Blog
Read Blog Posts by Category:
Passion: Articles that deal with the inner drive that we all need to want to MOVE from where we currently are to where we dream to be.
Preparation: These posts reference articles, books, documentaries, speakers, quotes, and other inspirational and formative ideas that I have found that helped me and the people around me.
Practice: Articles in this category have a heavy sports and performance training lean.
Performance: These articles focus on how you go about your work. From networking to communications to finding a better way to do what you do.
Perseverance: Articles in this category speak to the mechanics that we go through both mentally and physically to stay on track and not get STUCK.
The Advantages of Age
Getting older is often viewed with fear and negativity. We are surrounded by images of youth and beauty, leading many of us to worry about the inevitable passage of time. Let me give you a different point of view: Aging is not a curse but a privilege. The gift of getting older allows us to accumulate knowledge, gain perspective, and forge unforgettable memories. Embracing the aging journey can make us stronger and enable us to live a life of excitement and enjoyment.
Success Has Its Own Schedule
Those driven to success will find themselves caught in a constant race toward milestones. When I was 8 years old, I told Nate Low I would win a Super Bowl. If success were on our schedule, I would have won one in my 20s, not when I was almost 50. John Wayne wouldn’t have had to wait until he was 62 to win his only Academy Award. Bruce Springsteen, who has sung his heart out for over 50 years, would have had at least one song make it to number one.
Success is one fickle bitch!
Moving On: It’s Okay to Outgrow People
Are you still friends with people you were friends with five years ago or ten years ago? Why not?
Growth isn’t always linear; it can be messy and unpredictable. We may evolve in different directions from friends or family members who were once the most essential parts of our lives. This divergence doesn’t necessarily signify a failure in those relationships but indicates individual paths moving in different directions.
Embracing the Struggle
In a world that often glorifies perfection and seamless success, it can be easy to overlook the value hidden within our struggles. Each challenge we face is not merely an obstacle; it’s a teacher, a sculptor chiseling away at the outer shell of our lives to reveal something about us that we did not know was there.
Imagine your life as a movie. Each scene represents a moment—some exciting and happy, others dark and miserable. At first glance, the chaotic scenes may seem disjointed. But upon closer inspection, you begin to see how each scene leads to the next to create a unique story: your story.
Being the Tide
The idea that "a rising tide lifts all boats" can be felt deeply in a world often characterized by competition and individualism. President John F. Kennedy passed on this adage to us, and it speaks to a profound truth: when we support one another, we not only elevate those around us but enrich our lives in ways we may not initially perceive.
Go Ahead, Take That First Step
Every journey begins with that first step, yet that first step often feels like climbing a mountain or dropping off the edge of a bottomless abyss. Whether it’s starting a new project, going to the gym for the first time, or making a life-changing decision, the anticipation can cause us to freeze up. Why is this initial step so scary? And how can we shift our perspective to embrace rather than resist this pivotal moment?
Embracing the Grind: Hard Times Equal Great Lessons
How many of you have been in a position that seemed like there would be no end to the trials and tribulations, so much so that you felt that you just needed to get up and walk out?
I think we all have been there.
But how many of you hung on one more day, and then one more day, and another and another until the hate became a passion?
In life, we often find ourselves wading through some hard times. Whether personal challenges, professional struggles, or challenges out of our control, the phrase “things will get worse before they get better” resonates deeply. It’s a hard truth that we all wrestle with at one time or another. What we learn through the grind is that what we are going through will one day allow us to face any adversity with resilience and hope.
Suck It Up, Buttercup
When I played football, my mom had only one coaching point: “If you get hurt, don’t lie on the ground; get up and run off the field.” My father often told us, “You need to stop crying, or I’ll give you something to really cry about.” Our family dictionary didn’t have the word "Sympathy” in it. We weren’t abused in any way; we were just taught that we should push through the little things that life throws at us.
We were raised to be tough.
Toughness is often associated with physical strength, but true toughness goes beyond the surface. It's about resilience, perseverance, and the ability to overcome challenges. The earlier in life we are taught this, the better.
Three Internal Battles That Shape Our Lives
We all face our own set of unique challenges and struggles during our lives.
From our first breath, we're thrust into a battle for survival. This fight continues, evolving as we do, until our last breath. Some of these battles are colossal, their end never in sight. Though they may seem significant at the time, others fade into insignificance over time.
All of these battles do one very important thing: they shape who we become.
Climbing Your Professional Mountain
Climbing your professional mountain is a journey that requires dedication, hard work, and strategic planning. In today's competitive business world, it's essential to have a roadmap to help you reach your career goals faster.
Embrace the Struggle
The table was set for a pity party. What a great way to start a Monday.
