training provides a rare source of meaning, structure and self-belief in the world of uncertainty
Medicine, law, business, and engineering are fields where a vast knowledge base is critical. Unfortunately, they are also fields that seem increasingly vulnerable to being transformed by AI.
But poetry, beauty, romance, love, resilience, grit, discipline, and training. These are the things we stay alive for.
Don’t get me wrong. As Dead Poets Society‘s John Keating famously said, there is a difference between the fields that sustain life and the things that make life worth living.
In a world that is becoming less predictable by the day, many people feel a growing sense of uncertainty and instability. Finding something that provides structure and consistency can be a powerful way to counter these feelings. It can serve as an anchor in your life, making you feel secure, confident, and better equipped to excel in other areas.
For a growing number of people, that anchor is training.
We have evolved beyond the days when we needed a VO₂ max of 70 to chase down large mammals across the Siberian wilderness in order to survive. Yet we still train. Not because we have to, but because training gives us so much more than physiological adaptations.
Training teaches us to set long-term goals and work relentlessly towards them. Achieving those goals creates some of the deepest feelings of fulfillment a human can experience. In today’s world, sport has become one of the most accessible arenas for this pursuit, largely because progress is measurable and effort is rewarded.
Instead of chasing short dopamine hits from every dancing rabbit video that appears on your phone, you commit to something bigger. You go out and do the work every day, knowing that the feeling of success and self-fulfillment may not arrive for six months. Delayed gratification has become a rare skill, and perhaps one of the most valuable.
Life is about grit. It’s about doing the things you don’t want to do in order to achieve the things you truly want. It’s the principle of yin and yang: one cannot exist without the other. You cannot appreciate the highs without having experienced the lows.
Training gives you exactly that.
It teaches discipline. It teaches you how to push yourself. It forces you to make difficult choices and rewards consistency over excuses. Most importantly, it allows you to get to know your own body, the body you will carry with you for the rest of your life.
In many ways, training is one of the best investments you can ever make. The returns are not only physical, but mental, emotional, and even social. For some maybe even spiritual ig, I hope you see how crucial training can be in the coming years of your life . Few things offer such a broad and lasting payoff.
So put your phone away.
Find that beautiful race in the Dolomites you’ve been dreaming about. Find a cheap place to stay. Choose a goal that sits months into the future and start working towards it today.
I think you’ll discover that the journey and trajectory of your life changes far more than your fitness.
You’ll see your whole world expand in ways you never imagined before.