Embrace the Grind
Some things in this world are a grind.
- losing weight
- being healthy
- being successful at your job
- writing a blog!
- Anything where the end result is made up of dozens of choices throughout the day, day after day, month after month.
Coach Nick Saban
Nick Saban is a college football coach. He coached the LSU Tigers to the national championship in 2003. Then, after a brief stint coaching in the NFL, he came back to college to coach the Alabama Crimson Tide (LSU's rival), where he won the national championship in 2009 and 2011. And he's currently ranked #1 in the country again, after having just beaten LSU (again) last weekend.
Coach Saban was interviewed on the radio last month, and the host asked about how he can be so successful in a business which can be a such a grind - teaching players, teaching coaches, strategy with coaches, recruiting new players, scouting opponents, devising game plans, coordinating with student advisers, dealing with all the problems that come with a few dozen 18-22 year old boys, etc., etc.
His response: "Embrace the grind."
Achievement Goals vs Elimination Goals
If your goal is to exercise in the morning before work, you only need to battle your inner demons once - you wake up, and have to motivate yourself to get out of bed and get moving. That's it. One battle, and you're victorious for the day.
If your goal is to lose weight, and you're doing this by watching what you eat, you need to battle your inner demons all day long.
- Bagel with cream cheese and a glass of orange juice? No, just a small bowl of cereal instead.
- Mocha frappuccino on the way to work? No, small coffee, black.
- Dave brought donuts into the office? No thanks, I'm fine.
- Mid-morning snack at the vending machine? Nah, I'll just have a few almonds to hold me over 'till lunch.
- Lunch with the group, and that pizza smells awesome.. I'll have the small garden salad with grilled chicken strips.
- Afternoon blahs - a snickers and a Coke sound pretty good. No, better make it half an apple and a glass of tea.
- Dinner - I'm hungry, and everything sounds good - I want it all. Wait a minute, stick with the plan - I'll have a small burger (with minimal sauces and bun) and a salad.
- Dessert - I've got ice cream in the freezer, but I'll have a few grapes instead.
Wow - that's a long, exhausting day of winning battles. You don't win the day unless you win every battle. And you don't win your goal unless you win almost every single day, for several months in a row.. What a grind!
Embrace the grind. Know that every time you win a battle, you're on pace to achieve your goal. Relish in the victory, savor it, embrace it.
An Example
Your goal of losing 50 pounds over the next year? It amounts to losing a pound a week, which means you need to be at a calorie-deficit of 500 calories per day, every day, for a year.
A 30-year old female, 5' 3", weighing 170 pounds, needs approximately 1,750 calories to maintain weight. She can eat 1,250 per day to lose her pound per week, or she can eat slightly more if she mixes in some high intensity exercise.
It's a grind. Yes, there are milestones along the way - losing 10 pounds, getting below 150, losing 25 pounds, etc. But none of those stop the grind. Taking a day off, having a cheesecake celebration - anything like that only sets you back.
The grind equals success. Failure to embrace the grind, equals failure.
Embrace the grind.
-Chris Butterworth
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Although I like your article and your ideas you chose the worst sample, Nick Saban.
ReplyDeleteThe Nick Saban that lied through his teeth denying he was going to Alabama while with the Dolphins and ultimately jumped his contract?
The Nick Saban that is "successful" in football minor leagues yet could not even have a winning record while in the NFL and did not even smell the playoffs?
I assure you that lying to yourself while engaging in subpar diet efforts will not get you anywhere.
Thanks for the nice words, and for reading.
ReplyDeleteNick Saban, while not my favorite person (and yes he lied through his teeth), is a great example of a grinder.
He does his job, each day, a little better than everybody else. By the end of the season, all those little betters add up to being the best team in the country.
That's the same concept for dieting, maintaining health, etc. Grind out those little victories, day after day, and watch the calender turn. A few months go by and you'll have made real progress. Get to the end of the year and you're a whole new you. But it's a grind.
And we both know Saban could win in the NFL - the entire league is based on quarterback play, and he had A J Feeley and Gus Ferotte on his roster. No coach was going to win in those 2 years with Miami. If he had kept his word and stuck around, he would eventually have drafted a Matt Ryan or somebody similar, and things would have gone his way in the NFL too.
Lou Saban, the grinder of talent, passed up on Drew Breese - one of the premier quarterbacks in the league - and took Culpepper.
DeleteThe man - like many others - can only succeed in the minor leagues, not in the NFL. If you want to look up to him as a great coach, good for you. As far as I'm concerned, he is a bum and following his system would make anyone's diet a complete failure.
Minor league diet = minor league results, if any.
By the way, AJ Feely NEVER played for Saban.
OK, let's back up a minute.
DeleteFirst of all, you sound like someone from either Louisiana or Miami - the places where Saban is truely hated. I'm guessing you know more of the roster details than I do off the top of your head..
However, note the article is based off Saban's quote about Enjoying the Grind. It's his quote, not mine, so I'm including him in the article.
As for player selection - Culpepper was a mulit-time all pro coming off an injury; Brees was struggling to win the starting job over 93-year old Flutie and rookie Rivers. The Dolphins rolled the dice that Culpepper would make a full recovery. Whoops - turns out they chose poorly, in hindsight. At the time their decision seemed like the right one.
He's not the friendliest, or the most honest, or even likable. But he enjoys grinding football - no question about it.
As for player selection, Saban could have had Brees for free while Culpepper cost a second draft pick. Furthermore, Breese played for an inferior SD team while Culpepper had Randy Moss at his prime to throw to.
ReplyDeleteEvidently, Saban made a colossal mistake in his evaluation of the best quarterback available, paying more for the worst one, as the facts bore out.
I have nothing against the concept of grinding out your diet. But I object to your association of this noble concept with The unethical, NFL inept, Nick Saban. Should we admire Chairman Mao for being successful during his life and ignore he ordered 50 million Chinese be executed?
I assume the purpose of stating "you sound like someone from either Louisiana or Miami - the places where Saban is truely hated." was to antagonize and belittle me, but all it really achieves is to confirm you’re just another cowardly and disgruntled pseudo-intellectual dwarf annoyed by what I say but completely incapable of factually refuting it. Hence your need to resort to pissy little snipes about what you assume are my residences.
Grow up!
We're so far off-topic - let's close this discussion..
ReplyDelete1. Nick Saban went on a radio show and talked about embracing the grind of coaching.
2. I love that concept, and applied it to the grind of losing weight.
3. I don't have the time or desire to debate the details of Saban's career, including the 2005 off-season - it's not what this blog is about. (neither are we discussing executions from another part of the world.) If you don't think Saban is a heck of a coach - like him or not - you're blinded by your hatred for the man.
4. You can object all you want. Stop reading and go write your own blog. This one's mine & it's where I express my opinions.