Choosing the right goals to find success

Over the next few days with the new year coming up quickly I am going to spend some time writing about goal setting going into the new year. 

I think two of the biggest issues why people fail at their goals are, #1 is commitment and #2 is not choosing the right goal. You can choose the right goal and still fail due to lack of true commitment to your goal. 

What is true commitment to a goal? It is when you allow the goal you are set on accomplishing to become woven into the fabric of your daily life. The goal becomes so important that you will not allow any excuses get in the way. You will find away to work towards your goal everyday. Even when life throws a giant @#$% sandwich at you, you will use this commitment towards your goal as fuel to help you get past the troubling times you are facing. In other words. You need to be just as committed to your as you are to your family, marriage, relationship to your partner, friendships, job, etc... if you want to see true goal success. 

This kind of commitment is not easy. You already know how much work goes into your commitments that where listed above. So you need to be truly willing to create and add to the major commitments you already have going on in your life. Other wise you are wasting your time and energy. When you take on this kind of commitment and live by it everyday, the personal growth you experience beyond your goals is immeasurable. This kind of commitment towards your goals enhances every part of your life in a profound and positive way. The work is hard, but the reward is so much greater. You already know this because of the strong commitments you may already have in your life. This is a good thing, No wait, this is a great thing and anything great in your life is always going to be worth the work you put into it. 

Are you setting resolutions or goals?

So now that Christmas has come and gone for another year, many of our thoughts will be turning to the new year and new year Resolutions. To be quite honest I have always disliked this idea of new year resolutions. 

Typically a new year's resolution is based on something you are not doing, but feel you should be doing. So the question becomes, if you should be doing this thing, then why aren't you? And why are you going to start now? And what makes you think if you haven't been doing it, all of a sudden the magic is going to happen and it's going to work this time? Very rarely does this actually work. Sure in the beginning it seems to work, because you have the new year's energy pushing you, but like most treadmills the new year resolution finds its way into the corner of the basement and collect dust and unused clothing.

So what do we do about this? Well first thing. We are going to take the new years resolution idea and throw it in the trash can. The next thing is you are going to do is take a pencil and paper and write down a goal. Then you are going to write down why you WANT to achieve this goal. Then you are going to write down HOW you are going to achieve this goal. Have you noticed I said GOAL not GOALS. Set yourself up for success by doing one goal. Once that one goal starts to take off and starts to gain a life of its own and becomes part of your daily life 3 months from now, you will more than likely start to look at another goal or more importantly expand on your existing goal. 

Now the hard part comes into play. This goal you want to achieve for 2020 needs to become a non-negotiable part of your life. Meaning no excuses. Meaning I have to do this everyday or I will be pissed at myself because I am allowing myself to fall short and that is not acceptable. When you get to this point your 2020 goal has the greatest chance of being achieved. 

At the end of 2018 I decided that I was going to do 30 burpees everyday. Why? because I hated them and I needed to better challenge myself. How? Put them into my daily workouts. My workouts where already a non-negotiable, so adding the burpees should not be that difficult. Soon I found out that 30 burpees was easy and not enough of a challenge, so it turned into 50 burpees per daily workout. Eventually as I got better and faster it went from how many I could do daily to how many I could do in a year. The goal built on itself because the goal became a part of my life and was turned into a non-negotiable.

This is how new year's goals work. It is not a resolution that either can pass or fail. Make your goals habitual.

Gratitude and Thanks

Todays email and action item is quite simple. I simply want to say Thank You to all of you for allowing me to share these daily emails and thoughts. It has been an honor and privilege to be able to sit down everyday and write down my thoughts and feelings on the various subject we have covered for the past few months. This journey has been able to help me grow so much as a coach, father, husband, friend and a human being. I can't thank you enough for allowing me this opportunity. 

So today's action Item is very simple, but means so much. Please make it a point to say thank you today. Even if you don't think it's necessary, I guarantee you the people receiving your thanks and gratitude will get more from your thanks then you can imagine. Spread your gratitude and thanks, because it will also help you just as much.

