Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Quote of the Day

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them."
- Bruce Lee, Martial artist, martial arts instructor, actor, philosopher, and ultimate badass
__________
-AR

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Self Discipline and Having A Backup Plan

I wrote a blog not too long ago about the 'Awesomeness Factors' that have impacted and continue to impact & enrich my life. Funny as it may seem, I've always had the self discipline to care for myself long before my self discipline bracelet came along.


I always knew that I had to eat right foods to stay lean and strong, make time to exercise, get plenty of R&R to optimize the effects of training and conditioning, to stay on top of game by learning, reading, researching, and networking and most importantly knowing when to play and unwind. 

Just the other day I was having a casual conversation with someone who lives the lifestyle opposite of the way I live mine. By that I mean that this person doesn't exercise because 'they have no time', they don't cook & prep healthy meals because they're 'super busy', and they don't live the health & fitness lifestyle simply out of laziness - his words, not mine. The crazy and sad part is that this person use to live the life - healthy, lean, fit, and had a sense of caring for themselves.

I've been in the fitness business for a very long time and I've seen many people crash & burn after so many years of "dieting" and training. Yet on the other end of the spectrum, I've seen a lots of people transform themselves physically & mentally. Was it easy to take on such a feat? Hardly. I know I've said this plenty of times but I'll say it again - anything worth having will always take hard work, dedication, persistence and effort.

Think about that for sec. Look at where you are today and what it took to get there. Some of us may be content being in the status quo, but others are still striving to create a better situation than the one they're currently at. It doesn't mean that they're currently in a bad place in life. If you have this "go-getter" attitude, it's about establishing a better way to exist by having the will, determination and intestinal fortitude to constantly improve each day. And if you're not, either there's no plan or you don't exist!

Self discipline outlines the ability to train and control oneself for the sole purpose of personal improvement. If someone says, "I don't have the self discipline to do this or that.....", my rebuttal is, "Then how do you ever expect to climb of that hole by doing the same thing over & over again?" Do you really think you can expect to see change if you're doing the same thing without creating a different stimulus?

I see this contagious, poisonous and stagnant position in life as being on dangerous ground! Simply because life will kick you in the teeth, beat you down and keep you there if you let it.



When it comes to fat loss, the process of getting lean isn't difficult nor is it rocket science. The difficulty is putting things into ACTION! If you stand naked in front of a mirror, would you be happy with what you see? I'm guessing that the majority of you would say "No". Knowing that you're dissatisfied, and consciously knowing that eating the crappy, processed food stuff that you've been stuffing your face with has gotten you where you are today, would you know the things you have to change in order to create a leaner, stronger, sexier version of yourself as opposed to what you're seeing in the mirror? I'm gonna say "Yes".

You know what you have to do - it's just a matter of DOING what you know. Take ACTION and DO something about it!

Self discipline is your wake up call in the morning. It's what will present to you another day to make difference at improving your life more so than the previous one. It's the ability to do something even when you don't feel like doing it, knowing that it creates productivity and a sense of accomplishment. It's the cornerstone of getting your mind right which translates into everything you do!

Living the life of self discipline allows you to see the true essence of reality by experiencing life through the thick & thin of it all. It allows us to breathe when and if we get punched in the belly. It allows us to get back up on our feet and brush off our shoulders should we ever fall down. When shit hits the fan, we learn, we grow, we comprehend what not to do again, we improvise, and we go to plan B.

If plan B sucks, go to plan C.

If plan C crashes and burns, move onward to plan D....so on and so forth.

Once we exhaust all 26 letters of the alphabet and if all plans backfire, we start with plan #1. As we know, we can use an infinite amount of backup plans if we start using the numberic system. Hopefully we won't ever have to go to that extreme in order to find something that works....then again, you never know. 

One tactic to highly consider in terms of backup plans and improving overall health & fitness is to surround yourself with people who are fitter and healthier than you. I do this all of the time. Trust me - I have numerous friends and colleagues that can out-lift me & out-run me any day. But that’s what keeps me going! The ability to create goals that will help me get better each day so that one day they’ll chasing after me as they choke on my dust!

It all starts with taking ACTION!

Another awesome way to improve your health & fitness is to get the social support you've always needed to succeed by others who already live the health & fitness lifestyle. It's a proven fact that having accountability to others gives you better & greater RESULTS! In addition to this, when you surround yourself with like-minded people, you begin to inherit the same principles of optimal health & well being into your own life.

Backup plans consist of many things - from getting a workout partner, hiring a strength coach and/or personal trainer, buying a gym membership, building a home gym, taking your workouts outdoors, to participating in a recreational/competitive sport and/or activity, trying a different nutrition system, the list goes on and on.

The point is to always weigh out your options and take the time plan ahead. Knowing that you'll have challenges and obstacles is a given. The question is how will you conquer them if you fail at your 1st attempt?

Did the Wright brothers give up in their initial quest when they masterminded the construction/invention of their plane? I know for a fact there were many days and nights of frustration and many failed attempts. But they never gave up. They always went back to the drawing board to exercise and mock up their backup plan.

Dedicate yourself to getting better every day by implementing the “Kaizen” Principle – taken from a Japanese philosophy that focuses on ‘constant never ending improvement’. Never forget that your personal health & fitness is a lifelong process. The only time it ends is when our life on this earth expires! Until then, keep going. Keep adding value. Keep learning. Keep connecting with other great people.


Don't wait another minute to get started. Leverage the combined power of a solid but simple and effective health, fitness & nutrition program, social support, take ACTION and TRANSFORM.

The breakthroughs will come. I promise.

Stay strong and aim to get STRONGER!

-AR