My favorite Tom Hanks movie of all-time is Castaway.
If you’ve met me in person or have read three of these blogs in the past, the reasons should be obvious. It’s got some of the most “Dan-lovin’ themes” neatly tied-up into two hours on the screen.
But a lesser-known Hanks film I also absolutely love is “That Thing You Do!”
(The exclamation point isn’t mine. It’s actually in the title of the movie.)
For those of you who haven’t seen it, you bring shame upon your house. But even so, I’ll give you the shortened Cliff’s Notes (side question: does anyone still know what Cliff’s Notes are/were, or am I talking to myself here?).
That Think You Do! is about four kids in Erie, Pennsylvania who have a garage band and, through a small twist of fate, end up writing a hit song. The song escalates their stardom but they can’t handle the fame so they end up being one-hit wonders (the name of the band in the movie is literally “The Wonders”).
I highly recommend it and I’m sure you can find it on Netflix or Tubi or whatever the young kids are using these days.
There’s one scene in the movie where the band is playing the fictionalized version of the Ed Sullivan Show (side note: does anyone still know what the Ed Sullivan show is/was?) and right before they are about to kick into their hit song the guitar player Lenny turns to the drummer (who he calls “Skitch”) and says, with a half-cocked smile and an inflection of amazement, “Hey, Skitch, how did we get here?”
By the time you are reading this, we’ll have had our annual holiday party.
This tradition started as a staff dinner just to show our appreciation. In the winter of 2020, when things were at their worst, it devolved into a post-workout tray of sandwiches and cookies catered by one of our clients, Jimmy, who owned a bagel shop in midtown. Jimmy, assessing our financial situation, wouldn’t take payment for the food.
But since then, things have grown. And this year, once again, we’ll have had a holiday party with both staff and clients in an electric-vehicle showroom (don’t ask) and hundreds of people will be in attendance.
And, as the party hits its height, I’ll take a moment from stuffing my face with a Christmas tree cookie, look around, take it all in with gratitude and say to myself “how did we get here?”
Training can, and perhaps more importantly, should feel the same way.
Sure, you might start to feel stronger quickly or see your weight drop on the scale in a matter of weeks, but the real results build up over time.
And, yes, most of that time should be spent in a growth mindset, with more focus on getting the work done rather than the results that it brings.
But every so often - and dare I say this may be the perfect time before you start setting new goals - you should take a breath, look back and appreciate what you have done.
Because you’ve done a lot and it will make the training all the more meaningful.
Every so often I’ll find myself falling down a rabbit hole of watching live performances from rock bands at concert festivals.
And I wonder what it must feel like when they hit the opening chords of a song and an audience of thousands goes absolutely insane and starts singing along with every word.
By the time a song gets to that level you have to imagine that they’ve played it a thousand times.
But those songs started out in a notebook or while noodling on a guitar while sitting alone on a bedroom floor. And it makes me wonder if those bands ever think about that before they launch into their big hit.
If it’s just become rote and part of the act or if they ever reflect on how this thing that just started as an idea is now rocking an entire stadium.
And then I think about us. And how big our stadium has become. And how much bigger it might end up being.
I close my eyes and picture it. And I wonder how it's all going to turn out.