With the power to spur you into action when moments before you had nothing left to give, improve your perspective on life, or simply turn a droopy face into a beaming smile, quotes are pretty much the coolest thing you can read in under 5 seconds.

I start my mornings by reading a new quote, but I want to stop being a quote horder and spread the love around, so here are a few of my favorite ones guaranteed to make you smile, laugh, or maybe even change your direction entirely.

1. “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” – Jimmy Dean

2. “It is very important to generate a good attitude, a good heart, as much as possible. From this, happiness in both the short term and the long term for both yourself and others will come.” – Dalai Lama

3. “Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions.  All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make the better.  What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn?  What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice.  Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

4. “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

5. “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” – Khalil Gibran

6. “Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.” – Brian Tracey

7. “We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Viktor Frankl

8. “Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.” – Anthony J. D’Angelo

9. “Happiness is an attitude.  We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong.  The amount of work is the same.  – Francesca Reigler

10. “I am an optimist.  It does not seem too much use being anything else.” – Winston Churchill

11. “Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world.” -Eckhart Tolle

12. “We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” – Joseph Campbell

13. “As I grow older I pay less attention to what men say. I just watch what they do.” – Andrew Carnegie

14. “All problems become smaller if you don’t dodge them but confront them.” – William F. Halsey

15. “Success will never be a big step in the future, success is a small step taken just now.” – Jonatan Mårtensson

16. “There is no moment like the present.  The man who will not execute his resolutions when they are fresh upon him can have no hope from them afterwards:  they will be dissipated, lost, and perish in the hurry and scurry of the world, or sunk in the slough of indolence.” – Maria Edgeworth

17. “There are so many things that we wish we had done yesterday, so few that we feel like doing today.” – Mignon McLaughlin

18. “Do it, and then you will feel motivated to do it.” – Zig Ziglar

19. “Trust only movement.  Life happens at the level of events, not of words.  Trust movement.” – Alfred Adler

20. “We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.  Action always generates inspiration.  Inspiration seldom generates action.” -Frank Tibolt

21. “Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. You don’t fail overnight. Instead, failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.” – Jim Rohn

22. “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.” – George Bernard Shaw
23. “The satisfied, the happy, do not live; they fall asleep in habit, near neighbor to annihilation.” -Miguel de Unamuno, The Tragic Sense of Life, 1913

24. “Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion.  You must set yourself on fire.” – Arnold H. Glasow

25. “Don’t say you don’t have enough time.  You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michaelangelo, Mother Teresea, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.” – H. Jackson Brown

26. “It is never too late to be who you might have been.” – George Eliot

27. “All fixed set patterns are incapable of adaptability or pliability. The truth is outside of all fixed patterns.” – Bruce Lee

28. “ The vision must be followed by the venture.  It is not enough to stare up the steps – we must step up the stairs.” – Vance Havner

29. “When people say to me:  “How do you do so many things?”  I often answer them, without meaning to be cruel:  “How do you do so little?”  It seems to me that people have vast potential.  Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks.  Yet most people don’t.  They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.” – Philip Adams
30. “Establishing goals is all right if you don’t let them deprive you of interesting detours.” – Doug Larson

31. “Bad habits are easier to abandon today than tomorrow.” -Yiddish Proverb

32. “We acquire the strength we have overcome.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

33. “Everyone must choose one of two pains: The pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” – Jim Rohn

34. “You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – pleasantly, smilingly, nonapologetically – to say ‘no’ to other things.  And the way to do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’ burning inside.  The enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good.’ – Stephen Covey

35. “To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily.  To not dare is to lose oneself.” – Soren Kierkegaard

36. “The few who do are the envy of the many who only watch.” – Jim Rohn

37. ‎”There is only one success–to be able to spend your life in your own way.” – Christopher Morley

38. “I dread success.  To have succeeded is to have finished one’s business on earth, like the male spider, who is killed by the female the moment he has succeeded in courtship.  I like a state of continual becoming, with a goal in front and not behind.” – George Bernard Shaw

39. “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.” – William Feather

40. “If you always put limit on everything you do, physical or anything else. It will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them.” – Bruce Lee

41. “We cannot banish dangers, but we can banish fears.  We must not demean life by standing in awe of death.” – David Sarnoff

42. “You can be a king or a street sweeper, but everybody dances with the Grim Reaper.” -Robert Alton Harris

43. “The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard

44. “Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.” – Cynthia Nelms

45. “The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance; the wise grows it under his feet.” – James Openheim

46. “The happiness which is lacking makes one think even the happiness one has unbearable.” – Roux
47. “If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary.” – Jim Rohn

48. “I don’t believe you have to be better than everybody else. I believe you have to be better than you ever thought you could be.” – Ken Venturi
49. “The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.” – Epictetus

50. “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” – Steve Jobs
51. “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.” – Mother Teresa
52. “The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we compare our behind-the-scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel.” – Steven Furtick

Did I overlook your favorite quote? Leave it in the comment box below – I’ll be constantly updating this list with your submissions.

