Never Settle For Less

There are probably millions of articles written about why you should have a workout partner.  The list of benefits is long and exhaustive.  Factors like exterior motivation,  accountability, having a spotter, and that general warm and fuzzy feeling that only another human being can provide are just some of the many benefits of partnership.

Gym partnerships (like any other) have their drawbacks.  Those things that should have you searching for a way out.  Read on and ask yourself: Do I notice any of these things popping up in my workout?  If so it may be time to dump your workout buddy.

You Know It’s Time to Dump Your Workout Buddy When…

Your Partner in Crime Starts Missing Workouts

Its nearly impossible to work out every single day.  Life just doesn’t allow for it to happen.  Every now and then a 2 or 3 day stretch may occur when your partner just can’t make it.  That’s normal.  A few weeks off is not.  If you notice it getting out of hand separate yourself and continue making progress on your own.  Don’t let your partner’s lack of availability kill your results.

Obvious Mismatch in Motivation

Inspiring others to achieve and reach new heights is a fun and rewarding experience.  It always feels good to bring someone else’s spirits up and push them to a new level.  However, it is a gigantic pain to work against someone’s lack of motivation every single day.  Avoid wasting your energy on someone who obviously doesn’t want to participate and needs your constant nagging every single day.  The energy you’re wasting being their personal spirit squad could be better spent on other things like….RESULTS!

Fitness Objectives Don’t Match

If you spend enough time in the gym you’ll realize that people work out for different reasons.  Objectives range from a desire to lose weight, gain muscle, regain cardiovascular fitness, be able to play with the grandkids, or just say they are involving themselves in something physical.

Make sure you and your partner have the SAME objectives for working out.  It’s hard to be workout buddies with someone who is trying to pack on the muscle while you’re trying to burn off 30 lbs.  The objectives are too far apart and they spell disaster in the end.

If you find that your workout objectives have grown apart do yourselves a favor and part ways now.  Your progress depends on it.

Your Partner Loses Focus

This is my #1 pet peeve about gym partnerships.  An unfocused partner can delay your results by days, weeks, months, or even years.  I may sound a little steamed about this one but its only because I speak from experience.

Here’s the story.
About 5 months after I started working out seriously something strange happened.  My chest began to poke out, my arms grew larger, and my shoulders were noticeably wider.  Around the office people began to take notice.  As my results became more self evident a group of friends asked to work out with me.  Since I enjoy being a generous person I saw no problem with that and happily let them join…BIG MISTAKE!

They were the most unfocused crew of people I’ve ever seen in the gym.  All they wanted to do was talk about women, yap about sports, take extended breaks between exercises, and crack jokes.  I quickly grew from mildly amused with their tactics to annoyed beyond belief.  Fortunately for me they soon quite coming and I was able to regain my focus.
If your workout partners aren’t focused do yourself a favor and part ways with them.  Your time is precious.  Treat it that way.  Don’t let someone else’s lack of direction and focus hold you back.  It’s nice to have other people along ONLY when the relationship is mutually beneficial.  Unfocused partners have no benefit.
Conclusion

You Know It’s Time to Dump Your Workout Buddy When

1. Your partner starts missing workouts
2. There is an obvious mismatch in motivation
3. Fitness objectives don’t match
4. Your Partner Loses Focus

I know this article is contrary to what most people would say about workout partnerships.   Not every partnership is a match made in heaven. Breaking up isn’t always easy but  sometimes its necessary.  If you find yourself in a dead end partnership create a clean break and head for the hills.  Last time I checked we were in the gym to get results .
If you like this blog please bookmark this page or RSS subscribe.  To RSS subscribe scroll to the bottom of the page, click on “entries RSS”, and select the page you’d prefer.  Forward the page link to 4 or 5 people who you think may benefit from the information presented here.  Thanks for reading and have a great day!

I’m back with another installation of one of my more popular posts. Each and every time I create a list of motivational thoughts I get feedback from new readers.