Thanks and have an awesome Monday and Happy Holidays,

Practice to be a pro

The art of practice is a lifelong journey. For the person who aspires to be great, he or she must be willing to practice everyday. They must be willing and have the desire to practice on good days and bad days. It must be a burning desire within. The drive has to be greater than the discomfort you feel from your practice. 

Steven Pressfield puts it so well in his book "Turning Pro"

Once we turn pro, we're like sharks who have tasted blood, or renunciates who have glimpsed the face of God. For us, there is no finish line. No bell ends the bout. Life is the pursuit. Life is the hunt. When our hearts burst...then we'll go out, and no sooner.

I love the line "There is no finish line". There is only one finish line in life and we all know what that finish line is. It is like I tell my gym members, "It does not get any easier, you just get better at it". Keep your practice going everyday.

Finishing the job... even when it's not comfortable

In those moments of deep discomfort, you are the only one who gets to decide whether to stop or keep going. Think about that! You have the most powerful ability with inside yourself. You get to choose, No one else. 

If you decide to let someone else make that choice for you, then you have lost your free will. You have lost your most important ally and that is your autonomy. Never ever give up your ability for your freedom of choice. I tell my kids that above all else in the world, your autonomy and freedom of choice are the most important things you possess and own. Don't ever lose them or let them be taken away. Because when this happens you slowly start to lose your self. 

What are you going to choose to do in those moments of deep discomfort? Are you going to quit or are you going to put one foot in front of the other and finish. I suggest you finish because the scars of regret and quitting can last a lifetime. Just as the positive growth and emotions will last a lifetime because you chose to finish.

What do you "get" to do?

I hope to hear that you are all having a great week so far. We are officially 1 week away from Christmas as of today. So I hope this week is filled with fun and good times for you all.

So often we look through the lens of "I want to do this" or "I have to do this". When we stop and think about this a "want to" is a desire or a need that is yet fulfilled and who knows if it ever will be fulfilled. A "Have to" is a necessity in life that needs to be done whether you like it or not. This viewpoint can lead to very negative emotions surrounding the task at hand. How often do we turn all this around and look at it through the lens of privileged and gratefulness and say "I get to do this"?

• I get to wake up everyday and start a new

• I get to write this email to you everyday Monday thru Friday

• I get to love my wife and kids everyday

• I get to help people everyday 

• I get to earn my place in the world everyday

• I get to ear respect everyday

• I get to run through the snow-covered woods

• I get to do burpees everyday (LOL)

• I get to live life through hard work and positive growth

• I get to suffer through setbacks and learn from them 

• I get to teach someone today

• I get to take care of someone today

The list is endless, but it requires you to pivot your mindset to a "I get to do this". When we change our mindset to this point of view our growth potential is limitless. So what do you get to do today. I get to do almost everything on that list today and I am happy and grateful that I get to. 

When Your Body Is A Wreck

I have heard that the human touch during a yoga practice session can be a very powerful emotionally healing experience. This experience I've been told has the capability of bringing an individual to tears. I have always known at times during workouts or runs on the trails could invoke some pretty intense emotional responses. I have experienced these events from time to time throughout my fitness journey. Mostly when hitting a goal in weight lifting, but more often when running in the woods and experiencing nature's beauty.  That was until yesterday.

I go to a Tai Chi massage therapist once a month to help take care of my body from all the workouts, running and coaching I do. Let's face it, at age 53 you need to listen to your body if you want to keep this pace up and living this type of lifestyle. As I said before my massage therapist does Tai Chi Yoga on me, which is basically a very intense healing stretching therapy. Yesterday I was having a very difficult time letting my therapist stretch me to where I am normally capable of letting my body going to. He kept commenting that my body was really a wreck and I needed to try to let my mind and body relax and let go. Much easier said than done if you have ever had a hard time stretch tight muscles.

