That S*** is in The Past!

I was watching a boxing fight a couple weeks ago where something interesting stood out to me.

One of the fighters was performing well throughout the entire fight until he got a little too comfortable.

In his mind, he figured he had already won and didn’t have to do much but avoid being hit.

However, he made one very bad mistake you should NEVER make in boxing.

He dropped his hands.

In boxing, there’s a law known as “Protect yourself at all times”.

In other words, no matter what’s happening, you never expose your face.

You’ll hear it over and over if you watch boxing or ever step foot in a boxing gym: “Keep your hands up!”

As soon as he dropped his hands, I knew it was coming.

His opponent caught him with a right hook on his jaw.

Notice in the clip below how the fighter who drops his hands gets hit right in the face.

This wasn’t the same fight I was watching, just an example of why you never drop your hands in boxing.

In the clip above, the fighter who dropped his hands was actually tricked into doing so.

You see the puncher (Canelo Alvarez) made him think he was throwing a left punch to the stomach area making the other fighter (James Kirkland) drop his hands to protect his stomach, resulting in him exposing his face.

You can watch more highlights of the fight in the video below.

Returning to the fight I was first talking about, the punch was so easy to land that it was delivered with a LOT of force.

The boxer fell straight to ground.

He wasn’t knocked out (luckily) and got up before the referee counted to 10.

At the end of the round, the cameraman focused in on the fighter’s corner.

In a scared and nervous tone, I heard him telling his coach/trainer “Man, I lost! I messed up big time! There’s no way to win this now!”.

What did his coach reply?

“Hey! Hey! Hey! I don’t want to hear none of that! That s*** is in the past!“

Now, in the moment, claiming something is in the past, which literally took place a few minutes ago, is a bit absurd.

I mean…It just happened!

However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how powerful that statement was.

You see, the reality is that any mistakes you make are in fact in the past.

And whether they happened 10 years ago, a month ago, or 5 minutes ago; you have to immediately learn from and forget about them.

The boxer’s trainer immediately went on to tell his fighter what he needed to do, reassured him of how well he’s done the whole fight, and to go in there and finish strong.

The boxer’s composure had changed completely from the time he sat down until the bell sounded for the next round.

He went from scared, worried, and mad; to relaxed and focused.

Scared, worried, and mad rob a lot of energy from you. 

You need to leave s*** in the past and stay focused on your goals.

Mistakes are going to happen.

I once heard that if you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t growing.

As soon as something bad happens, begin to let it go.

Focusing on something you can’t change is a waste of time.

Did you start a business and fail?

That s*** is the past!

Did you approach a cute girl, say “Hi”, and get rejected?

That s*** is in the past!

Did you fail at a goal you set for yourself?

That s*** is in the past!

I made mistakes online when I first started and you know what?

In the moment, it sucked!

…But that s*** is in the past.

Take every mistake you’ve made, and have yet to make, as a blessing in disguise.

See it as a valuable lesson which you got at a bargain.

In life…

You make mistakes.

You learn.

You get better.

You grow.

Any questions?…

We’ll talk again soon,

-Alex

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