Here we go with another set.  Enjoy!

1. 10 years from now you’ll still be alive.  Will you be better, worse, or the same as you are today?
2. Few people improve on accident.
3. Champions don’t wait for things to come to them.  They take what’s theirs and leave the rest behind.
4. Live for those things that make you truly happy.  You’d hate to wake up one day and realize its all been a waste.
5. You know you’re on the right track if you’re nervous beyond belief. 
6. Be uncomfortable being comfortable. 
7. Every choice you make is your own…Choose wisely.
8. Dedication and excuses are like oil and water.  They just dont mix. 
9. With all the good things going on in the world who has time to focus on the bad?

If you like this blog please bookmark this page or RSS subscribe.  To RSS subscribe scroll to the bottom of the page, click on “entries RSS”, and select the page you’d prefer.  Forward the page link to 4 or 5 people who you think may benefit from the information presented here.  Thanks for reading and have a great day!

If you’ve made it this far you’re at least curious as to how fitness models and bodybuilders actually feed those beautiful bodies.  They’ve mastered the art of eating small frequent meals to boost their metabolism.  The concept is completely contrary to what most people do.

Eating six meals a day throws newcomers to fitness for a loop.  The concept goes against everything we’ve been taught growing up. The typical American eats 3 reasonably large meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).  Everyone follows it so it has be right.

Right?…WRONG

Eating three large meals a day forces the body to hoard food, go into a starvation phase, and store it as fat.  Eating  5-6 meals a day puts the body in a state of constant energy usage.  Since the body knows more food is coming it has no problem burning off the excess.
The first problem most of us have lies in our definition of a meal.  We’ve been conditioned to associate meals with 2-3 servings of meat, a carbohydrate (bread, rice, etc), a vegetable, and quite possibly a desert.  In actuality that’s far from the case.

I used to struggle with explaining the concept of eating 5-6 small "meals" to those wishing to shed some pounds.  Whenever I said the word "meal" people would become confused.  I had to explain that I wasn’t eating a full plate of meats, breads, and veggies 6 times a day.  Instead I was eating well timed small portions of the correct nutrients for the body.  In order to break through this barrier I had to create a definition they could understand.

What’s in a Meal?

“A meal is simply anything you put into your body for nourishment and energy”

This definition breaks through the confusion and allows people to fully grasp the situation.  Here are some examples of “meals” that I eat:

• Yogurt
• Can of Tuna
• Hand Full of Walnuts
• Chicken Breast and Veggies
• Turkey Wings and Veggies
• 2-3 Rice Cakes
• Can of Soup
• Granola Bar/Snack Bar
• Lean Cuisine
• 2-3 Pieces of Fruit
• Sandwich
• Oatmeal
• Protein Shake/Milk Shake
• Salmon and Veggies

As you can see the fitness minded person’s concept of a “meal” is drastically different than the norm.  Breaking the pattern of eating 3 times a day (or less) takes planning and practice.  However, its nowhere near as difficult as its made out to be.

In order to eat 5-6 times a day you must first follow this simple rule.  The food must be around and available to eat.  It’s the single most overlooked component of eating multiple times a day.  The place where you spend the majority of your time needs to have an abundance of quality foods available for your consumption.  If that place is work then store the food in your workspace.  If that place is school then carry it in your backpack.  If you travel carry the foods in your briefcase.  If that place is home then make sure you have the proper foods at home.  It may sound silly but I’ve seen many people get stuck because they simply refused to keep the appropriate foods at arms reach.

Eating Schedule

Your personal eating schedule will vary based on the time you wake up and your daily activities.  In general you must eat   5-6 small spaced out meals to attain the fitness model metabolism and look.  Here’s a typical day for me:

Meal #1 8 a.m. –> Yogurt and Apple
Meal #2 10:30 a.m. –> Can of Tuna
Meal #3 12:00 p.m. –> Lean Cuisine
Meal #4 2:00 p.m. –> Walnuts
Meal #5 4:00 p.m. –> Protein Shake
Meal #6 7:30 p.m. –> Chicken and Broccoli
Most of my time is spent in my cube so I store Tuna, Lean Cuisine, Walnuts, and Protein Powders inside my desk.  That way I have no excuses for not eating like I know I should.

