It’s perplexing how many people that I come into contact with everyday that have just settled into the fact that their life is all about just getting by and hoping that they have enough to survive on when they “retire”.  Unfortunately, this is more the norm these days than those that believe that they can go farther and do better than they ever have before.  I really can’t decide how people get into this mindset, other than at some point in their lives, they decided it is perfectly acceptable to be in a profession that you either hate or dislike (statistics show the number of Americans who hate what they do is now at about 85%), and just kind of scratch through life praying for the weekend or holiday to roll around. When I talk to someone with this type of mentality, I simply want to just ask them, “Who told you when it was time for you to stop dreaming?”.  At what age, do we have to learn to just settle that this is how life is going to be for us?

Life is not about just settling in.  Life is not about just getting by.  Life is meant to be lived and lived abundantly.  Life is a precious gift that we are given, with the stipulation that we can do whatever we choose to do with it, but the choice is ultimately up to us.  We can choose to struggle forever with mediocrity or we can choose to excel.

Lately, I have been taking a closer look at people that are “successful”.  One of the common elements that I am seeing over and over is the fact that most of these people would be labeled as eccentric.  They tend to act differently, and they tend to think differently than most.  A lot of people would describe them as a little weird.  I look at them differently.  I see them as people that know what they want and are not going to buy into someone else’s garbage of self limitation.  They are not willing to be average.  They are willing to step out and do things against the norm.  Most, oddly enough, end up becoming leaders, some become owners of corporations like Donald Trump or star athletes, like Michael Jordan or artists such as Jack Nicholson.  These people simply will not take no for an answer when it comes to living the life they want to live.  Was it easy for them to get to the top of their game, most definitely not, but they were just unreasonable.   As George Bernard Shaw once said, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world, the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” So here is another question, how reasonable are you willing to be when it comes to your life and your dreams?

 Photo by: Mehmet Goren

Have you ever noticed that you tend to get what you expect in life? This is a strange but true “natural law” that I have observed over and over in my life and in the lives of others. 

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to see this law of expectations actually occur in your day to day circumstances.  Have you ever noticed how when you wake up one morning thinking to yourself something like, “Today is going to be a crummy day, I am really tired and I don’t want to go to work today.”, that you end up having a pretty crummy day indeed.  You get stuck in traffic and you are late to work, then you supervisor notices that you didn’t get your report done and gives you a “talking to” etc.  Everyone has experienced days like this at one point or another.  On the other hand, when you get up in the morning thinking something like “Today is going to rock. I can’t wait to see what this day has in store for me!”, you tend to have a great day.  You get to work on time and the day flies by, and you get compliments on your work and so forth all day. Again each of us has had days like this.  Now, I ask what you expected to happen each of those days.

This is a very easy and almost oversimplified example of how our expectations affect our lives.  The people, who go through life excelling at everything they do, and being successful in everything they do, expect things to happen just the way they planned.  This is not to say that they have no bad days, but they have learned in life that you end up getting what you expect to happen most of the time.  So successful people planned on being successful and they live their lives expecting to have things go their way, and most of the time they do exactly that!

So I now ask you, what do you expect in life?  Do you plan on your success in everything or are you just hoping things will go your way?  Do you plan for success or just sit by idly in life letting whatever happen to you? 

Thought provoking isn’t it?

Quote:

“You are going to have to think anyway, so you may as well think big.”

                                                                                                      -Donald Trump

Everything you do matters.  Everything you don’t do matters as well.  The very existence of the United States, or for that matter the world hangs in some way shape or form on your decisions.  Sounds crazy doesn’t it?  Nonetheless this is absolutely true, and it has been proven over and over by both science and mere casual observation.

Think about it this way.  Have you ever thought about the effect it would have had if Abraham Lincoln had decided, after running for office several times and losing, that politics just wasn’t right for him. Surely he had someone in his life to tell him, “Abe, you just need to quit this business of trying to be something your not.  Go get you a job and support your family.”  Yet, he pressed onward.  And, based on that one decision, just look at how the course of history could have changed.  The United States of America likely wouldn’t exist because it may have broken into at least 2 different nations.  Tensions after all were high between the North and the South even before Lincoln took office.  If there was no United States, Germany likely would have won World War 2 and Europe would have a much different landscape.  Who knows what the world may look like today?