I decided to tell my therapist about what I thought was a bit of a funny story about how I thought Sunday was December 16th instead of the 15th. You see December 16th was my mom's birthday and she would have been 75 this year. I lost my mom earlier this year to cancer. I was telling my therapist about how I thought about posting a remembrance on social media about my mom, but decided against it. I decided I wanted to keep my thoughts and feelings to myself and celebrate my mom by myself. Later on the night as was getting ready to go to bed, I was flipping through the channels and saw the Kennedy Center Honors on TV. I notice the singer, who I think was Carrie Underwood singing the song Blue Bayou. It was Linda Ronstadt's version and low and behold 30 seconds later their was Linda up in the honorary balcony with Kennedy Center Honorary Metal on. It was at that point in my story that I found myself at my healing moment. My story stopped. I could not talk anymore all I could do was feel the tears come from my eyes. A few moments later as I looked up and through the ceiling, I smiled and my body relaxed and I let go. It was an extremely strong and emotional experience that I am so happy that I got to experience. I was able to finish my story by telling Jeff that Linda Ronstadt was my mom's favorite artist and that I had been listening to here albums since I was about 8 years old. I knew my mom was having a grand birthday celebration that night. 

I and so thankful and grateful to have found this personal growth and vulnerableness yesterday. I walked out of Jeff's studio feeling physically and emotionally better than I have felt in a long time. The human touch is an amazingly strong and powerful force. It is capable of so many great experiences in our lives.  Thank you Jeff for all your help and care.

Badass Body Armor

Yesterday I heard a great comment from somebody I know. Her comment was "I feel like a badass when I wear______". I had a great laugh and said I know what you mean. It really got me thinking about how certain items can really help turn on our alter ego's.

I remember back in my early twenties when I was heavily into the punk rock scene. (Still love the music to this day) I wanted to get myself the old school style leather motorcycle coat. I didn't want it just for the fashion statement. I wanted it so It would help project a certain attitude I had at the time. This coat was going to be my body armor. It was meant to tell the rest of the world that I meant business and I was going to do what I wanted to do. This coat made me feel strong inside and out. I still have this coat to this day and I still wear it, although not with such bravado and  attitude that I had in my twenties. Alright maybe a little bit of bravado and attitude still. I felt so strongly about what this coat meant for me and my alter ego I bought one for my son Max. To this day Max wears his as his body armor as well. 

Max was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome when he was 3 years old. As he grew older and went into junior high and high school he had to deal with a lot of bullying. I knew that there was only so much that I could do to help prevent bullying from happening to him. The one thing I did know that I could help him with, was his alter ego. That is where his leather motorcycle jacket came into play. Max loves his coat and I can tell when he is going through a tough time by how much he chooses to wear his motorcycle coat. 

We all have self images we want to project to the rest of the world. One of the easiest, safest and fun ways is through what we choose to wear. Most of the time we will dress in are normal everyday attire, but there are those occasions when we want and need a little extra attitude and bravado. It's not meant to say look at me, I'm a badass. It is meant for each of us to feel a little more secure, happy, strong and positive about who we are and how we want to feel. 

Breaking through after a break down

I heard a great piece of reminder advice yesterday while on my trail run. "The breakthrough usually comes just after the break down". When I heard this, I was like WOW, this is so true. Most of the great breakthroughs I have had in my life have come after a break down. There have been a handful of times in my adult life where I felt like saying #$%@ it, I'm done, I can't do this #$%& anymore. I wanted to pack it in and go live like a monk on top of a mountain. Then all of a sudden something comes through or I met someone who opened a door to an opportunity and voila, I'm in a new and better place then I was just a few days ago. 

Now in order for this idea to truly work and have meaning, you must be working towards a goal and facing obstacle after obstacle. Just because your tired and pissed off and having a breakdown doesn't  mean your next best breakthrough is around the corner. You must be working towards something. It is kind of like this, " The amount of pain, suffering and sacrifice you must make, must be in direct proportion to the size of the goal you seek to achieve". In an odd way it is the Muse's way of rewarding you for your hard work. (Read Steven Pressfield's "War of Art").

