COMPETE EVERY DAY
My Three Words for 2017
What will define your 2017?
Each year, I anxiously anticipate Chris Brogan’s “My 3 Words..” blog post. It’s become tradition to read the post, meditate, and set the theme for my own key words of 2017. It also become my annual challenge to live outside of my comfort zone because these three words are to hold me accountable for the next 365 days.
Here’s how it works (taken from ChrisBrogan.com): (more…)
Courage Over Comfort
Courage or comfort? What will you choose? Do you want your life to be remembered as one represented by courage, or as one represented by comfort? The best stories – and lives – are those dictated by courage.
Here’s how you can live more boldly with yours.
How to Set – and CRUSH – Big Goals
How do you set a big goal and just smash the shit out of it?
You’ve got to have accountability. Every big dream, every big goal that you set requires accountability in order to reach it.
So, let’s break this down.
A big goal you may have for this year is that you want to get a ton stronger. That’s not really specific. Maybe you want to get a little stronger. Maybe a ton stronger. What’s the difference in those two? If you don’t set a specific goal, you cannot have anything to aim at. (more…)
How to Create a Positive Attitude
How do you maintain a positive attitude when everything around you is negative or going to shit? How do you get past the bad situations in life that occur and focus on the good? I share some tips on how I work to shift my mindset from disappointment to future success. (more…)
Endurance Training
How much pain are you willing to endure in order to go for glory?
If you know what’s coming, if you know what you are striving toward, aren’t you a little bit more focused and more capable of enduring what you are currently going through?
Take for example your workouts. How many of our workouts just absolutely suck? Our lungs burn, our arms hurt, and our legs are on fire. Yet we know there is an end in sight, so we continue pushing toward either that final rep or until that clock sounds because we know we are gaining strength from it. We understand the benefits of our workout.
How about a mother who carries a child in her womb for 9 months and then gives birth? Labor is not a comfortable process and it cannot be fun. But at the end of it you have this new creation, a new child and piece of your family. Then how many mothers are willing to go through all of that pain, all of that suffering, all over again for a second, third or fourth child? Plenty.
This is endurance training at it’s finest. Endurance training is about pushing yourself through that temporary pain, through the hurt because you see what’s ahead and that final point that you are striving toward.
What giants are you facing right now? Are you looking ahead? Are you looking at what awaits once you get through it? Or are you so focused on the turmoil and pain of what you are going through that you’ve lost sight of what’s ahead? I want to encourage you today with three ways that you can improve your endurance training for life: (more…)
Action Trumps Perfection
Why do so many of us fall into the lie of waiting for a “perfect” time?
It’s as if we’re waiting to believe we suddenly receive inspiration, like an epiphany that comes to us. In all reality, we find inspiration by taking action and moving forward. Just like a snowball slowly rolls until it builds into an avalanche, so must we start out by moving forward.
This week’s message shares that even if it’s not perfect, starting with something always beats waiting on perfection.
Bang on the Door
Are you going to let one door being slammed in your face stop you from reaching your goals?
How about 50 doors?
In this week’s Monday Motivation episode, Jake shares how you should follow the lead of Hollywood’s best and keep banging on the door until someone answers.
Who Says You’re Not Ready?
Who writes your permission slip?
I remember when I was in school the permission slip was the key to getting out of class (and occasionally escaping boredom!). Sometimes you got a doctor’s note, sometimes the counselor would help you sneak out of class, and a few times the principal would give you the pass. You needed that slip to do anything outside of sit in class and learn. Your parents, teachers, & administration “controlled” the slip, and therefore controlled a part of you.
For some reason, as we grew older, we continued to act like someone has a pen and holds our permission slip. As if we can’t do anything without obtaining their permission first. We sit in neutral, choosing not to chase a dream because we don’t know if we have the permission to. We stay in a job we hate and in an environment that stifles growth because we don’t feel like we have the permission and right to make a change. It’s as if we are unable to give ourselves permission to make a change.
Chris Brogan is a big proponent of giving yourself permission. He writes,
“Permission is about claiming your crown. You can choose what you want to do next. You can choose how you respond. You can decide that now is a great time to get strong.” (Seeking Permission).
In other words, why do we wait for someone else to give us permission to do something that only we can do?
- Who are we waiting to approve our choice to pursue a goal?
- Who signs off the paperwork to make a life change?
- And who have we given power to do decide how we can and cannot live?
Chris once asked me – who gave me permission to start Compete? The answer was simple – me. I made the choice. I acted. I gave myself permission to succeed or fail in the pursuit of this goal. If I waited on someone else to give that permission, I would have never started. I would have constantly sought approval from others who don’t have the power to give me what I needed.
I’ll ask again, who writes your permission slip? If the answer isn’t you, you’ve given the pen to the wrong person.
I challenge you today to take it back. To claim your crown. And for you – and only you – to decide what to do next. It’s your life, Compete for it.
Start a (Life) Revolution
Set off fireworks in your life with a revolution.
Two hundred and forty years ago, our great nation was born with the Declaration of Independence and the decision we would no longer live by the rules others imposed on us. The thirteen American colonies had started a revolution to gain their freedom and new life here in this land, away from the British rule that had once owned them. They believed in a new way, a new attitude, and a new life from their counterparts across the Atlantic.
The limitations the British had imposed were no longer acceptable. So they decided to make a change.
Which begs me to ask – how are the limitations you’re living with? Are they still acceptable? Here are a few simple questions to explore: (more…)
Your Strength Is In Your Struggles
Why didn’t you give up?
We all face obstacles. Some small that trip us up like the sidewalk that “jumped out of nowhere.” Others are like Goliaths, towering over us and leaving us paralyzed with fear, or worse, running the other direction. But I suck at sharing my battles.
Like many of you, I tend to play it close to the vest. I internalize my struggles and rarely, if ever, share the obstacles I’m currently battling. I don’t want to post it on Facebook. I don’t want to vent to someone. I just want to deal with it, quietly and alone. The problem with that thinking is that my obstacle starts to grow within my head. The “pebble” becomes a giant and my situation moves toward one where victory seems impossible. I haven’t shared my battle with anyone so it feels like I am the only one going through this.
I feel often times that I am the only one facing this particular battle. And that’s one helluva lonely feeling.
But the truth is, I’m not alone. There’s actually someone else out there going through the exact same situation I am. Hell, there’s probably 100 or 1,000 other people in my exact shoes, facing my same Goliath – or one much larger than mine.
And many of them are winning. (more…)