I looked around at the other gym occupants … and you know what? Nobody had noticed. They were doing their thing, living their own struggles.
That’s life. Nobody knows the struggles that you go through. And … spoiler alert … nobody really cares.
How did I deal with my struggle? I took a deep breath. And laughed at myself.
I had two choices. Let this ruin my day or attack the problem. I chose the latter.
Love the Person in the Mirror
Truth Time: When you look at yourself in the mirror do you admire all the good parts or do you start nitpicking the tiny flaws?
Don’t be embarrassed if you only see the negative parts. Most of us do.
The more I go out and speak and the more clients I become associated with I continue to find how many truly are embarrassed or genuinely dislike the person that they look at in the mirror.
And by this I don’t mean the physical features they see … I’m talking about the “person”.
This negative messaging is literally killing us.
I am a truth teller and I tell them as much. How can you continue to be the best version of you when your early morning pep talk to yourself is, “I hate everything about you.”
Keep Climbing: Overcoming The Struggles in Your Life
In every story of success there is a point of struggle followed by an action where the storyteller overcame the issue that caused the struggle. In every story of a person getting stuck there is a point of struggle followed by inaction, where the storyteller allowed the issue to stop them.
Read that again. I’ll wait.
Yes, it is that simple. MOVE. Keep moving forward. It may be in small steps, but you must find a way to continue to fight through whatever it is that is slowing you down.
Growing Pains
When we change, we have to get away from being comfortable. We need to get off schedule as we make a new schedule. We must change the way we think about and speak to ourselves. We need to change the people we hang out with. We may need to be the “dumbest” person in the room. We will need to step out of our comfort zone and change the way we interact with other people.
Dualism: Trust and Faith
I was watching a movie the other night about the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. It took the Israelites 40 years to travel from Sinai to Canaan. If you were to walk it today. It would take you ELEVEN DAYS!
Why did it take them 40-years? The people who followed Moses had a lack of Trust and Faith.
They did not trust their leaders – who led them out of the slavery of the Pharaoh.
And they lacked faith in their God. The One who opened the Red Sea allowing them to escape the army of Egypt. The One who, when they were thirsty, brought water from a rock. The One who, when they were hungry, provided manna from the heavens.
Because of a lack of Trust and Faith it took the Israelites 40-years to go a distance that should have taken them 11-days, to get to their promised land.
This Trust and Faith thing is a constant battle in our lives, just like it was to Moses.
Trust is something that you control.
Faith is an inner belief.
Dualism: Good vs Great
After the event, he was getting the pats on the back from the people who had just watched him speak for an hour. He turned to me with a big smile and said, “Well, how did you like it?” I nodded and said, “It was good.” His reflex was to say “thanks” and move on. Which he did.
And then he stopped and turned back to me and said, “Did you just say “good”?”
I nodded and I said, “Yep, you were good.”
He was the pulled away by organizers of the event, and I went my way.
The next day I got a call from my friend. Before we could even get into the pleasantries he said, “What do you mean I was, just good?”
For the next 20 minutes WE talked about the holes in his talk. And then he said, “You’re right, I mailed it in.”
Dualism: Win or Learn vs Win or Lose
When I was younger, I was so focused on not losing that I couldn’t enjoy the victories. This all changed when I studied Nelson Mandela. When he said, “I never lose, I either win or I learn”, it struck me like a lightning bolt.
I put down the book I was reading and just stared into space. These words were fighting an internal battle with what I had taken for granted since my first memories.
Dualism: Get To vs Got To
Life is a Get To vs a Got To proposition. I have used these two terms (Get To vs Got To) for 40 years. I have asked countless athletes and clients to help them understand the truth about their commitment to being successful.
Comprehending the “Get To vs Got To” concept will lead you directly to understanding “who” you truly are.
Dualism: Ancestors vs Ghosts
I went to New York to watch Bruce Springsteen on Broadway. During his show he spoke about Ancestors and Ghosts.
It took me a while to work this through, but when I did it made perfect sense.
Ancestors are those who came before us that we lean in to when we are growing in our personal or professional lives. They are the people who taught us the basics. How to pray, how to drive, how to work on an engine, how to cook. The taught us what it looked like when you were doing things right and how to push through the hard times.
What a Great Gift
Change is good. Especially when we aren’t happy where we are at.
Here is the problem: We don’t move on our own because we aren’t quite sick enough of the old job because it pays the bills. This is the first signs of being “Stuck”. “Stagnation” is the second step. It comes after you have been in the job so long that you can’t afford to change jobs. The final step is “Death”. This is when your dreams and goals have fallen along the wayside and you succumb to the numbness of working for someone else’s dreams as your professional dreams die.