Who do you spend the most time with?

"Find people who've done what you want to do and surround yourself with them."

-Jeff Olson

 

"We acquire the characteristics of the people we associate with on a steady basis."

-Zig Ziglar

 

"You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with."

-Jim Rohn

 

One of the seven "D's" that I believe make it possible to achieve your dream is to... "Discuss."  Now when talking about this before, I have really emphasized the importance of being held accountable.  When we talk with others and share our passions, we then tend to feel a form of pressure and responsibility to go out and achieve what we have set our minds on.  The natural man does not want to disappoint others.

 

Another aspect of "Discuss" that I want to talk about deals with the quotes I have shared with you today.  I guarantee each and every one of you will be able to look at your own life and see how this has impacted you.  I went through high school with several different groups of friends.  I was also one of the more quiet kids in school and found myself to be very observant.  People will act differently depending on who they are with at the time.  Notice how your language will change when you are around different people.  Notice how you dress when you are going out with different people.  Notice your thought processes when you are around these different people.

 

The natural man will change the way they act around these different people.  With this in mind, it now gives us two options:  First, we have to accept that this does happen and be self aware of it.  So that next time you are hanging out with Jim, who tends to use inappropriate language, you will closely watch yourself so that you do not slowly slip into the bad habit of using this language yourself.  Second, we simply change who we spend our time with.  In my opinion, this would be the better option, and let me explain why... In option number one, we have to use up our time and energy making sure we do not become the person who you are around.  In option number two, we let the good influences of the people we are around bring out the best of who we are.  I challenge each and every one of you to look at who you spend the most time with and see if there is a need for change.  I also challenge you to be that positive influence for those who enjoy to spend their time with you!  Best of luck, my friends.

Fear is self-imposed... meaning it doesn't exist.

"Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will."

-Karim Seddiki

 

Today I would love to share with you an electrifying speech by Greg Plitt.  Now please take into account that this is a speech that has been transcribed.  If you get a chance, go and youtube this speech.  It is much more powerful when you can hear his excitement and energy.  It is very contagious.  Enjoy and best of luck, my friends.

"You don't burn out mentally... because you'll always burn out physically. You're gonna feel the soreness you've never felt before... It's suppose to be that way! It means you're using muscles you haven't used before. Your body's wakin' up. Sharpen your arsenal for perfection in what you can be, but if you didn't know that mentally, you didn't prepare for that. You think something's wrong maybe it's time to stop... NO IT'S TIME TO MOVE FREE AND FURTHER!.. and even though you go to the gym and put your time in there, ya check the box 'Yeah I went to the gym, man. All good'... You come back around, you go to the mirror.. 'Man, I'm not seeing anything. I'm not seeing anything. I'm not seeing any changes.' No...

Well, because you haven't push yourself for your body to have the reason to change. If I give a valiant effort to something, day in and day out, and I saw no change, I would probably quit too. When you embark in this journey, you must know that it's gonna go down before it comes up... And when it comes up, it's gonna go so much higher than you've ever been.

Sacrificing today for tomorrow. I couldn't hold myself up. Hitting the pavement. I'm okay with that... cuz tomorrow I'll get back up... and do it again and I'm gonna try to beat my last performance.

In life, it's not the genetic guy who wins, or the guy who has the most potential who wins... It's the person with great PERSERVERANCE who wins. Always want to get up and go at it again and go at it again. That's the guy who has his hands raised later in life, guys. That's the guy you guys need to be. Record everything. What you eat, your training habits, how you feel. You take a picture of yourself one day on day 1, you put it on a mirror. That's who I'll never be again. That's day 1. Say goodbye to him. Behind that picture you write down your weight, your height, all your information, your bodyfat. Take tape measures around your arms, your waist, your thighs. Record where you've been. And when the struggle gets hard, and you feel like you're not going anywhere, go back to day 1 and remeasure it. #$%*, It's worth it.

