Remember Boromir?
If you don't, he's this guy:
In The Lord of the Rings, Boromir was one of the warriors responsible for taking the ring to Mordor. Along the way, he fights ferociously with a bunch of arrows in him to protect people he loves. The scene in the movie version is the definition of making a desperate effort.
In Forrest E. Morgan's Living the Martial Way, he makes a point about combat and real life. I want to share that point today. It goes like this.
If you were fighting for your life, you would make a desperate effort. Everything you had, you'd put into it. Every last thing.
That thing you really want to do, the thing that would make a positive change for you: You don't make a desperate effort for that.
But you should.
Because you're still fighting for your life. Not your ability to breathe, but the life you want to live.
So go make a desperate effort to make that thing happen.
It's a way to look at things I hadn't considered, but it made sense immediately to me. Want that book deal? Your relationship to work out? That promotion? Your kids to do well in school? The respect of your mentors and peers?
Go after it like Boromir.
With three arrows in your chest, get the hell up and keep moving forward. Make a desperate effort.
It's your life you're fighting for after all.
-Jason Brick is the author of Wrestling Demons: The Bushido Chronicles, coming out in the spring of 2017 from Not a Pipe Publishing. Find out more about him HERE.