CrossFit Athletic Group

Two days before Summer 2019 started, I had a mom ask about her daughter's chances of joining what would eventually become the best Rookie session in our history. At the time I tried to claim that certain standards had to be met to make our group, but in reality we were taking just about any non-douchebag with a pulse. In this case I knew the girl was a good softball player- so good, in fact, that she was playing for 3 teams at once and also doing private lessons. My gut feeling was telling me that she was already operating with a schedule that wasn't sustainable, and adding CrossFit - CrossFit - to the mix would cause some major burnout. So I sat down with her and her mom (Shakes happened to be there too) and for the first time in my business-owning career I presented a trade requirement: the daughter could join if she gave up one of her softball teams during the Summer.

It went... very not well. Not only did she not join, but I also delivered it in a way that you could probably expect me to deliver it: with all the sensitivity and delicacy of Jessica kamikaze-shooting a basketball. I was told acute emotional contusions occured.

Even though the exact interaction didn't go like I wanted, I really liked the idea and it's still one of my favorite coaching moments; I know I was right and the idea of first giving up something before doing something else has stuck with me ever since.

...........

Let's temporarily lift our restriction and halt all consequences on use of the b-word: if you think you have a full schedule, or you have a lot of daily commitments, or you feel pulled in many different directions, or you find yourself wishing there was more time in a day, I want you to look at this picture of me right now and say out loud, "Chris, I'm busy!"

Now while the Bennis family is fresh on our minds, I'd like to use Mr. B as an example and hope it is in good taste to share.

Mr. Bennis's occupation might be the most steady and reliable in the history or humanity: he builds houses. Houses, as it turns out, aren't made my propping up fallen logs against trees any more, or stacking slabs of stone on top of each other to make an inhabitable cube - both of which could be done in a day or two. Modern houses require permits and blueprints and foundations and hallways and /looks around my house... those skinny wooden strips by the top of the wall that don't seem to serve a purpose. Yeah, all that stuff is what Mr. Bennis does; not exactly a relaxing job.

However, word has escaped that Mr. B is good at what he does, so now he is being asked to do private jobs on the side like bathrooms, floors, and peg boards and climbing stuff for the Babies. So that takes up some weekend time and after hours, and now Josh is doing baseball, which means weekday practices and weekend games.

And now I'm asking him to smush something else into his day? What the hell, Chris!?

I am realizing that my request a few weeks ago to make this the Summer of "Me" might be more difficult than it sounds if you don't have capacity at the moment to add anything else. Or, you technically do have the capacity right now, but have run yourself so thin during the school year that, man, that snooze button just looks much more friendly.

Obviously I'm not going to give you a 2019 ultimatum, but I want to point this out so you can better appreciate where your fitness and health is at right now compared to where both you and I want it. Bubs didn't become BUBS until she took the board exam off her plate and Mrs. Tara didn't become MRS. TARA until she changed jobs. Conamora didn't become CONAMORA until literally everything was subtracted but Dorchester, Exchange, and, her favorite, the Madison High School track. If those examples have legitimate predictive value, then it seems the change you want to see will likely require a subtraction first, but the discard pile doesn't have to consist of those major things; if you think hard enough I would bet all of you could find 2 hours worth of small- or medium-sized unnecessary things in your daily life that could, with some effort, be subtracted in order to make more room - quality room - for something more important.

By the way, this is not really optional; any time you say "yes" to something, you're saying no to many other things. Either consciously subtract the least important thing on your plate, or risk missing on something more important.