I had an NCOIC in the Army that was a body-builder -- not just a guy who liked the gym a lot and had big muscles, but the guy who, in a group of strong, buff guys, would still be easily identifiable as THE body builder in the group.
What stood out about him was the crazy amount of sacrifice that went into his body. He exercised twice a day, for two hours, and Saturdays and holidays always started off with a massive 4-6 hour gym session. He never drank, meticulously regulated everything he ate, and led the cleanest lifestyle of us all. Even though the guy probably had this natural talent all along, this was completely obfuscated by the amount of discipline & effort he put into it.
You can see this with everything...
Ever hear the weekly schedule of a chess grandmaster? I remember hearing the scheduel fo Levon Aronian and the guy studies chess 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, and he rests on Sunday with... 4-6 hours of chess. And this is not playing chess -- he's not on some Live stream laughing it up while people donate him money. He's buried in books, being coached by elite chessmen, and playing exhausting, rigorous games against chess engines.
I learned that people basically get what they put in.
And that is fine.
It is a lot easier to not be jealous of a chess master when you realize that you spend 50 hours a week less than him studying chess; it's a lot easier to not be jealous of a supermodel when you realize that you get to eat pizza and don't live in a gym. It also develops a greater sense fo respect for their sacrifice and, to some extent, it makes them look a little bit silly and not right in the head. Not that this is necessarily true -- perhaps they really do enjoy it more than we enjoy our regular jobs, but imagine the horror of hearing about a model or chess player who turned his hobby into his job, and subsequently his hobby became his torture machine.
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