In a recent and ridiculously inspirational conversation in a local cafe with Katate-Pro, Claudine Chicheportiche (we're both Manly Beach residents as it turns out) she, through sheer conviction in her story taught me so, so much. Key points included the importance of mindframe, not accepting "NO" for an answer, and determination - but let's face it, that was going to happen. I mean, this incredibly driven woman is a 4x black belt with more national and global Karate titles than I have had Christmas dinners.

We all know that a simple YouTube search on "motivation" (etc) will provide an onslaught of videos with varying levels of intensity and poorly chosen background music. The key to putting all this theory to use is in surrounding yourself with people turning these lessons in motivation and determination (etc) into practice. Claudine is a prime example of one of those people, and she was kind enough to share with me a story of how she got to "her limit" in both mental and physical capacity during training, and what happened when she got there. 

A little while ago Claudine crossed paths completely by chance with a trainer that had the required ability to take an athlete of her ability to the next level. And from the story and expression on her face, it didn't sound easy - especially as she was told that during training she was either going to "throw up or quit", she definitely had her work cut out for her.

But she dug in and faced it, and after surpassing her current threshold of training ability, she said she finally reached it.

The point.

The line.

She was at the edge of her mental and physical ability and she said that's when she got to look at the other side and finally learn what was there..

Nothing.

https://s21.postimg.org/4n4oa4c7r/download.jpg

Nothing at all. She said there was nothing in that defining moment when she ceremoniously achieved more in training than she had ever thought possible.. what she learned as a result is that there is genuinely nothing to fear, or hold back from when pushing yourself. There is no regret, seismic change, or confetti that drops from the sky. Just you, and your newly pushed limit. Congratulations. Now go use it.

Claudine then asked if I have ever truly pushed myself 100% and hit my limit - to which I had to admit, no.. not yet. She didn't say it directly, but I know there was an implied challenge stating something along the line of "what are you waiting for"..

Challenge accepted Claudine, challenge accepted..

I do hope you all see this limit for yourself in your various journeys - you will know when you've arrived.

Thanks for reading :)

Josh