Your Team Is Here!

There will be moments within your journey when you will want nothing more in the world then to just quit. You will experience a sinking sensation in which you thought you knew how to swim. The desire to quit on the process will absolutely seem like the right decision. The path you chose to follow may not only seem like the wrong decision but the foundation needed to course correct will feel impossible to re-create. Every single one of us will come across this fleeting sensation to some degree in our lifetime.

No need to go into how this happened to my foot outside of I blame my EGO! I had a goal that at the end of the day took over my common sense. My goal was driven partially by a personal need to reach the World stage again in triathlon but looking back that personal drive might have been affected by an external need to prove myself to others. Hence, enter the ugly beast called EGO. His entrance clouded my judgement and kept enforcing me to push past extremes that should have been met with caution. End result is the EGO won...

That paragraph is only written to set the stage for a surgery that I was completely ok with. I didn't fall down stairs, wasn't in a car accident or have some other unlucky trauma happen in my life. I had caused the condition needed for surgery. Since it was squarely on my shoulders, I had accepted the consequences.

What I wasn't ready for was the stages of physical and emotional stress that progressed after my ankle was basically taken apart and put back together. I thought I had done my homework in preparing my body for a state change in my physical fitness. I thought I had done my mental homework preparing myself for what my life would look like for a period of time. Well, come to find out I didn't study hard enough and when the test was placed in front of me I didn't know any of the answers. My world was flipped upside down and while I thought I was tough - I really had to step back and invest into the process of recovery harder then I ever thought I would have had to.

Initially my Make It Count vision, paradigm and principles allowed me to win the day but eventually the stress, anger and anxiety of a new life started to take over.

I would love to tell you at this point that I had the strength to win, that I had the vision to be a better person and that I came to the realization that I really didn't have it that bad...I would be lying to you!

What changed my mindset was four words that had an enormous impact and state shift on my view going forward...."YOUR TEAM IS HERE!" When my wife said those four words I guarantee she had no idea the power they would have on me going forward.

What I had failed to realize was that I was not alone in this process. I had completely, selfishly, internalized my surgery and that I had to deal with it by myself.

The reality is we all have a team within our life. We all have someone we can turn to. The problem we run into is we think we don't have a team, we think that no one will listen, we think people will judge, we think that no one wants to hear my struggle and we think that we are the only person who is having issues. I fell into this trap. I thought I could handle my struggle all by myself. I was wrong as I was wanting to quit on my recovery. I resented the surgery that I very well knew would give me a better quality of life. I turned inward instead of outward. I stopped reading. I stopped writing. I wasn't exercising.

Then those four words..."YOUR TEAM IS HERE!"...turned my focus around and I realized that any struggle involves more than one person.

I started to look outward at everyone volunteering their time to help. My family, my mom, my co-workers, my neighbors, my good friends, people I didn't know well, my favorite coffee shop owner and everywhere I turned was filled with people wanting to help. They were there all along and have always been there. I was just blinded by the idea that I was at this alone.

We are surrounded by good every single day. We just chose sometimes to focus too much on the negative shades of life. We think life is happening to us and not for us.

9 weeks post surgery I know one thing for sure..."MY TEAM IS HERE!' They are with me every step of the way. I will trip up again in life and I know without a doubt it is ok. I know without a doubt that each of these people will be there once again to help me regain focus.

So next time you are struggling to find your path. STOP! Take a step back and see who is standing by you. If your alone...reach out! If you notice someone else reaching back for you...grab ahold and form a team as teamwork makes the dream work!

Make It Count!

Tolerance For Risk

"If you are not willing to risk the unusual, you will have to settle for the ordinary." - Jim Rohn

Years ago when my wife and I where setting up our financial plan with our advisor his first question was "what is your tolerance for risk?" The riskier you are in the financial world the greater potential to make money is but the downside is higher in that with anything luck could turn and you could loose more.