I guess the moral or value here is. That when you are working towards something that is aligned with your true north you will have major moments of doubt and grief along the way. Don't let these obstacles beat you down. They may feel like they are winning. They aren't. They are making you stronger. Because when the breakthrough happens you are going to need all your new found strength to fight through the next set of obstacles that this breakthrough is going to give you.

Being the first

"Be the First" I heard this statement or mindset earlier this past year.

This quote is not about being the first in the race or being the first person to do such and such. Having big goals and aspirations are extremely important and need to be sought after everyday. But "Being the First" is more about smiling first at the stranger walking down the street. Being the first to say hello as you pass somebody. Being the first to seek out a lost friend. Being the first to say, I'm sorry.

We spend so much of our time these days being stuck in our own worlds. We are connected to everything so much, that we have become unconnected to the real living world around us. The art of conversation and acknowledgement seems to have become a lost art. They even poked fun at this issue on TV with a commercial of a group of people texting each other about getting something to eat together. The joke is that they are all in the same room together. Yes, it's funny to a degree, but it is also very sad at the same time. When you have the ability to make fun of our disconnections towards each other, there is something seriously messed up with our way of connecting with each other now. 

So today what I would like to see you take from this daily action item, is to "Be The First". Start to take notice of those around you. You have no clue what the person next to you is going through in life and maybe a simple hello or friendly acknowledgement is what they need more than anything else. When you think about it, that is a positive force that we all have with in us each and every day. I am sure that each of us have had a moment or two in our lives where someone around us decided to "Be The First" and that simple action made all the difference in the world to us that day. Everything in life is connected to actions we do or do not take. It may not seem like much, but think about where you might be at if that person had not decided to "Be The First".

Motivation - Find It!

How are you motivated? Do you allow yourself to be motivated through negative emotions such as fear. Or are you motivated by positive emotions such as courage, enjoyment, heart and confidence.

Take a 3 year old Thoroughbred horse. He is a ball of pent up kinetic energy that wants to be released. Now a race horse has been trained to understand the whip, but the horse who is trained to be motivated by the whip will never run to his fullest potential. The thoroughbred will never be able to run to his fullest potential until he is trained to run from his heart or his desire to run freely and for fun. When the race horse is trained from the heart, he will run to his fullest potential every day and will do it happily.

To often we let fear and pain be a motivating factor in our decision making. When we let negative emotions guide our decisions we often end up failing in short and long run. I see this happen quite often here at the gym. People will often come into the gym and there reasons will be "I need to get into shape or I need to lose weight". They never stop to ask themselves why do they need to get into shape or lose weight. More importantly they never ask themselves, "Do I want to get into shape or lose weight".

When you change the attitude from a negative, such as I have to and turn it into a positive, such as I want to. You end up changing the great possibility of failure into a greater possibility of success. You are giving yourself the real chance of running like the thoroughbred horse, at your full potential. 

Most of the time negative emotions tear us down and wreak havoc on everything around us. It is the positive emotions that allow us to build, change and grow. So next time you have the obstacle or the adversities of life facing you. Do not look at it as "I have to do this". Pivot and say "I want to do this" You have the courage, you have the heart and you have the confidence. You can do this.

Eureka! Having A Real Epiphany

Have you ever had an epiphany? I have some from time to time. Epiphanies can have very profound effects on our lives.

When we initially think about past epiphanies, we have good thoughts about them and we should. Epiphanies usually mean change and usually positive changes. But when we really spend some time and think back on our epiphanies there is more than just the positive feelings. There is the pain that comes with the thoughts of wasted time spent doing something that was not part of your true calling or true north.