Conclusion

Try it out for yourself.  Find some foods you enjoy eating, store them in the space where you spend the most time, and follow the outline I use.  Trust me, its nowhere near as difficult as its made out to be.  If you follow the plan you’ll be eating like a fitness model in no time.

If you like this blog please bookmark this page or RSS subscribe.  To RSS subscribe scroll to the bottom of the page, click on “entries RSS”, and select the page you’d prefer.  Forward the page link to 4 or 5 people who you think may benefit from the information presented here.  Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Have you ever felt like the weight of the world on your shoulders?

Have you ever felt like there was so much going on and you couldn’t handle it?

Have you ever just needed to be able to clear your mind and start with a clean slate?

If you’ve answered yes to any of these questions then this article is for you.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy my 5 Powerful Methods to Clear Your Mind.

1 - Take some Time for Yourself

The majority of your time is spent with other people.  That can be both good and bad.  On the positive side you experience feelings of companionship, belonging, and teamwork most of your waking hours.  These are all great feelings and we need to have them to regulate our lives.

However, there are some dark spots in that cloud.  Belonging to a group whether it be coworkers, family, or other social groups require a great degree of conformity.  After all you wouldn’t belong to that group if you weren’t similar in some way.  Becoming too entrenched in a group can ultimately lead to losing your own sense of individuality.

Take some time for yourself to combat this loss of identity.  Being alone allows you to get in touch with the person that you really are.  A powerful way to clear your mind while you’re alone is to talk to yourself.  That’s right, I said it, have a good solid conversation with yourself.  While it sounds crazy its really nothing more than thinking out loud.  You’ll be surprised at how much you can express when its just you and…you.

2 - Put Situations in Perspective

Blowing things out of proportion is an extremely easy thing to do.  Mix in some high emotions and you never know what you’ll get.  Sadness or anger can quickly take a situation from a level 1 to a level 10.  Try to avoid making a mountain out of a molehill.  People will rarely climb to the top to see what the issue is.

Step back and take a fact based look at your life. Looking at things from a factual basis is a hard yet effective tactic.  Things like your  long term financial situation, health, fitness, and your overall sense of happiness warrant a good bit of your attention.  These things effect you on a day to day basis.

Getting your lunch stolen at work (I’ve had this happen before), the rumor going around about you wearing white after labor day, or that annoying juice stain on your carpet are collectively worth 3 minutes of your time.  Treat them like so and keep the train moving.
Focus your time and energy on those things that matter.  Treat the little things like little things.

3 - Be Creative

Creative outlets are some of the best stress busters known to mankind.  When you do something creative you can get lost in what you’re doing and just let some time pass.  Some of the creative things I do are:

• Write Poetry
• Write Blogs or Articles
• Take relaxing drives and look for alternate routes around the city
• Make workout plans for myself and others
• Make up “remixes” to popular songs to give myself a good laugh

That’s just a small list of possible things to do.  Explore your creative side to help reduce stress.

4 - Call an elderly person and have a talk

Older people are a wealth of experience and knowledge.  There is something about the wisdom of an older person that has a calming effect on you.  Most older people have either lived the experiences you are going through or know someone who has.  I’ve literally had conversations with an older relative where I felt like he or she was reading my mind.   Find a good elderly person to lean on.  They can shave years off your learning curve.

5 - Allow yourself to get angry, upset, or bothered.  You can’t sterilize yourself too much

We live in a sterilized world where you “can’t say this” or “shouldn’t say that” for fear of hurting someone’s feelings.  As a result its easy to let the mind get cluttered and confused.

