"I wouldn't work that hard for anyone" is something my father said after pacing me for 100 laps in the pool. That was about 43 years ago.

In his mind he may have been admiring my effort, but the effect on me was something other. Really he was expressing his own feelings of futility over hard work and preparing me for inevitable failure. This comment was followed a week later by the "higher you go, the greater the competition."

I don't know if he had any alternatives to this gloomy advice. unless they were to "be a good guy and make a living". If so that probably meant "go through the motions of a job and do something responsible with your pay check. That's what he was all about, as a good husband and dad, so perhaps that's makes sense.

Getting back to the poolside comments, these affected me for about a week. It was harder for quite some time to get back to the pool for another workout. So much for the power of words from those we look up to. (I call these folks the Normal Majority in my book.)

Fortunately, I kept at it in spite of his defeatist attitude.Surely I felt like a Health Nut for keeping up my training, meager as it was back then. That is lucky. So many in similar circumstances, throw in the towel immediately. (Maybe that's their way of saying that they wouldn't work for anyone like that!?)

Who do we listen to when we do the opposite of what we should?The people in our heads, like our parents from long ago? Our friends who are counting on us to give up the Health Nut routine and act our age? Our spouses who may be uptight by the possibility that we just might start showing some transformational gains while they're doing nothing?

People have natural aspirations--ones just like mine that have stayed active for 45 years. They have the power to prevail even over the supposed "heavy trips" of childhood or even spousal influence. The real question is what are YOU doing to fan your own flames that are similar to mine? (Keeping those red hot is the only way keep in on track, surely you would agree.)