After my post last week about my buddies doing the burpee challenge, I couldn’t stop thinking about the mental aspect of doing hard shit.

Quitting cigarettes, getting up early, eating healthy, reading more, exercising every day - whatever your “hard shit” is.

When it comes to hard shit, it’s easy to get started. The first second or two is no problem, but then you hear the voice.

You know the one I’m talking about.

The one inside of your head telling you that you can’t do it. The one that says you’re not strong enough, fast enough, pretty enough, smart enough, deserving enough.

The one that says, “Who in the hell do you think you are?”

The one that, when the hard shit gets harder, starts screaming at you.

“YOU CANNOT DO THIS!”

“IT HURTS TOO MUCH!

“STOP! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”

That voice comes from the version of you known as your Lesser Self.

And it’s trying to destroy you.

It seeks to make you weak & complacent. It seeks to rob you of opportunity and prevent you from becoming the person you want to be. It seeks to maintain the status quo and is content to simply bide time until you’re dead.

But there is another voice inside of you.

Beneath the clamor of your Lesser Self it can be difficult to hear, but it’s there.

Like a whisper.

“Yes, you can.”

“The pain will be over soon.”

“Keep going.”

This is the voice of your Heroic Self. It seeks to push your limits so that you can break through barriers and achieve what was previously impossible. Your Heroic Self knows that we only have one shot at life, and it abhors simply existing and waiting around to die.

It knows that more often than not, the question is not "can you?" but "will you?"

Your Heroic Self knows that your Lesser Self doesn’t: whatever your hard shit is, you really can do it.

You absolutely, 100%, can do it.

We all have our two versions of ourselves.

The only question is which one we listen to.