"Zero-stop"
When you're marching through deep snow pulling a downed buck through it together with a partner and your lungs are on fire and you just wanna take a break more than anything…but you are determined, come hell or high water, to not be the first to "tap out" even if it kills you. There will be ZERO STOP, none!!!
I've practiced the zero stop philosophy in misguided attempts to impress my father as a teenager, my father in law as a grown man, buddies who I knew full well were in better cardio shape than me, etc…ZERO STOP! I don't quit…unless YOU need a break!
Now that both my father and my father in law have suffered heart attacks I have completely abandoned the zero stop philosophy when hunting with them. I INSIST we stop frequently, probably to the point of annoying them…but when my father in law said something about not needing to be babied I preserved his pride by saying "oh that's not what this is, but a deer is bad enough…you're 6 foot 3 and over 250lb, I ain't up for dragging your carcass out of here too". We had a good chuckle and continued pulling the buck out…
because I probably won't change much deep down, I'm sure when I'm older I'll feel the need to run myself ragged when my boys are teenagers and then strapping young men….it's important that I remain the standard of grit they're trying to outgun for as long as possible