Sunday Story…Year in Review

“Most people who talk about goals just say, “You should have goals.” They don’t tell you how to set them. – Craig Swanson

So you embraced your life, you know, the one you have created. And now, it’s that time of the year again. The end of the year. The time of year when we look back at what happened and look forward to what we want to happen. Most of us do this in some form or another in a formal or informal way. You might sit down and make a list or maybe just mentally go over your achievements. Hopefully you will make a list of what you might do in the coming year. Even better if you set SMART goals for the year (SMART = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time orientated).

Let’s take the year in review first. You can’t set goals for where you want to go unless you know where you are before you start.

The two questions to ask yourself about the past year are:
1. What went well this year?

And

2. What didn’t go well this year?

Pretty simple questions that you should be able to get 6 to 8 answers to. So rule #1 in this process is that you have to write them down. I like to use real paper and pen but the computer is fine for this. Keep in mind you should only focus on the things you had control over. You couldn’t control the tornado that flattened the town but you could control what you did about it.

I suggest taking 2 or 3 days doing this process. You might get more than 6-8 answers but try to narrow it down to the not more than 10 really important things for each question. When looking back at the year you should get a sense of what kind of year it was and you might even have a nickname for it when you are done…the year of “change”, or “harmonic convergence”, or “tectonic shifts.”

When you review what went right and what went not so right some things should come into focus. It will be clear what the coming year could have in store. Let’s be honest…if you do what you already did you will end up with what you already have. Life planning will change so many things in your life, including your level of satisfaction or happiness. So now it’s time to look forward.

The second part of the process is to set the goals for the coming year. Again we look for the answer to 2 questions:
1. What do I really want to accomplish in the coming year.

And

2. What do I need to do to accomplish the things in #1.

We will explore this process more deeply next week. In the interim get cracking on this project. It is not hard but it is very important. Enjoy the process and be kind to yourself!

Namaste

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story...Your Life

“You are the star in the movie called Your Life. Why are you pretending it’s just a bit part?”¬¬--Unknown

You are living the life you have created. Whether or not you have created it on purpose. All too often our life ended up looking a certain way because we did what was expected of us, what we should do, and what the world had us pigeon-holed to do or be. You were supposed to go to college (and in some cases a particular one), get married (to a certain type), have children (a number), pursue a certain career (one acceptable to your family). Maybe you did all of those things. Maybe you did them well, and did them successfully. That was the life you created. What life would you have created if you were free from all those should-dos? You might have created the exact life you created. Then again, you might have created something entirely different.

I would invite you to look back over your life and shuck the shoulds. I am not extolling you to throw everything in your life away. I am inviting to step powerfully into the fact that you are living the exact life you have designed for yourself. And I am also inviting you to step powerfully into the exact life you want to lead.

So go ahead and look back. Look back with eyes of gratitude and hope and joy. Your life today is the aggregation of all those actions you took (and the ones you didn’t), all the expectations you accepted, all the shoulds, all the supposed-tos. You did it all to the extent and ability you could. So many things have gone right; so many things have been fun and good. Celebrate the victories, large and small.

Out of this joyous moment take a long look forward. Way, way down the road. Look at the end game, that moment none of us really wants to face, but the one we all know is coming. When the curtain falls and you gaze back over the life you lived, will the life you did create be the one you intended to create, the one you wanted to leave behind for the inspection of the ages? Or will it be the life you created out of other people’s expectations and desires? Or, and perhaps worse yet, will it be a life cobbled together by accident, by happenstance and kismet, a life that just happened like a piece of flotsam washed up on some unintentional shore?

When I think about that moment I know I do not want my life to have been determined by a pinball-like caroming of events. I want my life to look like I had some idea of what I wanted to do, some idea of what I might accomplish, some idea of intention and attention. Maybe you aren’t that way. Maybe you live in a different paradigm than I do. And that is all well and good.

You get to have the life you want to create whether by intention and on purpose or by accident. It is, after all, your life. If you want to create a life that might inspire or have purpose and meaning, you can do that. There are things to be done and done now, as in the right now.

For right now, though, let’s just savor the life we are living. After all it is the only one you are going to get on this go around. The next 2 weeks will explore the “what’s next and what’s possible” part of the equation.

From me to you, with gratitude,

Namaste

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story...Be hard to kill

In other words why you should be fit.

When I look across the broad spectrum of life I see so many areas that I could make so many improvements…health, money, career, relationships (family), education, spirituality, and others. This looks like a lot of places to do work and frankly overwhelming. Many of us (OK, me) try to do too many of these things and end up doing none of them. Then I feel badly.

What if there was one area where I could get more bang for my buck. One area that would lead to improvement in several others, if not across the board in all of them. We often see this all boats rise with the tide phenomenon in other arenas but it is also true in the arena of personal development.
The one place, the one area where you will improve your life across the board is in your physical fitness. Admittedly I am biased. However, after over 20 years in the fitness and personal growth business I feel confident in making the following statements:

Transforming your body transforms your whole life

When your fitness improves your brain works better

Fit people are harder to kill and easier to love

Improving your fitness improves your attitude

Being fit improves how you see the world

I have seen research that says being healthy in your body means your brain is more able to learn. I have seen research that claims working out improves your ability to focus and stay on track (A.D.D., A.D.H.D. people perk up); there is no doubt that being fit improves your attitude. Your brain produces endorphins during exercise that you can’t get any other way and these endorphins make you feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally. Fitness could get you a better job. You will be more attractive to employers if you are fit and healthy, your attitude is positive and you give off a healthy energy. To be blunt and honest there is weight discrimination out there. Your relationships will improve as your energy goes up. You can spend more time with your loved ones and be more positive about it.

The area that will most improve and the most underrated is in your confidence. When you are fit you will gain in self confidence. That self confidence derives from the self discipline it takes to get and maintain fitness. When you are living in a body you love your mood is soaring and your confidence is off the chart. If I had to pick one thing that every person on earth should have in abundance it would be self confidence. One of the easiest ways to increase self confidence is increase your fitness. And, really, won’t we all feel better knowing we look good naked?

You can want to make more money, you can want to be a more spiritual person, you can want to be a better spouse or a parent, you can want to be more successful in your career and not have any idea where to start. If you start by getting your physical body in better condition those things will start improving with little to no effort on your part. In other words being more fit will make you happier and have you enjoy life more fully.

“Fitness is a game-changer. It just is. Once you get to your best physical condition, your focus soars, your mood elevates, your resilience grows, and your stamina flows. The Perfect Human is like a hunter on the plains—knowing only the fittest survive. And yes—when you get fit you’ll get giant goals done (so your life gets good). But also get ultra-healthy so you’re of improved service to our world. (We all need you to shine).” Robin Sharma

Namaste

John

www.crossfit-odyssey@gmail.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story…YOU CAN

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last week, you know that Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa and the man who led the fight against apartheid in that country has died. Many writers and talking heads will memorialize his achievements much better than I ever could. I invite you to read and listen to them.

For me and many other people the message from his life rang clear:

If you want to change the world, YOU CAN.

It is that simple. YOU CAN.

You can stand up to seemingly insurmountable opposition.

You can do what’s right even when under pressure to do what’s expedient or what’s expected.

You can respond with compassion and still be seen as strong and be strong.

You can change the world and preserve yourself.

You can tolerate much more pain and suffering than you think you can.

