My Eyes are Grateful

In an effort to describe the feelings that arise from the time our eyes have met would mean to die and come back with your second breath

No, my mind has not been forsaken to darkened planes and hopeless being

It is simply this feeling

How amazing!!

To feel such passion for another,
Lacking the reciprocation yes,
but a gift is to be cherished.
To receive is not an expectation

Yes, her sight blazes the very essence of my spirit that flows like a vicious stream down the falls

But what scares me most is that I thought it could endure such a blow, yet her charm melts me as snow in a summers glance with just a smile, bestow

Alas, if I am to die, I'd rather die happy than remain not to ever know such beauty

You bid me farewell as your admirer

as if it was your duty

Overqualified: The Oxymoronic Myth of the Working Man.

Have you ever tried finding a job? If you're lucky you won't have to look too long, but it seems that now days, you have to watch how you are presented to an employer. This is the age of the self made and, yet, so many of us are still swimming in shark infested waters trying to get a piece of the proverbial pie. In any given moment, our lifeline could get pulled at any time with the remark of, "well, we may not be what you're looking for." I.E. "We don't want to pay you that much." It amazes me that so many companies are searching for quality, yet only think quantity. Let me explain what I mean.

I'm an entrepreneur looking for a job in today's market. Yes, just as Michael Jordan tried to hit a home run, I realized this isn't for me. Yet, it took this situation to get it through my head. I recently went through a two week ordeal with a local gym owner who, himself, was an entrepreneur. I saw that he was looking for a Membership Sales Director for his gym and the pay was within the $24-$27k/year range so I applied. Naturally, I got a call immediately given the extent experience my resume showed. We marveled in hour long discussions regarding business, customers, marketing strategies and so forth which, in all honesty, I loved yet felt I was short changing myself by giving away all of my insight for free. If Tony Robbins can charge his rate for his insight, why can't I? Right? Well .... Maybe that was a bad example. However! What did the Joker say? "If you're good at something, never do it for free!". Better example.

This particular gym owner informed me that he was so impressed with my knowledge and experience that he decided he wanted to actually create a position specifically for me. Think of Boss/Leader all rolled into one. I was to help with: Marketing/Events, Promo, Sales, Personal Training and bringing value to the brand and emphasizing the experience. Now, I'm not against working but I wasn't interested in working for cheap either. I've had the pleasure of working with a different gym owner and his lovely wife who understood supply and demand a little better than the latter. (To which I am incredibly sorry I let him and his wife down. I wasn't in the right head space for that job and I wish things had went differently, but the experience was worth its weight in golden knowledge. And for that, I thank you.)

So, after he went as far as to say I was the most qualified individual he had spoken to regarding employment, like symphony of hesitancy, his tone changed dramatically when we got to discussing compensation. In case you didn't know, the fitness industry is shifting it's payments from lump sums to monthly drafts from your account. Which means the gyms don't get that huge sum of money monthly from PT. So the pay scale changed a lot for management. Now, keep in mind, before we mentioned pay, I DID apply for a job that pays in the ballpark of $24-$27k a year. I simply stated I wanted a consistent salary that is negotiable(within his range) and I wasn't interested in bonuses/commissions, etc etc. He was startled at this, but with a lot of doubt in his voice, he let me know that he didn't know if that would work. 

So fast forward a few days, they ask me to "Secret Shop" their class to offer my opinion (I do know people get paid for this job). I agree, and oblige the G.M. with my thoughts and feelings regarding the class. Ironically, this convo turns into another interview for this Hybrid position that doesn't even exist. After explainimg the details of my past experiences, the previous job offers I've been given and offered and turned down, we end the convo with a conversation regarding boxing, sports etc. Not even 6 hours pass and I get a phone call from said G.M. informing me they will NOT be hiring me and will be looking for someone else due to the ASSUMED financial offers been given to me by other potential Assistant Manager and Fitness Manager jobs that I've turned down in the past. It actually came down to not wanting to pay me a non disclosed, non-negotiated compensation which they NEVER offered me.

I was left dumbfounded, yet understand this reason in entirely. There was also a Dr in Dallas who wanted me to help him with marketing, work his front desk, help sell a new age remedy of therapy for his office yet only wanted to pay me a very insufficient amount(nothing one could live off of) with the reasoning of, "you don't have enough office experience for me to pay you more." So, in short,

EMPLOYERS WANT "QUALITY" EMPLOYEES YET REFUSE TO PAY THEM A QUALITY PAY RATE.