When dieting to lose fat, you want to keep your protein levels high enough to preserve muscle mass while still maintaining a weekly calorie deficit. The problem is that the further you venture from your maintenance calories without returning to, or close to, those levels, the higher the risk of muscle loss if you don’t match that decrease in calories with more protein.

Think of fat loss as a game of tag, with maintenance being your “home base”. The further you get from base, the more in danger you are of getting tagged, aka muscle loss (and getting tagged SUCKS DRAGON TAIL).

A PSMF diet bypasses this problem by providing very high levels of protein and, well…not much else. In order to create the largest deficit possible, there simply isn’t room for many calories coming from other sources. Also note that for someone who is already reasonably lean,  a diet like this is only supposed to be used in the short term in order to prevent possible side metabolic side effects. The more fat the that you have to lose, the longer that something like this can be maintained.

My diet from Sun-Thursday:

100g protein shake, 1 cup of 1% milk and 1 cup wat
2lbs chicken breast
1-2lbs of steamed broccoli
3 grams of fish oil
1 daily multivitamin

Pretty bland, but it’s the nature of the diet.

After Thursday I got mentally fatigued and decided to end it prematurely (I planned on doing it for 2 weeks), eating at maintenance up until Sunday night, where I weighed in at 192.

With my speaking event coming up on Friday and having lost 18lbs in 6 weeks while increasing my strength, it’s safe to say that I’ve accomplished the main goal of this leg of the journey. My long term goal is still to hit 180 or so, but I’ll take more of a relaxed approach and enjoy fulfilling some fun & kooky objectives that I’ve been kicking around in my head for awhile.

For those of you who are looking for more information on a scientifically sound approach to losing fat rapidly and safely, look no further than Lyle Mcdonald’s Rapid Fat Loss book. Filled with both the how and the scientific reasoning behind the why, it is simply the most user friendly and effective product on the market.

Faithful Sexification Supestars, do you have any questions that you want me to answer about this whole process?
Post them in the comment section below and I’ll do my best to help make your next move your best move.

There are few things in this world that will bring your dietary dominance to a screeching halt faster than a dry, boring piece of meat. Through sheer willpower alone you might get a few pieces down your throat, but in the end your body knows there are better tasting foods out there, and if you force it to endure the mouth-drying agony of a lamely prepared protein source one more time, it may very well seize up & choose your early demise over such a fate.

Not cool. I’ve seen it happen.

In the past I’ve let entire packages of meat go bad because I couldn’t muster up the mental & physical fortitude to eat more of it. Not only did it make my wallet pissed, but my fridge didn’t smell too lovely either.

So I’m here to do my part and help make sure you get the most out of your meat. In the video below I demonstrate my favorite quick & easy method for creating a juicy, mouth-worthy creation out of pretty much any meat (pork, beef, chicken, turkey – all these cuts work.

Here’s a sample chicken recipe for you to try as a well.

Let me know what you think in the comment section, and if you have any tips that you’ve used to great success please let me and the rest of the Sexification community know. Remember – friends don’t let friends eat dry meat (FDLFEDM).

Day A (Sunday):

A1) Trap Bar Deadlift – 3 x 3
A2) Weighted Chins ups – 3 x 5,6,8
B1) Gluteham Raise – 3 x 10
B2) Weighted Hyper Extension – 3 x 15

Day B (Tuesday):

A1) Weighted Dips – 3 x 2-8
A2) Weighted Hyper Extension – 3 x10
B1) Trap Bar Row – 3 x 8, 1 x 10-15
B2)  Ab Wheel Rollouts – 3 x 10
C) Cable Face Pulls – 3 x 15

Day C (Thursday):

A1) Front Squat – 3 x 5
A2) Weighted Pushups – 3 x 10
B1) Band Hip Thrust – 3 x 15-20
B2) Seated Cable Row – 3 x 15-20

Diet first, training second.