Life is not all that different in the decisions, actions and goals we encounter throughout our life. The bigger the goal the more risk you associate to failure, burnout or being overwhelmed with the task at hand. There is an ease to setting up goals that at the end of the day you know you will accomplish in time and that should you come across a difficult period all it takes is a slight recue of focus to change your direction. However over time do these fail safe goals make you happy? Do they push you in the direction you want? Are you achieving a level of accomplishment that you desire?

Years ago a mentor/parent figure in my life gave me one piece of information that I carry with me in all decisions I make. "If your mission in life doesn't scare you even a little then you are not living life to its fullest potential!!!" Since that day each decisions I make, each goal I set, each principle I try and teach all revolves around the ability to crank things up a notch. I don't get scared of failure anymore as failure is surrounded in everything we do and impossible to avoid. Instead I get scared in regards to the person I might become. Yes you heard that right....I get scared in regards to the person I might become. Will I have the energy, focus and vision to support that person? Any great journey is bound to change us for the better but are your foundationally sound to support the change. Times will get tough but who gives a shit. Its the strength and resilient person you may become is what matters.

Racing Ironman Triathlon for close to 20 years has mixed so well with my life's mission for one reason. While I love the actual race day I ABSOLUTELY love the day to day training that comes with Ironman. The ability to each day wake up with a plan of making yourself at least 1 percent better than the day before. To constantly try and chase that fountain of youth associated with always keeping the engine performing at high capacity no matter the age limitations. There is risk each day we wake up that injury might happen, that one will loose the love for the game, that others will have opinions that might weigh heavy on your personal quest, and that you might not hit your daily, monthly and yearly goals thus making you call into question your WHY.

Risk by itself stirs an emotion in people that is often negative. Why not flip that negative connotation into something positive and instead of run away from risk chase it instead. The riskier the decision the greater the success. Yes once again you can say that with increased risk comes increased risk of failure but who cares. If you have a strategy in place you can help minimize the failure or if failure occurs fight the good fight back to the top.

Here is the 10 step strategy I use:

1. Do my homework  - In triathlon this is a training plan. In business its studying the market place. Study the success of others and see if what they do works into your world. Don't copy them specifically but allow yourself some freedom to know if certain tools, trades and tactics would help you.

2. Engage in mentors - This has been my number one go to over the years. A mentor is a great sound board to give you honest feedback. Friends in general will always agree with you but a strong mentor will set you straight when your off course. Its also nice to have some of accountability helping you through your journey.

3. Self evaluation - If your not doing this daily you are already off course. We make thousands of decisions every day along with thousand more thoughts. Constantly reflect on whether or not your in the right ballpark for your goals.

4. Read - Knowledge in power!!! We have the ability to study every topic at our finger tips these days. Find that person or business who has done it before and learn about their journey and what they encountered. Not every book will be an earth shattering discovery but I can guarantee that you will come away with some pearl in every book to make you a little better.

5. Consistency - Nothing will happen in a positive manner unless your consistent in your quest. From treating patients, to training for triathlons, to giving a thought provoking speech....everything comes with practice and consistent attempts to always be better.

6. Breath - Next time you are feeling overwhelmed take a second and take 5 deep breaths in with slow exhales. I can promise that in the 20 seconds it took you to do this simple task that you will be in a calmer, clearer state of being.

7. Maintain composure - The success of most of the worlds leaders these days comes from their ability to always maintain composure. They are quick to make decisions but not before evaluating all their options and analyzing what is good for their environment. Would you rather follow a leader who thinks a process through or one who is frazzled and in a state of panic?

8. Never settle - Never, never, never settle for the easy road. We all have it in use to reach that next level of success. Push the envelope until you see what is in that envelope.

9. Time management - Saying I don't have time is a lazy person's excuse. There is always time in the day to chase your dreams. Its when we are not efficient with our time that we find it difficult to stay on task. There will always be time if you want something bad enough!!!

10. Smile - Being other people focused is all about really being present time focused on others. Always presenting with a smile gives others a sense of comfort. This also allows you to consistently find peace in your decision making. Pretty sure when I smile it makes those last few sets of 800 meter repeats on the track a little more tolerable.