You can change the world if you realize the journey is going to be longer and harder and more trying than anything you ever imagined.

YOU CAN.

Maybe changing the world isn’t on your short list of things to do this week. Maybe you just need to get through another holiday season with a minimal amount of stress and pain. Maybe you just need to get back on track in some aspect of your life…diet, exercise, career, family, or? YOU CAN

It is attributed to Archimedes the saying that “if I had a lever long enough I could move the earth.” If your lever is long enough you can change the world. You can also change your life. You can also improve the lives of those around you. You can do what you set your mind to do.

Nelson Mandela spent years in a physical prison locked up. Why are you locked in a prison of your own making? Who sentenced you to living the life you are living? Who is your jailer? You are. And you are your liberator. You are the one with the keys to unlock the doors of your prison. Why aren’t you using them?

Unlock the doors and step into the light of the life you want to live.

YOU CAN
But you have to want to. You have to want to be free. You have to want to change. You have to be willing to tolerate the pain of transformation. You have to be willing to be the grey mush of the cocoon in order to become something new and fresh. You have to step up to step out.

YOU CAN
Be the one we are waiting for.
Change the world. Change your neighborhood. Change your house. Change your life. Change the people around you.

YOU CAN CHANGE YOURSELF

YOU CAN
Grab the end of that lever and don’t let go until the world moves. Believe, be passionate and steadfast in your conviction, be the change you want to see in the world.

YOU CAN

YOU CAN

YOU CAN

If you won’t…Who?

Namaste

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story…It’s my Party or My Funeral

Whaat? Party or Funeral? I know wakes are kind of like parties but let’s be honest, having a party because someone died is not really all that much fun. After all the guest of honor is still dead.

The real question I pose to you here is this: How are you living your life? Party or funeral? We all get a choice every day. That choice is simple…how are you going to live today? You are going to go out and greet the world in some fashion. What is your choice?

Maybe you got out of bed and weren’t really feeling it. You said to yourself, I’m cranky, tired and just not looking forward to the day. Guess what? That is pretty much how your day is going to go. You are going to be tired and cranky and just not into it. On your way to a funeral (yours).
If you look out at the world and start looking for all the ways that it sucks you won’t have to look very far or very hard. On the other hand, no matter how bad your life sucks it could always suck worse. It makes no sense to me to decide that life sucks and start living out of that box. It can always get worse no matter how bad it is. So why live like your life is 30% suckitude? Are you trying to get to 70%? Really? Why would you want to do that? Even is your life is 98% funeral it is still 2% party!

Get up in the morning and force yourself to say it’s going to be a great day. I feel great and I am only going to get better. I am way better off than most people and way way better than the guy in the funeral home. It is time to party today because I am up and going to run through life.
Maybe that whole thing is a stretch for you. Maybe your life really does suck. It is still better than some lives. And for most of you reading this…Your life does not suck; especially when we compare it around the world. Your life looks like one big party to about 90% of the world’s population.

The only freedom you have, the only freedom that can never be taken from you is the freedom to choose your attitude. You can be locked up, put in chains, have everything and everyone taken from you but you get to determine how you will react to those things and what attitude you will adopt. This is a truth many of us forget in our quest to be negative. You don’t have to do it. You don’t have to go down that road. Choose to go down another path!

Every day you get to choose: do I go to a Party (woohoo) or a Funeral (oh no). This is your life. A party can be messy and stuff gets spilled and it isn’t always as much fun as you thought it was going to be. But it sure beats the alternative of sitting around and moping and complaining about stuff you can’t change anyway. Complaining and bitching and moaning never brought back the dead and it isn’t going to improve your attitude either.

So let’s get this party started! Woohoo!

Namaste
John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story...I'm FINE

Fine…Freaked Out, Intense, Neurotic, Emotional

Stress is a funny thing. We need stress to perform well. Too much stress will degrade our performance. There is a fine line between too much and not enough. This is true in so much of our lives.

Pressure creates diamonds from coal. Stress gives us champions and heroes, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. As the old saying goes…when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Stress helps us by giving us deadlines and standards to measure ourselves against. Living a life with no stress would be boring and mundane.

Stress will also kill you. In a very bad way. Heart attack, stroke, or mental breakdown can easily be imminent in high stress situations. At the very least stress will cause you to do and say things you would not do or say under normal conditions. Too much stress affects your life negatively across all aspects…sleep suffers, exercise is less effective, food doesn’t digest well, your mental attitude is confused, and you are prone to getting sick (which adds even more stress).

So what to do about stress? How do we know when enough is enough and too much is over the top? Most of us don’t have built in stress meters. Or do we? When you aren’t sleeping well your stress meter is going off. When the food you eat all tastes like sawdust your stress meter is hitting the redline. When you catch a cold at the drop of a hat or you seem to be sick too often your stress levels are getting out of hand. If the simplest things create a huge off the hook reaction in you…ding ding ding!

So whatcha going to do Willis? Because if you don’t get out of that funk, that funk is going to kill you. I recently went through one of the most stressful times of my life. It was one of my own doing, but that’s a story for another time. Stressor #1… I moved my business after 5 years in the same location (moving is always stressful). Stressor #2… I put people in charge of that business since I was going to move to Dallas TX. This was a sudden decision for everyone. Stressor #3…I moved 1600 miles out of the area I had lived in for 25 years and the house I had lived in for 5+ years (that whole moving thing again). Stressor #4…I was opening a brand new business in a new town in a new way with a business partner I had never worked with before. Stressor #5…in the month leading up to the move my diet got worse due to time constraints, my rest fragmented, again, due to time constraints and finally my workout program started to break down. Stressor #6…I drove for 3 days, eating the best I could on the road but it wasn’t good. This is a fair bit of stress, all at once. When I arrived in Dallas I was sick, really sick. My digestion was a mess. I needed a root canal. I was tired, bone tired. I was off balance, I didn’t feel grounded. It took 3 weeks to get things under control. It has taken about 3 months to get back to where I feel 100% and back to myself.

How did I do it? By doing exactly what you would expect. I started eating right…good quality food, consistently. Getting to bed at a decent time. Getting my workout program back on track. I am fortunate enough to know that I re-charge my internal batteries by spending time alone. I also got back to my Tai Chi K’ung practice…a meditative movement practice I use to balance my breath and body into harmony ( I have a dvd available if you want it). I can’t imagine how long it would have taken to come back without these practices. This is why you must do these things now, in times of low stress so that they become habits. Then, in times of high stress, you will fall into good patterns because you are habituated to do so.

I keep my stress levels as low as I can. There are things I can’t control that cause stress, granted. But poor diet I can control. Drinking too much I can control. Not sleeping well I can control. Exercise and training I can control. Staying in balance and recharging my batteries I can control. Stress management comes down to this: Control the things you can control. Let the rest go, you can’t control them anyway.

I wish you a stress-free holiday season. Love people where they are. Wanting them to be something else isn’t going to work anyway. If you need nutrition or exercise help reach out to me and let’s get you on track in person or remotely.

