HWPO (Hard Work Pays Off) – August Monthly Mindset

HWPO (Hard Work Pays Off)

If you follow Crossfit at all, I’m sure you have heard of this guy named Mat Fraser. If not, he’s pretty good. Like really good. Like won the Crossfit Games for the past four years and took second the two years before that. HWPO is his hashtag through social media and it is his motto and personal brand. A little history about Mat to help us understand this mantra and why it is so important to him, and why it should be important to us.

Mat finished in second place at the 2014 Crossfit Games to Rich Froning and was a strong contender to win the 2015 games based on his performance and with Rich’s retirement from individual competition that year. However, he was edged out in the last event of the 2015 games by Ben Smith and took second place for the second year in a row. He will be the first to tell you that this did not sit well with him and he took it upon himself to be a better athlete, fix his weaknesses (yes, the elite athletes have weaknesses too), and win the Crossfit Games in 2016. Long story short, he did. And he has continued to win by impressive margins ever since. How? Hard work. 

You don’t get to be the best in the world at anything by chance or luck. Yes, it helps to be lucky, talented, smart, be in the right place at the right time, etc., but as any professional will tell you (ANY professional, not just athletes) it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. Countless hours of practice, studying, and sacrifice go into making the most successful people. So yes, Mat may have had some advantages along the way: Olympic athletes for parents, training as an Olympic Weightlifter as a kid, natural strength, but don’t think for a second he didn’t work hard. He continually puts in more work, and trains harder than any of his fellow athletes and it shows on the competition floor. Oh, he also broke his back when he was 18, and all of his surgeons told him he’d never lift again. Hard work has proved otherwise. 

This is the mindset I’d like you to carry this month. Anything is possible if you work hard enough. It might take a long time, it definitely won’t be easy, and it may not be a lot of fun, but if you want the end result enough and if you are willing to put in the work, we will get you there! It is showing up every day even if you don’t feel like making the trip to the gym. It is staying after class to work on your double unders. It is taking the time on Sunday to prep your meals for the week so that you don’t need to worry about what to eat. It is watching videos on YouTube to dial in the technique you have been struggling with. It is pushing yourself all the way to the end of the workout and not giving into the temptation to just coast through it. Hard work can be applied to pretty much every aspect of our life, and if we stick to it, it will pay off for us.

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