Living a sterilized life and never expressing any emotions just isn’t human.  You don’t have to break glass and throw people out of windows but you need to let some things out every now and then.  Express control while allowing yourself to experience emotions such as:

• Aggression
• Anger
• Disgust
• Pleasure
• Pride
• Sadness
• Euphoria

Handling these emotions make you a better human being.  You’re not a robot so don’t act like one.  Sometimes you need to tell someone they are getting on your nerves.  It may shock and appall but it also helps with cutting loose of stress and clearing up the clutter.  Learn to express yourself, deal with the emotions, and move on.

Conclusion

Many of us are stressed out with cluttered minds.  Use the following 5 tips to ensure that you never go to sleep with a cluttered mind:

1. Take some time to yourself
2. Put situations in perspective
3. Be Creative
4. Call upon an elderly person and talk
5. Allow yourself to experience all emotions

If you like this blog please bookmark this page or RSS subscribe.  To RSS subscribe scroll to the bottom of the page, click on “entries RSS”, and select the page you’d prefer.  Forward the page link to 4 or 5 people who you think may benefit from the information presented here.  Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Inside the Mind of a Sprinter

Put yourself inside the mind of an Olympic sprinter right before a race takes place.  Since childhood you’ve dreamed of this moment and its finally here.  All your blood, sweat, tears, weight training, and mental preparation are about to pay off.  As you shed your warm up gear you and your coach connect eyes for a split second.  He smiles, gives you a nod, and waves you off to the starting line.

The other sprinters are already in place as you take your lane.  You take your final glance around the stadium and then get into your stance.  Instinctively your ears perk up as you await the starter’s gun.  Every muscle in your body tightens with anticipation.  Right before you can relax it happens.

On your marks…get set…GO!

Your feet tap the pavement quickly and you begin to separate yourself from the pack.  Halfway through the race the crowd roars.  Out of the corner of your eye you see another sprinter coming even with you.

What do you do?

Do you fold and let him win, remain nonchalant and hope for the best, or dig deep and pull out the victory?

By the end of this article I plan on giving you the information needed to dig deep and compete to win.

Barriers to Competition

For millions of years humans have been competing. By competing I don’t necessarily mean a sporting event or a battle.  It can simply be a disagreement of principles or ideas.

Even though the urge to compete is an essential part of our being many of us take the easy road and avoid it.  Competition is avoided for 2 reasons:

1. Aversion to Conflict
2. Fear of Failure

Aversion to Conflict

It’s amazing when you realize what is considered a conflict these days.  If you form and stick to an opinion that isn’t shared by others then you just may be labeled “disagreeable”, “antagonistic”, or “unpleasant”.  Even if you know the building is going to explode in 5 minutes you shouldn’t tell anyone.  That’s not being very PC .

Have we become so obsessed with “goodness” that we turn a blind eye when something actually needs to be addressed?
It makes me smile when I hear “We can’t talk about that”,”You might not want to say that”, or “What did you just say !?!?”.  These are signs that we’ve stopped tap dancing and starting getting to the root of the issue.  Heads may be rolling but at least things are getting figured out.  What’s so “unpleasant” about that?

Fear of Failure

That little voice in our head can get to the best of us.  It’s remarkably easy to let fear of the unknown totally dominate your life.  Look at the bad things that could happen to us out in the world:

• You could lose money
• You could be rejected
• You could fall flat on your face
• You could lose credibility
• Your may end up with nothing to show for it
• You could end up on YouTube with less money, rejected, flat on your face, less credible, nothing to show for it, with some apple pie on your face

OH NO! The apocalypse is coming.
Seriously, any failure in competition is temporary and should be treated as such. When I was 11 years old I cost my football team a regular season game.  Near the end of the game I threw 2 interceptions that sealed the deal.  I thought the world was going to collapse upon my tiny shoulders.  3 hours after the game I stopped crying due to lack of water in my body.

