Know what game you're playing

Listen to Mickey Rourke about training for "The Wrestler". Keep this in mind if you're having to start anything new - career, job, relationship, etc. He had to UNlearn one thing in order to learn another.

Tips:

In boxing you're taught to hide everything
Broke every rule I was ever taught
The actual grunting was real
Like ping pong and rugby, completely different sports
With wrestling, it's all choreographed like a dance ... you work with the other person
What I really didn't know was, you do actually get hurt
Got hurt more in 3 months at wrestling, than a career in boxing
It does hurt ... I was so glad when the movie was over
The best movie I ever made, and the hardest movie I ever made

The last quote reminds me of something the minister I worked with, John McMullen, would tell people when he was convincing them to take a volunteer job, over which they protested that it would be "too hard" -- He would say something like -- This will be the most challenging thing you can do, and therefore the most rewarding.