Sometimes, fearlessness of death stems from indifference to life. In this case, someone might do the most messed up actions or exhibit laziness because (s)he has nothing to live for … But there’s another kind of fearlessness of death that stems from the appreciation of life, and the willingness to endure any pain/work necessary to become the best version of oneself. Read that twice. And then seek to understand the perspectives below:
Walter Payton asked about his offseason conditioning (00:27) – “I try to kill myself. I work myself to the extent that when I’m through I can’t walk.”
Will Smith (4:14) – “The only thing that I see that is distinctively different about me is I’m not afraid to die on a treadmill, right. I will not be outworked – PERIOD, you know. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on a treadmill together, there’s two things: You’re getting off first or I’m gonna’ die! It’s really that simple.”
C.T. Fletcher (15:20) – “My last competition I was unsuccessful in my attempt but I consider it my greatest competition … Because the day before that competition, my doctor looked me in the face and he said, ‘If you go out there and you try to bench-press 705 pounds it’s gonna’ kill you. Your valve is too weak, it will be too much of a strain, it will explode right there on the stage & you’re gonna’ die in front on all those people.’ That’s what my doctor told me that. And then he asked me, ‘Now Mr. Fletcher are you still gonna’ compete?’ And I looked at him like he was a f***** fool. ‘Are you crazy? I have trained my whole life for this. I have devoted my life to this. This is the reason for my existence. This is why I am here, and you’re asking me if I’m going to compete?’ He was looking at me like I was crazy, and I’m looking at him like he was crazy. ‘Of course I’ll compete.’And if I do happen to die on that stage tomorrow then you know what, so f***** be it. SO BE IT.”
What is life? The simplest/deepest question ever; that’s really what this post comes back to. Walter Payton, Will Smith, C.T. Fletcher, and myself believe it’s about becoming the best version of yourself – whatever that looks like. Truly living > Being alive. You might disagree, and that’s fine. Some people want to just settle, not self-develop themselves to the fullest and make life too hard. Being alive > Truly living for those people. Contemplate which route you want to take – or in other words, what type of pain you want to feel?
“We must all suffer from one of two pains: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret. The difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons.” – Jim Rohn
Every person starts with 3 cups. 1 cup is full of life, while 2 cups are empty – the Pain of Discipline and the Pain of Regret cup. Everybody’s hands are on the full cup & you have to pour portions of your life into the other two cups depending on your answer to the “What is life?” question. Many people pour portions into both cups; they discipline themselves somewhat to achieve goals, but have regrets because they could have done or become more. Others say f*** the self-development process & live with low self-discipline and high levels of regret. A select few fill their Pain of Discipline cup as high as they can. These people give no thought to the pain/consequences of their efforts because truly living as the best version of themselves takes priority over anything else. The price of the work – even if it’s death – is worth it.
You can pour your cup however you want; I’m just laying out the options.
A final note is to not correlate this “willing to die to live” mentality purely with physical endeavors. The same hustle to train for football, run, or lift weights – is the same by any means necessary approach used to achieve anything. And though these three men used the word death literally, this “willing to die to live” mentality also represents a symbolic death – killing off weaker versions of yourself or the “old you” in order to self-develop yourself. Or in other words, it’s important to die before you die. So no matter if it’s the physical grind towards a goal or the mental grind to self-develop yourself, you gotta’ be willing to die to live … Time to reflect; I’m out.