If the United States didn’t exist, the very computer you are reading this on, if it existed would not look or work anything like it is now doing.  You would not have the ability to get on the internet and gleam through hours of information to sort out your ideas and beliefs and in turn, you may or may not have become the person you see in the mirror every morning.

We could keep coming up with different scenarios for hours, but needless to say, all of this hung of the decision of one man to persist, but guess what?  His decision wasn’t the only one that mattered.  An unlikely hero emerged that played a part in this as well.  A man named Joshua Chamberlain.  He was a teacher that had enlisted in the Union Army during the civil war.  He also made a decision that changed the course of history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57I2EECFzTA

Status is not what makes you valuable or important.  You are important to the rest of us, more than you will ever know and generations may be affected by your decision to believe that about yourself and really start thinking about the decisions you make in life.  Decide today to think and act like the world depends on you!

Have you ever noticed how children seem to have no fear of anything with maybe the exception of a loud noise?  Seriously, just pay attention to a toddler sometime.  These kids let nothing discourage them whatsoever!  Watching a child starting to walk is always one of my favorite things to see.  They get up on those wobbly little legs and start moving toward something or someone they want to touch or see.  Many times they end up going splat right back down on their backside, but as soon as they do, they shake it off, pull themselves back up and they are at it again.  They don’t spend time worrying about the fall, or thinking that they may fall again.  They know where they want to go and they keep getting up and going until they get there. 

As we grow, we inherently start to learn to have a fear of falling.  We learn to fear failing and not reaching our goal.  This is the last thing that we should do!  We need to realize that the only way we reach our goal is to get up over and over and not let the fear of falling stop us.  You see it is during those times that you fall and get back up, that you begin to develop the strength to stand and walk.  Soon you become strong enough that nothing will stop you!

Quote:

“You can conquer almost any fear if you will only make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.”

                                                                                    -Dale Carnegie

In the current economic and political climate, it seems to be hard for everyone to figure out what money is really and truly all about.  You have one group that seems to believe that “money is the root of all evil” and that anyone that is wealthy inherently got to that point by stepping on and cheating their fellow man.  On another front, you see those that see wealth as something that is earned and comes down to self responsibility and drive.  Then, there is a third group that either has no idea or seems to just care less one way or the other.  Meanwhile the talking heads on television and our “leaders” are doing nothing but adding fuel to the fire between each party by continuing the accusatory dialogue.

As I have said numerous times, I don’t claim to have all of the answers, but I do have some, and in this particular arena, I feel like I can offer some genuine words of help to those that would seek to increase their wealth and financial prosperity.  I am not yet a “rich” man, but I do understand the basic rules of the game, and we have a plan in motion to get ourselves to that point.  I want to share just a few basic ideas here today to give some ideas that may allow you to develop a plan of your own if you don’t already have one, or to help kind of steer the plan you may already be working on in your life.

Here are some basic principles that have made a huge difference in the way that I and my wife look at our finances:

1. Money is an idea.  I first really grasped this concept years back by reading the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.  He points out that money in and of itself, has no inherent value.  It’s neither positive, nor negative.  It all has to do with the value that someone, or some group of people place on it.  A prime example of this idea is the fact that current gas prices are almost $4 a gallon nationwide.  We have no shortage of oil or gas, in fact we have a surplus, yet gas is worth about double what it was worth just a few years ago, and worth almost 4 times as much as it was about a decade ago.  What has changed?  The answer is the value of the dollar.  In society’s mind, the dollar is worth much less today than it was just a short while back, and who knows how valuable it will be another 5 or 10 years from now.  Understanding this concept is vital to really understanding how the money game works.

2.  If you would be wealthy, spend your money on assets.  I will actually go with another of Robert Kiyosaki’s concepts here as well.  This particular idea had a lot of others “financial gurus” questioning him, but I happen to be in full agreement with him.  The idea is that an asset is anything that puts money in your pocket, while a liability is anything that takes money from your pocket.  Where many didn’t agree with Robert, was when he made the statement that your home is not an asset.  Ask anyone who fell “underwater” with their mortgage in the housing crisis if they now see their home as an asset or a liability and some answers might surprise you.   There is of course, nothing wrong with owning a home, but if you seek to build wealth, spend your money on things that will put money back in your pocket.  This could be rental property, commodities, stocks, bonds, etc.  This is investing at it’s core, and you can pick which group or groups you would like to invest in, just make sure you educate yourself first because the investing game is always changing, and many “agencies” and “advisors” are behind those changes.