Namaste
John
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
john@crossfit-odyssey.com

Sunday Story...The Aging Athlete

I will admit it…I am an aging athlete. I am fighting tooth and nail to maintain muscle mass, improve speed, get healthier, move more easily, and do what I can to slow the aging process. What I am about to tell you is a distillation of what I have learned so far. This by no means the gospel according to John, it is what works for me and I believe it will work for you. That being said, listen to your own body, take into account the damage you may have done over the years, and above all, don’t do anything stupid. As a matter of fact that is #1…

Don’t do Stupid Stuff.
As much as I would love to get one of those flying squirrel suits and base jump off a cliff somewhere it probably isn’t going to happen. About 25 years ago I went scuba diving with a friend in Bodega Bay California. I had never been scuba diving before. The sea was rough and it took more than 15 minutes just to get past the swells and into the water. The visibility was about 3 feet and I had no idea what I was doing. Stupid. And if I wasn’t such a strong swimmer who knows what might have happened. Not a runner? Don’t try a marathon next Saturday. Assess your abilities, get help when you need it and think a little bit ahead. It will go far.

Get Some Sleep.
Many of us, me included, grew up thinking sleep was for sissies. I used to brag about being able to function on 4 or 5 hours of sleep. I also drank a couple pots of coffee every day. I was wound so tight I am lucky I didn’t explode. You need 7-9 hours of sleep every night. It is a habit and one that is easy to develop.

Work Your Butt Off.
In the gym. As I age I am fighting a couple different battles simultaneously. These are things that will happen if we don’t do the work. Hormonal changes and the declining muscle mass are battles waged both here and in the kitchen. The work in the gym is critical to maintaining both muscle mass and bone density…use it or lose it. And the 30 minutes on the treadmill at 40% of your max heart rate sort of work isn’t going to cut it. You need to get your heart rate up, your blood pumping and your breath gasping. You need to pick up heavy stuff. You need to move large loads over long distances quickly.
Mind what you eat and eat what you mind.

Eat real food.
It is simple. Don’t eat processed crap. If you eat in a restaurant eat in one where they source real food…this means non-gmo, no pesticides or herbicides, no added hormones or antibiotics, food grown in its’ natural state (do chickens live in small cages with no beaks or pigs with no tails?) This isn’t real hard but it does take some consciousness. When you eat, be mindful. Take your time concentrate on the food as it contributes to your health and well being. Stop texting and emailing for a few minutes and enjoy the company you are in…even if you are alone.

Learn new Stuff
Your brain is a tool to be used. You need to exercise it just like you exercise your muscles or it is going to atrophy and be less useful (can you spell dementia?) Spend time learning new stuff…new games, new skills, and new languages (no, you aren’t too old), make new friends, do things you have never done before (see rule #1 though!) Turn off the T.V., it is not your friend and it is not going to help your brain be healthy.

You are choosing, right now, how you are going to age. You are making decisions that will show up in 10 or 15 years in your quality of life. When you are 60 or 70 years old it is going to be exponentially difficult to make the changes and it is going to take a lot longer to have those changes be effective. On the bright side doing something at any age is better than doing nothing!

Get started today. Call me for class time or to get going with a remote coaching program!

Namaste

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story…Dateline Dallas

Since my announcement that I was moving to Dallas, Texas back in July I have not been writing my Sunday Stories. There was just way too much to do to get here…moving my residence after 25 years in the same community, moving Relentless Martial Arts to a new, larger facility, creating a team of committed and dedicated volunteers to keep that business open, and then showing up here in Dallas.
I am in Dallas now. I got here the weekend before Labor Day so this marks about 2 months and things are settled enough for me to start getting more consistent in writing these stories again.

Dallas is an interesting place.
I have never lived in a large city like this; I spent a month in NYC once and 3 months in Austin TX and I did live in San Jose for a brief bit and the SF bay area, but on the outskirts. After 25 years in the small town of Fernley, this is a very unusual place for me to be. And large it is…there are about 8 million people in the greater metroplex area and 1.2 million in Dallas proper (isn’t Google grand!). It also covers a large geographical area. It has all the problems a city of this size has…traffic issues, difficult to navigate at times, hard to get the down low on things, and lots of people. In addition, it has all the benefits you would expect as well…tons of things to do, restaurant and shop venues of every stripe and many diverse and interesting people. Dallas has lots of extremely large churches and a huge number of universities.

The People
The people here have been great in my experience. They are relaxed in general and very helpful when a stranger asks questions about their city and what is out there. My experience is that people are polite and courteous. Until they get behind the wheel of their car. Then all bets are off. However, let’s be honest…is that any different where you live? I found people here to be accepting and interested in the how and why people come here. In the neighborhood where our studio is located, there are lots of cosmetic dentists, plastic surgeons, gyms, laser hair removal places, spas, and massage therapists. There is a theme here that people care about their appearance. They are also very concerned about their children’s educations. Both charter and private schools (run by all those churches) abound and one of the first questions people ask is where someone went to school (high school, but often elementary as well) and how was it? Perhaps I am meeting people who, predominately, grew up here in Dallas and in many cases whose children are attending the same schools they did.

The Weather
I got here in August and it was hot and humid...over 100 degrees a number of times and humidity in the triple digits as well. I didn’t think it was oppressive but I can get where that might not be for everyone. Some folks keep the air conditioning on frigid. This fall has been very pleasant…about 80 degrees during the day and 50/60 degrees overnight with an acceptable level of humidity. Just to my taste. It rains from time to time and when it does, it pours. Raindrops the size of softballs and coming hard and fast like a staccato guitar solo. Then it stops. Good weather so far, in my opinion.

The Odyssey…CrossFit and Martial Arts
I will touch on this more in coming stories but suffice it to say we are open and teaching classes. We had some glitches and challenges that delayed our opening by about 3 weeks but those were easily overcome with patience and perseverance (OK, easily might be a bit of an exaggeration). We have a number of great athletes joining us every day for CrossFit and the Martial Arts end of things is quickly ramping up. We have a great facility to work in and the community at Preston Center Dance has been wonderful to work with. I am excited to see what the next few months bring.

Overall
I like Dallas, I am enjoying the people, the environment, and yes, even the challenges living in a big city brings. I even enjoy my small fourth floor apartment with a great view of the downtown Dallas skyline. Granted, I have only been here for 60 days, but so far so good!

More next week!

Namaste
John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story...Change is a coming

Change is coming to Relentless Martial Arts

What follows below is the letter I sent to my students and athletes yesterday. For those of you following this blog, it will continue. I may be a bit hit and miss over the next few weeks so I ask your understanding. If you have any questions feel free to call or write me.

After close to 20 years of teaching martial arts here in Fernley, I have decided to move to Dallas TX. Rather than close the doors a consortium of highly qualified teachers and students have decided to step up and continue the work this school has been doing in the community these last 2 decades. We will be moving the school to a (yet to be disclosed) new location. Wendy Tustin (soon to be 3rd degree black belt), Rick Lauk (soon to be 2nd degree black belt), Richard Lynn (soon to be 2nd degree), Scott Dalton (soon to be 1st degree)and Dennis Clark (soon to be 1st degree) will be leading the TaeKwon-Do side of the school, with Mr. Clark spearheading the After School Martial Arts Program. Matt Waipa, a Charles Gracie Team Purple Belt and Naron Antone, a Charles Gracie Team Blue Belt, will run the Brazilian JiuJitsu program. Dani Northington and Linda and Brian Pike will head up our FIT program. Working together Dani Northington and Linda Pike will also lend their years of organizational expertise in coordinating all three of these divisions and the resulting paperwork and administrative details.

