Become Hard to Kill
The folks at Black Rifle Coffee recently released a mini-documentary about me. If you have the time, check it out:
The winner of the decathlon is called the “World’s greatest athlete.”
You sprint, jump, throw, hurdle, vault, and run. Then, after two days of getting your ass handed to you, finish with a 1500-meter sprint.
But the world’s greatest athlete is not the world’s best at any single event.
The folks at Black Rifle Coffee recently released a mini-documentary about me. If you have the time, check it out:
Kevin Mayer set the decathlon world record in 2018 with 9,126 points.
He crushed the competition: 10.55 in the 100m, 7.80m in the long jump, 16.00m in the shot put, 2.05m in the high jump, 48.42 in the 400m, 13.75 in the 110m hurdles, 50.54m in the discus, 5.45m in the pole vault, 71.90m in the javelin, and 4:36.11 in the 1500m.
But those numbers would not have qualified him in any of those individual events in the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The entry standard for the men’s 100m was 10.00. Mayer ran 10.55.
Long jump standard: 8.27m. Mayer jumped 7.80m.
Shot put: 21.50m. Mayer threw 16.00m.
High jump: 2.33m. Mayer jumped 2.05m.
400m: 45.00. Mayer ran 48.42.
110m hurdles: 13.27. Mayer ran 13.75.
Discus: 67.20m. Mayer threw 50.54m.
Pole vault: 5.82m. Mayer cleared 5.45m.
Javelin: 85.50m. Mayer threw 71.90m.
1500m: 3:33.50. Mayer ran 4:36.11.
The greatest athlete in the world wouldn’t qualify for the Olympics in any single event.
It’s easy to get obsessed with specialization. Finding your niche and becoming the best at one thing.
And specialists are important. If you need brain surgery, you don’t call the guy who is “pretty good at medicine.” You call a brain surgeon.
But life is not one event. It is war, and it is more like the decathlon
You need strength, but strength alone won’t save you.
You need endurance, but endurance alone won’t carry you through.
You need intelligence, but intelligence without discipline leads to laziness.
Discipline without curiosity makes you a robot.
Courage without judgment becomes recklessness.
The goal is not to be world-class at everything.
The goal is to become hard to kill in the war of life.
A man who is strong, fit, thoughtful, controlled, useful with his hands, steady under pressure, financially responsible, spiritually grounded, and loyal to his tribe may not be the best in the world at any one thing.
But he is dangerous everywhere.
He can move through the world without fear. Solve problems, take hits, lead under stress.
He doesn’t quit when chaos emerges.
That’s important because the war of life is chaos.
The specialist can dominate when conditions are perfect, but the generalist survives when the conditions change.
This isn’t an argument for mediocrity. Mediocrity is being average because you’re lazy.
Range is being competent across domains because you are disciplined.
The decathlete doesn’t casually do 10 events. He trains at each of them hard enough to be excellent in combination. He acknowledges that improvement in one area may cost him in another. He cannot build the body of a sprinter, a thrower, a vaulter, or a miler.
He builds the body, mindset, and skillset that can do what the job demands and do it well.
That is the lesson for us.
Get strong, fast, rugged, resilient, & smart enough to face the fight each day and to be ready for what comes tomorrow.
Balance isn’t an excuse to be a bitch. Use it to work on your weaknesses until they are strengths.
You do not have to be the best at everything, but you can’t be bad at anything important.
Because you never know what the next event in life is going to be.
Be ready to perform and RTFU.
Until next week,
John
Life is Hard. Be Harder.
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So cool about the documentary John. Looking forward to watching. Loved the post too 👊🏻
Great post. It is hard sometimes to convey the real message behind “perfect is the enemy of good” as expressed by Voltaire. This decathete metaphor nails it.