Never Settle For Less

For weeks now I’ve been resisting the temptation to create a "things I’m thankful/grateful/happy to have/ridiculously in love with" list. Once I decided to do it I next had to settle on a list size.  5 couldn’t hope to cover it all and 100 would be overdoing it.  With that in mind I sat down to create the list and eventually ended up with 25 things I’m really grateful for. It’s an experience that really clears the mind and puts things in perspective.  Here it is:

1. My Grandmother - for raising me and putting up with my childhood antics
2. My Father - for instilling 1,000 good values into my system
3. My Mother - for suffering through the pain of bringing me to earth
4. My Brother and Sister - providing inspiration, humor, and energy when no one else can
5. My Aunt - for being one of the most understanding people I’ve ever met
6. My Cousins - for ummm…well…hmmmm
7. My Friends - for being one of the most supportive groups of people anyone can ever hope to have
8. My Girlfriend - for tolerating and supporting my madness (I almost feel sorry for you)
9. My Creativity - for waking me up in the middle of the night with energy, ideas, plans, poems, speeches, books, business ideas, and everything else under the sign
10. My Curiosity - for helping me delve into random things that help me grow
11. Toastmasters - for helping me discover my true talents and purpose
12. Chuck Kinnebrew - for being one of the first people to provide career guidance
13. Phil Parker - for being one of the first to provide honest entrepreneurial guidance
14. Terrence Moore - for being one of the first to challenge me in ways I couldn’t imagine
15. The internet - for providing a wealth of resources, knowledge, and entertainment
16. Georgia Tech - for providing the first truly challenging experience of my life.  I hated it while I was there but I can’t replace the lessons I learned.
17. Cordele, GA - for giving me a greater appreciation of the world
18. 50 long gone pounds of fat - for unlocking my inner motivation and perseverance
19. My current career - for providing a solid business background and showing me what I really want to do with my existence
20. The Future - for shining bright and holding endless possibilities
21. My overactive brain - for keeping me alive and kicking
22. U.S. Citizenship - for giving me the freedom to do whatever I (legally) please
23. My courage - it may be foolish, outlandish, and ridiculous but it’s MINE!
24. Technology - for making so many things easier and more accessible
25. My blog readers - for supporting me, reading my thoughts, and passing my information on to zillions of people

Feel free to comment on my list or leave your own list in the comment section.

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When I was six years old I got a new neighbor.  That in and of itself isn’t a remarkable or drastic feat.  People move in and out of neighborhoods all the time.  She was different in her own special way.  She was one of the first people to give me insight into what this life is really all about.

Cordele, GA is my hometown. For those of you who don’t know its the Watermelon Capital of the World.  I wish I could say there is a lot going on there.  I wish I could say it’s a great place to launch your career as an astrophysicist.  I wish I could say it has more than 2 exits on the interstate.  I wish I could say the median salary wasn’t $25,000.  Unfortunately, I can’t say any of those things. I know you’re jealous. That’s ok .
However, I can say this.  The new neighbor that moved in next door around the time I was six was a blessing.  Thanks Cordele.
I lived on the "wrong side of the tracks" in a literal sense. A train track runs down through my town (have-nots on one side and have-it-alls on the other).  My neighborhood was made of 10 houses with notoriously poor lawns.  At least 8 of the front lawns looked like plots from the Sahara desert.  At some point everyone on the block had tried to plant flowers.  One by one they all failed.  Even my beloved grandmother with her midas touch of gold couldn’t get her flowers and trees to grow (sorry grandma).

My new neighbor didn’t have that problem.  2 or 3 days after she moved in I saw her out in the yard with a stick.  She bent over and put her 60 year old knees into the dirt and began to crawl around.  Curiosity got the best of me so I waltzed over into her yard to figure out what was going on.  To my disappointment she was only drawing small "X" shapes in the sand.  I said hello to her and went on with my day.

About a week later I noticed her out in the yard again.  This time she carried a bag in her right hand and a small shovel in her left.  At a pace all her own she methodically planted seeds at every "X" mark in the yard.  One by one she’d move over to a spot and follow this exact process:

1. Shovel dirt
2. Deposit Seeds
3. Cover the hole
4. Pack it down

I must have watched her shovel dirt for at least an hour.  The process was intricate yet simple.  I’d never seen anyone else go through such great lengths to START their garden.  It was obvious to me that she was up to something.  I just didn’t know what.
Over the next couple of months my new neighbor diligently watered her plants.  Every single day she’d be out in that yard.  Her movements were precise and calculated.  I’d never seen anyone so interested in pouring water into the grand.  It was interesting, boring, and crazy at the same time.  Watching her water plants was one of the few things that could make me sit still.

