I really liked this point made by Olympic runner, filmmaker, and writer Alexi Pappas (video here) and it feels like something a lot of people need to hear right now (including me):
‘My Olympic coach told me after a particularly challenging workout where I could not hit my splits before going to the Rio Olympics, that that was okay – it was the rule of thirds. And he was an Olympian so I always soaked in everything he said and I was like what's the rule of thirds? And he said that when you're chasing a dream or doing anything hard you're meant to feel good a third of the time, OK a third of the time, and crappy a third of the time, and if the ratio is roughly in that range then you're doing fine. So today was the crappy day along your dream chasing. And if the ratio is awful, you feel too good all the time or too bad, then you gotta look at whether you're fatiguing or not trying hard enough or pushing yourself. So I think with those days that you're talking about where creativity doesn't come or doesn't feel great, you still show up because maybe that's your crappy day. But it doesn't mean that you quit the goal. It doesn't mean you freak out. It means that you show up and live through that dip because you're chasing a dream and you're doing something hard.’
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