I remain the overall leader of this venture. I will continue to guide the martial arts teaching, visiting several times a year to assist in the administration of tests and curriculum development. I will also be behind the scenes guiding and developing the FIT program into the premiere strength and fitness program it has already become.
I have been teaching here in Fernley for 17 years. Throughout the years, I have grown, changed, learned and formed friendships here. I have been deeply affected and I have not come to this decision lightly. As a matter of fact, it took a very unique opportunity to pull me away.

I have had thousands of children and adults who have earned belts in TaeKwon Do ranging from the basic white belt to advanced degree black belts. About 50 of you earned black belts. I couldn’t be more proud of your accomplishments.
Together, we have done many outstanding community projects ranging from the community garden (which donated over 2,000 pounds of food to our local food bank), to 15 days of kindness, to helping send care packages to our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have also produced thousands of acts of kindness over the last 7 or 8 years since we began the Acts of Kindness project. I like to think that we have made our world and Fernley a better place to live and play. None of those things would have been possible without you and your efforts.

To all of you, I hope our time together has been well spent. I have enjoyed being your teacher, coach, mentor and friend. Some of you I have known for a very long time; I have seen you learn and grow and become stronger and better with each passing day. For those of you I have not had the pleasure of spending a long time with, I apologize that our time has been too short and hope I have managed to impact your lives in a meaningful way.

If you want to shift your TaeKwon Do training, please call Grand Master Grasso at 775-813-1150 and he will welcome you at his school in Reno. For those of you interested in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu, please call Gary Grate at the Reno Gracie Academy at 775-830-4279. And for you CrossFitters, I highly recommend Battle Born CrossFit. Call Alena at 775-745-5144. Every one of these organizations is top notch and will be expecting your call.

I do have remote coaching and teaching programs available and there are some openings at this time. Call me at 338-2412 to discuss with me if this option is right for you.

I apologize to any of you who feel saddened by this decision. And I ask you to continue your training and keep doing the good work you have started.

Every beginning has an ending and every ending is a new beginning.

This is true for all of us.

I welcome people to stay in touch via my weekly blog at http://sunday-stories.blogspot.com/. My email will remain utffernley@gmail.com and my phone number is 775-338-2412.
Your friend,
John Mariotti
Namaste

Sunday Story...On Being Better

Sunday Story…On Being Better

In my TaeKwon-Do classes we always talk about Indomitable Spirit. We define this concept as “facing your fear and going ahead anyway.” This is also how many people define courage. That quality within us that has us getting up when we get knocked down. This is the stuff heroes are made of…that spirit that has those heroes fighting insurmountable odds, facing unconquerable opponents and attacking life head on in the face of sure defeat.

Today a hero was born. She doesn’t know it yet but a hero entered the world today. Today I witnessed Indomitable Spirit manifest in the world. Today I saw self-esteem grow and be displayed like a peacock fanning his feathers.

This morning at approximately 9:40AM west coast time Linda Pike started her 2nd Tough Mudder. For those of you who don’t know the Tough Mudder…here it is in a nutshell…run 10 or 12 miles up a mountain, face 20 or so obstacles like crawling in mud while getting electrical shocks, humping over (and under) huge logs placed 10 or so feet above the ground, climbing up a 14 foot wall and jumping off into a pit of muddy water, carrying a large log up and down a hill, and jumping in to a trough of ice (lots of ice) water and swimming under a barrier to the other side, and a whole bunch of other torturous tests.

Tough Mudder is not a race. Tough Mudder is a challenge. A challenge to you to help your teammates get through the course. A challenge to you to face your fear and go ahead anyway. A testing ground for courage and indomitable spirit. A challenge to you to emerge with a new attitude and a fresh smile born of accomplishment.

Linda Pike became a hero today. A mere 10 months ago she ran a very similar course and walked past/avoided over ½ of the obstacles. Today she defeated each obstacle. Today she faced her fear of heights. Today she faced her fear of water and not being able to see. Today she faced self doubt and negative self-talk. Today she faced down decades of demons telling her what she couldn’t do. Today Linda Pike became a hero.

Linda Pike looked into the maw of fear and defeat and snatched her self-esteem, her self-worth out of tthe grasp of those demons and like the warriors of yore shook victory from those steely cold unfeeling hands. Today Linda Pike stepped up and got counted among the heroes. She worked hard over the last year, of that I have seen. She showed up, picked up weight, learned new skills, sweated and yes cried once or twice on the road to this morning’s victory. But all those hours in the gym were a minor contribution to the display of courage and indomitable spirit I saw over 4½ hours today. What happened today was the blossoming of a new persona…one who believes in the aristocracy of effort and vision. This hero will view any obstacle as surmountable. This hero will step up and girding her loins, strapping on her weapons will step on to that battle field of human endeavor and fight tooth and nail to achieve victory.

Linda Pike I salute you and your performance today. You are my hero.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story…Work First

Go get your Webster’s dictionary out. Look up three words…results, success, and work. We all know what these mean…I’m mostly interested if you notice the order in which these words appear. Results show up first, then success, and lastly work. This is the only place that this occurs.

Work always comes before success or results. If you don’t work nothing else matters. If you aren’t willing to sacrifice, plan, deal with frustration and pain then you aren’t willing to work. You need to work to get results. It really is simple.

Too many of us focus on results we want. The goal we have in mind. I want to weigh 125 pounds, I want to dead lift 500 pounds, I want to be at 12% body fat. These are all results. These are all goals, the results we want from the effort we expend. But they should not be the primary focus. The primary focus is the work.

Work is what we do to get results. Work is what is required to get the results we want work is what we do to be who we want to be. Work is the glue that puts the results together to build the life we want to live.

I often say there is no “magic pill.” Well, I am wrong…the “magic pill” is work, and work includes sacrifice. Work includes doing some things you don’t want to do. Work requires that you stay on task as you move through the cycle to get the results you want.

We can’t just show up and think the work will get done. We need to be intentional and focused on doing the work. Results and met goals are the products of focused intentional effort also known as work. Results and success follow work not the other way around.
Forget about the results. Forget about the goals. Get your laser beam focus on the right work, the correct effort and the results will be there. Most people miss this part; they are so focused on the results, the end game that they forget about the mindset that it takes to get to that part of the game. Don’t be that guy. Don’t lose sight of the work and how you do it. That focus, that intention, that single minded effort to doing the task at hand with nothing else in mind.

This doesn’t mean that results aren’t important…they are. That would be a mistaken belief but so is thinking that results are the only things that matters. Work matters and work comes first before results and before success. Laser like focus on the work at hand yields the results you crave and need. Keep your priorities in order.

The only place success comes before work in in the dictionary.

Namaste

John

“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”

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Sunday Story...Family Ties

Sunday Story…Family Ties

I spent this past weekend visiting my family. We all have family. Some families are big and expansive, others are smaller and more compact. We generally don’t get to pick our family. They are the ones we come with, even the ones we marry into. I suppose mine is average if such a thing is possible.

The reason I am writing about this today is the juxtaposition between birth and death, the beginning and the end, alpha and omega. I have a grandson just 6 months into his life and my father at 80 slowly nearing the end of his.

One happy and joyful being passed from relative to relative, played with and playing, rolling over and discovering a whole new world.

The other, well, hardly moving or speaking.