Every single day for the next six months the process continued without fail.  People in the neighborhood grew suspicious and began to gossip about the woman who was “obsessed with her garden”.

• Who does she think she is?
• Doesn’t she know plants don’t grow here?
• Why does she waste her time out there?
• Is she crazy??

About a  year later all her critics grew silent.  What was once a lonely plot of dirt was blossoming into a gorgeous front lawn.  Around the perimeter of her yard were trees that stood taller than anything else in the neighborhood.  Inside that small forest of trees grew rows of petunias, roses, and other assorted flowers.    In a little over a year she had the most dazzling yard on the block!

I was green with envy.  My grandmother had been trying for years to get grass to grow in her yard.  Meanwhile, our neighbor was building a tropical rain forest.
My neighbor’s flowers and my jealousy grew out of control at the same rate.  It became my mission to discover her secrets.  One day I decided to get up close and personal.   Since I was a James Bond fan at the time I decided to use some 007 tactics.  I pressed my body against the wall of her house and slid along the bricks until I made it to the edge of her garden.  As I peaked around the corner  I noticed that my neighbor was nowhere to be seen.  I knew she couldn’t have disappeared that quick so I advanced into her yard.  Out of nowhere a bucket of water soaked my face.

“Young man would you mind telling me what you’re doing snooping around in my yard!!!??’ she screamed.

“I…I…I…was trying to steal your secrets” I stammered out.

“What secrets are you talking about?” she asked in an irritated tone.

I gathered myself and explained that I was jealous of her yard and wanted to share her success with my grandmother.  She burst out into a taunting laugh that I’ll never forget.  After she got done laughing she asked that I pay very special attention to what she was about to say closely.  She paused for about 15 seconds and said something that I (along with everyone else on earth) really needed to hear:

“If you want anything on this earth to grow you must work towards that growth.  Some things may happen quick.  But that’s the exception, not the rule.  I haven’t done anything special except pay attention and water my plants with care.  I know what I have to do and I do it.  Tell your grandmother that’s the only “secret” she needs”

My little heart plummeted to the floor.  I was expecting her to surprise me with secret planting or watering techniques.  Instead she told me to poor water into the ground every day.

As an adult I can fully respect that message.  I’ve seen it work in my life and the lives of others.    In order to grow and progress you must be willing to go that extra mile, be consistent, and drive towards your goals whether you have 0, 1, 10, or 10 thousand people supporting you.  In the end it’s all the same.

So here’s the final question.

Are you leaving the water in the hose or using it to water your own personal soil of growth?

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I’ll assume that if you’re reading this article then you have some interest in going through a body transformation. I did just that in 45-60 minutes a day, 5 days a week, while holding down a corporate 9-5 position with enough stress and politics to drive the president crazy! At my heaviest weight I tipped the scales at 252 lbs. At my lowest I’m 205 lbs. Since losing that weight I’ve had the pleasure of helping people shed weight along with the pain of witnessing people fail due to some easily avoidable mistakes.Losing weight is one of those topics that confuses even the smartest people on our planet. Confusion leads to mistakes, which lead to frustration, which ultimately leads to failure. In this article I will outline the 9 Most Common Body Transformation Mistakes I’ve seen.

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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THAT’S JUST NOT FAIR!

The battle cry heard around the world.  That’s just not right!  That’s not fair!  Things shouldn’t be that way!  Fairness (or lack thereof) is leaned on when the chips are down.  When all hope is lost.  When things just don’t seem to go our way.  When someone else has the decided advantage.

Whenever I hear “Oh that’s just not fair” I cringe. Not because I hate the word.  I cringe because it’s an excuse used by us. The “little guys and girls of the world” to explain a perceived playing field imbalance.  Standing on the top of a mountain and yelling of the unfairness of the world brings nothing into our lives.
It’s a simple fact of life that some people have gifts that others do not.  Everywhere I go I run into someone who has an advantage over me in

• Size
• Strength
• Intelligence
• Speed
• Physical Attractiveness
• Wealth
• Writing Ability

It used to drive me up a wall to meet anyone with an advantage over me.  It didn’t take long for that to change.  I grew tired of being angry and jealous of the gifts that others have.  I realized just how big a waste of my time it was.

