Members Only Club Web Site Tour - Motivational Messages

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Any bad workout; bad day of eating; bad day at work; or bad argument with another person can turn out to be a GREAT experience in the long run if you can learn something valuable from those events.

In order to make this happen, you must use the "hard-knock" lessons you've learned as catalysts to take your training, nutritional habits, business career, and relationship to a higher level!

Don't think you must be "happy" with your journey 100 percent of the time. Don't burden yourself with that misconception.

If you question your approach to life at times, just relax! There's nothing wrong with you. Your feelings are totally understandable.

Whatever route you choose to take in life, there will be ups and downs; pros and cons; and pluses and minuses.

Enjoy the happy times to their absolute fullest. Appreciate them. Keep your head up during the challenging times. Be patient with them.

When was the last time you were afraid, guys? If you can't remember, you are not pushing yourself hard enough!

If it makes you feel any better, I've been "scared" my entire bodybuilding career. With the challenges I've volunteered to face in my immediate, mid-range, and long term future, I'm still scared!

Get into the habit of asking yourself "Exactly WHY am I doing this particular task at this particular time?" before everything you do.

This mental conditioning exercise will pay great dividends the longer you use it. You will start making more intelligent decisions, become more efficient with your efforts, and save valuable time.

Try to make the majority of your actions fit somewhere into your short, medium, and long- range plans. Hopefully, many of these actions can be a combination of all three of them.

If you're going to create the outstanding quality of life you really want, you are going to have to drive yourself hard. There's no doubt about it!

Be sure, however, that you take the time every once in awhile to appreciate just how far you've come and what an amazing journey you put yourself on!

Live life by your own standards, values, and rules. No one else on this planet gives a darn more about you, your dreams, and your life as YOU! And, you know what? No one ever will.

That being said, why in the world would you let someone else's negative opinions or criticisms harmfully affect you?

Other people don't have anything invested into your successes or failures. They are not emotionally wrapped up in your dreams or fears. They simply don't have the perspective to be telling you how to live your life.

Believe in yourself and your abilities. When you've finally reached your ambitious goals, those same people will be telling you "I always knew you were going to make it someday!"

You should never get locked into one path or a single way of thinking on your journey toward success. Don't stick to your original plan simply for the sake of doing so. You must be flexible in your approach. You must make changes and adjustments when they become necessary.

Life is always changing and evolving. You can count on getting thrown for a loop from time to time--so always be prepared. If you want to keep going forward, you must constantly reevaluate, reorganize, and reprioritize your plan-of-attack if that's what's required to achieve your goals.

Maybe you aren't being "too hard" on yourself like other people are always trying to tell you. Hey! Maybe you have even tried to tell yourself that B.S. at times as well?

Maybe those other people are being too easy on themselves. Maybe you are actually applying just the right amount of pressure on yourself that you need to create the outstanding quality of life you REALLY want!

You will never get maximal results from the strategy, routine, or nutritional plan you are using without having 100 percent certainty and confidence in it.

Without total certainty and confidence, you will never give all of your physical, mental, and emotional abilities into the route you are taking. Now, I know it may seem as though you are giving it your all, but you simply can't be doing so. We usually won't realize this until sometime in the future when we are honestly evaluating oor efforts. Hasn't this been true for you on some occasions in the past?

Before you go blaming the philosophy, training routine, diet, supplement, coach, or author on your lack of success, be sure to check your own mental approach and level of commitment.

If you do not have certainty and confidence in what you are doing and you can't even fool yourself into believing it will eventually work, move on another route.

Your mental approach and level of commitment are that important to your success. Sometimes, they are far more important than the particular strategy you are using.

The pain of constant self-scrutiny now or the pain of regret sometime in the future?

Rest assured, you WILL pay one or the other with your daily actions and decisions.

As peak performance specialist Tony Robbins has observed, "Many people major in the minor things in life." In other words, they spend the majority of their precious time doing a lot of little, insignificant tasks that really don't equate to much in the end. Those little tasks don't get them any closer to where they ultimately want to be in their lives.

Sometimes, it's tough to be patient with your bodybuilding and training efforts. It seems as though the learning process is endless. The challenging road we are traveling on seems to be a lot more time-consuming than we expected it to be. Do you ever feel this way? I certainly do at times!

We must ask ourselves to stick it out and take the time we need to focus on our creation--instead of rushing through the process just to give ourselves the "illusion" we are accomplishing more than we actually are. We will only hurt ourselves in the long run by doing so.

I know it seems like the matter-at-hand is taking a lot more time than it is supposed to--but stay focused! Oftentimes, it's that one detail-oriented, thoroughly-done, time-consuming project we do that gets us 100 times further than those five or six smaller ones.

Don't try to convince yourself that others have or have had things easier than you. Thinking that way won't do you any good.

