Last day, while wandering around the mall like a fish in the aquarium, I met an old friend. For the sake of this blog, let us call him Joe. At first, I didn’t recognize him. But when he introduced himself, I couldn’t believe it was Joe. He looked like the inflated version of the Joe I had in mind. He had gained so much weight!

Before you judge me as a body-shamer, let me explain: Joe was a fitness freak in college and had a sculpted physique. He used to have that rock-hard muscles and six-pack abs we all aspired for. We used to joke, perhaps a bit enviously, that we were friends with Superman.

Now he went from Superman to Super fat!

I itched to ask about this transformation. But because of the fear of being labeled a body-shamer, I bit my tongue. But before long, I got my answer.

Now, if you were to talk to college-time Joe, he would drown you in his fitness talk. He was always excited about some gym stuff; a new workout routine he came across, the best protein shake in the market, or the right way to twist the wrist while doing bicep curls. But now, all he talked about was photography—which camera he wanted to buy, how lighting sets the tone, and so on.

He has completely replaced his passion for fitness with photography.

All or nothing

As a seasoned armchair philosopher, I can hypothesize about his nature. I believe he has an all-or-nothing attitude. Either he is fiercely, even irritatingly, passionate about bodybuilding, or he completely leaves it behind, without even a glance at the rear-view mirror.

We all have innate Joe-ness in us. We easily get excited about something. When we are, we focus our time, energy, and resources on it—we go all in.

But this spark never lasts long. With time, we get demotivated or find another passion and replace this one. Either way, we graduate to the nothing stage. We stop working on our passion and forget all about it.

Sadly, we worked so hard, sometimes for many years, but nothing useful came out of it.

Let us talk about exercise

Take going to the gym as an example.

During the first few days, it is easy to get over-excited about the workout. Our eyes fall off their socket at the sight of people lifting huge weights and the chunk of muscles they show off. Naturally, in our excitement, we pick up the heaviest dumbbell (or the one we can at least move) from the rack.

But, after a week or two, the freshness and excitement fall off the cliff. Now even the gym clothes feel heavier than the weight we lifted. After a month, even the thought of the gym makes you sore. Within two months, we find ourselves slouching on the couch with a bag of potato chips and the latest sitcom on Netflix at gym time. We have successfully reached the nothing stage.

Moderation and discipline

Studies have proven that successful athletes and bodybuilders do the same movements every day again and again and again for years and decades. Their perseverance makes them light years ahead of people like us. So how can we be like that?

The first lesson is to bridle our excitement so that we don’t burn ourselves out. Remember that Arnold did not become Mr. Olympia overnight. Hence, think of practical ways to keep the motivation going for the next 30 years. Start slow and work in moderation. Pick up the pace once you gather momentum.

Secondly, befriend discipline. Make space in your daily routine to do what you love and stick with it for long, if not forever. Perseverance is the key. You need to push yourself through rainy days, unforeseen barriers, and slow progress. To keep going, enjoy the process instead of ogling at the result.

Tame your mind

Our mind is like a monkey jumping from one branch to another. But we need to cage it if we aim to be successful. Now don’t call me zoosadist. I do not cage my dog!

I only wish Joe finds his passion in photography and stays with it long enough to make an impact in the field. But I am afraid if I meet him several years from now, he would have some other totally unrelated passion.

I sincerely hope it is not bullfighting.

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