Fairness Exercise

Now ask yourself this.  How much of this can I(or am I willing to) change?  If you’re willing and able to change all 10 then I’m very happy for you.  You haven’t wasted a second of your time and you’ve created 10 just causes to fight for.

For the rest of us lets review the list.  How many of the worlds unfair dealings are you willing to change?  If its not very many then here’s a question.  How much of your time did you just lose making that list?  How often do you do this every day?  Couldn’t your time be better spent crafting a life you want? Of course it could.

A World of Fairness

Imagine what the world would be like if everything where fair.  If everything were equal.  If we all had the same talents, motivations, and experiences. We’d all be robots waiting for the next program to download.  Oh so exciting .

Where would we be without the “unfair” genius of Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Martin Luther King Jr., Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, etc etc?

What would modern life be like if the “unfair” creativity behind inventions like Ipods, computers, bluetooth technology, fuel injection engines, mp3s, or the internet had been suppressed?

In all likelihood if life were “fair” we’d still be rubbing rocks together to make fire.  We’d still think the world is flat.  TV’s would still weigh about 300 lbs.  Our lives would be without music, art, electricity, and comedy.  Is that “fair”?

Bad News/Good News

Bad News

As long as we are breathing things will remain”unfair”. There are some things that never change.  Celebrities will have children that are born into homes valued at or around $999,999,999,999,999.99 USD.  Some people will be born with the ability to sell dirt in the desert.  Some people will have brains with the processing power of a supercomputer.

If you’re one of these lucky few then here’s a sticker for you

You win.  Go away.  Seriously leave now .

Good News

The playing field can be easily leveled.    People have many talents and advantages that they either don’t acknowledge or don’t know about.  The good thing is they are right below the surface.  You just need to discover them. Once you discover them things clear up dramatically and you no longer feel the need to deem things “fair” and unfair”.

Our world isn’t 100% fair.  That fact makes it an interesting, compelling, and exciting place to live in.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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Eminem - Rapper/Entertainer

Oprah - Talk Show Host/Leader of the Free World

Christopher Gardner - Businessman/Author/Speaker

What do they all have in common? At a glance this list is as disjointed as they come.  You have a rebellious rapper, the most popular talk show host on earth, and one of America’s most interesting and motivating businessmen.  On the surface they don’t seem to share much in common besides their wealth.  In fact nothing could be farther from the truth.

Eminem grew up in a poor fatherless environment in Michigan.  Before his rap career took off his life was headed nowhere.  As a result he had to work odd jobs to make sure his daughter was fed.  Eventually, he began to take his career as a musician seriously.  Tirelessly, he put in hours of work.  He worked local shows and circuits until he was picked up by Dr. Dre and Aftermath records.  The rest is history.

Oprah Winfrey was born into rural poverty in Mississippi.  The first six years of her life where spent with her grandmother where she learned to read at a very young age.  She used her background and experiences to become an Emmy Award winner and billionaire many times over.

Christopher Gardner is the main character from the autobiographical movie The Pursuit of Happyness.  The story is both intriguing and heart wrenching.  In it Chris and his son end up living on the streets as he searches for a way to support his son.  When its all said and done he lands a job at a premier stock brokerage firm without so much as a college degree.  Today he lives the life of his dreams.

Here’s the common thread.  Eminem, Oprah, and Christopher Gardner all started from the bottom.  Each came from a terrible situation.  Determined to succeed they set out to meet their goals and never looked back.

So what is it about being at rock bottom that motivates the human soul?  What forces one to look deep within him or herself and discover what they are truly meant to be?  Look closer into the microscope.  The answer is staring right into your eyes.

The Only Choice is to Improve or Die

Look at the 3 situations I’ve described above.  Each person was faced with a basic decision.  Their fight or flight instincts were triggered and they responded with full force.  When their backs where against the wall they pushed relentlessly to free themselves.

Herein lies an issue.  Most of us DON’T have our backs pressed against a wall.  That insatiable hunger for more hasn’t been sparked.  We aren’t nit picking over the last shred of meat in the fridge or living in cardboard boxes in the streets.  As a result we go about life never really exerting ourselves.  The comfort zones we so eagerly seek now hold us down.