The sting of that loss stayed with me for a few days.  I moved around the house with little interest in anything beyond moping.  After my father tired of it he basically told me in his straight forward fashion  “suck it up, it’s not the end of the world, move on”.  It wasn’t the nicest thing he’s ever said but it was definitely effective.
People tend to make mountains out of mole hills when it comes to those things they fear.  I just don’t think fears should dominate us.  When you run across something that scares you ask yourself one simple question:

“What good comes from being afraid?”

The answer: “none”.

Avoid letting aversion of “conflict” and fear of failing bury your competitive spirit.  Keeping that competitive spirit alive will always do more for society than letting it die (no matter how large or small the impact).

Competition is Natural

Look around you at all the competition going on:

1. Coke vs Pepsi
2. Yahoo! vs Google
3. Home Depot vs Lowe’s
4. Wal-Mart vs Target
5. Microsoft vs Apple
6. McDonald’s vs Burger King
7. Yankees vs Red Sox
8. MySpace vs Facebook
9. HBO vs Showtime
10. Disney World vs Six Flag

This list could easily go on for days.  I’m sure you get the picture.  Without competition our society would not enjoy the benefits we have in the past,enjoy today, or will enjoy in the future.  Shouldn’t you embrace your competitive side and add your value?

Conclusion

Embrace competition in your life.  Whether it be a simple dispute or an all out sporting event.  The positives will outweigh the negatives . Feelings may be hurt temporarily but the lessons that come along with those feelings last a lifetime.  Competition, conflicts, or whatever you choose to call them bring the best out of people.

Don’t be afraid to step out there and expose yourself.  Only then will you know where you truly stack up and how to improve upon your current situation.

If you like this blog please bookmark this page or RSS subscribe.  To RSS subscribe scroll to the bottom of the page, click on “entries RSS”, and select the page you’d prefer.  Forward the page link to 4 or 5 people who you think may benefit from the information presented here.  Thanks for reading and have a great day!

I’ve noticed an interesting trend in the fitness world.  When I say the fitness world I mean everyone who’s ever embarked on the journey of building a muscle or losing an ounce of fat.  The fitness world hates bodybuilding.  The mere mention of the word bodybuilding can start an avalanche of misplaced information and opinions.

There are 2 main sources to blame for the world turning its back on bodybuilding

1. TV
2. Word of Mouth Discussions

TV

TV has become a place where anyone with a voice can express their opinions on a topic.  The validity of the information has gone out the window as stations search for ways to fill their time slots. The best information is swept under the rug while pumped up and overhyped “secrets” and “shortcuts” are dished out to the masses.

Every time I see a fitness commercial or advertisement my interest is peaked.  I’ll openly admit to being gullable and thinking that someone will eventually give people all the information they need. Each time I think someone will come clean I’m proven wrong.
The forumula is always the same:

• The Hook –> The hook is always a question that appeals to our inner desire to look like models.  “Are you tired of those love handle obliques?”
• The Promise –> The promise is always a distorted lie about how their product (that targets one bodypart) or their diet (which often alienates an entire food group like fats or carbs) is the key to a total body transformation.
• The Proof –> The proof is always a fitness model (who obviously trains with bodybuilding principles) that has no problem associating with a liar.

I’ve come to accept these products as a part of life.  As long as people want to be fit these products will have their place.  The bigger issue at hand is the word of mouth that travels along with these pseudo-bodybuilding products.

Word of Mouth Conversations

Pseudo-bodybuilding products start the war on bodybuilding.  Word of mouth takes it to another level.  I witnessed one of these conversations just last week.

After a group meeting some of my coworkers fired up a conversation about diets.  I’m always interested in what they have to say so I tuned in. Even though I’m no longer on the diet scene I recognize the “hot” diets.  Just as I thought they all came up one by one:

• Atkins
• Zone
• South Beach
• Master Cleanse
• Low Carb
• High Protein

I sat idly by for about 5minutes as slew of terrible information flew through the air.