Think of your diet as a box. How much, or how little, you’re eating, will determine the boundaries of the box; how big or small it is. The bigger the box, the more stuff you can put inside without it spilling over into the streets and having people point in your general direction while laughing as you scramble to pick up your unmentionables.

Now that “stuff” I talked about earlier, that’s the training. When eating at maintenance or above, you can get away with a lot more training wise without getting run down or halting your progress than you would while dieting. My diet-determined box is small, which doesn’t leave much room for a lot of sets and reps, so I’ve only included big lifts that will give me the most training bang for my time & effort invested, with enough accessory exercises to add a little extra emphasis to areas I want to focus on (upper back, booty and core strength).

Maintaining (or increasing) your strength while on a diet is an ideal situation, since doing so is a pretty solid indicator that you’re not losing muscle mass. To keep it as simple as possible, I give myself a number of reps to hit on the big compound lifts and if I hit that number and feel good about it, I increase the weight by 5-10lbs during the next session, staying there until I hit that rep number again. Since I’m eating like a baby bird, my strength gains are nowhere near where they would be if I were eating well, but I’m cool with that. Strength maintenance is my goal, so any gain is icing on the delicious cake of Sexification.

For cardio, I do nothing but walk 45-60min on my off days (or a random game of Dance Central), and I only do this because I love reading and being on the treadmill for an hour gives me some quiet time to do just that.

So far I’ve had a nice increase of strength on all my exercises, but the workouts have definitely become more taxing in terms of effort. I’m not run down by any means, but nor am I super excited for a set of heavy chin ups and deadlifts like I was pre-dieting. In light of that, this weeks training will be the last where I increase the weight in any of the exercises, and going forward I’ll just keep everything the same and ride those numbers out until I’m done dieting.

Here are some take away points for YOU:

1 – Focus on the big training rocks. Nothing wrong with included other exercises, but make sure you have your basis covered to a certain degree.

2 – Less is more. Your recovery is already compromised to a degree on a diet, so do less while making sure that the work you do in the gym is meaningful. I recommend training 3 days a week max. Use the extra time this saves you to enjoy your life outside of the gym.

The next Sexification update won’t be until April 1st, but starting next Sunday I’ll be undergoing a more strict diet for 2 weeks to finish off this phase, so I’ll be talking all about that.

Weight: 196.6

There are no off limit foods. If you want it, you can have it, as long as you hold yourself accountable to the decision and fit it into your calorie budget for the day. This kind of freedom drop kicks the mental side of dieting in face and can change the way you think about dieting (and your relationship with food) forever – triple win.

Here’s a sample of my usual meal schedule.

Training Day:

Pre-Workout: Usually a scoop of Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs). Sometimes it will be a glass of milk or half of a protein bar. All depends on how I feel.

Post-Workout: 1lb of meat with 2 cups of oats, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar & 1 tablespoon of honey.

Meal #2: 2 cups of milk with 100g worth of protein powder and 2 cups of frozen berries.

Meal #3: 6 eggs, 2 oz of cheese, 4 pieces of beef bacon & 1lb of broccoli

Non-Training Day

Meal #1: 2 cups of milk with 100g worth of protein powder and an apple (or no fruit, depends on my mood).

Meal #2:  8oz of meat.

Meal #3:  1lb of meat with a separate plate of veggies.

Burgers (85/10 – 96/4% lean depending on the day)
Steak (sirloin tip usually, but ribeye if I’m feeling particularly manly)
Eggs (6 is the minimum – anything less would be uncivilized and a waste of my skillet)
Butter
Fish (tilapia, salmon)
Pork chops
Bacon
Cheese
Chicken (breasts and thighs)
Protein Powder (CINNAMON ROLL FLAVORED!)
Broccoli
Peas
Corn
Green Beans
Oats
Honey
Brown Sugar
Cinnabons
Milk
Quest Protein Bars
Rice
Apples
Oranges
Blueberries
Strawberries
Ribs
Ice cream
Shrimp
Octopus

Notice a trend here?

Most of my foods are minimally processed, but I also make room for treats if I want them. I also make sure that I’m only eating foods that I enjoy the taste of. I’ve learned the hard way that food that “sounds good” for me to eat will just end up going bad in the fridge, making both my wallet and soul depressed. I’ve had a carton of egg whites sit in the back of the fridge for more than a year once – true story.

Also I pretty much eat whenever I want, subscribing to no pre-determined number of meals I need to get in for the day.  Some days I eat 3 meals and on days I’m feeling more glutenous I’ll eat just once during the day.  Hitting your calories and macros by the end of the day is what matters the most from a physique standpoint.