All I can say for your company, is that you get exactly what you pay for. Employers and customers alike.

As I've been saying, this is the age of the self made.  We as working men and women have been given a choice and the line was drawn in the sand long ago. Either make your own future, or work to make someone else's future. I have found a new fortune in having faith, not only in myself but faith in the universe/divine/god or whatever you believe in. Education is soon being discovered in long conversations with intelligent individuals as well as archives and in the shelves of libraries and your traditional 4 year diploma is soon going to be worth only the price of the paper it is printed on.

Success at Rock Bottom: Influence When It's MOST Needed

What's that age old saying? The one people always tell themselves when things aren't going bad?

"Money isn't everything."

Yeah, sure. Money isn't everything but it's a lot easier to be in bad mood with some serious cash sitting in your bank account than it is when you're flat bloke. In fact, EVERYTHING is much easier to deal with when you can look at your bank account and it looks like a phone number.

But what if you DIDN'T have that? (Which most of us are there anyways, so we can all relate) What do you think the most important thing is to have when you've hit rock bottom? I.E.

• You're flat broke and can't even buy food
• Your self esteem is totally shattered 
• You don't have a friend who's willing to lend a hand (Seriously, who hasn't been in that situation)
• You have no job
• You feel completely alone and isolated

Congratulations, you've reached Rock Bottom. The real Boulevard of Broken Dreams where Heartbreak Hotel houses more potential ideas than a cemetery. What do you do now? How can I get out of here?? How did this happen? (This is the most common question)

Every single successful individual regardless if you're thinking of: Churchill, Schwarzenegger, Cardone, Gates or Jobs, has walked a path in their lifetime and discovered they have come to a crossroads. Something they had acted like a "Map" and that something took them to where they were now. (No, it wasn't money)

They had a vision. A vision that led them exactly where they needed to be. With that vision they had a purpose which acted as a flashlight to keep them focused on their vision. Apart from the latter, they had something as unique as the previous. They had MOTIVATION!! I'm here to help you find your tools to success. (Aren't you glad this wasn't another boring blog relative to some 10 step program or a spiel for Advocare?) 

To me Motivation, Purpose and Vision are the only three things you need to achieve absolutely anything you have ever wanted to earn. Notice the key word, EARN. I am here to help you. Not give you all the answers, but to purpose you analyze the questions proposed to you so you may find your own personal map, flashlight and unique drive to achieve something because I assure you that Arnold didn't have the same vision, purpose and motivation as Jobs or Churchill did.

Vision::

We are visual beings. Perception is everything and, unfortunately, that works against us. We take what we see too seriously and thus shape our existence around it and accept it. That's why the broke stay poor and the rich stay rich. You have to be so mentally strong that you must undo all of your upbringing to believe and accept what you see as reality. You MUST force your mind, body and spirit to refuse to accept where you are and believe you are going somewhere better and you DESERVE it. If you don't already have a vision in your mind of where you see yourself and what you see yourself doing, you must write it down. You MUST write it down until it is chiseled into your subconscious and that is all you think about. Your vision will soon become your obsession and, only until it's an obsession, it will become a reality. 

Purpose::

Were you really meant to be here to tuck yourself in a cheap suit jacket, sit in a cubicle all day and pay bills until you finally die? Were you really meant to slave away for 50 years until you are finally able to live but are too old and far gone to even enjoy it? Far too many of us are going through the motions in life with NO PURPOSE! It's a ball and chain that's wearing your soul down and stifling your flight. We were all born to do SOMETHING special and unique because, like life, nothing, "Just Happens." You don't just happen to be a good painter, a good writer, a good designer, a good whatever you are. We each have a calling and to discover that is to discover what your purpose here in life is. It's not to just life, it's not to work your entire life, it's not to conform or comply. We have been raised to conform, comply and go along with the heard. This is the generation of the Self Made man (and woman, of course) and it's becoming more and more apparent. What do you love to do? What are you good at? Got it? Good, you have found your purpose. Let it guide you to your success via your vision.