Anyone who has already achieved what you're after has had a journey that was just as difficult as the one you are on. The only difference between you and them is they found a way to achieve their goals. You haven't yet.

With anything you strive to accomplish in life, there will be many risks. The saying "the bigger the risks, the bigger the rewards" is definitely true.

Many people go through life hoping to get the biggest rewards--but are trying to squeak by with only investing the least amount of risks to get them. It sure would be nice if that would happen, but life very, very rarely--if ever--works out that way.

We should accept the fact that reaching our ambitious goals will require us to risk a tremendous amount of time, money, physical energy, mental energy, and emotional energy--with the chance that we may never recoup those investments. Scary, huh?

We must realize that's the price we must pay for success--and we must be willing to pay that price to achieve it.

There's a fine line between being too tough on yourself and being too easy. Many people have a difficult time finding the right balance between the two extremes.

If you are too tough on yourself, you may be "winning" at your bodybuilding and training efforts--but feel as though you are losing. If you are too tough on yourself, you'll rob yourself of truly enjoying this incredible journey you are taking. Not recognizing the accomplishments you are achieving--whether they are big ones or small ones--can lead to disappointment, frustration, and possibly even convince you to eventually give up. No one on this earth wants to give their all and continually fail.

Being too tough on ourselves, however, is usually not the problem for many of us. Many of us fall into the trap of complacency. We are not tough enough on ourselves and never really push ourselves to become the very best we can be. We convince ourselves that we are doing "good enough" or "better compared to most people." We stop challenging ourselves to expect more from ourselves and raise our standards.

Although being easy on ourselves may relieve some of the "angst inside" and anxiety in the short term, taking this route pretty much guarantees our disappointment and regret in the long run.

Be honest with yourself and try to find the right balance between the two extremes. Do what is right for you according to your own values and priorities in life--and not anyone else's.

Whichever way you choose to go, there will be some level of pain involved. You'll be required to "pay the price" mentally and emotionally. You'll either experience short-term angst and anxiety now by being tough on yourself or long-term disappoint and regret later if you are too easy.

If I had to choose between the two, I'd prefer to be too tough on myself. No doubt about it!

As the saying goes, the tougher you are on yourself now, the easier life will be for you later.

Don't even try to convince yourself that you are already working hard enough. You can NEVER work hard enough! There is always more you can achieve.

You'll never find out just how much more you are capable of achieving, however, if you don't ask yourself to produce better results all the time.

When you've established a lofty standard, work like a madman to set an even higher one. You can't allow yourself to become too happy with what you've done in the past. That perceived happiness will not be long-lasting.

Do you remember those times when certain aspects of your life once satisfied you, then all of sudden, they were not good enough to please you any longer? You had some sort of an abrupt "wake up call" that caused you a whole lot of angst and made you crazy inside until you took yourself to a higher level?

Don't let out-of-control emotions like those ever sneak up on you again. Be proactive. Anticipate your future needs. Realize that, regardless of what you've accomplished in the past, there will inevitably come a time when you'll want more. Strive for improvement before that awful angst starts brewing inside your gut.

Constant growth--in all areas of our lives--is another one of the keys to happiness.

How your life is going is sometimes only a matter of perspective. Reality, or what is perceived to be reality, sometimes plays a very little part in a person's way of thinking.

It's important to train your mind to keep a positive attitude. Looking at the world this way is an acquired skill that you must develop. It takes work.

Too many people are actually "winning" at the game of life--but feel as though they are "losing." They have adopted the wrong way of viewing things. It's a shame and a waste.

Have you ever thought the events in your life were going "just okay" until you were really challenged with something difficult to deal with? I'm sure the more challenging times made the just okay ones seem much better by comparison, didn't they?

Don't be winning at the game of life only to feel like you are losing. Ask yourself "What's great about this situation?" on a consistent basis and you'll condition your mind to think positively and optimistically more often.

If you are in high school right now, will you have graduated from college with admirable grades and be ready to take on the world as a young adult? If you are currently a strapping 25 year-old, will you have set yourself up for a productive and fulfilling life in your thirties? If you are 35 years old, will you be the epitome of vibrant physical, mental, and emotional health at 40?

What you do TODAY will you get you closer--or farther away--from where you really want to be in your life or who you ultimately want to become. What I'm sharing with you is happening--whether you realize it or not.

I have a new saying that I've posted in a few obvious places that reminds me of the importance of my day-to-day activities:

Make sure the things you do today help shape your meaningful and compelling future. Be certain that you make every single one of your days count--and start doing so today!

Remember, the next five years will come and go before you know it. There's no question about that. The only questions are . . .

Structuring your days and following through with your "daily disciplines" may cause you anxiety and seem burdensome at times. But the angst you endure now will make your life far more productive and fulfilling in the long run.

The tasks that seem difficult to get yourself to do now will become much, much easier the longer you strive to do them. Trust me.

