“Adaptability is not imitation. It means power of resistance and assimilation.” –Mahatma Gandhi

Adapt to every type of weather condition, terrain, emotion and competition.

Be ready for anything.

To be ready for anything you must train in all conditions, emotional states, terrains, and with all types of competitors.

If you can perform well under any circumstance you’ll win; every time.

Weather for most people will be the hardest. Rain, snow, sleet, ice, humidity, scorching heat, freezing cold, freezing rain, etc. It’s not going to be easy. You can make it fun. Think positive and stay positive. No matter what type of weather make sure you get out there. It will pay off in the long run (pun intended). Just show up and run.

“Long distance running is 90% mental and the other half is physical.” –Rich Davis

Emotions can take over in a negative or positive way in your running. You choose. If you tell yourself, “I don’t feel like running”, “I don’t need to run today”, “It’s just one day”, “I can always run tomorrow”, “I’m just not feeling it today”, you chose to not run. You tricked yourself into feeling bad…for yourself. When these feelings hit you, it’s the best time and most needed time to run. As soon as you start feeling like this commit to running. Tell yourself, “I’m going to run”, “I feel good”, “I can’t miss today”, “I will feel so great afterwards”, “I can do this”. Stay positive. Focus on your long term goals. Mental toughness is essential to running. Push your mental and physical limits. You won’t know what heights you can reach until you break down these mental blockades.

Train on the flat, easy, downhill surfaces and the hardest and steepest of hills. If you had to chose between the two paths which would you take. Close your eyes and imagine there are two paths in front of you, a metaphorical fork in the road, to the left is a nice easy downhill and to the right is the steepest and longest hill you’ve ever seen. Which path do you chose? The simple answer is…the hills! Hit the hills hard. Whenever you have to chose between a hill or downhill choose the hills. It will pay off. The mental and physical barriers you will break through will be well worth it. CRUSH THE HILLS.

Run with all types of runners. Slower than you and faster than you. The same pace. You need to be able to feel what it’s like to run slower or faster than you’re used to. It will make you a better runner by gauging your speed. Being able to tell when you’ve gone out to fast or slow is a lesson learned over time. Run with people who have just started running and who have been running much longer. You can learn something new from everyone. Be opened to hearing from others in terms of the way you train, what you eat, how much you should stretch, etc.

Ultimately, you want to push through the hard times. It’s easy to say but hard to follow through. Set a strict schedule for running. Make sure you run the same time each day but remember to mix it up. Run hills one day fast, then run slow and on a flat surface, run long and slow or run short and fast.

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.”– Woody Allen.

As long as you get out there each day, give it your all and stay positive, that’s all that truly matters.

Have fun. Happy running 🙂

Do what you love. Create what you want. Listen to feedback. Not negativity and doubt. Believe in what you do. If you don’t have belief you won’t create something worth while. 

People will always doubt you. They will always criticize you. It’s going to happen. You have to ignore these individuals. It’s hard enough as it is. Don’t let it get to you. Stop hanging around these people. You need to be around positive people. Positivity will push you. Listen to the positive people. Their feedback is necessary. They will help your business evolve. 

Haters are gonna hate. Who cares? Ignore them as much as possible. You can do anything. Believe in the impossible. Remove impossible from your vocab. 

Anything is possible with belief.

“If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges.” -Pat Riley

Consistent positivity can change your thought patterns. We’ve all heard about it. Be positive and your world will change! …..yeah right…..

But have you ever tried it? Try it now. It works wonders. Positivity makes everything better. Before being negative about a situation try to make it positive.

Smile! Smiling makes you feel positive and happy. Don’t be that negative pessimist. It does nobody any good. Smile and think of the positives 🙂

Be consistently positive. It spreads like wildfire and vise versa. If you’re overwhelmingly positive others will follow. But, if you’re overwhelmingly negative you will drag others down with you. One bad seed will ruin a group’s energy. Weed out the negative individuals in your life.

Maintain a positive spirit. Don’t forget to smile! Be aware of how your positivity (or negativity) affects others around you!

Whenever a negative thought pops in your head be aware of it but replace it with something positive.

BE OVERWHELMINGLY POSITIVE!

 

“No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.” — Warren Buffett

Don’t try to do everything at once.

You’ll end up doing nothing. Instead, break it up into small manageable chunks. Do what’s most important first. Don’t push things that are boring or scare you to the next day because that day will never come. Do it now.

Remember that no matter what you’re doing it’s going to take a ton of time and hard work. Don’t focus on the things you can’t control. Focus on the things you can control like the work that you put in everyday.

