Don’t Be Rich, Frowning!

Who are you?
What are your goals?
Are you striving to be the best [fill in the blank]?
Or are you striving to be the best version of yourself?
And how does CrossFit fit into that?

We’re in the midst of the 2012 CrossFit Open, and I see a lot of my members frowning.

But we shouldn’t be frowning, we’re rich!
We are all healthy (at least healthy enough to CrossFit). Rich.
We are healthier today than we were yesterday, thanks to CrossFit. Richer!
We have great relationships. Very rich!
We have families… parents, siblings, children. Richest!!!

But we all want to be Rich Froning, not rich.

Rich Froning, though I don’t know him, I would dare to say is striving to be the best version of himself… not of someone else. I doubt he’s trying to be like me; John Gilbert, Business Advisor at a bank. Maybe he can run a cash flow analysis of a company… or maybe it makes him cry, like the 135lb snatches in 12.2 make me cry. Suffice to say, Rich may be the best CrossFitter, but there are definitely things he sucks at (Rich, if you ever read this will you please tell us what you suck at so I can tell my wife why I’m better than you?).

We all can’t be the best at everything, and that’s a tough pill to swallow in the uber-competitive world of CrossFit.

But let’s look at life through a CrossFit, GPP lens. Family, Spirituality, Health, Career, etc. would make up our “domains,” and I want to improve in ALL areas. If I only focus on Career, then other domains suffer. I need a balance of activities daily so I can achieve growth in all of my life domains.

It just so happens that Rich’s Health and Career domains overlap. As do most, if not all, of the Games athletes’. So if you want to be like Rich Froning, you need to do this (CrossFit) as your career. You need to go to school for Exercise Science and then work as a Strength & Conditioning Coach and be in a gym all day. That’s what it takes to be Rich Froning.

It’s possible, but is it what you want?
Is it what makes you happy?

For the rest of us, we have to be realistic about what our goals are so we’re not frowning after our Open WODs. Hey, I’m a guy with a happy marriage to an incredibly patient and understanding wife, three beautiful kids, a full-time job, a small business, and several other commitments. For me CrossFit is a great way to get in a good workout. Therefore, when I choose to do the Open I accept the fact that my scores will reflect the relative lack of time I commit to this endeavor. And I’m more than okay with that.

I’m so friggin’ richly blessed, I’m not frowning!

Nothing’s worse that rich, frowning.

Don’t be rich, frowning.

Be your best self, happy!