In the end any decision you make on a daily basis has risk associated with it. Why not turn yourself into a risk warrior and fight risk with a plan which will lead to success you deserve.

Make It Count!!!

Changed for good...

There are many journeys that we travel in life. One could almost have an argument that each day when we open our eyes we are set up for another journey. Life is not ONE long journey but is made up of small, individual quests that ebb and flow according to our beliefs/mission in life. If your mindset is one of a fixed mindset than you may be stuck in the same journey over and over. You may be limiting yourself of your full potential as either your values are off, other peoples opinions are driving your thoughts or you are having a hard time taking responsibility for your actions. On the other hand if your driving the car of life with a growth mindset than everyone better get out of the was as there is unlimited potential in this energy. Growth mindset only sees the upswing. Downturns or failures are nothing more than a learning experience. Obstacles are sometimes brought on by our own troubles and someone with a growth mindset sees this potential for disaster and diverts to higher ground. Growth mindset follows a Jocko Willink mentality of extreme ownership in that we are in charge of our own journey. Constantly look for ways you can improve the situation. Constantly use the term "I" in assessing blame instead of the term "they". Take ownership for your actions.

There is a saying that goes around in our family (see pic above)..."Because I knew you I have been changed for good." There are millions of exceptional quotes in this world but I always gravitate back to this quote as a demand force for the way one should live their life. Personal connections are the foundation for everything we do. Even in today's society where technology is taking away the live person to person interaction...personal connections are still needed to survive. So why not make it your journey to focus and help those around you fulfill their journey. This will always help two fold...1) It will allow that person to know they are not alone and that you are always just one step away from helping 2)Helping others will forever always come back to help you later on in life. Zig Ziglar said it best with....

 "You can have everything in life you want, if you just help enough other people get what they want"

Take time to listen to someone's story and don't just be present thinking of the meeting you have later in the day or what you want to say next....really take the time to LISTEN to what someone is telling you. Listening is one of the foundational arts of being other people focused. Don't be so quick to respond but soak in the conversation and think of your response. People will give you the answer to all their problems if you just listen.

People come into our lives only for the benefit of everyone in the situation. I know that this sounds like bullshit but its true. Not every adventure in life is gonna be smooth sailing. Life is gonna raise its hand every now and then and slap you around. Life is gonna present you with an individual/situation that is not gonna jive with who you are. In all situations you have two options....you can either get frustrated, angry or shut down....or you can fight your ass off and show the strength of your character in your actions, leadership and ability to always try and take the higher road. I have a family member who is a great therapist and he said it pretty well last week in a conversation..."people are pretty simple at their core...if someone is hungry they eat, if someone is tired they sleep, its their mindset that switches up their thought processes." So I challenge you to be the person that stands tall and pushes those around you to be better. I also challenge yourself to be better. Start with a morning routine of reading, writing, exercise and mindfulness that allows you to be foundationally strong starting your day. Every successful person I know starts the day with purpose and every successful person I know follows what Zig Ziglar said in that if you help enough people in life than you can have anything you want.

Scared

Is there anything in life that scares you? Something that makes you loose sleep? Something that occupies your mind, making you question if your doing everything possible? If you know what scares you what are you doing about it? Do you constantly push it out of sight hoping that it goes away or do you acknowledge the fear and let it pull you in the right direction?

There have been things in my life that I have been scared of but with a little practice or guidance I am able to conquer those fears with some effort. There was a time that getting up in front of people to talk scared me but I am at a place now that I actually love to share a story in front of an audience. There was a time where I cared WAY to much what people thought of me and in exchange gave them to much power over my choices. I then realized how much this didn't make sense and how much energy I wasted trying to please everyone and not myself. There was also a time when I was scared to race in endurance events for the shear idiotic mentality that if I didn't win people would think I was a fraud. The funny thing is the second I committed to just doing my best my results skyrocketed.