It's not an easy path... 90 days out man I gotta run a marathon. 90 days out I'm gonna enter a bodybuilding contest. 90 days out I have a family reunion/high school reunion. I wanna look my best. 90 days to become that person I wanna be, to turn that dream into reality... I got 90 days.

Today is 1/90 of that opportunity. You guys find a fear, that fear will either create you or destroy you. I love fear. Reason why; behind every fear, there's a person you wanna be. Fear is self-imposed... Meaning it doesn't exist. You create it, you can destroy it too. It's an intangible. If you face your fears guys, you'll realize it's not that big. And once you face it, you're gonna say 'my god, man. All this time I've been running from it.' You know, it's so small. If I just stay still, my god, not only did I face it, but I beat it back. Energy never lost transfered. That negative energy. That fear is destroyed. What else am I... what else am I capable of? What else am I holding myself back from that I am capable of... What am I running from that I don't need to? What else can I OVERCOME? You go after it and you give it all you have... If you lose it, AT LEAST YOU TRIED, MAN!

'I failed' is ten times more of a man than someone who said 'what if?' Cuz 'what if?' NEVER WENT TO THE ARENA!"

-Greg Plitt

Thinking about how we think.

"We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive."

-Albert Einstein

 

"Rarely do we find men who willingly engage in hard, solid thinking. There is an almost universal quest for easy answers and half-baked solutions. Nothing pains some people more than having to think."

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, buckle up... today we are about to engage in some extremely deep thought.  Have you ever met anyone, or just been in the presents of someone, who make you stop and just think to yourself... "Wow, that is deep.  How in the world did they come up with that?  How in the world can someone even comprehend that?  They have some crazy gears turning up there!"  Unfortunately, we do not come across enough of these people!  If you are taking the time to read this today, maybe we can change, or make you think about, the way you think!

 

Welcome to the 21st century where all we have time to think about is everything we need to get done today!  I challenge you to walk down the halls of a high school, or go to the grocery store and listen to what people talk about.  I guarantee you will hear a lot of gossip...  So what am I suggesting?  I truly believe we are more than that.  I truly believe we are meant to be deeper than that.  Our body and our brain is so sophisticated that it just blows my mind.  My goal here today is to try and get you to think about how we think, function, and even socialize.  Let me take a few minutes to share a story and a few ideas with you:

 

Like minded individuals!  One of my recent hobbies or interests is crossfit.  The biggest thing you will realize with crossfit is that people who do crossfit love to talk about crossfit!  Well the other day I stopped in to see my mom at work.  She has a coworker who goes to the same gym as myself.  We usually don't go in at the same time so I have never actually met this man.  Well after my mom introduced us, naturally, we started talking about crossfit.  We ended up going on and on about recent achievements, struggles, goals, and so on and so forth.  Before I knew it I had been there for almost an hour!  Never met this person before, but by the end of that conversation we were talking and laughing as if we were best friends.

 

Time to ourselves should never be wasted!  Now naturally whenever we have a few spare minutes to ourselves, it feels great to just sit down and veg.  Every once in a while, we all need this!  For the most part though, this is a great opportunity to go into deep thought.  Continuing on with my story: Later that day, all I could think about was that conversation and the topic of our conversation.  We had bounced great ideas and tips off of each other and it was now time to take it a step farther.  I could have stopped there, forgot about that conversation, and continued on with life just fine... But I would have missed out on a great opportunity to utilize new information and incorporate these new concepts into my own personal training.

 

Look at some of the technology we have today...  That right there is a result of people who got together, went into deep thought, bounced ideas around, and then acted on those ideas.  I know this is kind of random today, but I just felt like I really needed to share this concept.  It is extremely hard to achieve our dreams on our own.  If we can begin to think and converse in  new and deeper ways, we will surely find ourselves achieving new and exciting dreams we otherwise would have never even thought of!  Take a few minutes today and just... think!  Best of luck, my friends!

Great moments are born from great opportunity.