3. Pay yourself first.  This piece of advice has been around for ages, and I honestly don’t know where it first came from, but one great book that you can find it referenced in is The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason.  This was honestly a tough one for me to implement into my life, as it seems there are always bills to pay or little inconveniences that come up, but once you begin to realize that you have to put some aside for yourself, you then will almost magically see not only your bank account growing, but you seem to be able to always find a way to pay those bills and when something comes up, you always have the cash set aside just in case.

4.  Get out of debt ASAP.  This is another one that you can find from numerous sources, possibly Dave Ramsey is the most visible proponent of this movement today.  The snowball plan that Dave uses is really the most efficient way to get out of debt, so if you haven’t already checked out how to make this plan work for you, check it out online.  You can find it from numerous sources as although Dave is probably the most know for this formula, he didn’t come up with the idea himself.  The basic idea here is that you can’t build wealth by having to pay for someone else’s, i.e. when you owe them, they own you.

5.  What you sow, you reap.  With my spiritual background, I believe that you should take a tithe of what you earn and give it to your church.  Regardless of your faith, any wealthy person will tell you that a big part of what they believe made them wealthy was giving to others.  Your mission should be to help serve your fellow man, and lift them up to help them go on to serve others as well.  Everything in life follows the same pattern of sowing and reaping.  This was another that was tough for me to really get a handle on at first, but once we started, it has been amazing how money seems to find it’s way to us. 

There are obviously many more topics that we discuss regarding building wealth, but my suggestion is this, if you haven’t already started trying any of these, then give them a go.  You will be very surprised at how your whole financial life, as well as other areas of your life begins to change for the better, one discipline at a time.

Question:

What can you do today to start building your fortune?

In order to succeed in anything, you first must grow yourself to the point where you can handle the “success”.  Another way to put this would be, you are only able to achieve goals in direct proportion to the person you become in the process.  This is true in anything from athletics to business to health.  Let’s take some of my past history for example.  When I was student at Texas A&M, I was on the Powerlifting Team.  I would spend usually 5 days a week in the gym and usually up to 2 hours at the time.  I didn’t realize it then, but I was “growing myself” in the most basic sense.  What happened when I started letting my ego get me beyond the point to which I had grown?  I hurt my neck at one point, had shoulder injuries at another and then developed a severe low back problem that took me out of the sport that I loved for 2 years.  However, when I came back, I had matured in my thinking enough to know that I had to grow myself.  I went on to become part of a small group of people that could deadlift over 700 pounds.  Here is the interesting part though.  When I initially hurt my low back, I was trying to deadlift much less than I eventually lifted later.  I had not allowed myself to grow to the point where I could reach the success I wanted.  At that point in my life, I wanted success “right now”.  I thought I could just “will it” or force things to happen by sheer desire.  As a result of my not learning to be prepared, I was knocked back down until I could learn that lesson.

So athletics is a great teacher, but lets look at how this carries over to real life.  My wife and I have another business that also involves nutrition and self-development.  About 4 years ago, I decided I wanted to reach a level that would put me in the top percentage of income earners in this particular business.  I boldly stated that we would be making such and such amount of money in a short amount of time.  Well, we didn’t quite make that.  We didn’t even come close, and after a while I began to understand why.  I hadn’t allowed myself to grow the point where even if we had been successful, that it would have lasted.  My focus was on the end result, but not the process or growth that it woulld take to sustain that goal.  What I learned was that until you are the person that can handle and sustain success, you will not reach it.

I sometimes am amused by how we don’t see how relevant this is to every single area of our lives.  I am a Christian and I have told people, and have been told by people that God will never give you more than you can handle.  Very often this statement comes out when someone is going through “tough times”, but if this principle is true, doesn’t it work both ways.  If God will only allow us to have the amount of sorrow or troubles that we can handle, wouldn’t He likewise only allow us to have the success that we are ready to handle as well.  In the Bible, He states that He would make Solomon rich beyond all other men, because he first asked for wisdom.  God knows that without personal growth, we will become frustrated and eventually bring ourselves back down to the level at which we are comfortable.  This is why most people that come into “instant money”, ex. winning the lottery, or young athletes suddenly making millions, tend to go broke after a short while.  The growth needed to sustain their income hasn’t happened.