There is however one fear that scares me more that anything and is something that I battle with daily....Not being a good dad or husband. I made a commitment to myself a long time ago that when the time came in my life that I would go all in with the family I was blessed to have. I knew from my upbringing that family is the one thing that matters the most in the world. Jobs, friends, hobbies, thoughts, homes, cars, etc...come and go but family is the one thing that 9 out of 10 times is our foundation.

What scares me is that I will fail them over their life. Not in any specific pattern or way but that I will loose them to small decisions that didn't support the daily growth of our family unit. I don't want to be that dad that in 30 years my kids say "dad I wish you came to more events" or "dad I wish you gave me more advice in life" or " dad I wish you where just around more". I also don't want to be the husband that chose selfish personal acts over the life long commitment I gave to continuing to build my relationship with my wife. My mind constantly works in over drive towards the next big goal to accomplish in my life and I typically have to self evaluate what is worth the effort or not. These are thoughts that scare me daily and push me to not be an over bearing dad but a dad who is always there for them.

Seeing your kids accomplish goals they have set in place and knowing at some point you had a piece in that drive is one of the greatest experiences we can have. I used to think that money, material items, business success and race placement where the keys in life. Over the years I have realized that seeing my wife and kids succeed and the smiles on their face is priceless. The first group of items will always be there for the taking with the right paradigms in life but seeing your kid smile or have them say "daddy...a face is a home for smiles" is something that I will forever seek out and hold onto.

What scares you?

Bubble

Have you ever found yourself worrying about the past while also stressing about the future? I am almost certain that I can answer both of these questions with a YES!!! I think its almost human nature that at some point we find ourselves over thinking a decision we made 10 years ago or we are stressing about something that might happen months/years down the line. We live in a time where media reminds us what we should look like, think like, dress like and everything in between. What we don't do very well anymore is to live in the exact moment.

Until not to long ago I was guilty of the top question and often found some of my responses and thoughts overwhelming my actions. That was until I realized how much time I was wasting and how much unnecessary energy was given to thoughts that had no bearing on what really mattered. This is when I decided to live life in a bubble. Not the physical bubble to protect myself from injury or harm but the imaginary mental bubble. A bubble that allows me to focus just on the task at hand. A bubble that circumferences just the 24 hours a day I am currently in. Time is a commodity that we can't replenish so to make every second matter is the end goal.

What this allowed me to do was focus on today. To live in the now and not let decisions of the past reflect may actions in a negative manner. Yes I will be aware of what has happened in the past but I will use those events as an ability to grow. An ability to learn from a failure and become a better person. I will not worry about what might happen tomorrow and beyond mainly cause none of that is guaranteed time anyways. Why worry about something that may never happen in the first place.

I will however make sure that my actions today put in place a legacy for the future. One where my kids are proud to call me dad, one where my friends knew I was always there for them, one where my extended family laughed at the stories of our adventures and of course all of my patients knowing that I cared for them constantly.

So my challenge to you is to define your bubble each day you wake up. Stretch, get out of bed and know that today will be your day. Live in the moment and constantly strive to make positive changes in the world. Those changes may be very small or in the form of a moonshot goal but none the less they are a change. Be the person that everyone wants to be around as you are full of energy, motivation, inspiration and a constant desire to continued improvement. Grab your bubble and Make It Count!!!

Superficial Clutter

Every spring we dive into closets, garages, cabinets, drawers and every other corner of the house for one specific reason. The reason is to get rid of clutter that has been over the years. We call it spring cleaning and when we are done we feel accomplished, driven and full of energy to move on to the next phase of life free of clutter. Its the material cleansing we love but how long does it last?

I was recently on a long run and thinking how the idea of spring cleaning can be applied to our lives on a daily basis. How much clutter is in your life in the form of thoughts, ideas, actions, and re-actions? How much of what you do daily, weekly and yearly is potential a waste of your time and energy? I love to end a day analyzing how much of my day was time well spent or time spent on superficial clutter that has no deep rooted meaning. How much of my day is spent building upon a solid foundation or spent of clutter that is leading me down a road/actions that don't support my overall personal mission.

