Friday Favourites: Do Your Aspirations Match Your Work Ethic?

“It’s hard not having what you want but it’s also hard having what you want. You just have to pick your hard.” – Mattie James

Reflection

I would be the first person to put my hand up and say I want an Angela Bassett or Gabrielle Union body. But ask me what I ate throughout the week or if I exercised for more than 20 minutes and suddenly I can’t find my words. 

Angela Bassett and Gabrielle Union are age 60 and 46 respectively and they can run rings around 20-year-olds. You know why? Because they put in the work. I’m not joking when I say Gabrielle Union is ageing backwards and it’s no surprise considering how often she’s at the gym. I once watched an interview with Angela Bassett where she talked extensively about her diet and exercise routine and I genuinely couldn’t stop staring at the screen in admiration. The only word to describe her lifestyle is commitment. Why wouldn’t she be glowing at 60?   

Do your aspirations match your work ethic? 

I remember laughing so hard when I saw this tweet by Zubair (shoutout to BookofZu, his twitter is everything) because we all know or we are the people who post this ever so often.  It’s easy to dream about doing x, y and z because that’s exactly what it is – dreaming! But big dreams require a matching work ethic to bring them to fruition. We can all talk a good game about what we want to do and what we want to achieve, but after a while, we also need to start practising a great deal of honesty with our selves. What are the efforts we are putting in to achieve those dreams? 

A quote by Muhammad Ali came to mind when I was thinking of this topic and it’s one of my favourites. He said,  “I don’t count my sit-ups; I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count.”

Take a moment to reflect on his mindset. How often do we get to the edge of discomfort with our work? Muhammad Ali wasn’t doing the bare minimum to get by neither was he using his competitors as a yardstick to measure his efforts. He consistently pushed himself to the limit because he knew his work ethic had to match his aspirations and talk of being ‘the greatest boxer the world had ever seen.’  

The first month of this year has already passed and in a way, this post is my little motivational reminder to myself to persist in developing habits that contribute to my dreams (both spiritually and worldly) and to practice self-discipline when it matters.

Now have I stopped saying I want an Angela Basset body?

No.

But I’m gradually putting in more time towards my fitness.

I told you to be honest with yourself not give up on your dreams. 

Keep an eye out for the second part to this post which will be about what happens when your prayers get answered and you’re not prepared?

Articles

Black Ballad: I Finally Know Why I Was Dissatisfied with Black-ish’s Colourism Episode

Dear Sarina: Marrakech, The Secret Garden

Podcasts

Qalam Podcast: Heartwork Surah Maryam Part 10

I Said What I Said: The Africa Not So Rising Episode

Techish: Black Panther Nominated, Mentorship, Racist Algorithms & Low Wages in Tech for Women and POC?

Reasons to be Cheerful: The case for private school reform and how to do it

Books

21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari

Video Of The Week

Quote of The Week

“In God we trust, everyone else must bring data.” – Preston T. Ideh

Excited About…

Having a chilled weekend In sha Allah

I pray that you benefited from this post and I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic! What is your Friday Favourite reflection, book or podcast recommendation? 💕

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Listen 🎧 to my podcast Bookversations here.