Breaking tasks up into smaller chunks will take a lot of time but it will save you in the long run. You won’t burn out, you’ll feel accomplished every day and you will create your dreams in small incremental steps.

Break it up! Try it today with something that overwhelms you. Start small and make your goals attainable. Don’t wait! Start now.

“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.” — Bruce Lee

“Honesty and integrity are by far the most important assets of an entrepreneur.” -Zig Ziglar

Don’t say we might be able to make it or I think we should be there. Tell the truth. You’re not coming. We all know it anyway so you might as well say it. Don’t feel bad for hurting someone else’s feelings. It would hurt worse if you said you’d be there and never showed up.

If you’re upfront with someone you don’t need an excuse. You don’t need to explain yourself and you especially don’t need to lie. Honesty is key. If you become known for being flaky and for telling people you’ll be somewhere and never showing up, people won’t trust you. If they don’t trust you they’ll never help you and they sure as hell will never do business with you. If you tell someone you’ll be somewhere — be there. If you ask them to lunch sometime this week set that date right away. Put everything on your calendar so you don’t forget. Make sure you let that person know you’re committed to seeing them and taking time out of your schedule. By doing this you hold the other person accountable to show up as well. It helps both parties in the end.

Think back to a time when you asked a friend to hangout over the weekend or a colleague to go out to dinner and they let you know the day of that they couldn’t come or, better yet, they never showed up? How did that make you feel? Pretty fucking pissed I’m sure. Now imagine that same situation but instead of promising they’ll be there they let you know that day won’t work. They then proceeded to pull out their phone and add your time/event to their calendar. Not only do you know they’re committed to coming but you also are inspired by their actions. You feel special. You know exactly what day and time they’ll be there. They immediately become a trustworthy person.

So next time you tell someone you’re going to be somewhere you better be there. It’s simple really — all you have to do is show up.

“Eighty percent of success is showing up.” -Woody Allen

“It takes 20 years to make an overnight success.” -Eddie Cantor

You never know how close you are to accomplishing your goals until you actually do. It’s not a quick process and it isn’t easy. It takes time and a lot of patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day and your business and goals won’t happen overnight. 

There are no such thing as an overnight success. It’s a myth. An overnight success doesn’t happen overnight, it’s comprised of long hours of work, time spent and sweat. It will take years and years for anyone to notice your work, who you are or how long you’ve actually been doing this. When people start to recognize you that’s where the term overnight success comes from — people will realize you have fantastic work and it spreads like wildfire. Who cares in the beginning though? Don’t put your work out for other people. Do it for you. Don’t wait. The longer you wait the harder the journey becomes. Start now.

The earlier you start the closer you’ll be to becoming an “overnight success”. 

“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.” -Henry David Thoreau

Life moves too fast. We need to take a minute to stop and smell the roses. Focus on this moment right now. Be more grateful for what you already have. This doesn’t mean we should stop pursuing our goals and dreams. You should want more for yourself and family. This helps us realize that we’re on the right path by being grateful for what’s come before. 

Take a minute right now to think about what you’re most grateful for in your own life. Most responses will be family, friends, shelter and food. But take some time to think deeper. Think about the small things in life. Like the ability to walk, the sun shining today or your loved one’s smile. These small things mean the most. Don’t just stop there. Reach out to someone you truly care about and let them know you appreciate everything they’ve done for you. You wouldn’t be the same person without them. Let them know they mean the world to you. Make someone else’s day better. 

At the very least you help spread gratitude. Life is too short to always be complaining or constantly thinking about the future. What are some things that are special to you? What are some things you overlook on a daily basis? Be grateful for those people around you and your experiences from the past. It will make you happier and a more positive person. If it doesn’t change your perspective, it will help those close to you realize how much they mean to you. That’s well worth the 5 minutes in the morning or throughout the day practicing gratitude. 

“Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.” -Oscar Wilde

It’s never fun to make mistakes. To mess up in front of our peers or a large crowd of people. To make a fool of ourselves. But we all make mistakes and we’ll continue to make mistakes as we try new things. The great people learn from their mistakes while others give up. Imagine what our world would be like if Benjamin Franklin gave up after the first try. He understood that what he was doing would take time and patience. “I didn’t fail the test, I just found 100 ways to do it wrong.”― Benjamin Franklin 

We need to change our perception of mistakes. We have been ridiculed for making mistakes from such a young age. Get good grades, act this way, don’t do this and don’t try that. Stay in formation. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. In reality we should be rewarded for failing and trying again. Were you great the first time you shot a basketball? Were you able to run before you walked? No way. Instead of looking at ways we’ve failed or made a mistake, look at them as lessons learned. Don’t fail once and give up. Keep trying. Try different things. Experiment until you get it right. It could take 3 hours or it could take 3 years. Hold out for that moment. 