• If you drink too much water you’ll die! (you can but highly unlikely)
• Doing over 20 minutes of cardio will start to lose muscle
• Lifting heavy weights will make you big like a bodybuilder
• Never under any circumstances should you eat fat

Eventually, I’d had enough and decided it was time to add some truth to the conversation.

I told the story of how I lost 50 lbs, reduced my bodyfat down from 25% to 13%, and started to build the body I’d always wanted.  They all seemed so disappointed that I didn’t have a diet to evangelize and raise up to the high heavens.

I gave them all pointers and began to make my way towards the door.  Just as I was about to leave one of my co-workers shouted out “not everybody is into bodybuilding like you”.

I’ll never forget the way she said bodybuilding.  She said it like a kid who was cursing for the first time.  I didn’t want to crush her so I decided to handle the situation gently.

“What are your fitness goals?” I asked.

“To lose some fat, go down a few dress sizes, and firm up my body” she answered as if she’d been anticipating the question and was outsmarting me.

“How do you plan on doing that?” I asked with increasing interest.

“By running on the elliptical machine and gradually building weights into my weight loss program” she answered again becoming even more excited.

“That’s nothing more than bodybuilding!” I shot back as she completed her sentence.

That statement sent shockwaves through the room.  My co-workers were mortified that they were using BODYBUILDING techniques on their precious bodies.  As confusion set in I let them know that it was ok.  As I walked out the door I could here them all arguing about how wrong I was.

Several weeks ago I challenged myself think outside of the box for a post.  I created a post called "20 Motivational Thoughts".  I got great feedback from it so I’ve decided to do it again.  I’m going to shorten the list to 10 this time.

1. The day you stop believing in yourself is the day you perish.
2. Sacrifice what you want now for what you’re destined to have later.
3. People are 10 times better at what they want to do versus what they have to do.
4. It’s unfortunate that people don’t believe in themselves.  Imagine what a great place our world would be if they did.
5. Surround yourself with an equal amount of cheerleaders, critics, and advisers.  You’ll need them all.
6. Dedication is a necessary habit.  It’s challenging to build but necessary to succeed.
7. Dream with the heart of a child and turn life into your playground.
8. If you’re worried about losing you already lost.
9. If YOU don’t care about yourself then no one else will either.
10. Do you want to go down as #1 or #999,999,001?

If you like this blog please bookmark this page or RSS subscribe.  To RSS subscribe scroll to the bottom of the page, click on entries RSS, and select the page you’d prefer.  Thanks for reading and have a great day!

A million and one things call for our attention each day.  From the time you wake up until the time you lay down you’re on the go.  With this kind of load its tempting to give a mediocre effort in order to slide some things off your plate.

Wait!  Before you do that allow me to interject with The Top 3 Reasons to Give 100%.  You may just change your mind.

1. Time

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.  Time is our #1 asset.  It’s the one of the few things we can’t control or ever hope to recover.  Once a minute is gone its truly gone forever.

With that said you may be asking yourself this question “Isn’t giving less than 100% in the best interest of my time?”.  Intuitively, this seems right.  You can “get something done” and get it off your plate.

There is a major problem with that mindset.  Half done tasks, workouts, projects, or other undertakings ALWAYS come back to bite you (often as even bigger issues).  I struggled immensely with this issue when I began my engineering career.  I constantly felt overworked and over tasked.  Instead of stepping back and analzying my situation I would do what I know now is the worst thing imagineable.  I’d put about 50% of myself into my projects so that I could clean out my task list.

The cycle would look like this:

• Put 50% of myself into my projects to clear my task list
• Pass the half completed work on to my manager
• Celebrate that my plate was empty!
• Get a storm of emails from my manager explaining what I needed to repeat
• Curse, whine, cry, sigh
• Start each half done project over from scratch

Dejected I’d trudge back to my desk and begin again.  This time I’d have even more to work on (the old 50% workload plus the new workload that comes with the territory).  After a few more trips in the repetitive workload cycle I realized that I was wasting a good chunk of my productivity churning out useless trash.

