I’ve been thinking a lot this week about hard work versus working hard. I have an 8-year-old that plays softball. She’s fine, I guess, about as good as you can expect any 8-year-old to be. (They’re all terrible.)

But we’ve been having conversations with her lately about taking advantage of the time she’s given to do the things that are for her, and working hard at them, versus the things that are for other people, which is hard work.

All throughout life we’re constantly at the service of others. We go to school for eight hours a day from the time we’re 6-years-old (which is ridiculous), then we get jobs, have relationships, and facilitate our lives with the hard work of doing the things that are required by others. These things are a given, everyone must do them.

It’s the things in our lives we love doing or want to accomplish where working hard matters most; it’s self-fulfillment. There’s a reason people that work with their hands report to being much happier on average than us goblins that sit are our desks all day. It’s building, not just in the physical sense, but the spiritual. You’re fulfilling your soul with accomplishment that YOU did. Your risks. Your effort. For you.

And I think there’s a respect that should be given to the things an individual claims they love or claims they want to accomplish. You can’t proclaim you want to learn to play the guitar and never practice. You can’t proclaim you want to lose weight and get fit and never diet and exercise. You can’t claim you want to play professional baseball and never work hard at achieving that goal.

When you’re 20-years-old and coasting through life, going to class in the morning and baseball practice in the afternoon into the evening, you’re not working hard just because you’re tired at the end of the day. You’ve created an environment of hard work born out of exhaustion from a lack of effort. There’s no stimulus, no juice. Your soul craves working hard and building just like your body craves food for fuel.

That was me at 20-years-old. My story isn’t that different than probably 90% or more of folks out there, aimlessly meandering through opportunities and goals. I don’t want my kids to be the same in their lives. If you like softball, Parker, you’re only allowed a few hours a week to play amongst your other responsibilities; make them count.

I bring this up today because my week of 90 By 40 was a bad one. I wasn’t feeling it, and it’s reflected in the testing numbers. I didn’t work hard this week, thus the three days of testing turned into hard work, “have-to” work, instead of what they should have been: a chance to work hard to inch closer to my goal.

This project deserves more than that. My previous years as an “athlete” deserved more than that. Those along on this journey with me deserve more than that.

The good thing is there’s always time to make a change. Work hard today, so you don’t have to do hard work tomorrow.

Anyway, that’s just what I’ve been thinking about this week. Next week I’ll probably go back to being confused about why Ben Niemann plays so damn much. Onto the testing:

There were some highs set this week. Good! Most notably on the 1-knee Med Ball Throws. So now I can write a number in the box instead of the completely embarrassing “-“.

However the arm? Not feeling great. Bad! I got some throwing drills in but mostly had to cut them short because of tightness in the front of my shoulder, and some bicep pain which I’ll admit I never experienced playing.

My guess is the first 4-6 months of this is going to be the hardest. Any positive gain should be viewed as a win. I really need to find a throwing partner. Charts are below along with this week’s top throws as Sara and Kase make their debut.

Standing, New High 61 mph

Torque, 65 mph