Get That Good Feeling

on beginnings, choosing a path and making everything better, for everyone.

The following are the lyrics of the first song on my exercise playlist. I’ve formatted it for email, adding emphasis and titles to make it scannable, effectively breaking the ‘song’ into sections. The song itself is a remix of a podcast featuring the voice of Joe Rogan and the music of Akira the Don.

I share this on my blog about illustration because I think you could easily replace the words ‘Exercise’ with ‘Illustration’ or some other challenge and it will still make sense.

Short Version:

People associate Exercise with Discomfort.

It's not about once you're actually fit

when you’re actually fit, it feels great.

Discomfort is your friend, a massive motivator

You take a Path.

The Path of Momentum or the Path of the F*** off

When you take the path of momentum, it affects everybody you touch

And then the whole thing’s better.

Long Version:

It's not about once you're actually fit

It's this fear of discomfort
People have this extreme feeling in their mind when it comes to their associations with exercise
They want to avoid discomfort
They feel like any type of exercise is just like something to be avoided, that's not for me, f*** that

I don't wanna sweat, I don't wanna strain
I don't wanna sweat, I don't wanna strain

A lot of times this association that they have is about the beginnings of getting in shape

It's not about once you're actually fit
'Cause once you're actually fit, then you look forward to, it feels great
If I can't get a workout in, I look at my schedule and go
Oh shit, I don't have any time for workout, which means I'm not going to get that good feeling,

It feels great

And so instead of looking at it like,

“Oh, I've gotta go grunt and sweat.”
I'm thinking I'm not gonna feel good,

I'm not gonna feel relaxed,

I'm not going to feel carefree

Even appreciative,

like my appreciation of things,

it gets enhanced greatly after exercise
I just feel better
It feels great.

Discomfort is your friend

To most people, their associations are to

avoid anything that's uncomfortable
It's so illogical
Discomfort is your friend, it really is
Discomfort, not being happy and content with certain situations in life, they are massive, massive motivators

They're amazing at facilitating change
Yet our instinct is to avoid those and just sit on the couch

And watch some f****** reality show
It's bizarre
When I would get really disciplined

and really consistent with my workouts
I almost feel momentum
I feel like there's push behind me, like, all right, yeah, now I'm doing it

I'm doing it all the time now
I'm looking forward to the next time,

and it makes that resistance much weaker and it makes my motivation and my discipline much stronger

You take a Path

I think a lot of it is based on just the consistency

Blowing something off is not just bad for you physically, it's also bad mentally
Because then that option is now available, the option to f*** **
You did it before and you're probably gonna do it again, and you'll get mediocre results, not just in that aspect of your life, maybe in all aspects of your life
That option to f*** ***, when you embrace it
That is a pathway that you might choose when it comes to dealing with conflict in your personal life
Business, business decisions, career decisions, like an uncomfortable decision that you might be faced with
What your pathway is in life, but you don't do it
Instead, you f… off
And that inclination to f… off, that gathers momentum as well
The inclination to be disciplined, that comes with momentum

I think both things, you take a path

Or the path of the f… off

Do you experience this life optimally?

Your body is like a race car that you can juice up yourselfYou can add the fat car, you can add, improve suspension

You can beef up the horsepower in the engine

You can do all that yourself

Or you can just choose to have this shitty body

No one's under the illusion that you're gonna live forever, but you are enhancing the experience that you're currently involved in right now

You are alive, you do experience this life, but do you experience this life optimally?

Is it as enjoyable as it can be?

And we all know that there's a spectrum for that enjoyability

We've all had times in our life where it's not been so great

And then times in our life where everything came together

Like what a f……. great day, woo!!

Make more of those

You can make more of those

And then the whole thing’s better

And then the whole thing is better

And I think when that whole thing is better, it affects everybody you touch

Everybody that's around you, everybody you come in contact with

That in turn, I mean, it sounds so grandiose, but in turn can affect the entire race of human beings.