Now we need to understand that this pain you feel is a needed emotion. This type of pain or shame is what fuels the epiphany to move us towards positive growth. But it will only move you to positive growth if you embrace this pain as a positive. Once you embrace this pain you will begin to leave your old ways or amateur ways behind and enter into a new and brighter chapter in your life.

Epiphanies come in all kinds of forms in your life. Think on life as a multi level game with various playing fields, such as work, home, relationships, play, exercise, self, etc... Each one of these playing fields are capable of having epiphanies throughout our whole life. This is a good thing. It means we are searching and learning and trying to grow. We should always try to have the mentality of a white belt, always learning and asking questions of ourselves.

Celebrate your wins

How often do you celebrate your wins? I often write and talk about using our adversities to help propel us forward or to gain self confidence. Using adversities and obstacles as opportunities is extremely important, but do you take the time to celebrate the victory or win you have created or fought so hard for. More often than not we do not celebrate our wins. There are many reasons for this way of thinking but many of them can be self sabotaging. When we don't take the time to appreciate what we have accomplished we can be making harder to want to push through the next obstacle that we will be facing.

Take some time to enjoy your wins. Do something special once in a while. Celebrating can be as easy as taking sometime to go on a hike by yourself, to think about what you were able to work through. This alone time is helpful to reflect and take stock on where you are at in life and where to go to next. Sometimes a win requires a night out with friends or someone special, so that you can share your positive feelings and happiness. Depending on the win, sometimes they need to be celebrated in a big way such as a weekend getaway or a full on vacation. Most of the time though, wins really just need to have some small form of recognition. What is important is the fact that you are acknowledging the fact that you were able to fight through adversity and turn the obstacle into an opportunity.

Celebrating is not grandstanding nor self indulging. It is an acknowledgement that you have worked hard and have accomplished something you thought may not happen and most likely others did not think would happen as well. Just as we learn mostly from our failures and take these lessons and put them to good use for the next obstacle to come. We should also take the lessons learned from our celebration of our success. We do this, so we learn to appreciate this feeling and allow ourselves to enjoy them instead of stifling them. You have earned them, now enjoy them.

Running towards suffering

This morning one of my gratitude's I wrote in my journal read "knowing my body and mind want to work hard". Yesterday I went on what was probably one of my hardest runs I have done recently. The mileage was not an overwhelming distance, only a little over 8 miles. The terrain on the other hand was quite difficult and very challenging. The conditions of the trail (extremely muddy) helped to add to the difficulties that I was experiencing.

What struck me most about this run was while my body and mind where suffering through the fatigue of climbing hills and the concentration needed for foot placement. both my body and mind where willingly enjoying this form of suffering. It dawned on me that because all of my training and staying disciplined to my training even on days like this. I had finally got myself to the point of really appreciating the suffering I was putting myself through. I ran with a smile on my face even though my legs, lungs and heart where saying $@#% you. It was awesome.

When we can reach this point in our lives, where we embrace the suffering and run towards it instead of away from it we start to find the real true growth we have been searching for. We embrace the suffering because we now understand that the work we are willing to put in will lead us to are true potential. We start to become the person we have always wanted to grow into. We start to willingly DO THE WORK needed no matter how we feel, because we now understand and comprehend the importance of who we really have always wanted to become.

Turn and face the strange

Be brave, my heart (wrote the poet and mercenary Archilochus) Plant your feet and square your shoulder to the enemy, meet him among the man-killing spears. Hold your ground.

When we turn pro, we stop running from our fears. we turn around and face them. (Steven Pressfield, Turning Pro)

Turning and facing our fears is an extremely daunting task. The emotions that come with this process can be extremely difficult and challenging to overcome. These emotions can paralyse us into taking no action and can often set us further back. You can't let this happen.

One of the biggest fears I had to face in my professional life was the decision to start Big Tree Fitness. I had to wrestle with following my true calling and passion or stay comfortable in my shadow career. I spent 24 plus years building my career in the landscape industry. I had climbed to the top of my career ladder at Vizmeg Landscape. I had built a 6 million dollar landscape maintenance division. I had a very nice income with all the vacation time needed. I had all the perks that came with my position in the company. I only had to answer to one person in the company and that was the owner. I basically had what most of us strive for in our professional careers.