MOTIVATION::

Let's face it, money's nice. Car's are nice. Flashy stuff is cute but it's worthless. It literally pales in comparison to the value of having motivation to pursue what truly makes you happy and what your true calling is for. What makes motivation so valuable?? Because no matter what you purchase in your life, you can never BUY motivation. Motivation is that fire that burns inside you to go an extra mile, work an extra hour or put that extra project on your plate. Some people love to say they have it, but when things start going against them, they lose it. Which , in my book, means they never had it in the first place. Truly having motivation is having the ability to continue the pursuit even if you had no logical reason to. Your excuses aren't a logical reason, that's just you being a bitch. Logical reasons are them saying, "You're working out for a show? you aren't ready and you may not even place buddy." and you replying, "Doesn't matter if I place or not, I'm still going to try and I'll be even more prepared for the next one." 

Them: "Hey bud, it's quitting time! Why are you still here?"

You: "I wanted to get a head start on this project and stay ahead of the game. This is really important to me and my career"

Them: "You'll never make it as a writer"

You: "Oh? Watch me."

If you aren't so pumped by the end of this then I don't know what to tell you! That was awesome!! I'm ready to go hit the weights again! Walk the dogs, AGAIN! Write , AGAIN! Everything again but bigger and better! Bottom line, stop being such a bitch and take a hold of your life with BOTH hands and own it! You only get one so you might as well life this one up ! If not, you'll end up working, buying or investing into someone's passion who did live it up and , for that, we thank you 

Gym Bunnies and Gym Dummies

Here we are late in February and as the lights go out , so do the resolutioners. Flying out of the gym as fast as they flew in with a different outlook on what working out is all about.

We in the gym applaud your ambition to try and we know we will see you again next year. This , however, is about the leftovers. The type of gym personalities that tend to ruin the vibe for those who are here to try and those who are here to stay.

To the Gym Bunnies and Gym Dummies , please do the rest of us a favor and go back to the bars and leave the dumbbells alone.

Let's break down who I'm talking about:

Gym Walkers aka Gym Bunnies:  These are an astounding creature of attention. Usually dresses in a full LuLu Lemon, Under Armor or Victoria Secret attire.  They're the desperate housewives / attention whores who wear the bear minimal of the tightest clothing while parading around the most male occupied area to find a single 5lbs dumbell and proceed to "Squat " with it in the middle of the gym. Other characteristics of her include:

- Taking selfies w/ duck lips
- Gloves matches attire
- More cleavage than a porn star would have
- Saying, "OMG" 20 times in a sentence
- Fixing her hair in the gym mirrors
- texting/tweeting/facebooking constantly
-iPod matches her workout attire
- Constantly looking for something / lost

No matter what they weather may be, she's always hot on the prowl for some form of attention that, by her disgusted look on her face, she claims to have never wanted in the first place.

You'll notice she will always have her make up set and ready to go for an evening out after the gym so her hair is either flawless in a headband or flawless in general and they're rarely ever sweat.

Be weary of this cougar for you're looking for a night of fun but a long search of a new gym when her husband comes calling .

Gym Dummies:

The male version of Gym Bunnies. These strange forms can be found by the following characteristics:

- Extremely tight tops
- Peg Legs aka Chicken Legs
- Heavy smell of cologne
- Have been known to wear sunglasses inside the gym
- Grunt loudly whilst handling the lightest of weights
- Color Coordination of gym attire
- Gives "workout advice" to the women
- Flexes what he hopes is a bicep and abs in the gym mirrors
-Wears workout gloves (seriously)
- does 3 sets of selfies

A queer and confused being, this gym dummy ended up in the wrong club by means of narcissism and arrogance. Hopefully alluring the girls in the gym to feel on his "pipes" and get their number for a smoothie later.

Avoid this creature at all costs or you may find yourself locked in a verbal Full Nelson w/ the gym dummies!!!!

A gym is a place we are to work and improve and progress. If you want to socialize, go to the bar for happy hour or start a Match.com account. People who are uncomfortable with the gym environment usually are because of these types of gym personalities. All your doing is taking up gym equipment and oxygen.

The Power to Change

Power

The rate of doing work. Equivalent to the amount of energy consumed per unit time

If I asked you what is the most important factor if doing any amount of work, what would your answer be? Work? Energy? Or time?

Can a corvette run without gasoline? Can a train run without steam?