I’ve had this same feeling before.  Right before I decided to lose weight.  I was angry with myself for being so sloppy and I knew a change was in order.  Many programs and exercise attempts had fallen short in the past.  Honestly, I was tired of losing and falling short. My focus and determination became razor sharp.  I packaged my lunch for work daily, worked out like a maniac, and ran 6 miles like I was running 1. Before long my waist had shrunk 5.25 inches (40 - 34.75) and I’d lost 50 lbs.  That’s the closest I’ve come to feeling that insatiable hunger.  Everytime I sit down to write this blog it resurfaces (good news )

So how do you press yourself?  How do  you put yourself in improve or die mode?

How do you do it?

1. Take Yourself and Your Goals Seriously –> People rarely see your vision.  Don’t be distracted by the words of others.
2. Improve Inch by Inch –> Improvement takes time.  Build a solid foundation and throw another brick on every single day.
3. Dare to Improve –> Never get comfortable.  Comfort = death
4. Develop an Improve or Die Mentality –> Set goals and live by them.  Be prepared to REWARD yourself for achievements as well as PUNISH yourself for failure.  Be accountable.
5. Let the Starting line motivate you –> Oftentimes webecome intimidated by the scope of the task.  Be excited about what you will accomplish and you will find ways to do it.  The task is only as big as you make it.  You can either make mountains or molehills.  The choice is yours.

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Think back on your school days for a minute.  Remember all the teachers, coaches, principals, professors, advisors, and everybody else who was dishing out advice for the better part of life.

I’m sure if you think long and hard you’ll remember some very, very interesting people.  I have at least 10 people come to mind when I do this exercise.  I could fill up half the internet with some of the ridiculous teachers I’ve had.

Today I’m going to focus on one coach in particular.  Coach McPherson was an assistant coach on my high school football team.  By all accounts he did nothing but yell and scream at everybody.  Sometimes he even had a reason.  He was bout 6′3" tall, 350 lbs, and 35% bodyfat.  For some reason he was our cardiovascular fitness coach.  Yes that’s right.  He was the guy yelling and screaming and blowing the whistles during all the drills.  Perfect man for the job.

At some point in the history of Crisp County High School football an evil man created a drill called the Cougar Alley.  I don’t know who this evil man is or why he created the drill but he did.  The Cougar Alley was a cardiovascular obstacle course.  It seemed like something out of U.S. Army basic training.  Exercises were linked together and 1 Cougar Alley encompassed ALL of the following:

• 10 Pushups
• Sprint through 20 Tires
• Rope Drill
• Tackling a ball carrier
• Catching the ball
• 30 yard sprint

All this was timed.  We’d prefer if you finish that in under 60 seconds sir .

Coach McPherson took  great pride is overseeing this activity.  The team was broken out into sub groups to tackle this task.  The entire time he’d be holding that whistle.  Waiting in anticipation for someone to mess up.  If one person ever made a mistake his entire unit was forced to repeat the Cougar Alley.

One day I had the misfortune of messing up.  I was the last to go.  I was exhausted.  The temperature was 105 degrees outside.  I was ready to pack it in and go home.  Instead of sprinting the last 30 yards I lightly jogged it out.  As soon as I finished I heard that dreaded whistle.  Coach McPherson stormed over to me with that goofy smile on his face.

“Smith!  What was that son?” he bellowed in that thick southern drawl.

“It was a Cougar Alley” I said.  I wasn’t up for this exchange so I kept my mouth closed after that.

“Son, that’s not a Cougar Alley.  You didn’t SPRINT out at the end.  You’re out here prancing around like a woman” he was getting more excited.

Next thing you know he shouts out “LINE EM UP.  Mr. Smith isn’t paying the proper respects to the Cougar Alleys”.  Then he turned to me and in a thick southern drawl said

“You know the motto Mr. Smith. Do it RIGHT do it LIGHT.  Do it WRONG do it LONG!”

With that the Cougar Alleys started again.  AAAAHH.

I forgot about Coach McPherson shortly after I left high school.  He came back into my consciousness after I began working out to lose weight.  When I started out I knew exactly what to do. I hired a personal trainer and we put together a plan. He covered everything I needed to do:

1. Drink plenty of water
2. Eat six small meals a day
3. Perform cardiovascular exercise
4. Lift weights

Of the 4 I regularly performed one.  I lifted weights like a maniac because I enjoyed it!  For nearly a year I ignored the other 3 factors.  One day I looked in the mirror and realized that I’d zero progress towards cutting.  Sure I was bigger and stronger but neither was an original goal.  A year had been wasted.  It was time to get on track.  As I integrated water consumption, small meals, and cardio into my routine I began to notice results.  I went from 250 lbs down to 205 in a matter of 7 months!

