Be ready when the flood comes

“The calm before the storm is just a trick to make you believe there is nothing to do.” - Me

This past week brought crazy rain. It felt like hurricane style rain that comes at you in every direction.

Sadly my road is pitched downward toward my house and so is my driveway.

Dirt gets pushed down into my driveway’s drain so I know if it rains hard enough to wake me up then I need to check it.

Lucky me, at 1am I checked the downstairs and saw that water filling up my garage quickly.

Not good… but I needed to act with urgency.

Already wearing shorts, I threw on a hoodie and my Adidas slides.

I grabbed my 55 gallon garbage can and dragged it through the water, up the driveway, and dumped it on the other side of the property.

That went on for over an hour. The entire time I talked trash and spoke accountability to myself.

“You put yourself here. You chose this house. You haven’t done enough to get a new one.”

With fatigue in my legs, hips and back, I was thankful for the surprise workout. I was thankful for the reminder that I’m not doing enough hard things and pushing myself more.

That rain wasn’t bad luck. That rain was reminding me that I need to give more and go harder.

Why tell you this?

Because if you don’t workout when you’re tired, or run extra miles when you’re sore, then you won’t be ready for the flood.

We dive into discomfort to prepare for any flood. Mentally and physically.

Which is you need to challenge yourself to give more.

Find the small things that you don’t want to do. Especially non physical task like the moment you walk by the dishes and feel the “I’ll do it later” voice in your head. Stop everything and just get it done.

Another secret is to keep it a secret. Do the work in the dark and don’t tell anyone about it. Notice how quick you to look for praise after a good deed. It’s like poison. I noticed the action loses its power. The result and accolades become more important than the effort. But we have to remember the effort is the reward.

Inspiring people is important so feel free to bring up half of what you do but refrain from looking for the dopamine hit a “good job” pat on the back can bring you.

Lastly, take time to reflect on a recent situation that you didn’t take responsibility or accountability because you weren’t prepared.

Think of how you ignored or procrastinated on a problem because you weren’t ready to handle it.

Think about what actions a beast of a person takes on a daily basis that prepares them for the flood. So they bail water with a smile and welcome the challenge anytime any day.

Don’t just ask who’s gonna carry the boats.

Ask yourself who’s gonna build them.

As always you’re welcome to hit reply and share your thoughts.

Give More.

Joe

PS. Something exciting is in the works to bring this community closer together. I’ll send it this week in another email. It’s something we all need so I’m personally pumped for it.