Sunday Story…Give Back

Friday night I had the great pleasure of spending time with Brian Williams of Think Kindness.Org. Brian and I go way back and it was great to catch up with all the good work he has been doing. On Saturday he was out at cowboy stadium talking to 4000 young cheerleaders after spending all week at 8 elementary schools in the Dallas area.

Brian started out years ago on a mission to document 1 million acts of kindness. That mission has resulted in adopting 2 orphanages in Kenya, tens of thousands of pairs of shoes donated most of them went to Africa, where children with no shoes aren’t allowed to attend school. He has several more projects in the works that will be even more exciting.

Needless to say I am re-inspired. My martial arts schools have had acts of kindness requirements for years. The reason I do what I do is to inspire each and every one of you, my readers. Inspire you to be better, to be more than you are now…to be better physically, mentally, spiritually. And in being better we change the world. The world doesn’t change on one huge act the shifts the axis. The world changes by small acts done incrementally, daily things we do that create a ripple effect of across broad domains.

We are about to embark on a new journey. A new challenge is coming up and we are going to add some kindness components. As you know we are already partnered with Sweat Angels…every time you check in on Facebook we make a donation that goes for charitable works…this month it is winter coats for kids who can’t afford them. We are going to partner with Think Kindness.org in collecting shoes for the next 2 weeks and the elementary schools Brian has already started.

We change the world when we change ourselves. Think about the change we want to see in the world. Be that change.

Namaste
John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday–stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Choose

Stuff happens. It is the way of our people. Stuff is going to happen. A lot of it will be good stuff. Some of it will be bad stuff. Most of the stuff, good or bad, you won’t be expecting. The real challenge is how you deal with the stuff that happens. This is where we see your character reveal itself.

The good stuff is pretty easy to deal with. You are happy. You feel fulfilled and satisfied. Good stuff is, well, good. No worries.

The bad stuff, on the other hand, is a different story. The bad stuff can go from ruining your day to ruining your life.
The question is what are you going to do with the bad stuff happening to you? How will you react? What kind of attitude are you going to adopt?
Will you be defeated? Will you give up? Will you try to ignore it and hope it goes away?
Will you look at it as a blessing in disguise? Will you search for the lesson in it? Will you dig down inside and dig in? Will you be indomitable? Will you be courageous? Will you be unbroken, indefatigable, and undefeatable?

The choice is yours. It has always been your choice. Whatever happens to you, you get to choose how you will react, who you will be in the battle. Noble or ignoble? Friend or foe? Happy or mad? Filled with hope and love or bitterness and despair? You decide which is best.

You never know how strong you are until strong is the only choice you have.

Stay in the fight!


John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Back to the Box

The Holidays are over. The relatives are gone. The tree is out of the house, the lights are down, and things are almost back to normal. Except for one thing…you haven’t made it back to the box. Remember the box…the CrossFit Box. Let’s be honest…you are a little scared. You remember how hard it was when you first started, how sore you were, that over all malaise that overtook you for the first couple of weeks and you aren’t sure you really want to go through all that again. It isn’t like hitting the local globo-gym for a 20 minute snooze fest on the tread mill or dancing through a fluffy salsa-like aerobic thing. No, this is real work, barbells, weights, volume and intensity that is going to create a level of fitness you say you want.

Here’s why you need to get back:
You miss it…well that isn’t exactly true…you miss that feeling you get after you are done. Those endorphins pumping, the blood roaring, breath catching feelings that you can only get from a solid strength and conditioning workout of the day. You miss knowing your fitness is growing every day. You miss getting out of bed and looking forward to seeing how much stronger you are than yesterday. You miss the people. Be honest you miss it all.

We (the community) miss you. That’s right we all miss you. We need your energy, your enthusiasm, your voice to add to our cheering section. We miss watching you get better. We miss the look on your face when you finally get that thing you have been working so hard to get. We miss you blood sweat and tears. You are family.

I miss you. That’s right your coach misses you. I miss seeing you progress. I miss the struggle, the thrill of victory and even the agony of defeat. I miss picking you up, I miss the determined look in your eyes as you face down the demons of steel, gravity, and indecision. I miss your desire and determination.

Remember this isn’t the old way of working out. This is training…training for life, training for what and who you want to be 20 years from now. The body you build today is the one you will be living in 20 years from now. The mental toughness, the can’t fail attitude, the steel spine of strength and fitness are all cornerstones of a future you are going to love living in.

You need this. You need us. We need you.

Face your fear and go ahead anyway. Be indomitable

See you in the box! Tomorrow!

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Results and Excuses

Pick one. Pick the one you want. You can’t have both. You can’t have results today and excuses tomorrow. You have to decide which one you will accept.

Let me help you out…excuses are easy…I don’t have time…I want to get in shape first…That doesn’t work for me…I’m not athletic enough…It’s too hard…I’ll get hurt…I don’t have the money…I’m too old…I’m too fat…None of my clothes are right…People will make fun of me. Those are some that come to the front of my brain quickly. They are all true by the way. Every last one of them. Here is a news flash for you…whether you think you can or you think you can’t; you are right. If you think you don’t have time you don’t have time. If you think it is too hard, it is. If you think you are too old, you are.

For every one of these excuses I can find someone, somewhere who could have used the same excuse but they went out and did it anyway. Someone busier, more out of shape, fatter, more impoverished, older managed to figure out how to get the RESULTS they wanted.