I was miserable and dreaded going to work everyday, but was I ready to turn and face my fear. The fear of starting over. It turns out I was.

When we have the courage to turn and face our fears and take real true action towards defeating them great things happen. We leave our amateur life behind and we turn pro. We stop living in the past and dreaming of the future. We start to live life in the present. We do the work needed to become our true self. Our passions and dreams become reality because we have the courage to do the work required to make them real. We stop caring what others will think and we use that energy of others judgement as fuel. Turning pro is not easy. It requires inner strength and perseverance to not quit. It requires embracing the suck. It requires an appreciation of suffering along the way, knowing that the outcome from every ounce of blood sweat and tears will take you to the true self that you have always desired and dreamt about.

Be brave, my heart and face my fears. Fore the future is clearer and bright.

Showing your scars

Bare your scars like medals.

Many of you have seen the various medals that the gym has received from the various races we have participated in over the past two years. The reason I say the gym over myself is because typically a member or members of Big Tree Fitness participated right along side me. I am very proud of this accomplishment for each of us and view this as a team of people working towards a common goal. This is why I display these medals with pride.

I am also a firm believer that baring your scars like medals is just as important and empowering. Scars whether physical, emotional or mental represent what we have been able to overcome throughout our lives. They have helped shape us and have taught us to face our adversities.

Life's scars come from many different places and times. Whether it is two ankle reconstruction surgeries or nine bone grafting surgeries caused by a tumor, painful family divorce, family addiction issues, personal divorce or death. All these scars I wear with pride. They have helped to teach me how to become a better human being. They remind me that tough times are short lived, but the lessons learned from them are a lifetime.

I have a tattoo on my left leg that reads "Death is the price we pay for life, make it worth it". Scars are part of life, honor them and use them as a positive source of energy. Let your scars became a part of your life that makes it worth it. They don't define you, they help make up the strength of your core being. Wear them with pride and keep growing.

Putting off the inevitable

Remember the email a couple weeks ago about, slowing down and thinking through situations or problem issues we all experience in our lives.We would do this so that we can get the best outcome or solution. Well there is another side to this coin.

Sometimes we will put off taking action on an issue or a problem we have in our lives because we have convinced ourselves that our actions need to be perfect. When in reality, we really just need to start taking action whether it is perfect or not.

When we choose to put off taking action, what we are really doing is procrastinating. Now procrastinating can come in many different forms such as, laziness, apathy, lack of importance, but the two main forms I found are fear and lack of confidence. We end up letting fear of not being perfect with our call to action dictate whether our problems or issues get resolved or not. In this situation what we really need to do is take an imperfect step. We need to do this so we can start to create momentum. Our creation of momentum actually allows us to make corrections along the way. This is the essence of leaning into our adversities. When we let fear dictate how we will solve a problem, we let our adversities win the day.

Most problems or issues we run into on a daily basis are very easily solved. Like waking up in the morning. What do you do? Get out of bed, problem solved. But what about a real problem, like writing a daily email. What if you are struggling with a subject matter? How do you solve that? Do you say the heck with it today because you don't know what to right and you don't want to write some piece of nonsense garbage? No! You grab a paper and pen and start writing and you know what? The words just start to flow and mind begins to work and the fear goes away.

Don't let in-action rule your day. Don't be afraid to take action. Embrace it, own it and take the actions you know you need to do. Life will be so much better.

Happy holidays... bring on the guilt and stress!

Welcome officially to the madness known as the holiday season. I don't mean madness in a bad way. I am one of those who really loves this time of year. I enjoy getting to have the extra time with family and friends. The holidays are meant to have fun and enjoy the good cheers from those around us. Which leads me to today's action item.