2 journeys…beginning and ending and beginning again. Most of us can’t remember our first 3 or 4 years. My father can’t really remember these last few years either. He will be gone at some time in the near future. My grandson has been born at a time when his life span is expected to exceed 100 years to parents that are already concerned about his nutritional intake.

My father was the first of his family to graduate from college. It was quite an accomplishment and one that set me on the path to a college education as it has my children and now my grandchild. As a matter of fact he already has a college fund.

My father’s journey has been long and in many ways tiring. He and my mother raised 4 boys and have generously given to all of us and all of their grandchildren. Now they are great grandchildren to cherish.

My family is not close geographically. We come together infrequently and enjoy the time we have. My parents raised their children to be independent and able to enjoy lives we built. We were very fortunate to have been born at the time we were born and to the people who raised us. I hope my children and grandchildren have the same good fortune. I hope my father realizes the fantastic job he and my mother did in providing the life they did for me and my brothers. And I hope our newest member gets all of that and more.

I feel sad in seeing my father in the sunset of his life but I hold dear of the memories of strength, integrity, and perseverance he provided. I feel happy in my grandson’s prospect and hope to give him the same example my father gave me.

This shifting of time, this beginning and ending of times is all part of the process we all experience. It is one of the things that all of us humans get to do in some way or another.

Enjoy the process on both ends and in the middle. Life is about what happens in the dash…the dash between your date of birth and date of death.

Namaste

John

“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”

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Sunday Story...Nice Guys

Don’t always finish last. We live in a world where being tough is held up as the ultimate virtue. After all big boys and girls don’t cry. Keep a stiff upper lip. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. These are platitudes we have all heard all of our lives. The CrossFit community has even more of them…raise the bar or die trying, misery loves company so same time and place tomorrow, the weight isn’t too much, you’re too weak, suck it up buttercup. We seem to think that being tough will get us through just about anything.

And tough will serve you often. Picking yourself after you get knocked down is an important quality. Understanding that failure is not defeat, but just an unexpected outcome is a good lesson to integrate. It is important to attack some things like a dog with a bone, not giving up until you get the outcome you desire.

But do you have to be tough all the time? Aren’t there things you could do with a little more love, a little more “nice”? Can’t you be nice when you are getting your morning latte? Can’t you be even nicer than you were yesterday? Do you really need to go through life with your shields up and your hyper-vigilant game face on? I don’t think so. Not everything is a battle for supremacy. Every errand does not need to be a personal record or a contest to see if you can be more efficient, faster, better than the last time.

Maybe you should relax a little and love more. Maybe if you were nicer people would help you. After all, don’t we all want to help people who give us a reason to help them? And isn’t someone being nice a really good reason to help them? Do you really want to go out of your way for the people you know who are rude, crabby, grouchy, or just generally unhappy? I think not.

Try a little more love and little less effort, a little more yield and less push, a little more water and less stone in your day to day life and dealing with other humans. Give people a reason to help you. Be nicer. And then when it is time to be a badass, be a badass. Because being hard and unyielding all the time is hard hard work. Learn to be a little nicer and it will go a long way and then when it is time to be not nice it will be much more effective and more noticeable.

Be hard when the time is right. Be nice the rest of the time. Yin and Yang, hard and soft, one defines the other. You can’t have one without the other to define and highlight the other.

Be a bad ass but be a nice bad ass!

Namaste

John

“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”

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Sunday Story…Pity Party

Serves no one. Well, that isn’t really true. If you decide to host a pity party and a bunch of people show up I guess you might feel well met…after all misery does love company. But does it really serve you? Are you going to feel better when everyone goes home and you are left wallowing in your own swampy morass of pity? Do you really want everyone to coo and cluck over your horrible situation and how you have every right to feel the way you do and you have been so wronged and of course you are justified in feeling this way?

When I was teaching a P.E. fun day recently at a local elementary school I saw this in action a number of times. A child would fall down (incurring no real damage) and would proceed to cry and carry on until some energy from fellow classmates or teachers got focused on them. In a couple of instances they sat in their misery (alone) for 20 minutes until the game shifted to something more to their liking. This really served no one at all.

Where is your pity party? Are you constantly grousing about your weight? How it is so hard for you to lose weight? How you have tried every diet known to man and just nothing works? You’ve been to Doctors, looked at surgery, tried the pills, the shakes, the calorie counting, the shots the prescriptions but nothing give you the permanent change you want? Why isn’t there a magic pill that will work for me….blah blah blah, whine, and whine whine until we are all sick of it?
Maybe your thing is getting fit? Or maybe your job or career? Or your relationship. Hell, maybe your pity party is the weather. It’s too hot, it’s too cold, it’s allergy season, it’s too dry, and it’s too humid, blah blah ad infinitum.

Look we all feel sorry for ourselves from time to time. And sometimes the wrongs done to us would have us be justified in feeling that way. But the real question is whether or not curling up into a fetal position is still serving you all these years later? Are you going to lay on the floor and cry about how horrible things were (and maybe they really were and any one with half a brain would agree that you should be curled up in a corner sucking yor thumb) until when? Is that fetal position still serving you? How, exactly, is your continued pity party serving you?

Maybe you should try happiness? Maybe you should try getting out of bed in the morning with a smile on your face and decide it’s a great day and then set out to make it one? After all you can always crawl back into your pity cave if happiness doesn’t work.

The fact is very simple…the pity party and the happiness train can’t exist at the same time. It’s a one or the other sort of proposition. So get off the pity party circuit and try an express to happiness. Shake it off and get out to building the amazing life you deserve.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Time is on my Side

Or is it? Remember when you were little? Christmas or your birthday seemed to take forever to come around and summer vacation never came soon enough. Through the years time seems to shrink. It is June already and the year is half gone.
It seems like it was just yesterday that I turned 50 and now I am closer to 60. When did that happen? Let alone the distance from childhood. There is no avoiding the onslaught, the continuous march of time; it is going to happen no matter what I do.

Every morning each of us is gifted with 24 hours. Our year is going to have 365 and a quarter days unless it gets cut short. I get the same amount of time you get. How I spend that time is up to me. When we are young time seems infinite. There appears to be no end of time, no end of the possibilities. The older I get the closer time seems to be. It feels like there is a limited amount of it to get things done and if I don’t get them started and finished soon there will be no time left.

So do we rush out in a frenzy, trying to pack our bucket list into the next few years? You know the bucket list? The list of 100 things you must do before you die…learn French (or Spanish or Russian), go to Machu Pichu, run with the bulls of Pamplona, travel around the world in 80 days or whatever else may be on your list. After all time is running out!

I find myself paring the list down to the essentials. Living a life by design, simple and full. A life designed intentionally to inspire and be full of the things that matter to me. Do I want to do all of those things on the list? Sure, it would be nice but it is much more important to me to live a life of optimum health and fitness, to inspire others by example and have some fun and connection while I do that.

Get out and do the things that move and inspire you. A young friend of mine is pursuing her dream of being a mid-wife, a doula, and she has been doing it in the villages of Kenya and Latin America. She often says I inspired her to get out of our small town and find a world where she could make a difference. And she is doing just that…making a difference. She is, in her early twenties, already leaving a legacy of lives touched and changed by her presence.