Don’t make mistakes and not have a corrective plan. For this to work you need to take the time to address the areas in which you failed. Learn why it failed and how you think you should change that. Then change what you believe made you make the mistake. The only way for mistakes to truly help is if you learn from each mistake. You should be excited when you make a mistake or fail at something! You just helped yourself get one step closer to winning! You found the correct formula of how not to do it.

Make more mistakes if you can. The more mistakes you make the closer you are to breaking through that wall. Instead of being down and embarassed get excited! Congratulations! You just made a mistake! If you look at mistakes from this angle it will help you get over the fear of failing and boost your confidence to keep pushing towards your ultimate goals. Always learn from your mistakes and you’ll never make one again. You’ve just learned a lot of valuable lessons along the way.     

“Come out to dinner with all of us!”

“Let’s go get drinks!”

“Do you want to hangout on Sunday?”

We have so many different choices to make in life. Should I run today or skip and have fun with friends? Should I work on my business or relax all day? Should I go out tonight or should I stay in and have a movie night?

We need to learn to be more selfish at times. Focus on yourself. You control your own destiny. This doesn’t mean you have to be a complete dick and only care about yourself and no one else. This helps you select what you do more carefully. Instead of drinking on a Saturday night, hang in with the family and enjoy that time together. Work on yourself after work instead of going out with friends. You won’t ever make everyone around you happy so you might as well focus on what makes YOU happy. 

Take a minute to think about what’s really important to you in life. Maybe it’s family, your health, business, friends, sports, etc. Make a list of the 3 most important to you specifically. Whenever something comes up or you’re asked to do something figure out if it relates to any of these 3 things. If not decline the offer. Now, every now and then you should go out and have fun. But, the majority of your time should be spent doing things that are most important to you. This will inevitably eliminate people from your life. Remember though that it’s for the best. This may sound ruthless but if they don’t align with what’s most important to you they’re wasting your time. So, be more selfish now. It will help you realize what matters most to you and save you a ton of time on useless activities. You’re better off that way. 

“The sad thing is most people have to check with someone before they do the things that make them happy. We’re all passing through; the least we can do is be happy, and the only way to do that is by being selfish.” -Gene Simmons

“Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining – it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn’t solve any problems.” –Zig Ziglar

Everyone complains, gossips and talks shit from time to time. It’s how we feel connected with one another. But what good does complaining do? It changes nothing about the situation. Does it make you feel good to complain? Maybe it feels good to get those feelings off your chest but that’s a whole other area of discussion. 

Complaining makes others around you feel the need to complain. It makes stupid situations seem important. “I can’t believe Bobby gets all the sales leads and I don’t. He doesn’t deserve that.” Ok. Maybe Bobby doesn’t deserve the sales leads but what changes by you complaining about it? Nothing.

Complaints will only impact the people around you only in a negative way. They can destroy the core of an organization by first manifesting in one person and spreading to others. You need to stop complaining before anything catastrophic happens. First figure out why you’re complaining and address the issue. Maybe you complain because that’s how you were raised or you want to fit in with others. It could be a variety of things. Either way, understand why you’re complaining. 

Ok, now I understand complaining only impacts people negatively. How do I change? On the Tim Ferriss podcast, Tim introduces no complaining for 21 days by Will Bowen. You wear a purple bracelet (rubber band or frankly anything) on your left wrist and try to avoid complaining for 21 days straight. Every time you complain you move the bracelet to your right wrist and start the 21 days all over again. This will help you become more aware of how often you’re complaining. It will help you change. Most importantly it will help you reduce the number of complaints you have per day. Being more aware will help you turn a complaint into a positive outlook on the situation. Realize when you’re complaining, why you’re complaining and focus on avoiding complaining. This will help you stay more positive and affect the people around you in a positive way.

Help spread the positive feeling. 

Graduate highschool, go to college, work for forty years at a company, get married, have kids, buy a house, drive a minivan, move to Florida, retire there and die. Holy shit that sounds depressing. That is what the “normal” life looked like for our parents generation and what’s still wildly popular for most Americans. 