Years ago, I didn’t understand this principle, but now I am striving daily to grow myself into the type of person that can handle success.  I have always had the feeling that God has extraordinary plans for my life and that I am supposed to do something great in this world, so I am trying to grow.  

How do you feel you have to grow in order to achieve your goals?

“Good thinking produces the foundation for good results.” -John Maxwell

“Leaders are readers.”  I have heard these words probably well over 100 times at this point in my life.  Of course, with my type of personality, I have to ask why?  I have come to the conclusion that there are actually multiple reasons, but the one that I want to touch on in this particular post is this:  If you want to seek leadership and influence, you should seek wisdom first.

Many times people will try to go further in life, a new occupation, a location, etc., only to find that they have struggles primarily because they didn’t take the time to expand their mind.  If you truly want to make an impact in your life, and other people’s lives, then you must learn everything you can possibly learn about the path you are choosing.  Sometimes we need spiritual guidance, and sometimes we just need to learn from others previous experiences.  Either way we are helping ourselves not have to learn things the hard way, which is exceptional because the faster we can venture into new territory, the faster we can help others get further along on their journey.  When this happens, your leadership grows and you begin to amass an army of people that look to you for guidance.

You must learn well to think well, this in turn allows you to lead well.

So, my question is this.  When was the last time you took the time to read a good non-fiction book?  Did you put any of the principles you learned to use, and how was your life affected?

There is a word that brings all sorts of emotions and responses to the table.  It’s a word that can be so powerful if used the right way that it can literally make someone’s life change on a dime, or if used the wrong way, can make even the toughest of men and women cringe in fear.  It’s a word that lots of people have used to make their fortunes over the last 2-3 decades, and even our current political powers-that-be are using to their political advantage.  What is that word? …………………………………….Diet

Now, that I threw that out there at you, let’s bring you back into focus and take your mind off of The Biggest Loser, P90X, or even Sweatin’ to the Oldies.  I am not going to give you the same old song and dance about how you need to cut out carbs, or cut out fats, etc.  Yes, there is a place for people to learn what kind of junk most Americans put in their bodies today, and it’s vitally important that people take what they eat seriously.

But, with that being said, I have learned that with anything the key is to start off simple.  Rather than tell someone all the things they can’t have, this is extremely ineffective, just ask a parent, I prefer to tell you all the things you can do, and should do.  So, here are a few quick and easy suggestions to help you get started on eating healthier:

1. Eat More Often.  Most people that I speak with that have a problem with weight control, thyroid issues, diabetes, etc.,  spend less time eating than they should.  Most of the time I find out they eat once or twice a day at best.  Contrary to an article that I read the other day, this slows the metabolism down.  Not only that, but really more importantly it affects the insulin/blood sugar cycle negatively and promotes insulin resistance.

2. Eat Fresh or Frozen.  The longer the shelf life in a can, the more likely that it’s loaded with preservatives.  Check the label and you will be surprised at just how much sodium is in a can of green beans.

3.  Find Something You Like and Stick With It.  The average person repeats their basic diet every 7-10 days.  Variety is the spice of life, but I would prefer that you find a healthier food that you like and eat it more often, than to go back to eating a “bad” food pattern.

4.  Even If You Add a Good Food to a Bad Diet, It’s Still Better That at Least You Get the Good Food In.  This is a big one for people.  I often have taught during some of my health lectures, that if you only like grapes, then for goodness sakes, get more grapes into your diet.  It’s a fact that while a Twinkie will do damage to your body, you will get some benefit out of eating grapes(for example) with it.  The goal then is to start adding other healthy foods until you can force some of the bad ones out of your eating pattern.  It may take time, but it works.

Lastly, diet doesn’t have to be a dirty word.  It refers to what you consume to use for fuel in your body.  So, don’t let yourself get worked up when someone tells you about their new diet.  Just get started with these few simple suggestions today, and you will find, often they will come asking you what kind of diet you are on, because you will be looking and feeling good.  Good fuel equates to good living.