Coach McPherson’s voice came back to taunt me

“You know the motto Mr. Smith. Do it RIGHT do it LIGHT.  Do it WRONG do it LONG!”

As much as I hate to admit it.  He was right.  I’d wasted a year of my time trying to defy the laws of physics and defeat the human body.  Had I listened from the beginning and done things the right way I would’ve achieved my goals much faster.  Even though I’m still not a Coach McPherson fan by any stretch I must admit that he was right.

Apply this lesson to life.  It’s very tempting to be lazy and try to beat the system with trickery.  In the end all the work arounds will bring you back to square one.  It’s very unlikely that you’ll be any further along and you will have succeeded in wasting some valuable time.  Value your time and do things right the first time.  It’s shorter, you reap more benefits, and you are allowing yourself to spend time being successful rather than wasteful. Who doesn’t want that?

Have you ever sat down and pondered what the word dedication really means?  Have you really?  According to dictionary.com dedicated is defined as

• “The act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action“

Now here’s 2 even better questions.

• What happened to the dedication in society?
• When did it become “weird” to have purpose and dedication?

Follow me as I explain the story behind this posting.

About 3 months ago a co-worker and I were hanging out in his cubicle.  It was a very slow and dry work day.  Our conversation was interrupted by someone else from another work group.  Apparently, she was new and going around to meet those she didn’t know.  She was a very nice woman and made herself at home.  She appeared to be around 45 years old and spoke like an extremely smart person.  Out of nowhere she began to explain her expertise in Microsoft Access and Exel.  I’m an engineer by education but I wasn’t prepared for a Microsoft lecture by any stretch.

The more the spoke the more boring the conversation became.  She was genuinely interested in the topic and had an ear to ear smile glued to her face.  Just as I began to doze off she looked over at me and asks “Do you work out?”.  I was immediately shocked by to life.

“Sure.  Why do you ask?” I questioned her.

“I was just taking notice.  You look very good!” she said with a warm smile on her face.

“Oh thanks I’ve worked really hard.  I’ve come all the way down from 252 lbs.  I’m 205 now” I said.  I could tell  she was extremely intrigued by my body transformation.

Earlier during her Microsoft Access/Exel lecture I had cracked my fair share of jokes to keep things light hearted.   The expression on her face changed from a warm smile to a thinking scowl. It became obvious that she thought I was joking about that too.  Finally, a light bulb went off in her head and a big smile came to her face.

“NO YOU DIDN’T.  When somebody loses all that weight they don’t fill out the way you did!” she smiled and said, “you’re lying.  This is another one of your jokes”.  She motioned with her hands near my chest and arms when she said “fill out”
I smiled at her and said, “You do fill out like this when you do everything the right way”.

A tinge of jealousy must have struck my co-worker because before I could even finish talking he sarcastically blurted out “Yeah thats great and all, but you’ve been working out 5 days a week for going on 2 years!”

I stood dumbfounded for a second.  I’d never felt such intense and unnecessary hatred before.  Most people celebrate my achievement and even ask for advice.  I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to cause an uproar at work.  My mind had some very colorful thoughts and words running through it that I couldn’t share in the corporate environment.  Here’s the PG version of what I was thinking

“Everyone isn’t a lazy bum like you. SOME OF US realize that in order to take it to the next level you have to sacrifice and maybe even sweat a little bit.  Imagine that!”

I calmly strolled off because I wouldn’t have been able to hold a decent conversation had I remained there.  One central theme was buzzing around in my head.  Why do people expect to get something for nothing?????

It’s amazing to me that otherwise intelligent individuals have duped themselves into thinking the world will be gift wrapped.  It’s a shame that the words easy, instant, overnight, free, hands off, miracle, and no effort are all linked to achievement these days.  It’s sad that a relatively small amount of people in our new society know the values of work and effort.  Nothing of any value comes easy or overnight.  I hope that some of these smart people will eventually wake up and realize that the rewards you get are a product of your effort.

The idea that you can do nothing and gain everything needs to die a slow and painful death.  The world would be a better place for you and I if it did.