No man, for any considerable period,
Can wear one face to himself
And another to the multitude,
Without finally getting bewildered
As to which may be the true.
Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter

Harmony between one’s life on the mat and off the mat is a key determining factor for continued success.

The ironic part is the more successful one is on the mat, the greater the distance they put between themselves and their competition, the bigger the tendency it is for them to utilize their time in contrast to the way they did which created their success.

We all know the fairytale of “The Tortoise and the Hare.”

The Tortoise could never imagine the Hare ever catching up to him; he was faster, more talented, he worked harder.

Until he didn’t.

When the Tortoise stopped working and started utilizing his time in contrast to the way in which he did when he acquired his lead, he opened the door for the Hare’s victory.

****

“Nothing good happens after midnight.”

How many times have you heard that in your life?

Midnight is the hypothetical line in the sand that identifies where your focus is.

What you focus on will get amplified by the attention you pay it.

If your day ends with hard work and it is important for you to put in another hard-working day tomorrow, then your focus must be on the time before midnight.

Once your focus starts becoming on the time after midnight, you are now sharing the focus reserved to build greatness with all the things that go against you from obtaining greatness.

And you start to drift from living in harmony to living in conflict.

Once conflict occurs, chaos ensues.

It is much easier to stay disciplined than it is to get discipline back into your life again.

Imagine you are in a boat with nine other rowers.

You start with all ten rowers all rowing in the same direction.

There is harmony.

The speed is fast, the pace is quick, you are each motivating each other, and there is a feeling of synchronicity. You make each other better.

Now imagine if out of the blue one rower starts to row in the opposite direction.

Conflict occurs.

At first, the force and momentum of the nine rowers still rowing in the same direction is too much for the one rower rowing in the opposite direction to overcome.

But slowly but surely there will be resentment from the nine rowers who are doing all the work toward the one who is now going against what they want to accomplish.

Now imagine if that one rower starts talking some of the other nine rowers into joining him.

And after comparing the hard work they are doing to the perceived fun it would be to rebel, they join him.

And before you know it that once harmonious boat is now in chaos, five rowers are now rowing in opposite directions.

The boat has come to a halt and is not going anywhere.

Eventually, more rowers will join the other side, and the original direction will now be redirected and outweighed by rowers rowing in the wrong direction.

And the boat will start to give up ground.

****

In life, having discipline is good.

It maintains harmony.

It eliminates conflict.

Remember, “If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.”

Your Nights Must Be Friends

With Your Days

is a chapter from

Wrestling Rules for Life

Which can be purchased at

www.johnapassarostore.com