Do Your Pushups: The Raw Power of Doing the Work

We live in a world that is obsessed with "hacks." We want the complex spreadsheet, the perfect morning routine, the 12-step masterclass, and the secret formula to unlocking our potential. We constantly overcomplicate our own success because it gives us a convenient excuse to delay starting.

But out here in real f*cking life, greatness is deeply uncomplicated.

Drop down and give me one. Just one.

"Do your pushups." It sounds overly simple, but it is the ultimate metaphor for doing the unsexy, unglamorous work. I was recently reminded of this in the most visceral way possible at the Stacked Xpo, an MMA and first responder training festival. I had the absolute privilege of meeting Rich Hernandez, the founder of Do Hard Things 365.

Rich has built an entire movement centered on mental toughness, daily discipline, and extreme endurance feats. We are talking about thousands of continuous push-ups, multi-hour plank holds, and cross-country tours hosting punishing fitness challenges. But as I dropped down and did pushups with him right there on the expo floor, the real lesson hit me. Rich doesn’t just drop and do 1,000 pushups out of nowhere. He didn't start at a thousand. He built up to it by simply doing the work, every single day.

His core philosophy is the blueprint for real transformation: face a tough task daily, focus on getting exactly 1% better, and prioritize consistency over time.

Small steps win the war. Let’s break down exactly how you can stop overcomplicating your life and just start doing your pushups.

The Power of Small Steps

When we set massive, life-altering goals, they often feel too heavy to carry. If your goal is to build a million-dollar business, run a 100-mile ultramarathon, or completely overhaul your life, the sheer scale of the summit can paralyze you at the base of the mountain.

This is where the push-up metaphor becomes a weapon.

Doing one push-up is incredibly easy to start. It requires zero equipment, zero money, and zero complex planning. It bypasses the brain's natural resistance to hard work. When you commit to taking just one small step, you break the paralysis. These tiny acts of discipline lay the concrete foundation for massive, unbreakable daily habits.

Why Doing the Work Matters

If you are waiting to feel "motivated" to chase your dreams, you have already lost.

Motivation is a fleeting emotion. It is a spark that comes and goes as fast as the weather. Rich Hernandez doesn't wake up every single day naturally buzzing with the desire to do thousands of push-ups. He does them because action matters infinitely more than big feelings.

When things aren't pretty, when they aren't easy, and when the results aren't coming fast enough, that is exactly when the real work begins. True grit isn't built on the days you feel like a champion. It is built in the trenches, on the days your body aches and your mind begs you to quit, but you show up and put in the reps anyway.

How Little Things Add Up

We severely underestimate what we can accomplish with relentless, monotonous consistency.

Think about Rich’s philosophy of getting just 1% better. One push-up today might seem utterly insignificant. But what happens when that one rep compounds over a full year? What happens when one cold call, one saved dollar, or one hard conversation is executed every single day for 365 days?

Tiny wins create unstoppable momentum. They rewire your identity. You stop viewing yourself as someone trying to achieve a goal, and you start viewing yourself as a person who simply outworks the room. Society loves a cinematic highlight reel, but the brutal reality is that true success lives in the boring, repetitive routine.

Fixing Broken Daily Habits

You are going to have bad days. You are going to fail. But when you stumble, you cannot let the wheels completely fall off.

If you want to fix your broken habits, you have to adopt the "do your pushups" mentality.

• Do not skip the hard days: When everything goes wrong, doing the bare minimum is how you keep your identity intact.

• Keep the bar low so you never fail: Make your daily non-negotiable so small that it is impossible to make an excuse for it. Tell yourself you only have to do one push-up, read one page, or write one sentence. Once you are in motion, you will almost always do more.

• Focus on consistency over perfection: A messy, ugly workout is better than a skipped workout. An imperfectly executed project is infinitely more valuable than a perfect idea that never leaves your head.

THE CALL TO ACTION

Stop looking for the shortcut. Stop trying to find the perfect strategy before you take your first step. It is time to drop the excuses and do the work.

Look at the massive goal you are currently putting off, and ask yourself one simple question: What is my "one push-up" today?

Find the smallest, most actionable step you can take right now, in this exact moment, and execute it.

Do your pushups. The world belongs to those who show up.

Until next time... Stay Relentless.