Although it may feel that putting 50% efforts into your projects is ideal it almost never works.  Inevitably the tasks that you slight will come back to you and you’ll have to start over from scratch.  In the meantime your most valuable asset will be wasting away.
Place a high premium on your time and spend it giving 100%.  Using 100% for one hour is a lot better use of your time than giving 20% for 5 hours.  Do the math.

About a year ago I had a terrible experience at one of my favorite restaurants.  The entire experience was terrible:

• The waiter was dressed in sloppy clothing
• A couple that came in 15 minutes after me received their food 10 minutes before me
• The silverware was dirty
• My food was undercooked
• The waiter took our orders incorrectly
• The assistant manager (the mangager wasn’t there) was extremely unapologetic for the entire ordeal

Before that experience I was easily spending $40 a week behind those doors. Over a year’s time thats $2,080 in revenue to a local restaurant.  I haven’t been back since.  If they lose 9 more people just like me (very likely based on the conversations I had) then they’ve lost $20,800 of annual revenue.  I’m sure the owner would much rather have the $21k.  He could’ve easily retained that money and received new customers through referral (I love to share good news ) had the restaurant been staffed with people who were putting their best foot forward.

I’ve never hidden my goals of being a professional speaker and writer and I won’t do it now.  By day I am a Supply Chain Environmental Health and Safety Analyst and at night I work on my speaking/writing career.  Since I’ve started to take my speaking and writing (blogs/poems/seminars/short stories) more serious I’ve run into a dilemma that fits perfectly into this article.

Working a full time 9-5 in a large company is very tiring.  I often have ideas zooming around in my head during the day that I can’t wait to come home and express.  Sometimes I’ll settle in to start writing and everything will flow like fine wine. Other times I’ll sit down and feel tired, lethargic, and my creative spark will be nonexistent.

I’ve forced myself to produce things for the sake of producing them a few times during my slumps.  The result is always the same…a very poor piece of work.  I feel vindicated for a short period of time before I realize that I’ve churned out some trash.  As a result I’ve stopped  writing or planning when  I’m obviously not up to giving 100% of myself.  The combination of providing poor value and conciously knowing that I’m pumping it out is enough to make me stop.
Anything you do from working out to writing is worth 100% of your focus.  Only then can you provide and receive the value you truly deserve.

3 - Carry Over

Think about 5 people that you know.  Whats your impression of these people?

Which ones do you consider to be:

• Hard Working?
• Dependable?
• Honest ?
• Decisive?
• Enjoyable?
• Lazy?
• Unreliable?
• Liars?
• Indecisive?
• Pain to deal with?
• Courteous?
• Jealous hearted?
• Vengeful?

Now look at the answers you’ve either written or mentally placed next to each question.  Notice a trend?  If not, keep looking.  The people who have the traits you desire (hard working, honest, enjoyable) don’t have many of the traits you don’t desire (vengeful, lazy, unreliable).  Attitudes and personalities transfer across all aspects of life.

It’s very rare to see a person who is a hard worker develop a serious lazy streak.  It’s equally rare to see a very lazy person sustain a hard working streak.

Ever met a royal pain in the butt who was also the most courteous person you ever met? I seriously doubt it

Do you have any extremely unreliable but extremely enjoyable friends? I have exactly 0
It just doesn’t happen.

If you begin to give 100% in one area of life you’ll soon be doing it everywhere.  Doing so will in turn give you more Time (1) to provide the Output/Value(2) important to you and those around you.

Anything worth doing is worth doing at 100%.  Never has a situation existed where this statement wasn’t true and the situation never will.  Once you begin to go at full tilt you’ll enjoy

1. More Time
2. Better Output
3. Carry over into other parts of life

I hope you enjoyed it.