The answer I hope you're looking for is ENERGY. The single most important source of fuel for your hustle and your drive to accomplish whatever your heart desires. Regardless of what your goals may be.

What motivates you to be better? What drives you to get up in the morning , even when you had a long night and no sleep?

If you don't know the answer to this question, then I have some bad news for you. Time to stretch out your LuLuLemon yoga pants and take a meditation yoga class with your mom or get tickets to hear a motivational speaker tell you something you already know , but don't feel yet.

Here are a few ways to find your motivation without spending a fortune or wasting too much of your time:

1. Recognize Passion!

If you ever wanted to hear or see what passion looks or sounds like ,YouTube guys like Grant Cardone, Rob Bailey or even Rich Piana and just listen to how these men speak to you. Now, I'm not telling you to do exactly what they're doing or shoot yourself full of steroids and BS, I'm telling you to listen and watch them to see what passion looks and sounds like because in all honesty, it is hard to search for something when you don't have a clue what it looks or sounds like. When you hear yourself or see yourself like you hear and see them, you're headed in the right direction.

2. Seek Passion

Now that you know what you're looking for, it's time to find it. It's not as easy as asking Siri for the nearest Pizza place but here's something you can store in your iCloud, just ask yourself this simple question

"Am I happy?"

Now answer yourself and don't B.S. yourself because you're only going to let yourself down. True power is having the courage to ask the hard questions and having the strength to accept the truth and change for the better and it all begins with you seeking the truth from within yourself. Not your wife, your ex, your BFF , or your co workers.

3. Enforce your passions

Hopefully by now, you've caught something you can work with passionately. Don't be the dog chasing cars, if you caught something, own it. You cannot treat this like a catch and release! You're here to eat, not for the hell of it. Enforce your passions through expression. Write about it, read about it, talk about it, and be about it!! Become that passion on a daily basis, no matter what direction it is going in.

There's a huge difference between being passionate and doing what passionate people do, recognize that.

Write down your passions and put them on the bathroom mirror next to your His\Her towel set.

Read , read and read about your passions and how to emphasize them.

Talk. Talk to yourself or others. You aren't talking to conversate, you're talking to hear yourself speak passionately. Just make sure you aren't talking to yourself in public because you might scare someone.

4. Reinforce your passion.

The final stage is the most important one because in all honesty , passion comes and goes. It could take forever to get here but could be gone tomorrow. You MUST reinforce your passions daily, weekly and monthly because, unfortunately, there will be people who will want you to fail. This you already know, but what you don't know is why someone would want you to fail. Whether they're jealous, lazy, ignorant or just unhappy, they're out there to tell you

"That's not a good idea"

Or

"You'll never make it.",

Never ever listen to anyone with anything negative to say.

Keep your power. Keep your drive. Never let anyone doing worse or better than you tell you other wise. Keep reading. Keep writing and keep reminding yourself why you live, breathe and drive. 

Fit-trepreneur: Achieve fitness success by thinking like a businessman

Have any of you reading this ever thought about what it would be like running your own business? Have you ever walked into a store, restaurant or any establishment of your interest and thought to yourself,

"This place is all wrong. If it were my business, I'd do this, that, etc etc."

Don't lie, we've ALL done it. That's only the first step. Then you begin to visualize how you'd change the facade of the establish. How you'd manipulate what the service provided is and how to make it better.

Don't get confused, this IS a fitness article and your brain has just been switched to "Leader" as opposed to "Follower". Follow me here:

Every business has a plan and every plan; a goal. Now I want to ask you while you're thinking like a businessman,

" What's your plan? What's your goal?"

Whether you want to lift 1000lbs or lose 10, you need a plan in motion to achieve success. Treat this as your "Business Plan." Every business plan will include the following:

- location/environment
- investment/costs
- timelines
- references (personal/professional)
- fail safe back up plan

Let's look at these briefly to explain how you can make this new endeavor work for you!

Location / Environment :

Consider your goals when finding the perfect environment to achieve and keep this in mind

       Birds of a feather flock together

In other words, you need to put yourself in an environment with like minded individuals to help expedite your success. No different than successful people positioning themselves with other like minded successful people. The company you choose to keep with make or break your success. If your company do not share your same views or want what you want, you need to dump them and move on.

