argues that balance is a myth. Real achievement comes from extreme commitment to your goals, not from splitting your energy evenly. He uses Michael Jordan as proof that the extra effort, even on holidays, is what separates winners from everyone else.
I had someone the other day ask me if I was planning to lift, to train Christmas Day. I said, sure, absolutely. We'll have a great time with the family in the morning and da-da-da-da. I'll go train for an hour or two and come back. And they sat me down and they started to give me a lecture on balance. How I wasn't being balanced, how I was being too focused on this particular goal. And there's nothing balanced about what I'm trying to achieve. I totally recognize and understand that. You don't take a commitment to lose 40 pounds in 14 weeks That's not balanced. You don't commit to get to try and get your body fat down to sub-5%, which you can only really hold for a 72-hour period before it starts stripping the fat off the vital organs. That's not balanced. There's nothing balanced about what I'm trying to do. There's nothing balanced about trying to go after, passionately go after a goal. There's also nothing wrong with it. The world is not moved by balanced people. In fact, when did we start to get so enamored with a balanced lifestyle? There's nothing balanced about achievement. Achievement, goals, greatness is not obtained by balanced people because balanced people don't go the extra mile. You think about it. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is the extra. It's just that tiny little bit. Everyone starts off with the ordinary. The only difference is the extra. Michael Jordan would talk about it, how all the team would go out on the court and all the team would train, and then he'd go back out there again and just do a little bit extra. See, the difference between Jordan and the others was the extra that he was prepared to put in. The difference between you achieving a goal and not achieving a goal isn't the majority of the work that you'll do. It's the extra little bit that you're prepared to do. If you allow someone to make your world for you, They will always make it too small. If you allow someone to make your world for you, they will always make it too small. Why? Because their life is tiny, man. Their dreams are small. And what maybe their dreams are big, but their dreams aren't yours. Their dreams aren't yours. So will I train Christmas Day? Yeah. New Year's Day, anniversaries, birthdays. Birthdays. I will do it all in the next 14 months, and I'll love my family passionately. I'll give my kids everything that they want, and they will slap me on the butt and send me out the door and laugh at Dad when he's orange in a blue Speedo. And they'll celebrate with me, and they'll share with me, and they'll be a part of the journey. And what they'll learn is that success comes from the passionate pursuit. Of a worthwhile goal. It doesn't come from being ordinary.