Soon, you will have momentum working for you. Getting the job done on a consistent basis will be like a "boulder rolling downhill." The longer the "boulder" has been rolling downhill, the faster and more ferociously it will start traveling!

Keep chipping away at your goals. I know, at times it may seem as though you are not making any progress whatsoever--but try to keep the right perspective. The little things you do are indeed making a BIG difference.

Sometimes it may seem as though all the goal setting, planning, organizing, reorganizing, assessing, and reassessing are all simply a tremendous waste of time--but NEVER stop doing the fundamentals necessary for eventual success.

All of the mental preparation helps you identify your destiny more clearly. All of the daily disciplines propel you forward little by little each and every day.

Over time, the difference you create between yourself and the person who does not do these things will be MASSIVE!

The beginning of a new month (week, year, and even day, for that matter) is a great time to redirect, regroup, and retool your mindset. Sharpening your mental focus will take one step closer to the magnificent life you ultimately want to experience.

What would you have to accomplish? How much progress toward your goals would you have to make? Who would you have to talk to? What questions would have to be answered? What new information would you have to learn? Which phone calls would you have to follow through on?

You can't make April an awesome month unless you are able to define what an awesome month means to YOU.

Now is the time to decide exactly what has to happen so that you are able to say how great this month was when you are reviewing it in 30 or so days.

All too often, we distract ourselves by looking too hard for the "perfect" set of training eating, and/or supplementation strategies.

Hard work and consistent follow through is going to take care of a whopping 90 percent (or more) of the job of taking our physiques to the next level. Nothing--not even the most sophisticated, earth-shattering strategy--will ever take the place of hard work and consistent follow through. Nothing!

Now, I realize we don't want to waste a minute of our time or an ounce of our energy implementing any less-than-ideal approaches. I certainly understand that desire.

But, many times we rationalize our lack of effort on our belief that we are just being "smart."

In most cases, more information is not what we need to get the job done. What we need is more EFFORT.

When things are going well for you in your life, you must CELEBRATE! Lock these awesome feelings into your conscious mind!

Recall every single one of the constructive steps and actions that you've taken and have led you to these great moments in your life.

It's important to do this. Why? If you can continue to do those steps and actions on a continual basis through advanced planning and awareness--instead of by coincidence--you'll enjoy great times like these on a continual basis as well.

Look, if you must take full responsibility for your failures (as you should)--then you should also take full responsibility for your victories, don't you think?

These victorious times didn't just happen by chance. You deserve them. You created them. Remember that!

And, by the way, did you notice how soon these awesome times came after the more challenging times in your life? Hmmm....remember that the next time your life seems to be a little difficult. Good times are more than likely right around the corner.

You'll always have problems and distractions in your life that you'll need to manage. Everyone has to deal with this fact of life.

Those people who can focus on the matter-at-hand (training and eating--or whatever is most important to them in life) even when their world is crumbling around them are the true "machines" that will eventually become successful in their endeavors.

Don't wallow in your "challenges"! Believe me, you are not alone--so don't feel sorry for yourself. Just get the job done!

Sometimes, you have to just roll with the punches life will always dish out from time to time. Things may not go exactly the way you want them to go on a particular day or stretch of days, but you must keep the faith. You must control your emotions, stay poised, and stay focused. You must continue to do the things you know you must do.

It's always good to look back and remember similar times in your past in order to gain the right perspective. As a source of reference, recall the times when you experienced the very same events and feelings. You worked you way through them then--and you'll work your way through them again now. If, that is, you keep your head on straight!

Many of us have trouble getting our minds focused enough to achieve what we want in our lives. We are sometimes unable to get the task-at-hand accomplished simply because we are always trying to get our lives just "a little bit more organized."

The person who can function the most effectively during uncertain times will ultimately become the most successful at what he does.

Let's face it. Nothing in life is ever "certain." Your life will always be a little unorganized. Certainty and organization are created in your own mind--not by the events, people and/or material things that surround you!

During yesterday's Business & Marketing online chat, I noticed that COURAGE is a common trait we all must have in order to reach our goals.

The most effective strategies in the world and the best-made plans are absolutely useless without enough courage to implement them.

If you are striving to reach an extraordinary goal, be prepared to pay an extraordinary price to reach it.

You should expect the mental and emotional durability required to achieve your dreams to be five times as long as you originally thought; five times as difficult, and be five times as expensive. That's just the way life works. Those who have been persistent enough to become successful already know these unavoidable truths.

Whether you realize it or not, anyone who has ever achieved anything of any of significance has paid an enormous price for it.

So, you are engaged in a difficult, seemingly endless battle to reach your goals--RELAX! There's nothing necessarily wrong with you. You are in good company!

In fact, you are going through what everyone who has "made it" has gone through during his or her journey to success.