This is also the time of year where self guilt can become a big issue for some of us. We feel we have to make decisions based on our regimented lifestyle. We feel if we deviate from this, all will be lost. Because of this we sometimes let ourselves miss out on wonderful opportunities to spend time living life. Then we are stuck living with a different version of self guilt.

Well first of all, throw the self guilt out the window and leave it behind. Guilt is an emotion that serves zero positive purposes. In reality guilt raises personal stress levels, which in turn raises our cortisol levels with in our body. When this happens, the ability to change our body composition comes to a grinding halt and will actually reverse body composition changes if your cortisol levels continue to increase. Stress is one of the main causes of raised cortisol levels and we have enough stress in our lives brought on by outside influences. We don't need to add to them by accepting self guilt in to our lives.

You will also hear the term everything in moderation. Sometimes this will also create a guilt factor as well. Maybe you have a handful of invitations to holiday gatherings to go to. Do you want to have to pick and choose which ones to attend based on moderation or your regimented lifestyle. You are just creating more stress by doing this as well.

I personally believe that we should live life and go have fun. There is no reason you can't go and enjoy yourself this holiday season. Yes we don't want to get completely out of control and let everything you worked for all year go to waste. I think what we really want to do is to maintain. How do we maintain? Don't over indulge every time. Still go and have fun, but set some limits and guidelines for yourself at each event. You can set these guidelines for yourself by considering the various factors that surround your daily life. Such as the day of the week, your work schedule, how late into the evening, which group of people will you be hanging out with and most important your workout schedule LOL.

This is typically the one time of year that we tend to get pretty busy with work, family, friends and social events. Have fun with them and realize this is all part of the enjoyment of life. It's OK to have some fun and I hope you have lots of it.

Turn Obstacles Into Opportunities

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends. I am very grateful for the time I was able to spend with my family and friends yesterday. I am especially grateful for the time I spent with my kids running in the "Homerun for the Homeless" charity 4 mile race. We were happy to participate in this great event.

When we hear the phrase or term "Lacking Confidence" we can trace it back to one simple but difficult rule to follow. "Lean into your adversities". The same can be said about life's obstacles as well.

What do I mean by leaning into your adversities? When we face down our obstacles and adversities we gain confidence, We do this by working to get past them through physical, mental and emotional strength and thought. When we do this we can't help but gain self confidence. When this type of confidence is gained, we start to turn our obstacles and adversities into positive opportunities. The more we practice this mindset the faster we are able to get past obstacles or adversities in our lives.

Even though this is a simple rule, it can be very scary as well as some of the hardest and most difficult challenges we will ever face in our lives. We all know that if we don't face up to adversity or obstacles in our lives, these obstacles will end up being a dominant factor in our lives. They will create a negative cloud over us that will be impossible to get rid of. Not even the passing of time will make them go away. They will just continue to compound on top of each other and when this happens confidence is so difficult to gain.

Facing our adversities and obstacles is an essential part of personal growth at all levels. Without it personal growth is impossible. Later today we will be doing a podcast here at the gym on this very subject. We will be discussing the various ways and mindsets you need to cultivate in order to tackle adversities and obstacles. Please give a listen when it comes out on Monday.

Come Back Stronger

We all go through periods in life where we ask the question "why me". How did this happen? What am In going to do to work through this?

I have often thought about on this subject, but have always shied away do to the complexity of this subject. Yesterday while I was doing my Tuesday trail run, I listened to the "Spartan Up Podcast" featuring Shay Eskew. (I have attached a link). The lessons taught in this short 31 min podcast tackle the answers to this question better than I could ever imagine doing myself. Shay's story of perseverance, facing adversity and leaning into his obstacles to create his own confidence and drive are absolutely remarkable. Some people would think this man had every right to give up, but Shay did not think this way. Shay found a way to come back stronger than most people would have ever thought possible.

Please give a listen to this podcast. I hope the positive and grateful emotions that I felt while running and listening will do the same for you.