"Great moments are born from great opportunity. That's what you have here, tonight, boys. That's what you've earned here tonight. One game. If we played them ten times, they might win nine, but not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate. Tonight, we stay with them, and we shut them down, because we can! Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players, every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time!

-Herb Brooks

 

We are a blessed people.  Opportunity surrounds us at every second of every day.  So why are some more successful than others?  First, when faced with great opportunity, we must recognize it.  There is a very famous quote by Thomas Edison that reads "We often miss opportunity because it's dressed in overalls and looks like work."  Second, we must be willing.  We must be willing to give everything we have.  Blood, sweat, and tears, right?  Maybe not in every scenario, but we get the point.  As you go through your day, look for opportunity.  It comes in all shapes and sizes.  And when you see it, grab it and do everything you can to hold on and turn that great opportunity into a great moment.  Best of luck, my friends.

Becoming grateful for failure.

Michael Jordan.  Bill Gates.  Albert Einstein.  Jim Carrey.  Bethany Hamilton.  Benjamin Franklin.  Stephen King.  Thomas Edison.  Vincent Van Gogh.  Franklin Roosevelt.  Simon Cowell.  Steven Spielberg. 

All of these people and so many more have one huge thing in common: failures and misfortunes.  We have all read about these amazing people who fail so many times and then one day it clicked, and now they are some of the most successful people in the world.  Why?  Because failure fuels their motivation. 

I love sports and I love learning about some of my favorite athletes.  One of the most common trends I find with these athletes is both failures and then determination.  Ever athlete out there has lost a game, missed a shot, had a bad season, or even suffered from an injury.  So then why are they so good?  They learned from these failures.  They let failure drive their motivation to become better.  Any athlete out there knows how awful it feels to walk off the field after a bad game.  Yet so many of us, myself included, become more frustrated than anything else.  We have to learn how to "walk it off" and bounce back.  The faster we can bounce back, learn from our failures, and get back at it, the better we will become. 

Whether you are an athlete in the competitive field, someone trying to live a healthier lifestyle, or maybe you are striving to achieve great success in the academic world... whatever it may be, you will face failure at one point or another.  Become grateful for failure, learn from failure, and then you will become successful.  Best of luck, my friends.

2014: Time to refocus, not restart.

How many of us made some form of new years resolution?  I am sure most all of us probably did!  Well... how are they going??  Statistics show that over 40% of people don't make it past one month.  As we approach one month, I hope we can all continue to remain strong!

 

May I offer up one word of caution?  When I listen to people talk about their new goals for the year, it often comes across as a time to restart.  I like to think of the new year as a time to refocus.  Whatever has happened over the last year, whether good or bad, has happened so that we can learn from it.  Use this time to reflect on the past year, learn from it, and make changes to make this year even better.

 

Sorry for the late post!  I hope all of you had an amazing holiday season and have kicked off the new year right!  Best of luck!

Don't live a "what if" life.

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

"I would rather fail one thousand times before I ever have to look in the mirror and say 'what if'."

-Tyler Nelson

 

Looking back at times in my life when I have failed, it hurts, but from those failures I grew.  When I look back at times in my life when I never tried... well, I guess I'll never know, and that hurts a lot more than failure ever will.  With failure comes an opportunity to rise up, to learn, to become more.  If we never try, we are only left with a nagging feeling as we wonder what we could have done, what we could have become.  When given that opportunity... try.  Best of luck, my friends.

Short term gratification or long term sucess.

Repost "Do you want it bad enough?"

I posted this several months ago and just the other day ran across it again.  I had to repost it.  Enjoy!

There was a Young Man who wanted to make a lot of money and so he went to an Old Guru and said, "I want to be on the same level you are."

So the Guru says, "If you want to be on the same level I am, I'll meet you at the beach tomorrow morning. 4 AM."

The Young Man looking confused says, "The beach?? I don't wanna swim, I wanna make money!"

"4 AM."

