This picture will make much more sense later. Hang in there.
WHAT’S UP Y’ALL?!? So, last time we “spoke” I was telling our dear friend Susan how she can change-up her mindset in order to get to the gym more consistently and improve her life. The gist of it was to make your goals a priority so that you can roll with the punches in life, and get that ish done! If you missed the first part of this article, then go ahead and scroll down, catch up, and make yourself more awesome!
All caught up? Good. Let’s continue...
Now, I hear ya Susan, “Sean, that’s all well and good, but life is tough and I can’t find the motivation to change my whole world around!”
Here’s the ticket, it doesn’t happen all at once. You don’t hit the target as soon as you push the launch button. The secret-sauce is knowing that eventually the missile will get there.
This is what I meant when I told Good Ol’ Poppa T to “make it a mantra”. Just have the intention and mindset in place. Hold it there. Keep it in your mind as you go throughout your day. Make notes to yourself as reminders. Repeat that mantra in your head, and slowly you will find opportunities to change your life. It changes it from, “I didn’t workout today, I have failed,” to “I didn’t get to workout today. How can I auto-correct and assure that I make tomorrow work and achieve my goal of health and fitness?” or “ I didn’t get to the gym, but I can still hit some push-ups and go for a run before bed!”
STORY TIME! When I attended Rutgers University, I had the blessing of being lectured by Professor Michael Leyton. In his Psych 101 class he always used to ecstatically shout, “You need to BELIEVE to ACHIEVE!” He gave us the advice of, everyday, writing down your goals and intentions. He taught that this will keep it present in our mind, and allow us to achieve. This isn’t “The Secret”. This is real. The difference here is, not just sitting in front of a list of personal affirmations you wrote down, but also being willing to do the work. I’ll share one last story I heard that sums it up perfectly.
There was a great flood that left a man stranded on his roof. Unflinching, the man began praying to his god (we’ll call him The Rock) to save him. While praying, a rowboat came by and offered to save him. “No thanks, The Rock will save me.” Then a cruise ship went by offering help. “No thanks, The Rock will save me”. Then Eddie Van Halen came riding down a rainbow atop a chariot of light and offered help. “No thanks Eddie, The Rock will save me.”
Eventually, the flood rose above the man’s head, and he drowned. In the afterlife, the man approached The Rock in a huff and shouted, “What the heck dude?!? I did nothing but pray to you and you never saved me!” The Rock gave him a firm back-hand to the face, because you don’t talk to The Rock that way, and then he replied, “ I sent you a rowboat, a cruise ship, and Eddie Van Halen to save you! What more could you want?”
The drowned-man’s mindset was that of a train on tracks. If he had the missile mindset, he’d be alive and, ideally, partying with The Rock and Eddie Van Halen on a cruise ship somewhere.
So there you have it Susan. A whole BUNCH of words all saying the same thing. You have to BELIEVE to ACHIEVE, and you also have to put in your own work even when obstacles are presented.
Hope this helps someone change their thinking to achieve their goals.
Love you pops, thanks for the inspiration.