My good friend JC & I just released the second episode of our wonderfully swell and informative fitness podcast. In this episode we cover:

How to maintain muscle while dieting.

Program design and modifications for the individual.

How to break through strength training plateaus.

What music we life and chill too.

In other news, we’re still at a loss for what to call the podcast! If you have any input or suggestions, we would love to hear them.

To listen, you can either click play below or right click and save here.

You can also download our very first episode by right clicking and saving here

I also talked about microloading as a form of progress, so if you’re interested in ordering some of those plates click this link: http://www.mcmaster.com/#catalog/118/3217/=ggpbvp

To find them, hit “ctrl-f” on your PC or “cmd-f” on your Mac and paste this number into the search field: 90108A046

Thanks for the support!

It all starts with maintenance (how many calories you need to maintain your current weight within a 2-4lbs).

Step 1: Figure out your BMR.

BMR stands for Basal Metabolic Rate, a fancy term for the amount of calories it would take to maintain your body weight if you were to enter some type of bear-like hibernation, not moving at all.

There are a few different formulas for figuring this out, but since the numbers are going to have to be adjusted based on real world results, keeping it simple as pie works best, and this calculator does just that: http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

Step 2: Factor in activity

Using the number you got from the calculator, you would now factor in your activity in order to arrive at that maintenance number: ====> activity multipliers.

BMR = 2120

I train 2-3 days per week, walking an hour 2-3x a week, but other than that I’m not very active & am either training clients or sitting at the computer (aka not much activity). I’d then check the activity multiplier chart and see which one best fit in with current situation.

2120 (BMR) x 1.375 (multiplier) = 2915 calories

Note: The activity multipliers can sometimes spit out a number that’s a bit too high (which it is for me in the above instance), so don’t be afraid to use a lower number that’s not on the page. Test for 2-3 weeks & adjust on based on results.

I feel my number is a bit too high given my activity, so I played with the numbers and below are my adjusted calculations.

2120 (BMR) x 1.28 (adjusted multiplier) = 2714 calories

Step 3: Adjust For Goals

Now that I have my theoretical baseline, I can now plot out my training day and off day calories.

In my case, I’m going for straight up fat loss at the expense of everything else – muscle or strength  gains are not in my plans at all. If I gain any of those two, it will simply be icing on the cake. The goal is to maintain what strength I do have until I’m done dieting down.

With that determined, I subtracted 500ish calories from my maintenance calories to determine workout day calorie intake (2195) and a little more than 1,000 calories from to determine my off day calorie intake (1660).

As you can see, I’m venturing pretty far from my maintenance levels, adding up to a pretty big calorie deficit. Please note that the bigger the deficit, the smarter you need to be about diet breaks and refeeds (check here for a great explanation as to what those are and why they’re important).

It all comes down to this: how fast do you want it, and how much of a deficit can you handle day in and day out?

I wouldn’t recommend big deficits like this for someone who is prone to food binges – slow and steady often is the best way to go in those cases.

For someone looking to lose fat at a slower pace (or increase strength and muscle mass), they would ease up on the big calorie deficit and add more calories to both their training days and off days, adjusting based on their results.

Step 4: Fill in with macros

Note: scroll down to the bottom of this post to see my macros & calorie intake.

Protein: 1 gram/lb of body weight is a decent starting point for fat loss, but in order to ensure maintenance of muscle mass I like to go a bit higher (1.1 – 1.2 grams/lb of body weight). The further you venture from maintenance (and the longer you’re in those periods) the more protein you’re going to need to make sure you don’t end up a smaller version of your former self at the end of the dieting process. This means your intake could vary anywhere from 1.1 – 1.5 grams/lb of body weight.

I set mine at 1.15 for the sake if ease and comfort.

Fat: I love eggs, cheese, ice cream, full fat dairy, bacon and fattier cuts of meat, and on a diet I would much rather have more of these than loads of potatoes, pasta & rice, and my macros reflect this as I skewed my numbers more towards fat on both training and off days. Coupled with all the protein, it helps keep me full longer and just tastes downright delicious.

Carbs: This was a personal preference decision. Large amount of carbs make me sleepy, even fruit if I eat way too much of it at once, so I kept them relatively low on my training days and very low on my off days, allowing me to enjoy more delicious fat while still getting in just enough to make sure that my workouts are productive and adequate recovery still takes place. Since I’m refeeding once a week, this isn’t a problem for me.

