A few years ago I wrote a post about Effort Based Compensation.  The point was that if I ever got to the place with TheMissionZone that I could actually create a comp program, I’d want to award not only results, but effort.  How else do you reward risk taking regardless of the outcome?  You reward the effort.  I love the idea and think it could be a great way to encourage loyalty and commitment to an organization. 

Largely in your job and even in relationships, effort counts for almost nothing.  Let’s say you bust your ass on a project and it doesn’t pan out, think you’ll still get your full bonus? Nope.  I’ve come to learn that our personal relationships most often work this way too.  Make a big effort to plan a date night and it goes south: You’re not connected. Grand gestures that turn out to not be as important as you think they are: Zero effect.  See the thing with relationships is that unless the other person feels the outcome of your effort, it doesn’t seem genuine.  Trying is great, but not only do you have to try at the right things, but you’ve got to try in a way that makes the other person feel like they are the special beneficiary of that trying.  Cook a fancy meal, but your partner doesn’t care all that much about food: I really don’t care that you tried, don’t you remember I’m trying to cut calories?  Even trying to connect physically when it doesn’t seem genuine can just feel like going through the motions.  Do some people still appreciate it?  Of course, I’m just trying to make the point of effort vs a felt realization of that effort.

Which leads me to Crossfit, often describing itself as a ‘community.’ I was first exposed to Crossfit culture during the 20x event and I’ve been with Breathe for a year. In the gym we form relationships and bonds. We talk and get together outside of the gym for social events. Competitions are a party atmosphere. After every workout we fist-bump each other for completing the trial. I seriously crave the app-based fist-bumps after I post my numbers. We call each other a “FAAAAMMMM”ily and we are humble, honest and vulnerable with each other. Razzing is safe and fun. I manufactured a fake rivalry, and now everyone is in on it. I watched the number one shit talker get shit on by his wife. One of the most focused competitors has the softest voice as a coach. I share a birthday and a silly laugh with another coach. A loud guy makes fun of my ridiculous faces when I put up heavy weight. Everyone works with me on my form in a critical yet helpful way. I am free to be confident enough in my manhood to celebrate the fact that there are at least 6 women that can do lifts with more weight than me. I frickin love all of it.

Juxtapose this to old-school gyms where I always felt subconscious about not putting enough weight on a bar. I always had a spotter if I needed it and got a “good job” after a set.  But no one was invested in my work. It just doesn’t happen that way. Everyone does something different, so there is no shared purpose to bond over the outcome of your time in the gym.

Here’s where it gets cool. At Breathe we’ve got this tight-nit community and we don’t focus on what’s on the bar, but rather the process you go through to complete a workout. No one cares what you scaled to, as long as you put in the work. We grind out the same movements, the same mission.  We celebrate the execution of effort. 

What is special for me, is that I have relationships that value my effort. In return I value it in everyone who shows up and puts out. I don’t care if you deadlift 600 lbs or start by adding 5lb plates, drop that fucking thing on the mat after each rep and be proud of it. Ring the bell if it’s a PR. You put in the effort, you did the same movement. Stand tall. Crossfit is a relationship that values the effort you put into a single shared activity.

One of these days I’ll get a muscle-up. And all my friends will cheer and shout when I am over that damn bar, even the ones who string them together like it’s no big thing. Because in the end, we all worked the same, they just happen to accomplish more than me. It feels good to know that my effort counts and has just as much value no matter what my score was. 

And that’s why I will go back to get some more.  Full Send!