 The Young Man gets to the beach at 4 AM, all ready to rock and roll, wearing a suit - should have wore shorts -  and the Old Guru walks up to great him and grabs his hand. He asks, "How bad do you want to be successful?"

The Young Man excited states, "Real bad!"

"Then walk out into the water."

So the Young Mann starts walking out into the water. About waist deep he starts thinking to himself 'This man must be crazy!', but he continues to walks out. "Hey I wanna make money and you got me out here swimming. I didn't ask to be a lifeguard. I wanna make money!"

The Guru looks at him and says, "Come out a little farther."

The Young Man walks out a little farther. The water is up to his throat. Now he's thinking 'This man is crazy, I mean -  he's makin' money, but he's crazy!', but he keeps walking out. The water is up to his mouth now and his mind is racing 'I'm about to go back in, this guy is out of his mind!', and he turns around.

The Old Guru yells to him and says, "I thought you wanted to be successful?"

"I do," says the Young Man.

"Then walk a little further."

So the Young Man starts to walk out a little farther and the Old Guru grabs his head and puts it under the water. He holds him down and I mean he has him held down. The Young Man is scratching and clawing at him. The Old Guru keeps holding him down. Holding him down. Then right as the Young Man is about to pass out, gently the Old Guru raises him up. The Guru looks at him and says, "I got a question for you... when you were under water, what did you want?"

"I wanted to breathe."

"Now when you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, then you will be successful." And with that the Old Guru released the Young Man and began walking to shore.

 

Such a simple concept but so powerful.  So many times in my life, I thought I wanted something... but I didn't really want it, I just thought I did.  Looking back I can understand that because things would come up: friends would call, I would get tired, I would get lazy.  When things came up, the thing that I thought I wanted most now became second.  We have to evaluate ourselves and ask ourselves how bad we really want it!  Then after verbally answering the question, go prove it to yourself!

It's your choice.



Are you considered "successful"?

 

"In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure."

-Bill Cosby

 

"A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him."

-David Brinkley

 

"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it."

-Bruce Lee

 

Few quotes today... Loved them all so I decided to share them.  So this word... success... what is it?  Everyone talks about how when they grow up they want to be "successful."  We also tend to classify others on the fact that they are "successful."  I guess on a statistical standpoint maybe you could judge this, but even then, who gets to decide where that line of success really is.  Here are my thoughts on the matter...

 

Do I really care if, according to other people, I am classified as a successful man?  No.  I care about how I feel about myself as well as the day I will stand before God.  That is what is important to me.  That is what I will strive for.  At the end of the day, if Sally says I did a really good job on my test or on my workout, but I don't feel satisfied, I will be grateful for the wonderful compliment, but I am going to work my tail off to make sure I will feel satisfied with my results next time.  On the flip side, if Bill says I need to work harder to help get the unwanted pounds off or to make more money, but I am extremely satisfied with my results, I will not let that be the reason I beat myself up and put myself down.  At the end of the day I want to look in the mirror and know I tried my absolute hardest.  I want to know I left nothing in the tank and I gave it my all.  If I do this, there is no possible way I will ever consider myself unsuccessful.  I may not bench press the amount I was hoping for or I may not score the 98% I was hoping for, but if I give it my all and don't hold back, whatever my results may be... I will be happy.  I will be successful.  Best of luck, my friends.

Do something today.

"I need to be doing something. If I am sitting down, I feel like I am wasting time, and someone else is doing something. If I am not working, someone else is, and someone else is getting better... and I can't have that."

-Rich Froning

 

Whether you decide to get up and do something today or not, I can promise that someone else is, and they are getting that much closer, that much better.  Now your dreams may not involve anyone else... it may be you against you... but if you do not get up and go do something to get you that much closer, who is winning?  How can we win if we are not willing to get up and do something, anything?  So your challenge today... go do something!  Best of luck, my friends.

Spot checking our attitude.

