1) My first day at the gym, the instructor asked me to do 20 push ups.

1) My first day at the gym, the instructor asked me to do 20 push ups. He started counting. Counted until 7 and then stepped away, asking me to continue. I counted “8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 17, 20”. DONE! I cheated. Because he wasn’t looking. What we do when no one is looking, is who we are. That is the person others will get to see, when they are looking. 2) When I lifted weights for the first time, they felt like boulders. I closed my eyes, gathering all possible energy within me. And my instructor shouted, “No matter how much the weight, don’t ever close your eyes.” This applies to our lives as well. No matter how big the problem, don’t ever close your eyes. 3) You are running, you are lifting, you are cycling. And it feels like the pain will kill you. But it doesn’t. It goes away. In a second, a minute, an hour, in a day, in weeks or months. It goes away. But the pain of not trying, stays. I have been working out for 8 years now, almost every day. And one would expect it to have gotten easier. But it hasn’t. It’s just as hard to lift, to run, to crunch. It never gets easier. You just get better. Ankur Warikoo