It is quite important to motivate yourself and the people around you that you care for and many a times you might find yourself using different sayings to put your thoughts across, that you probably heard on the internet or heard someone else say it to you in the past.

It is okay to use these sayings as long as they serve a purpose, but when they are overused, the meaning behind those words can end up being twisted to a point that instead of relaying the actual meaning, they end up sounding like annoying cliches that make no sense whatsoever.

We’ve all heard these cliches and rolling our eyes are the least of our reactions. The high performance world is no different and you will most likely find a ton of cliches surrounding it which you should avoid at all costs as they could lead to a plethora of unfortunate consequences. Here are five such cliches that you should avoid.

Pain Is Just Weakness Leaving The Body

You must have seen at least one poster with this quote in your gym or any other place you might train and initially it might make you feel pumped and go all out on your training. But this is one of those cliches that apart from sounding stupid, can actually be harmful to you if you don’t think about it.

Pain is your body’s way of telling you that there is something wrong with it and requires your attention. So, if you are bench-pressing and you suddenly feel a blinding pain on one of your shoulders, it means that you should immediately stop and have it looked. You most probably injured it.

It does NOT mean that your shoulder is the place from where the ‘weakness’ is leaving your body. If you keep going, you will probably make it worse for yourself. When the stakes are high, you cannot risk an injury that will keep you out of the game for prolonged amount of time, or worse, permanently. Listen to your body!

Unless You Puke, Faint or Die, Keep Going

Again, this is a really dangerous one. Sure, on first thought you could see how it is about pushing yourself which will only make you stronger, faster, better which will sharpen your performance just that much more. But like all things, there is a limit to your biological body as well.

It is okay to push yourself and try your hardest but if you try to surpass the breaking point, you might hurt yourself. You need to be able to keep going for the improvements to matter. Or else what’s the point in the first place?

Your body is your temple and only you know and understand what it is capable of. Don’t try to replicate what others are doing. You don’t have to push yourself to unbearable levels just because the other person is doing. Everyone’s body is different and you should listen to yours. Be persistent and you’ll get there, even if it is a little late.

Stick To A Routine

This one doesn’t sound like a bad advice at all. It makes total sense for you to stick to a routine because you will have arrived at it only after careful evaluation of what works best for you. Also, if you stick to a routine, you will know exactly what you’re doing which is important too.

But the problem arrives when you are unwilling to step out of that boundary you have created for yourself. Doing the same things over and over again means you are not being challenged and if you want to grow, you need to face bigger challenges. It is important to push yourself to gradually increase your performance levels.

So, you could stick to a routine, then start a new one when you begin to get too comfortable. Over a longer period of time, you will keep challenging yourself while at the same time reap the benefits of an established routine.

Give Your 110%

First of all, this makes no mathematical sense whatsoever. The limit to percentages is 100. You just cannot go beyond 100. It’s like choosing 11 out of a scale of 1-10. That’s just plain nonsense. It is an overused and outdated cliche mostly used by sports commentators.

The thing is, once you say 110 or 120, there is this psychological effect that you didn’t give your best because then you start thinking that you could have given 200% or 500%. There has to be an upper limit, which you consider is your absolute best performance that you could possibly give.

So, just focus on performing the best you can and in the end, even if you lose, you will walk away with the satisfaction that you gave it your best shot. Remember, it is not just about the body, it’s very much about the mind as well.