There is—now more than ever—an obsession with “getting the dub”, “not taking any Ls”, “securing the bag”, and getting the gains regardless, it would seem, of the cost. The motto seems to be “win, win, win no matter what.” The rhetoric in many aspects of life—politics, economics, health and fitness, arts and culture, and many others—polarises success and failure; it partitions progress from plateaus and distances the space between starting out and arriving at the destination.
The result of this is to flatten the conversation about success, rendering it into simple black and white shades and depriving it of the nuanced hues that colour in the myriadness of its variegation. The obsession with the end-product erases individual efforts sustained over a long duration of time through challenging circumstances that test commitment to the initial goal. After all, if success and progress are conflated, everything that is not the goal must necessarily be failure.
This is not a philosophy that finds endorsement at The Forge.
Sure, progress in some respects might look like adding more plates to the barbell or reaching for a heavier dumbbell, swinging the biggest kettlebell, or pushing the core beyond yesterday’s fatigue point—all of these are familiar and measurable metrics—but it also also bears close resemblance to the following, overlooked and everyday scenarios: recalibrating a workout to suit a long day’s exertions; prioritising a good night’s sleep so that one is fresh enough to pursue the next day’s efforts; letting an injury heal or an illness pass before resuming physical activity; chipping away at the distractions that undo one’s hardwon and constantly tested discipline; fighting the algorithm and not buying into podcast bro science and digitally altered physiques and, rather, accepting the uniqueness of each individual’s body and the way it responds to exercise. All of these are just some of the many facets of progress.
Ultimately, and less discussed by so-called success merchants, progress includes running into numerous dead-ends and circling back to the start to take different paths—progression in any aspect of life includes a steady diet of failures. The trick—known to the consummate stoic—has always been going from one disappointment to the next without being discouraged, without amassing new fears, without becoming cynical, and always keeping an open and optimistic mind about what the next attempt may bring.
Progress wears many faces, and success and failure are just two of them. There are many others. And one has to try all of them on to reach meaningful and long-term success.
Rémy Ngamije is an award-winning Rwandan-born Namibian author, editor, publisher, photographer, literary educator, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of The Forge.