In general, you want to cycle your carbohydrates, having more of them when they’re needed (workout days) and less of them when you don’t (off days). As a result, fat also generally decreases significantly on workout days and increases on off days.

1st update

Questions? Concerns? Mean comments that make me want to go cry in the corner for all eternity? Drop them below in the comment section!

Training has been whenever I’ve felt like it – sometimes 1x a week, but usually 2x with a couple of challenges throw in for fun. Simply put I’ve been maintaining my results with as little time as necessary, but today marks the the day that I finally get off my butt cheeks and decide to actually get moving towards my own personal Sexification goals for several reasons.

1. I’ll be speaking on a panel along with Fitocracy at PAX East in Boston on April 6th entitled Gaming and Fitness – A Surprisingly Awesome Marriage, so I want to come in looking as Sexified as I can.

2. Pursuing a solid physique goal helps keep me on track in other areas of my life as well.

3. I want to show you, live & in the flesh, that getting the body that you want doesn’t have to be difficult at all (and it can actually be more fun than a box of kittens playing with a box of puppies playing with a box of pandas).

4. It gives me a fun reason to keep myself accountable along with my awesome friend Sohee Lee on her own Sexification journey.

My goal is simple: to look and feel as great as I can over the next 12 weeks, with April 6th being a nice checkpoint.

At my current weight, I have about 30-35lbs to lose, and I’m giving myself  8-9 months to knock it all out in a leisurely manner.

Here is my diet breakdown, with the logic and how I accomplish to be the subject of an upcoming post:

Training Days

240g protein
75g fat
140g carbs
2195 calories

Off Days
240g protein
60g fat
40g carbs
1660 calories
This is on top of getting in an hour of activity that I love on off days (walking, hiking, dancing, practicing kung-fu moves, fighting along with Bruce Lee movies, etc).

Every Sunday I’ll be updating with pictures and talking about what I’m doing training wise, what I’m eating, my calorie intake and how I’m varying it and pretty much anything else that I think will be helpful.

More importantly, I’ll be covering what YOU want to know about the transformation process and how you can apply it to your own situation, so ask away in the comment section below!

Starting weight as of 2/18/2012: 210.4lbs

Taking the road less traveled.

True Grit.

The grind.

All of these are synonyms with the seemingly difficult task of accomplishing whatever it is that you set out to achieve.

It could be making it through the weekend without committing the kind of dietary debauchery that would make Shaggy & Scooby Doo drop their jaws in awe.

It could be the act of getting out of your chair and taking a walk when you’d much rather continue the fierce work of creating your own custom butt groove (trust me – my chair groove is quite spectacular).

It could be the simple task of sitting down at the end of a long day and choosing to set some plans for tomorrow instead of vegging out and leaving it all to chance.

Think of one goal that you really, really, really, really, REALLY x infinity want to achieve – got it? Good, because here’s the ”secret” to making it happen, courtesy of my friend Julien Smith: Whatever you want is usually easier to get than you think, as long as you are willing to adapt and do what is necessary.

Success is kind of like wandering around a dark room that you’ve never been in before, being forced to stumble around until you find what you’re looking for. Oh sure, someone may occasionally turn the light on for a second or two, but rarely will you at any point be able to say with 100% certainty  ”this is exactly what I need to do/where I need to go.”

To get what you want, you’ll have to plow through the moments of uncertainty.

Can I do this?

What makes me think I’ll succeed?

To move beyond talking about something and actually doing it, you’ll have to fight through the difficult challenges that you’ll inevitably encounter along the way. Challenges are life’s way of keeping those who don’t want it bad enough out and forcing those who do to pay the cost to be the boss.

Challenge aren’t even necessarily meant to be overcome, either – the goal is to give it your best shot. Each time you fight the good fight, no matter if you succeed or not, you scrape away at the edges of your own barriers & limitations, finding out that you’re capable of much than you thought you were.

You didn’t die; you’ve lived to fight another day. You can take the lessons learned and apply it to your next attempt.

Adapt. Keep moving forward.

Little by little, bump after bump in the road, you begin to separate what doesn’t work from what might work.

Adapt. Keep moving forward.

Keep at it long enough and eventually you’ll separate what might work from what does work, and after that it’s only a matter of time & action until your knocking loudly on success’ door.

At this point you’ve earned yourself an awesome pat on the back. Congratulations – you’ve done more than most people ever will.