I have been around the fitness industry for a long while now, whether from years of powerlifting and since then as a trainer/instructor, and I have seen lots of fads come and go.  There will always be someone coming out with the newest, latest and greatest gadget or workout program that is guaranteed to make you go from looking like Mark Twain to looking like Shania Twain in 30 days or less and it all for just 3 easy payments of $19.95.  Now, don’t get me wrong, some of these gadgets and programs work, but with that being said, sometimes we have to just take a look at what is time proven and tested, and what can be backed up by years of experience and research.  At other times, you have to evaluate what it is you are doing and decide whether it holds up as being a worthy use of your time and effort.

 One program that has consistently stuck around for years, and drastically needs to go away is the idea that you need to go to the gym and do nothing but cardio.  It’s not hard to see how people get burnt out on exercise when you see some of the routines that they for some reason just stay involved with.  Let me explain, I have been doing various workouts over the last couple of years, mostly a lot of outside cross training type exercise, but also some lifting at home, etc.  Recently, however, I decided to join a gym again to be able to get into some heavier lifting and use the treadmill etc, rather than running in the cold(ok, so we only have had a few days of this in Central Texas), rain or the lovelyCentral Texasallergies.  I just wanted to be able to mix it up some again.  One thing that I observed quickly was that few things have changed about how people approach the gym.  There is the guy that constantly lifts more than he should, with bad form and has to grunt like a dying cow to let everyone know he is doing so.  There are the couple of young guys that spend all their time working on their chest and biceps because no one has told them of the problems this will lead to in the long term.  There is the quiet couple that just enjoys working out together and does a good job on their token Circuit Training routine. Then, there are the ones who spend all their time, day after day on the Treadmill, Elliptical, Stairclimber, or Bike, and the really dedicated cardio exerciser will go for a while on all of them.  Also, particularly the ladies, will then go on over to all the leg exercise machines and do a few sets of each before going back for some more cardio.

 As both a doctor and a trainer, I want so badly to explain to them that they need to step away from the cardio equipment and leg machines and start doing some more strength training exercises, that are multijoint based and will push them a little.  Yes, I am referring to the some of the scary equipment on the other side of the room like the bench press, the squat rack, the dumbbell rack, etc.  Strength training is vital and will help in all areas of health more than you can possibly imagine.

 Facts:

1. Strength Training helps increase bone density.

2. Strength Training helps increase muscle and tendon tensile strength.

3. Strength Training helps to boost your immune system.

4. Strength Training burns more calories over an extended period of time than cardio.

5. Strength Training will help lead to a more tone physique, not bulkiness if done right.

6. Strength Training will prevent mechanical injuries if done right.

 And, I could go on for a while, but you get the idea.  It’s not that the cardio is not necessary, but the idea of cardio alone is not only a boring idea, it’s dangerous.  I will explain what I mean by that another day perhaps. 

 To be truly fit, you have to mix it up.  Absolutely, you need to do your cardio, but also, and perhaps more importantly, you need to strength train.  You need to include some stretching, perhaps yoga and/or Tai Chi, as well.  Also, it’s always a good rule of thumb to change your workouts every 6-8 weeks.  When you exercise this way, you will see yourself start to transform, lean and tone up, and you will feel great both physically and emotionally.  So for today, please step away from the elliptical and go learn how to do some squats.

I actually had this article written up before when I had only envisioned Designing A Champion to be a blog for me to share my thoughts.  I know several people loved it, and as I was reading through some of my thoughts today, this article came up.  So, I am putting it up again today.  Hopefully, you will find this concept extremely useful in your life.  God Bless!

If you have ever been to the circus and seen the elephants, you may have noticed that these huge animals are kept tied up by a relatively small rope.  It is very interesting to see how something so big is contained by such a small restraint.  After all, if the elephant chose to, he or she could easily snap the rope and break free.  So why do they stay restrained? 

From the time they are babies, they are restrained with this same rope and no matter how hard they pull, while they are still a baby they can’t break the rope.  After a while they just give up and as soon as they feel the boundary that the rope is putting on them, they stop pushing.  Therefore they never break the rope and never break free. 

Do you see a parallel in your life?  How often do we do this to ourselves?  We  are repeatedly told from the time we are children that we “can’t” do this or that, and sooner or later unfortunately we often give up trying.  So my question to you today is how big is your rope?  Have you really thought about this?  Don’t let the limitation that someone else put onto you hold you back!  You have the power to break free and live the life you want and honestly deserve to live!  Break the rope!!!