It is never too late to get started. You are not too old or too young, too big or too small to get out and make a difference. But time is working against you. And time is working for you. You get so many minutes in this body, in this lifetime.. The time is now to go do the things you were meant to do, the things you were designed to do, the purpose you were placed here to fulfill. Maybe you already know what that is; maybe you are in the midst of getting it done. Bravo! If not, today is a good day to get started.

Remember:
If you think you are too small to make a difference, try going to sleep with a mosquito in the room.
It is up to you to leave your mark; no one can do it for you. Time is moving on and the world is waiting for you to step into your role.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Define Yourself

It seems to me there is a very important choice we all make every day.
Are you defining yourself?
Or
Are you letting the world define you?
Everything you do every day makes a clear delineation of these two choices. You can allow the world to define you by:
Race
Sex
Gender
Education
Geography
Culture
The clothes you wear, the music you listen to, the hobbies you do
Pick something and the world is going to pigeon-hole you in some way. You are profiling yourself according to the standards you allow the world to put upon you.
You don’t have to accept entrance into that pigeon-hole. You can do what you want according to how you see the world. Not the other way around. You don’t have to wear denim because everyone else does. You should wear clothes that reflect who you are, how you see the world and how you want to express yourself.
You don’t have to go to a certain school or get a particular brand of education. You can go out and get the one that speaks to your soul; you can go to the school that you choose not the one that was chosen for you by birth or circumstances. You don’t have to buckle down to whatever pressure may be applied---peer, group, societal, cultural.

We have heard this advice in so many ways over the years…march to the beat of a different drummer; be your own man; stand for something or you will stand for anything are all platitudes I am sure you have heard over the years.
We tell our children to be strong, to be themselves, to be individuals and then we expect them to be sheeple in school bent over a desk, conforming to the pressure we put on them to perform on standardized tests. But as soon as that’s done go out and make your own mark on the world but just don’t rock the boat.

Rock the boat it that’s what you feel you need to do. Make your mark by living your life with integrity…the integrity that says I am right with myself. I am right in doing this my way because it feeds my soul. It feels right to be one with my passion, one with my calling, one with purpose. I was put here to fulfill a destiny, not a place in line. There is no reason for me to live a mediocre uninspired life. The world does not get to dictate my way of being any more than it gets to dictate how and who I will love.

Be fearless. Be your own super hero to yourself. You can only save yourself from the pressure of mediocrity, or average, of terminal normality. Define yourself and live into your definition.
You can’t fail. You can only learn and grow.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story…Reputation vs. Character

Way too often I hear people talk about someone who is talking about them and how mad they are and wondering what they should do about it. The answer is simple…Do Nothing. Except be who you are, live the way you want to live. You get to define yourself; the opinions of others do not define you. Your reputation is only what others think of you. Your character is who you really are. What you do when no one is watching is who you really are.

Keep working; keep going even in the face of destructive comments and actions. Your reactions define your character. If you remain true to your character, if you stay the course your character compass has set for your life all that negativity will wash over you like water off a ducks back. You do not answer to the opinions of others. Your life serves as an example of your character. Nothing can stop you if you remain true to who you really are. Your character goes with you into your next life; your reputation stays here in this world.

To be a person of character is the goal, not to be a character, or worse a caricature. You get to decide, you get to determine the course of action that will define who you really are. If you don’t determine your character you will always be swayed by the wind of other people’s opinions, which will shift like sand.

Character is something you build over time, over a life. Character determines your destiny. The process looks like this:
Your thoughts create your words.
Your words create your actions.
Your actions create you habits.
Your habits create your character.
And lastly…your Character creates your Destiny.

I leave you with this quote:
The circumstances amid which you live determine your reputation;
the truth you believe determines your character.
Reputation is what you are supposed to be;
Character is what you are.
Reputation is the photograph;
Character is the face.
Reputation comes over one from without;
Character grows up from within.
Reputation is what you have when you come to a new community;
Character is what you have when you go away.
Reputation is made in a moment;
Character is built in a lifetime.
Your reputation is learned in an hour;
Your character doesn't come to light for a year.
Reputation grows like a mushroom;
Character grows like the oak.
A single newspaper report gives you your reputation;
A life of toil gives you your character.
Reputation makes you rich or makes you poor;
Character makes you happy or makes you miserable.
Reputation is what men say about you on your tombstone;
Character is what angels say about you before the throne of God.
~ William Hersey Davis

Don’t confuse reputation and character. They are not the same things.
Be who you are at all times, in the face of every adversity.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...What are you Waiting for?

I mean, really, what are you waiting for? All around you people are in stasis, not moving at all. People are stuck, and they like being stuck. It is easy and requires us to do nothing. All we have to do is nothing, what could be easier. Just sit on the couch, sit back and let things happen around you. You really can do nothing if you choose it.

On the other hand, once you do something isn’t it almost always easier than you thought? How many times have you put off doing something because it sounded hard, you were afraid you might fail, or you were just flat out scared and then when you went ahead anyway you were amazed at how simple it was?

I had a couple conversations about this just in the last couple days. In one, my friend told me that she would never have tried CrossFit if she had been told what the workout looked like. She said there was no way she would ever have believed that she could do any of those things. Yet several months later she is doing all of them and more. Is it hard? Yes it is. Is it easy? Never. Is it fun? Absolutely. Yet it took that first step into the unknown, that looking under the bed for the monster only to find the monster didn’t exist. Today she rocked 3 different workouts that would have been unheard of 4 months ago.

You have to stop waiting. There is nothing standing in the way except for the self imposed limits you are putting on yourself. You can choose to climb the mountain, jump from the airplane, learn the language, or get a new career. You do not have to accept the status quo. You just need to decide to get out of your own way and get moving toward whatever it is you want to be moving toward. You are not serving yourself by waiting. You are depriving the rest of us, the rest of the world of your greatness, of your effort.

Action is scary. I get it. The height of the rope is scary. The weight on the bar is scary. The workout is scary. Baring your soul is scary. Opening your heart is scary. Living on the edge is scary. I get all of it. But inaction is death. And that is way scarier, isn’t it? Wouldn’t you hate to wake up in the morning and have inaction forced upon your life? Wouldn’t it be a tragedy for all of us not to revel in your effort and your success and learn from your failure? How old will you be next you if you don’t do it now?

The fact is simple: you gain nothing by waiting. There is no prize for procrastinating.
Stop waiting and get moving. Behold the turtle. He gets no where without sticking his neck out!
Stick your neck out and get somewhere!

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Be Brave

Every day we have an opportunity to “put it out there”. For some of us putting it out there may mean putting our art, our effort out into the public for open viewing. Writing, drawing, painting, speaking, dancing, performing all require a bravery to get into the arena a let the world have a look at our art. We open ourselves to the slings and arrows of criticism; we allow the world to have at our efforts because we are brave.

But how brave am I, really? Because, at the bottom of it, it hurts much more to keep it inside than it will ever hurt to let it out, no matter what the public outcry may be. Keeping my dance locked up hurts my soul. Keeping my words off the paper drives me insane with ideas bouncing off my brain. The images in my head need to get out or the risk of loss is just too high.

I can be afraid of criticism, I can fear ridicule from my peers, and I can be scared that what I am doing is simply not good enough, or too amateur-ish, but I can’t keep it inside…the cost of doing that is too high. The price of keeping my art inside is one of mediocrity. The cost of a life of quiet desperation is to admit failure, to admit that we never tried to be excellent, never tried to be great.

