The YOLO Excuse

"You Only Live Once"

​One of the #1 "reasons" given to abandon strength and give in to weakness.... I've been hearing this one ALL THE TIME lately, particularly from folks around my age. 

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*When deciding, after that monster dinner out, whether or not to order that giant dessert... "YOLO" and they order it.
*When evaluating whether to go on a run and get fitter or binge Netflix... "YOLO" and they Netflix and chill.
*When deciding whether to pursue a goal or to give up and fall back on a more secure, easier path... "YOLO" why make life hard?
*When deciding whether or not to buy those cookies or some veggies... "YOLO" and they buy the damn cookies. 

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The theme here is to use YOLO as an excuse to engage in behaviors that result in "short term" gratification at the expense of "long term" gratification. 

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*If you follow this line of logic too far, this is a path that guarantees failure. One will never reach long term goals because that attitude results in the welcome acceptance of procrastination and excuses in order to have some fleeting and meaningless short term benefit. You could have all the potential in the world and accomplish next to nothing in life with this mindset. 

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Let me offer a different take on this YOLO...

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*If you only live once, shouldn't you try as hard as you can to accomplish your goals and dreams?

​- I'm going to work as hard as I god damn can to accomplish what I want in life because I only have one chance. I'm not going to squander it sleeping in every day, being addicted to social media, eating donuts, and slacking off. I'll be damned if I just waste it all. I want to operate at high-capacity in all things that I do. I'm not willing to accept mediocrity.

*If you only have one life, and one body from which to physically live life, don't you want to take care of it? 

- I'm going to be physically trained and fit. For my entire life. Because being physically capable provides FREEDOM. You can do all the activities. You have higher chance of success in any physical endeavor, accident, or dangerous situation. It keeps you healthy and mentally sharp. It gives you a competitive advantage over others. It sets a good example for the kids. In every way it is better, in any given situation, to be physically capable than it is to be physically incapable. Everyone has the power to improve their physical capacity. Building physical strength and endurance also builds strength of the mind and will. Do you really want to operate at 5 - 10% of your physical capacity for your entire life and never know what you could have done and accomplished? If you aren't physically capable, you lose the ability to make decisions. You lose freedom. 

*If you have only one life, don't you want to live with good health for the duration? 

- I'm going to work hard at being healthy for my entire life. I don't want to live 4 decades of my life suffering from preventable metabolic disease or other preventable body dysfunction. I want to live as much of my life as possible with good health. Why spend all your health acquiring wealth only to spend all your wealth trying to buy back your health? I don't want to lose the freedom that physical capacity and good health provide. I want to spend as little time as possible battling preventable health problems.. I'll take preventing them in the first place. 


*If you only live once, do you really want to waste it on self indulgence? 

- When you're old and you look back on your life, will you be proud you never took risks to go after your goals? Will you be proud that you just ate a bunch of donuts and got diabetes and got 1st in the Fortnight video game tournament? Will you be proud of chasing short term rewards instead of long term rewards? Does physical inactivity and binge eating and compulsive unhealthy behavior really make you feel good about yourself? Or is it when you do productive things that make you better, that you feel the most happy with yourself? In life, you feel more satisfied and you are more successful when you choose long term gratification behaviors over short term gratification behaviors. 

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"Am I going to hit snooze and sleep in or get the hell out of bed?"
Get the hell out of bed, because YOLO
"Am I going to workout today?"
Yes, because YOLO
"Am I going to eat junk or eat healthy today?"
​Healthy, because YOLO
"Am I going to spend all day doing nothing, or am I going to hustle and get after it?" Hustle, because YOLO

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