Investment / Cost :

This, in my opinion, is the one singular deterrent in individuals success. It's the reason most business fail: thankfully for you, fitness doesn't have to cost you can arm and a leg. However, depending on your goals, it will require an initial investment to see a wonderful return. This means putting your hard earned green towards:

- Proper nutrition. You don't have to be 100% organic and jump on the Central Market/Whole Foods bandwagon, but you'll need to be more conscience of what you eat. Face it, healthy food is more expensive than cheap food.

- Supplementation Taking the extra incentive to fill your nutritional gaps makes a bit of difference and it's there to HELP your progress, not do all the work for you. Don't take the word of your Local GNC employee who obviously doesn't lift. Instead, seek out your gym rat forums and ask some people in your social circle that actually workout about it and see what they say. I personally recommend the basic MultiVitamin and Protein supplement to get you started

Gym environment - You don't need a gym to get healthy, but if your goal is to get stronger , gain muscle , lose weight , tone or any other thing then pushups and curling paint cans will only get you so far. Find a gym that YOU feel is consistent with your goals. For example, if you want to get stronger than Curves probably won't be able to help you much like if you want to get huge ,Planet Fitness isn't your destination. Visit each gym and find a spot where the people there look like you want to look or are exercising the way you want to exercise. In the end, its going to cost something. You can probably wheel and deal a joiner fee wave or a few months free , but that's about it.

Equipment - Okay so your old pair of Adidas that you mow the lawn in CAN be used for gym shoes but it doesn't hurt to invest in proper equipment/clothing . Wearing shoes with good support, purchasing gloves if needed, straps, wrist support, etc etc etc.

Timelines - set a time for your goals. Be specific. For example ,

"I'm going to workout 5 times this week."

Or

"I'm going to drop 2lbs per week"

Or

"I'm going to lose 10 lbs this month"

Set a timeline goal and reset it after you've achieved it. Remember, running water never grows stale. Keep on flowing.
References (personal and professional)

In a nut shell, find a gym buddy to workout with to keep you consistent, accountable and motivated or INVEST in a personal trainer to get you started. 

Fail-Safe Backup plan:

This is your lifeboat ready to save you and let you fight another day. Here, you will reevaluate your position and what you've done and you change everything that didn't work and try something new. This is a must and it is fail safe because it doesn't matter how many times this fell short, you never fail unless you give up

Take care and train hard,

SeanB

The Root of all Laziness: Stupidity and Supplements

Things have a very funny way of working out. I go into a GNC for a few supplements and I walk out with a mind blowing inspiration of a vastly spreading epidemic , Worse than Ebola !

There's a horrible case of stupidity going around the fitness world and somewhere along the line it just took off like a rocket to the stars.

At some point in time, people began to actually believe that there is a supplement out there today that you can buy and you would drop 15lbs , gain 5lbs of muscle and look 5 years younger all without exercising. 

Folks, I am literally blown away.

The story goes as this: the GNC employee and a naive woman were discussing a fat burning pill and a protein . Shamelessly my wife asks vaguely,  " do you workout?  ". Both ladies look at my wife and each other and both said

..... "No."

Imagine that, people would actually spend in the upwards of $150 for supplements to give them the exact same results as working out alone would do. Talk about buying the milk and screwing the cow (not literally I hope)

Let me set this straight from experience:

1. There is NO pill, powder or even a prayer for your ass.

2. There is ONLY hard work and that's all

Supplements were NEVER meant to replace the quality of real food and , sure as hell weren't made to take all the damn work out of the equation. They were made to only ASSIST in your fitness journey;  not walk the whole walk for you.

Now my next thing is,  who's the blame? Is it just stupidity on the people or is it the ignorance of marketing? Maybe the genius of marketing is a better culprit to blame. The only reason I ask that is this BS is happening across all product planes, not just the supplement industry.

Sak's 5th Avenue will sell you an eye cream for $800 (and the bottle is smaller than your ex bfs package) with the promises of no more eye wrinkles , crows feet and look younger. Fact of the matter is, unless the bottle goes into a syringe followed by a needle going into your skin, you're gonna have those wrinkles and no cream is going to make you look younger.

Educate yourself before investing blindly into a marketing scheme. If whatever you're investing in DOESN'T include the fact that hard work and dedication go into it then you're going to be a very unsatisfied customer

Talk care and train hard

Sean B