Rule #20 Keep Squeezing Until There is Nothing Left
It’s amazing what one can learn in the shower. I’ve had some amazing ideas, learned I’m losing lots of hair. I’ve even learned how utterly delightful a loofah sponge can be. I mean exfoliation is terribly important in the pursuit of optimal hygiene. But one of the best lessons I learned was from a near empty bottle of pre-shave scrub. I subscribed to Dollar Shave Club a while back, and being on the thrifty side, I tend to try to extract every last drop of product out of tubes be it pre-shave scrub, toothpaste, liquid glitter, whatever.
However, like so many of you I finally get annoyed and think, “Meh it’s done. There’s not more in there.” This was the case for this tube of pre-shave scrub for a good two weeks. Every time I wanted to give up on it, it refused to give up on me. It was like the Rocky of tubes of product. I would try a new angle, give a harder squeeze and like that bottle of oil from the Bible that miraculously never ran out it would yield just a little more.
The question I had to ask myself was, “Why were you so ready to give up? Why would you ever stop squeezing until you knew for certain there was nothing left?” I finally did squeeze the very last bit out. However, a lesson had been learned. I was ready to toss the tube before it was ready to be tossed. How often do we do that in the more substantial parts of our life? How often do we give up on people when they have more to give than we have been willing to find? How often do we have more energy to go one more mile on a run, one zone higher on our Peloton?
David Goggins says it best in his book, “Can’t hurt me.” He writes, “You don’t quit when you’re tired. You quit when you’re done.” Well said sir. Don’t quit when you’re tired. Don’t stop squeezing this tube called life until you’ve got every last drop out you can. After all, in the tube of life unlike Dollar Shave Club there is no subscription. This is a one time only offer baby.
You rule!
Jason
Jason Wright is the President and CEO of Texas Titans Media. He is the host of the Texas Titans Podcast. He is also the author of Push Play": Taking Your Life Off Pause. To learn more about Jason please visit www.jasonwrightnow.com.