or Chapter VII from Marti Soosaar’s e-book “A New Beginning”
“If you have a body, you are an athlete”
When does someone become a singer? A pianist? An athlete?
There is probably no objective answer to these questions. Some people consider Marco Tasane a singer, while others do not. So what should we do? Hold a referendum? What really matters is probably not whether we think he is a singer, but what he thinks himself. Since he considers himself a singer, he sings and entertains many people in the process. Can we forbid him from doing that just because we do not think he is a singer?
How do you motivate yourself to work out? With team sports, it is easy: you keep telling yourself that you cannot let the others down. Before a run in the woods, you remind yourself how good it feels after completing 10 km—and how great it is to go to the sauna afterwards!
Mart Uuehendrik
basketball coach and referee
Perhaps we could learn a thing or two from him. Why can’t we think of ourselves as athletes? That does not mean we should lose touch with reality and enter the next NBA draft, hoping to land a high-paying deal with the Lakers, when in reality the best we can do is make one out of five free throws granny-style.
This idea has nothing to do with your actual profession; it is more about your lifestyle. What harm can come from buying the best equipment you can afford? Provided, of course, that your child also has decent clothes to wear for sports. What harm is there in occasionally taking an energy gel along on a bike ride? Maybe someone will tell you to lose the extra weight first and only then start taking gels. Or they might say that they have never used a gel and have run 40 marathons without one. But ultimately, they are not the one who has to take the gel. They should mind their own business.
When it comes to training, since I dance, my absence means that the group either has to dance with a gap or someone from another group has to dance in an unfamiliar position. That is good practice for them, of course, but it is not at all fair to the group. And the coach is also really happy when everyone—or as many people as possible—shows up, which motivates me too.
Age Rosenberg
entrepreneur, mentor, coach
What is wrong with mixing a spoonful of protein powder with water after a hard gym workout? Some know-it-all will say that you do not need extra protein unless you are a professional athlete.
They have a point, in a way, but they have forgotten that you are an athlete. If that extra gram of protein was what you needed to feel like a proper athlete, then it served its purpose. A great deal depends on whether you see yourself as a healthy or unhealthy person. Are you someone who will simply never lose weight? Or someone who will never be able to do the splits?
I ask myself: “If I don’t work out, how will I feel at the end of the day?” Almost every time, the answer is: “Terrible!” Exceptionally bad weather also gives me extra motivation—rain, wind, cold, snow—because afterwards, the satisfaction of having done it is even greater. A quote from David Goggins: “Don’t let those who have chosen the path of less resistance steer you away from the path of greater resistance.” And one from Jordan Peterson: “Find the heaviest load in your life that you can lift, and carry it.”
Kristjan Luha
CFO at eAgronom, former vice president at Nike Global
Years ago, my daughter told me that she would never be able to get a volleyball serve over the net. Before that, she said she could not make an accurate overhead pass with both hands. I always had a simple answer: you are a volleyball player, you go to practice and keep working at it, and you will learn to do those things. And that is exactly what happened.
The same will happen to you if you start believing that you are an athlete. As Bill Bowermann said: “If you have a body, you are an athlete.” If you have a body, you are an athlete. So believe it.
This was Chapter Seven of Marti Soosaar’s e-book “A New Beginning”. We have also published the previous chapters, which you can read on our blog, while the complete e-book is available to download HERE.