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Picture yourself 20,30, 40, or even 50 years from now.  You’re 80 years old. Gray hair now dominates your skull.  Your muscles have atrophied with age and your face is wrinkling gently with each passing day.

Today you wake up like you do every morning.  The alarm clock goes off and you roll over to quiet the noise.  Slowly you pull the covers back, swing your legs over the bed, and sit up straight.  Next, you slide your feet into your slippers.  With a grunt you bring yourself to your feet and make your way into the kitchen.  You pour yourself a cup of coffee and take a seat at the kitchen table.

As you drink the coffee you begin to daydream.  Your thoughts wander into the life that you desired to build but lacked the motivation to follow through on.  As you dream you start to have thoughts:

• I remember when I had that idea!
• I remember when I wanted to create that contact!
• I remember when I got halfway done with that goal and stopped.

I remember, I remember, I remember…You count the number of times you sold yourself short.  Thoughts race through your mind like a Ferrari on the tracks.  Your emotions go back and forth between anger and anxiety.
After a few minutes the coffee cup is entirely empty.  You find yourself identifying with that emptiness.  You find a mirror and stare into it and ask yourself this question…Why did I let my Inspiration Die?
Reading and following the tips outlined in this article will ensure that you’ll never have to answer that question.  Here are 3 truly dynamic methods to keep your inspiration ignited.

1 - Daydream

Daydreaming is often labeled as negative because you could be doing something “more productive”.  I disagree with that statement.  This world is created and made better by dreams that have become fullfilled realities.  Those dreams are from people just like you and me.  So why not have them?

A wave of positive emotions sweeps you up when you’re off in daydreaming.  Here’s another thing about daydreaming.  When you daydream you imagine yourself in places that you have a deep rooted desire to be in. Keep thinking about those places and taking action to get there.

2 - Find Inspiring Material

Maintain a library of inspiring material.  When I say inspiring material I mean anything including but not limited to:

• Books
• People
• Short Stories
• Webpages
• Movies
• Magazines
• Articles
• Music
• Photographs
• Quotes
• Artwork

Whenever I need an extra boost I turn to my library…most often in the form of music.  It’s usually just what the doctor ordered.

Your best work comes right after you get yourself fired up (which you can do on command).  My best workouts have been fueled by high energy motivating music.  I’ve given some of my best speeches after someone either got me upset or I was able to listen to my favorite song right before.  It works like a charm because my energy level is guaranteed to be high.

Seek, keep, and USE inspiring material so that you can live an inspired life.

3 - Continue to Learn

Knowledge is the key that unlocks all doors.  Those who possess it are unstoppable.  All too often I witness people get out of schools and literally turn their brains off.  Its sad to see people think that learning stops when school is over.  It’s a big problem in our world.  It’s the main reason why people get caught in the vicious cycle of starting things and giving up on them.  It’s easy to get frustrated when you have no clue what you’re doing.

I look back at some of my earlier weight loss efforts and laugh.  They were truly pitiful.  I’d nearly starve myself while running 5-6 miles a day.  My long term plans were non existent.  I wanted to lose weight NOW and I did everything in my power to make it happen. I lost a little weight but it didn’t last long.  Eventually, I returned to my normal eating patterns and totally slacked off running.  The weight I lost found soon found its way back home  as well

Finally, after years of struggling with weight I sat down and put some actual research into it.  I found out that I needed to eat 5-6 lean meals a day, perform cardio, AND lift weights.  For once I knew exactly what I was supposed to do and why.  After gaining the knowledge and using it a miracle occured.  The weight came and stayed off.

It’s easy to get demoralized when you have no idea what you should be doing.  It’s hard to get demoralized when your knowledge base is growing day in and day out.

When you have something in mind set your sites on it and study it.  Study it like your life depends on it and you can’t go wrong.  He (or she) who has the knowledge has no problem being motivated to get the job done.