I have been meaning to write this for a while. Since my last blog post talked about ego I thought this would be a great follow up. Let me start this by saying these are my own thoughts and far different from Fraud’s interpretation of EGO. Ok, so here we go.
Often before a workout, someone will ask me if they should do it scaled or prescribed. This was a big factor during the Open intramural largely because more points were given to RX workouts than the Scaled. Sidenote: It’s fine that more points were awarded to RX – that just makes sense. It doesn’t mean that doing a workout scaled means you are less of a CrossFitter so no one should be upset about that. Anyway, sometimes the question (scaled or RX) can be hard to answer because the person asking is able to do a weight or a particular exercise as prescribed but I know (and you know, too) that the duration or make up of the particular WOD might affect the quality of the movement over time. Most often these decisions are hard to make. When I’m faced with that decision for myself, I call it the fight between my EGO vs my IGO.
My definition of EGO in this context is the emotional part of your brain. EGO makes decisions to do things because you don’t want your feelings hurt or don’t want to look bad in front of others. Often EGO looks at the short term.
My definition of IGO in this context is the intellectual part of your brain. This is the side of you that ignores the EGO and makes decisions based on facts. IGO looks to the future and makes decisions based on the outcomes further down the road.
Basically, if you are contemplating whether you should RX or scale a WOD, you should ask yourself: “Do I want to RX the workout for my EGO or my IGO? Do I want to RX the workout for myself or someone or something else?” You can also frame the question as, “What would give me the best workout for my individual goals?”
Like most lessons I learn in the gym, I try to relate or translate them to things in life. I try to use the EGO vs IGO lesson when I’m dealing with feelings of anger and of defensiveness. I’ve been told once or twice (my wife would have you believe) that I like to argue and that I’m stubborn.
When I can get into an argument or I’m confronted with someone I think is being rude, I find that often my first reaction is anger or defensiveness. In my attempts to get better at those problems, I try (note: I said “try”, which does not always translate to “do”) to think before I speak and pinpoint whether I am speaking from my EGO or my IGO. When I do this, I later find that I reacted better to the situation in the moment.
Along with this, I think it’s helpful to try to understand where are the other person’s words are coming from. By understanding where they are coming from, you can better understand what they are saying and why they are saying it. With this understanding, you have a better chance at reacting to the root cause of the issue and not simply from your EGO. Like I said, I “try” to do this but I don’t always achieve it. It’s a personal goal of mine to get better at this as I am in no way perfect. (I know, I know, it’s hard to believe I’m not perfect, but just ask my wife).
To wrap this up, we all have our own personal goals and we should do what is best to help us reach them and not allow external factors to influence us. If your goal is to go to Regionals or to just be the most fit mom you can be, do what helps you accomplish that goal. In most situations, getting there starts with asking yourself, “Am I using my EGO or my IGO?”
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