So...  you might be seeing a trend in the last few posts.  Attitude.  Outlook.  Point of view.  However you want to word it...  On a daily basis we will not be able to make the progress that we want to see unless our outlook on life is in a position to let us progress.  So before we can continue on this journey, let us take another opportunity to check ourselves and make sure we are not hindering our own progression.  Let us also keep in mind that this should not be the only time we evaluate our attitude.  This should start to become a very common thing.  Best of luck, my friends.

It's not just another day.

Was today just another day?  Feeling like you are just stuck in a routine and nothing new ever happens?  It doesn't have to be that way.  A little while ago I talked about waking up every day and deciding if you were going to have a good day or a bad day.  This is a very similar concept.  When you are just having "another day," don't focus on that.  Find something that was different or open your eyes to find the amazing little small things that we pass by every day. 

 

Here is an example for you: I drive 30ish miles to work in the morning.  This means I have to wake up a little earlier to make sure I have enough time to get there with morning traffic.  I use to find myself silently grumbling about this every morning and how I wish I could just sleep in.  I was put in a situation where it didn't really matter what I thought, I still had to get up and go to work.  One day I happen to notice how amazing the sunrise was that morning.  I then thought to myself, "have I been missing this every day???"  From that point on I now think of my drive as I chance for me to admire how beautiful this earth is and it now gives me a chance to reflect on my life and even connect with God.

 

You will be put in routines and situations where you don't have a lot of control.  The only thing we can always control is our thoughts and our point of view on our particular situation.  Try this tomorrow, see if you can tell a difference.  Best of luck, my friends.

It's all on you.

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined."

-Henry David Thoreau

 

"When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me'.

-Erma Bombeck

 

"Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do, cause hate in your heart will consume you too."

-Will Smith

 

It's all on us.  God gave us agency, the gift to make choices for ourselves.  Now in life, things will happen that we don't have control of, but agency gives us the ability to choose how we will react.  Whether you have a bad day at the gym, your test didn't go as good as you were hoping, or maybe you even had a family member pass away before you thought it was their time.  All we can do is bounce right back.  Had a bad day?  Well make tomorrow better.  We have to strive to make each day better than the last.  If we at least strive to do this, we cannot fail.  Best of luck, my friends.

Minor setbacks.

"I'm proud of the way I've dealt with setbacks. It's hard when you feel down and you think, 'Why is the world doing this to me?' But you have to pick yourself up again. That's what makes you a better athlete."

-Jessica Ennis

 

How many times in life do we get frustrated with ourselves when we either fall short of one of our goals, or make some stupid mistake in life?  The frustration that follows can be beneficial in the sense that we recognize our mistakes or obstacles in life.  This same frustration can destroy our progress if we continually dwell on it.  I truly believe the quicker we can learn and move on, the better off we are.  I guess the trick here is truly learning from it.  Let us all strive to be better today than we were yesterday.  Let us all strive for our dreams and not let minor setbacks destroy all the progress we have already made.  Best of luck, my friends.

You have to try.

Enjoy the ride.

Accepting personal responsibility.



"Accept responsibility for your life. Know that it is you who will get you where you want to go, no one else."

-Les Brown

 

We could come up with all the excuses in the world to why we are not where we want to be in life, but that is all they are, excuses.  When we, as humans, make excuses, we often blame other people for our own failures or shortcomings.  Just because Billy Bob didn't meet you at the gym like he said he would, doesn't mean you get to just go home and take a rest day.  Best of luck!  Keep that smile on, my friends.

Creating your own inner strength.

"Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy."

-Norman Vincent Peale

 

Do you believe in yourself?  Do you truly believe in what you are fighting for?  If you do not, how can you expect to find that drive deep inside you?  When times get hard and you begin to truly be tested, how will you fight through?  If you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are doing what you are meant to do, I can promise you that when times get hard you will have the inner strength to fight through and become successful, become happy.  Remember why you are fighting the fight.  Best of luck, and keep that smile on.