Are You Willing To Die On The Treadmill?

I have to say that I have a new found respect for Will Smith after watching this interview.  And after I watched it, I naturally did what I do best – think!  What I started thinking about is how it’s funny that so often you see people who are successful and you see the end product – their success.  But what you don’t see is the most important part of why they’re successful – their struggles, their failures, their focus, their dedication, their drive, their passion, their ups and downs, their self-discipline, their pain, their tears, their hard-work… and in my eyes the most important part of it all – their mindset that no matter what happens they will make it.

I would say the big thing that I took away from this interview is just having a deep rooted belief in yourself.  Trust that you can do anything that you put your mind to.  Ignore distractions and those who are not willing to work hard to achieve success.  Believe that YOU are the best.  Believe in the impossible.  DO NOT get out hustled.  And make sure you’re ready… everyday.  Ready for the opportunities that can and will change your life.  Ready for the dreams that keep you up at night.  Ready… to die on a treadmill.

And if you wake up and you’re not going to be your best… do the world a favor and STAY IN BED!

(Chad)

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“We are what we choose to be.”

“Make a choice.  Decide what it’s going to be, who you’re going to be and how you’re going to do it.  Just decide.  The universe will get out of your way.”

“Believe in possibilities.”

“If you’re not where you want to be are you being outworked?  Are you missing crucial opportunities?”

“If you stay ready you don’t have to get ready!”

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Childhood Dreams And How You Can Achieve Yours

I have this habit of going back to revisit things that have impacted me in a significant way. The goal is to see if there’s anything new that I can learn that I didn’t learn the first time around. The video below is one such example – it is the reprise talk of Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture. At this point, I couldn’t even tell you how many times I’ve seen it but I still love watching it.

This video always reminds me that every day we have this remarkable ability to touch the lives of others – sometimes in ways we don’t even realize we do.

I’ve listed some of his thoughts/quotes from the talk that I liked. Feel free to post your favorites in the comments section.

(Chad)

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“The brick walls that are in our way are there for a reason. They are not there to keep us out, they are there to give us a chance to show how much we want it. The brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”

“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you wanted.”

“Have a sense of fun and wonder all of the time.”

“It was an easy time to dream. When you turn on your television set and men are landing on the moon, anything is possible – and we should never lose that spirit.”

“I can’t control the cards I’m dealt just how I play the hands.”

“Are you a Tiger or an Eeyore?”

“Live with integrity. Tell the truth.”

“I don’t care how much value you get out of owning a nice shiny pristine thing, it’s not as good as I felt knowing that I made an 8 year old boy not feel guilty just because he had the flu.” (this one gets a big star)

Learn how to apologize: “I’m sorry. It was my fault. How do I make it right?”

“Show gratitude.”

“You can spend your time complaining or spend your time playing the game hard.”

Do You Have This Much Fun At Work?

This past weekend I attended a fitness seminar held by Alwyn Cosgrove that focused on the business side of the industry. Sparing all the details, one of the topics was building your business based on your core values. Now I know everyone isn’t trying to build their own business but this still applies because every company you work for has a set of core values that they operate under. So this would be a good time to ask…

What are your core values?

What are your company’s core values?

Are they the same?

One of Cosgrove’s core values is that you should always have fun. That is a simple core value but, in my opinion, a pretty important one.

At his training facility he created this culture that says no matter what we do we better have fun doing it. And he brought this culture to the seminar. Case in point, we had a dance off competition in the middle of the seminar (video proof is below).

Can you tell me you wouldn’t want to be a part of this type of work environment? I mean, seriously, why must we make our professional lives so stuffy, uptight and formal?

The person in that video is my boss. Would your boss do this? And even more importantly, if you were the boss would YOU do this? At the end of the day, if you’re not enjoying your time at work then why the hell do you keep going? Have we forgotten that work can be fun?

Take a moment to think about this… if your company’s values don’t blend with yours then why do you work for them? Maybe you don’t value your own values as much as you think. Maybe you’ve never stopped to think that you can have it better and you deserve better.

Remember, you always have the choice. In this example, you can choose to have fun or you can choose to not have fun. I don’t know about you but I like having fun. When I’m having fun, I’m excited to be at work and that energy carries over to my clients and coworkers. And whether you want to believe it or not, that makes a HUGE difference on a lot of levels.

So make the choice. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not next month. Make the decision today to live by your core values at home, at work… everywhere.

Have confidence to expect the best and be committed to only accept the best.

(Chad)

How Close To Your Goals Are You?

HELLO!

Today is February 3rd.  We are officially 34 days into the new year.  That means approximately 9% of the year is already over.  Are you 9% closer to your goals?

Don’t know?

Then how much does reaching your goals really matter to you?

Still don’t know?

Let me give you a little kick… get your shit together!

In the meantime, here are a couple things I’m up to as well as some of the things I’ve learned that may help you get started…

One of my goals is to make twice as much money as I did last year. My motivation is that if I do, I will be able to invest in myself more this year than last. I will be able to buy more books, go to more seminars or maybe even take a sweet vacation to spend time with the people that I love. I have to admit this is somewhat of an optimistic goal. I definitely envision this presenting its challenges. Even with that said, to date, I am 5% above my goal!

Remember, it never hurts to aim high… you just might surprise yourself and do something you never thought you could do. And even if you come up short I would venture to say you will still accomplish something great.

A second goal of mine is to read at least 6 books on topics relating to personal growth, self-improvement or any other topic that will make me a better person. That is one book every other month. So by the end of February I will need to have read one book. Luckily, I’m ahead of the game and read one book in January. So as I post this I’m off to a great start. Right now, I believe I should accomplish this goal with no problems. However, I still need to make sure I do it. That is why I wrote it down – so I can hold myself accountable. Why? Because while it does matter how I start, it matters even more how I finish. And while I believe I am setting myself up for success, a year is a long time and a lot of things could happen to cause me to lose focus and not accomplish this goal.

So the simplest advice I can give…

Set yourself up for success.  Some goals should be goals you know you can achieve but will still challenge you.  Some should be in place to push you to new limits and test your abilities.

Write your goals down.

Hold yourself accountable.

You can make your goals short term or long term.  I like to think big then break it down into smaller more immediate, actionable items.

For example, let’s say your goal is to lose 24lbs this year (yes, I picked 24 because it will make my life easier!). That’s 2lbs per month or 0.5lbs per week. Doesn’t seem so overwhelming now, does it? Now let’s take that a step further. If there are 3500 calories in 1lb of body fat that means you will need to do something every week that allows you to end each week with a caloric deficit of 1750 calories. Since the last time I checked there are 7 days in a week, you only need to have a deficit of 250 calories per day. That is a much more digestible number (no pun intended). That is something you can take action on now!

You still have 11 months to get back on track if you’re not right now.

Set goals.

Celebrate your success.

And have some fun doing it!

(Chad)

Just in case you were wondering what book I read it’s Jeffrey Gitomer’s
Little Teal Book of Trust  and much like all of his books, it is simple but profound.