Don’t let it stop here. Keep pushing; keep stretching yourself beyond what you think you’re capable of now so that one day you can look back on what once seemed impossible and laugh. And not just any laugh, but the most maniacal laugh EVER!

“Because in the end, being badass isn’t about beating others — it’s about testing yourself, and in the process, finding yourself.” – Leo Babauta

]]> http://www.roglawfitness.com/on-challenges-uncertainty-and-becoming-a-supreme-badass/feed/ 12 http://www.roglawfitness.com/10-ways-to-rock-2012s-face-off/ http://www.roglawfitness.com/10-ways-to-rock-2012s-face-off/#comments Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:15:44 +0000 Roger Lawson II http://www.roglawfitness.com/?p=1182 1. Realize that you are ready

You might not have everything you need to complete the journey, but you have enough to start RIGHT NOW. Don’t worry about the details – the journey will change you and you’ll find all the tools you need to reach your goals along the way. Just take some action, no matter how small, right now.

2. Embrace fear

Do you get anxious/scared when you go to take a shower? Hopefully not. What about before going to speak in front of hundreds of people, or before lifting a weight you’ve never lifted before? Fear will always be a part of your life, so instead of avoiding it at all costs, embrace it. View it as a guidepost that says what you’re about to do is important and meaningful to you, and then just do it.

Here is a fantastic free resource to help you tackle your fears: The Flinch

3. Consume less, create more

It’s near impossible to effectively consume and create at the same time. Try sprinting while reading a book, or jumping out a plane while doing your taxes (making sure to send the video footage to me) and lemme know how that goes.

The less time you spend consuming, the more time you have for creation, and creating is the only way to move forward.

Create movement. Create time. Create relationships. Create the life you want.

4. Get the #*(@ out of your life

Have you ever cleaned & organized your place after putting it off forever? For approximately 6-7 seconds after you’re done, the universe opens up and drops this knowledge nugget right into your head:  ”Damn this feels awesome! Why didn’t I do it sooner?”

This could be stuff that has been piling up forever, but it could also be negative people who just drag down at every turn.

Getting rid of stuff that only takes up space and adds no value makes room for things that do.

5. Be inspired daily

Read a book.
Have a great conversation.
Listen to a podcast (recommendations here, here, here & here)
Watch a dope movie clip.
Read some awesome quotes.

Pretty much do ANYTHING you can to get your mind right. Everything becomes easier to do with a positive mindset.

6. Make it fun.

‘Nuff said. If you don’t like doing it (or make it at least enjoyable on some level), you won’t stick with it.

7. Be a Toyota Prius, not a rocket ship.

The problem that often befalls people is not their actual goal, but the time frame that they set to achieve it. Losing 20lbs of fat ? Hell yeah – super possible! Losing 20lbs of fat in 30 days? Only if you have a chainsaw and are up for losing some limbs.

The more unrealistic the time frame, the more ridiculous things you’re gonna have to do to even have a chance of getting there. Even then, the chances of failure are pretty high.

A realistic time frame gives you more breathing room to find out what works and to play around the variables related to your goal, while still giving putting enough fire under your cheeks so that you don’t stretch it out into infinity.

Don’t burn out via a rocket ship-esque effort (aka an all out guts & glory approach with little to show for it when all is said & done). You’re in this for the long haul.

8. Chase failure like a cheetah chases…whatever it is that cheetahs chase.

No one fails by doing nothing; failure requires risk and action. Failure means you found a way that didn’t work – AWESOME!

And guess what? You didn’t die, the world didn’t come crashing down around you and you didn’t soil your pants.

You’ve lived to fight another day, gained valuable experience and are now one step closer to finding something does work.

9. Do something different

If you’ve been tackling a goal for some time with a lack of results, change something.

Expecting a different outcome by doing the same thing you’ve always done is like expecting a punch in the face from Mike Tyson (any era) not to hurt: no matter how much you want it to be true, it’s just not.

10. Never give up

If winning is the only option, how can you lose?

Bonus

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” - Dale Carnegie

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” – Jim Rohn

“It’s always too early to quit.” – Norman Vincent Peale

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.” – Nido Qubein

“Opportunity does not knock, it presents itself when you beat down the door.” – Kyle Chandler

“Small deeds done are better than great deeds planned.” – Peter Marshall

“The gap between ignorance and knowledge is much less than the gap between knowledge and action.”
-Anonymous

“The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.” – Confucius

“To hell with circumstances; I create opportunities.” – Bruce Lee