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Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Joe De Sena
“Spartan up!” The title of this book is a phrase I bark at people every day in one situation or another. Those two words have a simple meaning: stop complaining and get it done! “Spartan up!” is an attitude, an X factor, a way of life that I would sum up like this: Challenges make me tougher. Failure makes me work harder. Knock me down, and, sure as shit, I’m getting right back up.
Hard or soft on your children: almost always hard. 2. Work out or not when not feeling great: almost always yes. 3. Eat the dessert or not: always not. 4. Run a little farther when tired or not: almost always yes. 5. Step out of your comfort zone when you don’t feel like it: always yes.
“Life should not be a journey to the grave,” said Hunter S. Thompson, “with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, ‘Wow! What a ride!’” Don’t take this the wrong way. It doesn’t mean to abuse yourself; it means to use up your time wisely — explore, create, and get what you want to get done in life done.
Preparing for the unexpected is easy. You just need to do the unexpected. Break out of your routine. Go for a run at night. Swim in the open water. Stop and climb a hill in the distance. Go farther during that bike ride. When you stay within your own guardrails you are not preparing for the unexpected. So when you’re finally confronted by it — and you will be — you won’t know how to succeed.
The Spartan life is as simple — and as hard — as applying your common sense. Throw the norm out the window. For most people in our contemporary Western culture, “normal” is whatever is easy or provides instant gratification. Fast food is normal, consuming alcohol is normal, not exercising is normal, cutting corners is normal, watching hours of TV every day is normal, cheating is normal . . . Common sense tells you that this definition of normal is unhealthy, unsatisfying, and degrading. So fuck normal and follow your common sense. Exercise your body, heart, and mind.