Excuses are not reasons. The reason I can’t workout is because I don’t have time. Nope…the reason you can’t workout out is because you CHOOSE to not make the time to work out. Working out is not more important than whatever else you are spending your 168 hours a week doing. I could go on and on but I won’t.

Fact: Results and the resultant feelings of success and pleasure need to outweigh the pain of continuing doing what you are doing now. You are human…you are conditioned to move away from pain and toward pleasure. When the pleasure of living in a well conditioned, fit, active body is greater than the pain of engulfing a piece of pizza and drowning in beer then you will change.

Accept excuses and continue doing what you are doing now.

Accept results and change what you are doing.

It isn’t rocket science or brain surgery. It is a very simple human equation…more pleasure, less pain. Change is hard…it is going to hurt and you are going to think more pain isn’t worth the pleasure down the road. You are wrong. Put down that beer and back away from the pizza it isn’t worth it in the long run. You don’t have to believe me; look around at your friends and neighbors and parents who have made those choices before you. Then take a look around and find some people who are making the choices you are thinking about making. Who is healthier, happier, fitter and stronger? I rest my case.

Results not excuses.

Be Well

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Detox

It’s that time of year when I hear people talk about detoxing and cleansing. And how they are going to take this or that potion or magic formula that will erase the last few weeks or months of immoderate living. Here is a news flash…although those things may make you feel better, they aren’t going to have your body detox any faster than it would anymore.

Your liver and your kidneys are miracle workers in the detox field. It is what they were designed to do…detox your body. Now, if you abused their workload and crippled their ability you may have to wait for them to get back up to speed. So if you have been eating poorly and hitting the bar more often than you should, you are going to need to get your body on a track to help those organs back to optimal functionality.

It is simple. Stop eating crap and quit drinking alcohol. Let me put it in the positive…eat high quality natural food and drink lots of water. As you wake up now in the morning you know you don’t feel as good as you could. This is your body trying to get out from under the workload of poor diet and excess alcohol. If you want to get up in the morning feeling like you can attack the day something has to change.

There is no magic pill. There is no potion, no magic formula that is going to override dissolute and habitual poor choices. You already know this. It doesn’t stop any of us from looking but we all know in our hearts and our heads that we are on our own. And the path is known…eat real food, drink fresh water, sleep well, get off your butt and get moving.

You can’t out exercise a poor diet and you can’t eat your way to fitness. You have to do both and do them diligently. Do that and you will detox naturally and without potions or poisons.

Get back on track. You can do it. I can help. Let’s get it done.

Namaste

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Writing

Writers write. Runners run. Artists make art. If you want to be good at something you need to do that thing.

This Sunday Story thing has been a project since 2008. Every week (except the summer of 2013) I have posted a story. That calculates to something over 300 posts. You can find most of them here:
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
Originally I had a goal of 1000 words for each post but a while ago someone told me the briefer was better. That I should see if I could say what I wanted to say in as few words as possible. So I cut the goal down to 500. And then I stopped worrying about it. If the message could be out in 100 words then so be it. I have never been able to do that…I guess I am just too verbose!

I also try to hit certain numbers on a reading scale. This scale tells me how easy what I have written is to read. So this one is 253 words and a 75.4 ease (Reader’s digest is 65! And larger is easier to read) score on a 5.3 grade level just in case you were wondering!

So:
Shorter…simpler…more direct and to the point…pithy and poignant, if you will.
Yet:
Inspiring, informative, entertaining, thought provoking, humorous, and transformative.

I get a fair amount of feedback and always welcome more.

Thanks for reading, thanks for being out there for me.

A writer, writing.

Namaste

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
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Sunday Story…Work it

You’ve got goals…lose 10 pounds, drop 5 inches from your middle, improve your back squat by 10 percent, start a new business, or write the great American novel. You’ve made them S.M.A.R.T…specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely. You are ready to go to work. This is your year; you are going to crush all of your goals this time. But…how?

You need some help, a program, a coach. You need a road map. You need to find people who have done something similar to what you want to do and then follow them. And finally you need to pull on your big boy pants and go to work.

I know how smart you are. I know you know all this stuff about what you want to do. I know you are different and you are a special situation. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard something like one of the following:
“I know what I need to do. If I do __________, ____________, and ________ I will ___________ (fill in goal here).”
“That doesn’t work for me because my _________ is different.”
“I’ve tried ___________ before and it didn’t work.”
Yet here is an expert who has taken many an expedition down the same river you want to travel. But you are going to do it your way because you know better. The question is this…How has that worked in the past? You have been saying that nonsense for a long time. Here’s an idea…give all that up, put yourself in the hands of an expert, do exactly what they tell you to do, when and how they tell you to do it. No more…that doesn’t work for me (because you are special); no more…I know what I am doing (because I read up on it on the internet); no more…I tried it that way and it didn’t work (because you really didn’t).

Take the program and do it exactly. If it doesn’t work it doesn’t work and you are exactly where you are now (which is where you are going to be anyway if history has any bearing). You can always try it a different way after giving the program a legitimate attempt. And by legitimate I mean a 100 percent all in, no questioning, just do it attempt.
You have goals. You have a road map. You have a friendly native guide. Now you need to trust your guide and put in the work. Get up in the morning knowing exactly what you are going to do that day to move yourself forward. Tomorrow do the same thing. Repeat until the goals are reached or it is obvious the program is the wrong one for you and your purpose.

You have to do the work, the hard work, after you have set goals. You must get up in the morning and approach your goals like you a professional would…in other words you do it with 100 percent focus and energy even on the days you don’t want to.

Plan your work, work your plan.

Namaste

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