Forged by Failure

I spent a lot of time as a coach talking about the importance of controlling what you can control.  I use this saying to keep my players minds focused on themselves instead of the things occurring around them in every moment that is not within their control.  Outside of our attitude and our effort everything else is up to chance and not within our control.  While I mention that I use this saying for my athletes this applies to all aspects of life.  How often have you found yourself in a moment and thinking about the past and wondering what you could have done different?  Or thinking about the future and what might happen next?  Both of these things are not within our control.  We can’t change the past and we can’t make the future happen how we want, at least not exactly.  The moment we’re in is the only place where we can affect change. I used to dwell on past mistakes and wonder what might happen in the future.  I’ve spent a good amoun...

Anyone who knows me knows that I think failure is a key component to success.  It’s something I talk about often and odds are you have heard me talk about it at some point being the difference between the good and the great.  However, there’s a chance that after hearing about the great things that failure can bring you, you didn’t know where to start.  How do I start to fail and grow?  What does that look like?  The truth is that even though we know failure is a part of our future success and that it leads to growth, we still don’t want to fail.  Even knowing that without failure we can’t fully achieve great success, we avoid failure.  Failure still hurts, and it’s still uncomfortable, and when possible we choose the easier path.  So, what do we do?  How can I become great?  How do I accept failure?  How do I learn how to fail well?  The answer is simple but not easy, much like most things that lead to success.  Practice...

Beep, beep, beep, beep.  My alarm rang out causing me to roll over to stop the beeping sound.  I pushed the button on my phone and laid in bed waiting for my eyes to come into focus.  After a moment, I swung my legs off the side of the bed and sat there starring into the darkness of the room.  Another few seconds passed and I turned the flashlight on my phone on and moved over to my dresser.  I grab some socks first, then move over to determine which pants I will wear today which will ultimately determine what shirt I’ll wear.  Finally, finished dressing myself, I turn back to my phone and turn off my back up alarm before heading downstairs to start making breakfast.  Once downstairs a whole new set of habits (or routines) take hold and this continues until I get to work.  My whole morning passes in a sort of blur as I follow one routine after another.  Take a moment and think about the routines and habits in your life.  There are boun...

I missed my Friday blog post for the first time yesterday since the beginning of the New Year.  I had a pretty hectic week that threw my usual routine out of whack and forced me into some slightly less comfortable territory.  By the time my day ended Friday and I sat down in front of my computer to write this post, I didn’t really know where to begin.  My wife was sitting with me on the couch and we were searching for a show to watch, when I started to think.  What is more important to me; putting out a blog post every Friday or the quality of writing I produce.  It was a fitting thought, since earlier that day I made a Tweet about living your standard and owning it.  Now I was confronted with hurrying through a blog post just to get it out on time, or being patient and trying to write something worth reading.  Set a standard for who you are and how you operate and don’t bend or break that standard for anyone or anything. I’m sure some of you re...

Positive energy is a powerful tool for powering us through our lives.  It’s also vital for inspiring others to be a part of our journey.  Last week I discussed the value of vision and purpose in knowing who we are and where we’re going.  Knowing who we are and what our mission is creates confidence which in turn powers positive energy.  It’s hard to be positive and upbeat about the things we do if we’re not sure where we’re going.  Now that we have a vision of our journey, a direction for us and our passengers, it’s time to get more people to join us.  It’s awesome to have a vision and understanding of who we are, but getting to our destination requires help and that means attracting others to join us on our journey.  The only way to inspire others to join us on your path to success is through positive energy.  Nobody wants to join a journey, no matter how powerful or great the mission, if the leader/driver is a Debbie Downer.  That’s where...

I’m sitting here Monday morning thinking about the start of the week and the things I’m looking forward to trying to accomplish this week when a person comes into the gym and every word out of their mouth is negative.  They are the definition of an Energy Vampire.  It’s “I hate Monday’s,” “I have so much work to do,” “traffic on Monday’s is always the worse.”  Every single thing is against them and their whole week is going to suck because they have to give a presentation today and the project was so stupid to begin with.  I don’t know about you, but I felt some of my energy being sucked out of me just writing that introduction paragraph.  Yikes, imagine feeling like this every Monday, or working with this person, or thinking that everything that happens in life is such a downer, or life is always against you.  I’m exhausted thinking about this and it’s only been sixty seconds. It really is amazing how much better you can feel just by thinking positiv...

I’m sure many of you clicked on this blog to see why a coach and trainer would be telling people to walk, don’t run.  Seems slightly opposite what most in my position would be saying, but this isn’t about hustling on and off the field, or sprint intervals in the gym.  Instead I’m referring to the journey of life that we’re all on.  I had a short conversation today with a friend who is on a weight-loss journey.  It’s a conversation I often have with people in my gym.  Most commonly I get asked, what’s the best diet?  What’s the best workout routine?  How often should I do this or that?   The usual I want to lose x pounds by this date.  All of this got me thinking about how our society rushes to everything.  How we’re so consumed by instant gratification and immediate results that we forget that everything we want out of life is a journey.  It all takes time if we wish to do it right.  It’s not just weight-loss I’m talking abou...