This applies to your life in every arena. The price of poor nutrition is what? The cost of being unfit is what? The expense of not setting goals, not learning new skills, not being better is what? Too damn high if you ask me. The cost of all those things is a life of quiet desperation, a life of terminal mediocrity. Is that who you are? Is that who you want your children to be? I hope we all want more than that from ourselves, for our children…I want excellence in every area. Why would I accept anything less than increasing fitness, outstanding health, and a life full of goals set and met?

We all have fear. We all have a piece of ourselves that wants to be lazy; the part that wants to just sit around and eat junk and do nothing. The part that denies the art that live inside of us that is aching to escape and fly free. Your art might be on a canvas, a page, a dance floor, or a gym mat but it is there nonetheless. Depriving the world of your art is selfish and small. Depriving the rest of us of the shining example of your excellence is criminal.

Put it out there. Don’t try it, do it. Every chance you get, just do it. Pretty soon it will become a habit and the fear will fade and excellence will be ingrained in your psyche.

And that is never going to be a bad thing.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
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Sunday Story...Why?

When we are small we accept nothing.
Why is the sky blue?
Why is the grass green?
Why do frogs jump?
Why, why, why…closely followed by what if!


In our innocence we need and want answers for everything. We take nothing at face value, nothing as true until it is explained and we experience it for ourselves. We put our fingers in the fire to see if it is hot. When we get burned we know, through direct experience, that fire is hot. We might also learn to listen to the adult who warned us a little more closely as well. Or not.
As we age we start accepting things as true without testing them out, without gaining the actual experiential knowledge. And let us be clear, experiential knowledge may not always be the best way to gain knowledge. On the other hand we really should do some investigation before we accept things as right and true.


Just because I say it does not make it true. You don’t know how I came by the knowledge. You are trusting that I did the groundwork, the due diligence ensure that my facts are on target. And maybe I have done that. But there are lots of things we accept as true that are “common wisdom” or the opinions of experts (which is not the same as scientific proof by the way).
Don’t accept things just because I or someone else said so. Investigate these things yourself. Do some research. Experiment (if you can) on yourself. Just because I say wheat is the worst thing you can put in your body does not make it true. You can read the reports. You can stop eating it and then re-introduce it and see what happens. Don’t just take my word for it or anyone else’s for that matter. You are smart enough to figure this stuff out. And you are smart enough to do the research and make an informed opinion.


There is way too much of this sort of thing going on in the world today…a world where opinions are passed off as facts. A world where government policy is taken as scientific proof, where some talking head spouts off loudly and strongly that these are the facts, this is the absolute truth; only to find out later that maybe it wasn’t quite so absolute.


In this day and age we have access to so much information, it can be overwhelming to wade through and distinguish fact from fiction. But it is out there. You can do it. You can experiment and be your own best proof. Don’t be another sheep listening to the wolves sharpen their teeth on the lies they are feeding you.


Accept nothing, question everything.


Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Time Out

Not. There is no time out. The clock is relentless. It doesn’t stop, it doesn’t slow down, and it doesn’t rest. There is no respite from its continuing crawl.

You can be standing there, your tongue hanging out, every muscle on fire, and not another lift left in your bank and the clock is not going to stop and let you rest. This is reality. This is the truth of the matter. The clock never rests. It just keeps on ticking.

This is what makes what I (and so many others like me do)…there is no calling “time out”. The clock continues until it is done. Whether the time is done in 17 minutes, 7 minutes, or 70 minutes it is not going to stop for me. When we go the other way, in other word when I am doing x for time that timer doesn’t stop until I finish. It doesn’t stop when I am tired, it doesn’t stop when I fall down, it doesn’t stop because I fail, that timer goes until I finish. I don’t stop because I am tired, I stop because I am finished…I have completed the task set in front of me. There is no time out, no rest period, and no halftime break, there is only the task and the time set before me.

This is a microcosm of life. Your life is on a timer. Your life has no time out, no halftime show. The clock is running. It will stop when time is up. In the meantime you have the work, the task in front of you. Hurt? Tired? Sick? Beaten up? Feeling Defeated? No one loves you? I’m sorry but the clock is still running. The clock is an unforgiving task master.

You and I don’t know how much time is left on really big clock of your life. This, however, I will guarantee you…you got up this morning with 24 hours in front of you. Just like you did yesterday, and with a bit of grace the same as you will get tomorrow. That clock is going to run out later tonight. Are you going to finish? Or are you going to put up a DNF (did not finish) in today’s score card?

There are times when I am wheezing, out of breath, my breakfast in my throat, sweat rolling off my head and the last thing I want to do is one more and I look up at the horrible mistress, the Clock, and I won’t let her win. I am not going to stop before she rings the bell. I will until…
Maybe I should attack every day, every 24 hours that way, maybe even every 60 minutes, or 60 seconds. What would happen if I drove myself in life the way I drive myself in every workout? Would the result be a better, happier person? Would the result be an increase in income, an increase in productivity, an increase in happiness? I guess we won’t know until we give it a go and most of us never will. We aren’t willing to attack our day like this was the clock running on, like the sands in the hourglass were running out.

The sands are running out. Every day is one day closer to the bell sounding. What are you going to do about it today? Tomorrow? Next week? Next year? Don’t be so presumptuous as to think that clock is going to run forever. It isn’t and deep down you know it.

Reach down, do it right now and give it one more shot. Decide what you want your life to look like and get moving. Don’t let the clock own you.

No Time Outs.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Someday

Someday in the future…
You will lift that weight.
You will be faster.
You will be more coordinated, more agile
You will know more.
You will have the body you are working for today.
You will love more.
You will have more.
You will be more.

Someday is coming. Someday is coming and it may be here sooner than you realize. Yesterday, and the day before that, and the one before that and all the days before have brought you to this day. This day where all the practice and preparation pay off.

Someday is right around the corner. It may already be here. But that doesn’t mean we get to relax or stop striving to get to where we want to be someday. The joy and the pain are in the struggle, the effort, the journey to get where you want to get. We talk of the agony of defeat and the thrill of victory. These things go together like a soup and a sandwich. The journey is the destination. You are going to get there. Just don’t expect it, don’t take it for granted. If you do that it will slip away, slip through your fingers like sand. You will stop walking the path, stop efforting, and stop driving toward the destination.

That person isn’t you. You are not going to stop, you are not going to accept almost, or close or a partial rep or a 9 out of 10 rounds. You are going to get exactly what you want, exactly what you need, exactly what you work for.

Someday. In the mean time you will continue to fight. You will continue to strive, to work, to crawl your way forward. You won’t be like the others. The ones who gave up, the ones that lost that glint in their eyes, that passion for excellence and improvement. You will be a better you. You will be stronger, faster, fitter, healthier, more accomplished.

The key is in the work…the day to day strife that moves us inexorably toward our goal. The joy is in the journey. The pursuit of the thing is what matters. Even if you achieved your biggest goal ever yesterday, today is a new day. Got your best seller done? Start another! Pulled your biggest dead lift? Set a new goal for a bigger one. Graduated from college, grad school, and med school? Figure out what is next. You cannot sit back and rest on your laurels. You are not that person.

Put the laurels up on a shelf next to all the rest of your trophies and get back into the trenches where the work happens. Today and what you have today is the culmination of all your work on all your yesterdays. Same thing for tomorrow. All your todays are adding up to tomorrow.