Superficial clutter is constantly present and is in my mind the number one way goals are crushed (AND NOT THE GOOD CRUSH). While I love checking my social media, email, etc. How much of that time could be spent on pushing my goals towards levels of success. How many times do thoughts of what people will think, thoughts on what will happen if I fail, thoughts on it will be to hard, thoughts on will my support system be there for me and thoughts of is this the right choice distract you from pushing forward?

I think one of the most important reasons EVERY single person should write a personal mission statement is to understand what are the foundations principles that drive you. Having principles that have a foundation will constantly give you a basis to avoid clutter. You will be able to examine every thing that crosses your plate and see if it supports your mission.

The one principle that means the most to me in my life is the simple idea of TIME. It is the one resource that we can never get more of. We can always make more money but we can not (not yet at least) make more time. Time is something not to be wasted. Time is something to always love and always apply the mentality of MAKE IT COUNT!!!! However superficial clutter has a tendency to steal this idea of precious time. Wasting our energy on things that don't matter. In my life everything revolves around my wife and girls. So when I develop goals or my paradigm for success my planning includes how it will affect my family. If it takes to much time away I will cross it off and move on. If it inspires my kids to improve then I move it up the chart. Does your clutter affect your time?

Take 5 minutes tonight and examine your day. Did superficial clutter affect your decision process? Did the idea of a monkey mind take over and did you feed the monkey mind or ignore it? Some clutter will always be there but the more efficient we can make our lives the better off we will be personal and the better off we will be to support those around you.

Make It Count!!!!

Knocked Down

Life has been flying bye this year at an incredible clip and couldn't be more blessed to be experiencing all the positivity in life. I would never say that negative thoughts, temptations, experiences or energy don't enter our families life we just choose to focus on what we can and turn everything into a positive.

There are times in life (sometimes daily) when you feel that life is knocking you down. One second your riding that wave on cloud nine and then the next your wondering why me. Life is meant to be a roller coaster of emotions. Life should never be easy or else you would get to comfortable and not challenge yourself to be better than you are. I am here to tell you that there is an easy way out each time you get knocked down. All you have to do is stand back up, dust your knees off and attack the situation with all your energy and desire to succeed.

This past weekend I had the absolute honor/privilege of not only watching my daughter play in a soccer tournament but her whole team. As much as I love to see her succeed I love to see the team succeed just as much. This team has bonded extremely well and no matter who gets knocked down they are always there to pick each other up. At 10 years old their life maturity is beyond the win or loss column. They understand with every once of there body that if one person or the whole team gets knocked down the only way to recover and push towards the path to success is to get up and move. Don't rest on negative emotions or worry about what happened but learn and move on to the next play. While they lost with PK's in the championship games I believe each of these girls came our a champion with their level of teamwork, play and ability to play every play with 100 emotional and physical intelligence.

I understand that sometimes the circumstance surrounding you getting knocked down can be an extremely difficult one. There will be times when you feel your in over your head. These are the times though when we can grow the most as an individual. These are the times when success is the only option. These are the times when we reach for our teammates, family members, co-workers or spouses and build upon that foundation we have in place. There is nothing sweeter than rising from the bottom and climbing the mountain and seeing how far you have come. I wouldn't be the dad, friend, athlete, husband and professional I am today if I didn't constantly push myself away from a point of contention, failure, rock bottom or feeling of hopelessness.

So next time you get knocked down instead of getting mad, frustrated, wanting to get even or feeling helpless stop for a second stand up and think what can I do from this second on to make the next second in my life better. What can I do immediately to take the higher road.

One thing I do every morning is called a 5 minute journal. I take 5 minutes total in the morning and the evening to write the following:

Morning

1. Name three things I am grateful for

2. What are three things that will make today great

3. Daily affirmation...

Evening

1. Name three great things that happened today

I have noticed by doing this exercise almost everyday that I am constantly reminding myself that life is a journey and I will always have things in my life that I am grateful for no matter the circumstances.

Make It Count!!!!