Last night I was exhausted and that voice was saying I should just stay home and rest. I reflected on how much I would regret not going to jiu-jitsu and decided to ignore that voice and go and train.
As I was walking to jiu-jitsu, my pulled hamstring was bothering me and I could feel how sore I was from my morning workout and that voice was telling me to just train really light and not go hard. When I got to the academy the new Tuesday night instructor put us through the toughest class I have ever taken there. We did an extended warmup with running, jumping, crawling and partner calisthenics. We did multiple 3-minute rounds of guard pass drills for reps (i.e. As many reps as possible in 3 minutes!). We trained multiple 5-minute rounds of live rolling. It was non-stop for 90 minutes.
That voice always tries to sell me short. It always tries to get me to do less, be less, to relax, to rest and to stop trying. That voice is like a drug dealer that pretends to be my friend and tells me what I want to hear, but only wants to get me hooked on the easy fix.
Be on guard for that voice. It comes whispering softly to you and tries to get you to let down your guard and rest. Keep working. Keep fighting. Ignore that voice. Recognize the danger that lurks at the end of the siren song.
The best way to silence that voice is to do the work. Take action and that voice loses its power. Once you are in action you recognize that voice for what it is: resistance, doubt and fear.