Someday is today. Get started on someday today.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story…Reasons

I talk to a lot of people every week. And most of what I talk about is change. Change your diet, change how you move, change what you put into your mind, and change what comes out of your mouth…change. And yet, even in the face of credible, honest, fact checked information I hear why someone can’t make the change.

They know it is good for them.
They know their life will be better…healthier, easier, less stressed.
They know it is the right thing to do.
They know there is little to no downside to making the change.
Everyone has lots of reasons (excuses) for not doing what they know (deep inside) they should be doing. All of those reasons can be distilled down to just 2.
#1 Reason
Inability
You are unable to stop drinking soda. The thought of stopping creates a rush of fear like the fear of death. The idea of never eating another French fry is so abhorrent that you get physically ill when you even think of it. You have a panic attack when someone suggests that you cut down on smoking.
This is a sad state of affairs. This is you being bested by a cigarette, a soda, a cold shower, a French fried potato. This is you being beaten by an inanimate object. This is you being owned by your easy choice. This is you living in fear.
How you do one thing is how you do everything.
If you allow this one thing to beat you, pretty soon life is going to beat you. This one choice, this inability to do the right thing is going to permeate your entire life…your work, your relationship, your morality. Your overarching desire to take the easy way, the relaxed way is going to prevent you from living the full life you richly deserve. All because you didn’t want to do something a little scary. Do something every day that scares you just a little even if it’s a cold shower.

#2 Reason
Arrogance
This is the most common and most dangerous of the two reasons. People say…
It won’t work for me.
It’s stupid.
I’m the exception to the rule.
I heard there was some expert somewhere who said all the other experts are wrong.
You are full of it (the personal attack).
None of these things are true by the way.
Whatever all of that stuff is the bottom line is this:
You don’t want to be uncomfortable. You don’t want to take the first step out of your comfort zone because it going to be slightly, maybe, sort of, you think, uncomfortable or difficult or maybe even hard. The fact is none of us want to be uncomfortable. Everyone wants a nice warm house, a body that is physical fit (and looks good naked), the ability to eat anything and everything, clean air and water, well mannered children, youthful good looks and on and on and on…without doing anything about it. This is not any reality I have ever seen.


Anything worth having is worth working for and worth being uncomfortable for some period of time. Maybe having a headache for 3 days while you quit your 2 pots of coffee a day habit (I couldn’t do that! How will I ever wake up! I like my coffee!) is an improvement over the addiction. You never know how bad you felt until you find out how good you feel. Cutting the sugar from your diet is worth the discomfort of the withdrawals for a week or two when faced with a life time of diabetes, obesity, and hypertension and all the pills and potions that go along with that (but it won’t happen to me!). The bottom line is that in order to get what you have never gotten you are going to have to do what you have never done. It is that simple. You are not the exception to the rule. You are the same as all the rest of us naked apes. Embrace it and embrace the uncomfortable.



So if you haven’t taken the plunge into the change you know you need to do…no matter what your reason …whether you are crippled by your addiction to comfort or your attitude of arrogance, I just ask one thing:
Try it for 30 days. One day at a time. Just do it tomorrow. Just do it for the next 5 minutes. Try a little discomfort on for size. You might find it to be just the right size.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...A Second Life

I will bet many of you read that title and went right to the resurrection, living dead, or reincarnation. But that is not the second life I am talking about. Those things are out of my purview. The second life I am talking about is the one you can have now, the one you could have had all along if you only knew you wanted it, knew what it was, or knew you it was just around a different bend in the road.

Maybe you get lucky one day and get a slight glimpse of that other life in passing. Maybe you are really smart and you realize the life you are living is not the life you want. Maybe you just happen to be in the right place one day and fall into your new life. Maybe you know it and you work really, really, really hard to create that second life for yourself.

The fact is simple…most of us live lives we think we are supposed to live. We were told our life had to look a certain way, that we had to do certain things, that without a particular piece or two our lives would be without meaning and purpose. We get these notions from our parents, our cultural upbringing, our peers, from lots of places. But, really, the person we get this idea of what life is supposed to look like is from ourselves. We think we are supposed to do certain things, be a certain way, and live in a certain place surrounded by certain people.

But over the years we begin to realize the color of the life we are living isn’t really colorful at all. Rather, it is just various shades of gray, some lighter and some darker but all of them just a drab, unchanging, drizzling shade of overcast gray. We know the true color of our life is somewhere else. We expected it to be here, right where we are but it isn’t. At least it isn’t anymore. And we begin to look around a little more carefully inspecting other lives, other ways of being, looking for a life of color, one that excites and incites passion.

Then one day, perhaps like a slow dawning of light or maybe like the crack of a thunderbolt we see our second life…the life of passion and intent and purpose. The life we really were meant to lead. The life we had been meaning to create all along, before we allowed our fear and carful constructs to place us here in this life of cinder block gray. It is never easy to admit we were wrong, it is never easy to say this path is not my path. But if you want that second life you will. If you want that full Technicolor version of life, the full flavored, exciting life you really should be living you are going to have to let go of all those pre-conceived notions of what it is supposed to be and figure out how to let fly into the great unknown.

If you are alive, keep working at it. That second life is out there for you if you are willing to break out of the cocoon you have encased yourself in. There is hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. You will reach it and when you do and you emerge into the light of your second life the world will be a much better place for your presence.

We are waiting. You are the one we are waiting for.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...1 More

You can always do more than you think you can.

Sometimes the difference of 1 more can make all the difference. I am sure this has appeared in this blog before but there is a short movie out there called “212: The Extra Degree”. You can see it here: http://play.simpletruths.com/movie/212-the-extra-degree/ .

The bottom line is that it is often just that one extra degree that separates the good from the great, the average from the extraordinary, and the mundane from the amazing. At 211 degrees water is just hot. At 212 degrees water boils and boiling water transforms into steam and steam can power a locomotive. Just one degree transforms water into something else entirely.

This is a very powerful concept when you think about it. That single degree changes the expectation we have for water. As matter of fact steam engines transformed our entire industrial revolution. And one degree can take your life to places far beyond the ordinary, far beyond your expectations. If you can grasp this concept, if you can own this principle, if you have goals that are clear and reachable, if your attitude is unimpeachable, if you take action and stay in action, then your life will change in ways unimaginable. It’s your life, they are your results, you get to decide on the direction it is going to go.

Think about this very simple idea…if you are going 70mph on the freeway and you adjust your steering 1 degree, how long will it take before you are in a different lane and heading off the road? I am sure there is someone out there who can formulize this but the bottom line is not very long. This is true of so many things in life. But the bottom line is doing just one more can make all the difference in the world.

It might be one more step on your walk. It might be one more rep on your work out. It might be one more page on your reading, one more problem on your homework, one more kind word, one more act of kindness. One more might not just make all the difference to you but it might also make an even bigger difference to someone else.

I know time is going to run out. I know you are going to be tired. I know your body is telling you to stop. I know you really don’t want to go on, I know you really don’t think you can do one more. But you can. You can reach down deep and find that little bit left that will give you one more. And in that one more you will find something truly remarkable. You will find yourself doing what you have never done before. And even in the attempt to do one more you will discover the spaciousness to get even more next time.

If you want what you have never had, you must do what you have never done. And sometimes that means doing 1 more.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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