I just saw a great ad for Beats wireless earbuds. The message — one more rep — really resonated with me. 

“Just when I think I can’t go anymore, I think about those who doubted me. And I do just one more rep.”

One more rep. One more word. 

This is how I approach my writing. When I think the well is dry, that there is nothing else I can squeeze out of a day, when I know it’s time to shut things down, I often find myself throwing down a few more words, or an idea for the next day, just something to push myself further. 

One more rep. One more word.

Pushing yourself past the limits is where greatness comes from. Where ambition becomes success. Where careers are born. Where unpublished becomes agented, where agented becomes published. Where you publish that story yourself because you believe it will find an audience, and you’re proven right. 

Where you throw off the mantle of can’t, and embrace can. 

One more rep. One more word.

But how do you start? How do you follow your dream if you don’t know where to begin?

My yoga guru often reminds me that showing up to my mat is the most important part of my practice. I used to get annoyed, until I realized she was absolutely right. Even if I don’t feel like it, if I just roll out the mat, if I just show up, I invariably end up doing a few moves, which leads into a practice. It might be five minutes, it might be an hour. But I’m there.

One more rep. One more word.

The same approach works for a manuscript, or a canvas, or the project you’re dreading at work. Show up. Open that file. Write one word. Paint one brushstroke.

Do it every day, and you’ll find the habit.

Find the habit, and you’ll find yourself.  

And when you think you can do no more, when your fingers hurt and your family needs you and you think you’re done, do one more.

Just one more.