As you may have noticed, I use the term ¡Empuja! quite often. So what does it mean and why do I say it so much? The word empuja comes from the Latin word pulsare, which means “to beat” over and over again. In English, empuja means to push, which also comes from the same latin word. We use the word push in English to describe a strong action we take to press, drive, thrust forward…you get it.
I grew up hearing the word empuja used by my father, my mother, my grandfather, my uncles and my brothers to describe what we had to do to overcome any obstacle, anywhere, AT ANY TIME. The word empuja is part of my Grit Machine DNA that clearly describes my daily mindset.
I stress the word ¡Empuja! every day -many times a day- to push myself to do better, be better and achieve better and bigger outcomes at home, at work and for my family. I also use the word often with my sons, nieces and nephews to encourage them to push themselves to:
- Pray daily
- Be kind, humble and giving
- Respect elders
- Read one book every month (strive to think better and speak better)
- Learn math and science (understand the logic behind how things work)
- Compete against yourself every day (be better today than you were yesterday)
- Work harder than everyone around you
- Smile
- Forgive
- Be grateful
So go on and say the word empuja out loud, but more importantly adopt an empuja mindset.