“Being relentless is a state of mind that can give you the strength to achieve, to survive, to overcome, to be strong when others are not,” as Tim S. Grover puts it in his book Relentless. However, the hard part is applying this to our lives; it seems as if being relentless in the day to day life is only for the elite athletes. The people who have the God-given talents and skills necessary to be great.
I can assure you that is not the case.
Being relentless has nothing to do with skills or talent, but everything to do with one’s mindset. We use the word relentless to describe the world’s most intense and fiercest competitors who will stop at nothing to achieve the end result. The issue here is the focus on the first part of the previous sentence rather than the last part. Being relentless is a mindset that does not depend on one’s skills or talents but requires one to crave the end result no matter what the work demands.
If you’re like me, you’ve been in situations where your mental toughness has been tested. This can range from anywhere in sports, exercise, weight training, or even creating your own business. The truth is, we all face the challenge of turning on the relentless aspect of our mind.
Grover goes on to say, “The ability to be relentless is in all of us.” This statement is profound in a world where we believe relentless is for the athlete. Again, its the fact that being relentless is a shift of mentality, not a shift in physicality.
Let’s start off with putting this into perspective a bit. We can apply this to achieving a promotion: you might not have the skills or talents initially, but your willingness to learn, to push yourself out of your comfort zone and take on more responsibility is what being relentless is. It’s the change in mentality where you say, “I’m going to get the result I want no matter how hard I need to work.” After all, if you want something bad enough, you’ll do whatever it takes to get it.
Like wise, we can look at this from another angle. This mentality shift to being relentless fuels you with the tenacity you need to achieve your goals and overcome obstacles. Let’s face it, obstacles will get in your way. And this leads us to the next question that we must all ask ourselves.
What is your why?
Why exactly do you want to do this? For a better you? Sure. For a better life? No doubt. For your family? Absolutely. These are all legitimate reasons in their own right, but we must find our why.
Furthermore, when we hear the word relentless we must also hear the word commitment. We hear the word commitment and we naturally kind of step back and make sure we heard that word right; its a word that can cause us to hesitate in making decisions both big and small. I believe this has to do with the correlation that commitment has with sacrifice. We understand that if we are going to commit to something (or someone) that we are going to have to sacrifice some things in order to fulfill that commitment. There could be a plethora of things we sacrifice: our own self, unhealthy habits or hobbies, our time, and more. Unfortunately, we let the word commitment scare us off from being what we were created to be. Simply put, don’t let that one word change your destiny. Don’t let it happen.
As I wrap this up, there is another word here that I want you to resonate with. And that is consistency. I want to refer you to one of the previous episodes I released, Intensity vs. Consistency. Consistency is key and it is what helps us to develop the relentless mentality we need.
All in all, Tim Grover makes a fantastic point: it’s all about your mentality. That is what makes you relentless. A teacher can be relentless in the way she approaches her students’ learning experience. A husband or father can be relentless in the way they create an example for their children or care for their spouse. An entrepreneur can be relentless with their business idea and grow their brand. We have all been given the ability to be relentless. Don’t let your mentality stop you.