People are ok with being average. Taking no risks. Keeping the status quo. Sticking to what they know and staying where they’ve always been. Having someone else tell them what to do. Having the same job and same routine day in and day out. 

It’s not a terrible way to live. We’re very priveledged to have the resources we do available. If you make over $50,000 per year you’re the top 1% of all earners in the world. Most people in the US make that easily. So why don’t more people take calculated risks? Don’t work for someone the rest of your life or do the same shit every single day. Go out there and get what you want. Set higher expectations for yourself. Set harder goals. Step outside your boundaries. The worst thing that happens is you mess up and learn from it. Besides, if you’re making over $50,000 a year now, surely you could try your own thing, have it fail and still get an equally paying job (if not better with your new credentials of running a business or traveling around the he world. 

Just try something different today. Don’t make it a drastic change at first. Take a step by step approach. Ease your way into it. You don’t want to be normal like everyone else. Have fun and take risks. The worst thing that happens is you fail and learn. 

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” -Mark Twain

You’re your own person. We’re all different from each other. You have your own distinct personality.

Take pride in that. Let that person shine through. You shouldn’t have to hide it. Use your differences to your advantage. 

We believe by showing our real self we’ll be found out about. Like we’re some sort of phony. We worry what other people will think of the REAL us. What many people don’t realize is that we’re all weird. We fart, dance awkwardly, sing in the shower, pick our noses, talk to ourselves and every now and then do dumb shit. That’s who WE are. Don’t see this as a disadvantage but rather a way to connect with others on a deeper level. Let the real you shine through. Be weird. You are weird. We are weird. Don’t be afraid to show that weirdness to the world. It’ll come out eventually. Might as well flaunt it now. 

“Where’s your will to be weird?” -Jim Morrison

“We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Believe in yourself. Take it day by day, step by step. Believe what you’re doing now will pay off.

We all have that voice in the back of our head saying we’re not good enough. We don’t have the experience or the expertise. We don’t have enough money or time. We don’t know where or how to start. We don’t even know what to start. Start something. Figure it out. Remember, it won’t be a quick process. The belief that you can do it the first step. You are good enough right now in this moment. You have more time than you know. Worry about the money later. You need to believe. Believe in yourself. Believe in your cause. Believe in your work.

Your future self will thank you graciously.

“Teamwork is so important that it is virtually impossible for you to reach the heights of your capabilities or make the money that you want without becoming very good at it.” -Brian Tracy

Do you truly believe the president of the United States runs the country entirely alone? Or do you believe it was Steve Jobs who created the most influential and innovative products of our lifetime by himself? If you do then you’re insane. There are so many moving parts that go on behind the scenes that we don’t notice. What I’m trying to get at is that we don’t have to go at this alone. As a matter of fact we can’t or else we’ll lose. We need people behind the scenes helping us and coaching through the tough times. 

People who have been where we have before. People who understand the hard things. People who needed someone like themselves at the worst of times. You need a supporting cast behind you. No matter what you’re trying to accomplish you need a team. A team of experts who compliment you. When you’re training for a race you need a coach to guide you on your path. Someone to hold you accountable for getting the work in. Someone to make sure you’re doing everything you need to do on a daily basis. This shouldn’t be one person. It’s almost always more. This team will guide you to your goal. Follow there rules and help them show you the way. Don’t try  to do this on your own. Assemble the correct team around you and reap the benefits. You can do this. You will do this. But, it must be with the help of your supporting cast. 

Maybe Nike had the right idea here. Just do it. It’s such a simple slogan but so powerful. All it takes. Just fucking do it. It’s too obvious really. We all have goals we want to accomplish. Projects we want to start. Events we want to run. Why don’t we just start? All it takes is one step. It doesn’t even have to be in the right direction. It just has to happen. For you to accomplish those goals you need to do SOMETHING. 

Visualize what you want your life to look like. Who are you hanging out with? What do you look like? How did you get there? After answering those questions, think about the why. Why do you want to start training? Why do you want to look like that? You may start to change your goals. Make your goals for YOU. No one else. But again, if you want to own your own business or run 100 miles a week you have to start. We all start from the same place. Rock bottom. It’s those of us who take the first step and are consistent who survive and thrive. You don’t have to create a company in a day. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It’s going to be a long strenuous process. You need to know that now. But if you just do it, whatever it may be for you, you take your first step down your path. You begin to do things YOU want to do. Take your time at first but don’t be stagnant. Do something. Don’t wait. Just act. 

“The first step toward success is taken when you refuse to be a captive of the environment in which you first find yourself.” -Mark Caine