I was just listening to my daily dose of Czech podcast this morning as the host quoted one of the greatest Czech athletes of all time, Emil Zátopek.
Když nemůžeš, tak přidej.
– Emil Zátopek
In English, the quote means “When you can’t (take it anymore), press on”. Such a simple piece of advice, yet I find it extremely empowering.
Oftentimes I just need to get the ball rolling to overcome my initial lethargy, without worrying about perfection, and before I know it I’ll be completely engrossed in whatever I’m doing. For example, the first 3 km is always the toughest part for me during any run, especially in winter. Yet I can usually go on auto-pilot after that; it’s almost as if I just have to let my feet take me. On hikes too, J often has to literally push me at the start to move forward, but I’d thank him at the end of the day for making me do it. The same thing applies to writing: the first couple of sentences are always the hardest for me to write, but once I put a few words down, the ideas usually flow.
What’s an activity that you have to push yourself hard to get started on, but then you find yourself enjoying it immensely?
Anyway, while googling Emil Zátopek’s quote, I accidentally stumbled upon a song that uses it as a title by the band Mirai. I hadn’t heard of the band before but J said they’re quite well known in the Czech Republic. The song is an absolute earworm and the lyrics powerful, although the second line of the chorus is quite a tongue twister when I try to sing along 🙂 Check out the song below and the English translation of the lyrics here.
