What Does Your “Dash” Represent? Discovering the Motivation Within to Pursue Your Goals

Stress is a part of each of our lives, personally and professionally. It’s crucial to think about how you can take control of your mind to harness your stress and use your thoughts for your body instead of against it. One way you can go about taking ownership of your thoughts is by using positive affirmations. This only works if you’re committed to becoming the words you tell yourself.

Much of this comes down to internal motivation. Ask yourself if you’re the type of person who’s motivated to push forward and keep going, even when things get tough. Are you constantly comparing yourself to others, or are you focusing on yourself and honing in on who you are?

Ultimately, pushing through moments that are uncomfortable or out of your comfort zone will lead you to accomplish more than you ever thought possible. That’s because taking radical ownership of your everyday thoughts is a game changer. It’s how successful people are able to find a spot at the top. They don’t sit back and get lazy when others are putting in consistent effort to change how they think about themselves, others, and life.

So, how will you choose to define yourself? Are you the type of person who follows through on the plans you’ve set for yourself, despite not wanting to do the difficult tasks, or will you give up before you achieve greatness?

The best way to change your thoughts and mindset is by taking on, as Kobe Bryant dubbed it, “mamba mentality.” That’s when you become the best version of yourself, and every day strive to become better. You can take inspiration from some of the greats in sports such as Kobe, LeBron, Jordan, and Messi. They constantly kept the end goal in mind, even when they didn’t want to spend hours on end training. Use the mamba mentality when you need to remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing. Implementing positive affirma- tions can help propel you forward when you don’t feel like getting out of bed at 5 a.m. to run before work, for example.

So when life hits you with those moments that seem unbearable, that’s where the mindset comes in. All those early mornings when you woke up, even when you didn’t want to, or the long runs when it felt like it was impossible to push through—those are the moments that will make you mentally strong and capable of taking on anything that’s in your way because you’ve callused your mind.

Your feelings will not always cooperate with your dreams. If you live in a fixed mindset or “woe is me” mentality all the time, your thoughts will be the results you get. If you truly want something bad enough, you will find one way or another to make it happen, but it starts with the words we tell ourselves.

My brother, Taj Khan, and I opened up our personal training business during a worldwide pandemic. We made no excuses, and we not only opened—we thrived. I believe this success occurred because of waking up every day at 4 a.m. and lunging half a mile. And while we lunged and trained, we put those positive affirmations and thoughts into the universe. It’s compound interest. One small step leads to another and another. That’s why we lunge. Because it’s more than just an exercise. If you can physically push through the pain barrier, you can push through anything you want to accomplish.

Your mindset is what separates a “what if ____” person from an “I did ____” person. Decide who you’re going to be and follow through each and every day. All of the little moments add up and can come together to create something beautiful. Ask yourself this: there’s a dash between the day you were born and the day you die. What’s your dash going to represent?

Dose Khan is the co-founder of Khango, founded in 2018 by brothers Dose Khan and Taj Khan with a vision to bring a different atmosphere to Houston. Khango is a family-owned business that strives to motivate, empower, and instill a lifestyle change to everyone who walks in their doors. They train anyone from beginners to professional athletes that include DeAndre Hopkins, Andre Johnson, Owen Daniels and PJ Tucker.