Let The Gym Be Your Reflection Letter

Empowered Training
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   What is your place of peace and tranquility? Your social hour, or a place of change?

   With the New Year fully in effect, we search for the changes we will make with the days and months to come. We ask ourselves, how will we make this year different and how can we be different? With all the negativity that we see in the papers, television and social media, it can be difficult to be optimistic and find the “good” in the world. Well….what if there is a way to break from it all and what if there is a possible way to begin a new and exciting journey for your health, mentally and physically.

   Our generation is filled with jealousy, selfishness and a lack of confidence. Anxiety is at an all time high as we are becoming increasingly hyper-exposed to everyone's life situations and stress. We compare our life to others’ and complain about how life is unfair and how lucky the next person is because of the glamorous life they seem to have. In a world where everything is recorded and people’s mistakes and imperfections become judged, it might be hard to wake up every day happy and excited that to take on whatever the day brings. So what do you do? How do you break away from the constraints of society?  

    I encourage you to try this: write yourself a reflection letter. It seems like an absurd and almost impossible idea with how frequently and consistently negative mental talk seems to occur, but it’s an important and useful strategy. List a few positive things you’re proud of, or what you accomplished this week, and most importantly: write what you’re going offer yourself. 

   One of the best things you could offer yourself is time at the gym, working on strengthening the greatest tool you’ll ever own: your body. Fitness is one of the best and healthiest ways to relieve stress, overcome self doubt, and gain control of your life.  Getting in better shape physically and mentally can only increase the amount of confidence and self-love you feel. Refocus that negative energy into positive action items you can pursue every day…and while society wants you to think January’s the month for fresh starts, it usually ends up becoming the month of overwhelm. What nobody tells you is that ANY month is the true month for new beginnings -- when those who want it the most rise from the ashes of burn out. 

 

   Let the gym be your reflection letter. Let every sweat drop and muscle gained be your way of telling your bodyI want something serious. Let 2016 be another year of successes and happiness.  

 

Your Healthiest New Year Yet

Empowered Training
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          It’s inevitable: as the calendar transitions from the end of one year to the start of the next, we often feel that “New Year, New Me” mentality. For those preparing for that fresh start and have an idea, vision, or plan in mind come January, I applaud you. Whether you’re trying to better yourself as a person, your health, relationships with loved ones, or financially, here are a few tips that will ensure your success in the New Year:

  1. Listen to your heart and listen to yourself. When you have a plan and you know that in the pit of your stomach you HAVE to do it, then that’s your subconscious mind sending you a message. Do it and take action.

    Remember you learn to run after you learn to walk. So take those small steps.

     

  2. Surround yourself with those that think positively and support your vision. Avoid people that will try to distract you. Don’t let someone who is comfortable in their ways stop you from working hard. . They will try to get into your head and prove how, ‘crazy’ you may be for pursuing what you want. Don’t let them.

     

  3. Live in gratitude for the present moment. You can never predict tomorrow, and you cannot predict how your day will pan out, but you can do your best to control how you react to things. The moments you feel that failure will come, do not let it get to you. It’s normal to have those feelings, but if you fall into it, you will only begin hurt yourself and give up.

    Acknowledge the fact that no successful event in your life was ever easy. Think of the time you learned to drive. How many times did you mistaken the gas and break or almost hit the parked cars in your area? None of that meant you were a terrible driver, you were getting use to the new environment and change in yourself. So let the fear go, put the gear back in drive and keep moving forward.

     

  4. Write down a plan for the New Year and a couple of action steps you can implement to put that plan in motion. 

 

Starting a new wellness plan is often the hardest part, but once you start and commit to continuing, everything will begin to flow naturally. You’re probably saying, ‘easier said than done’ but that’s why I’m here. That’s what Empowered Training is designed to do for you. The Empowered Training program will help you set up a plan and help to keep you on track until you see the visible results of your hard work, or better yet: feel the positive effects of your hard work. Together we can make this your healthiest New Year yet!

7 Ways to Stay Motivated In The Gym

Empowered Training
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We love to look great, stay healthy and push ourselves each day. Health and exercise is part of our daily routine and well, it’s OUR lifestyle. Doing it every day and staying committed to the gym can be tough when you find yourself stuck in a regular day to day routine.  Coming from experience, I personally know the feeling, and it sucks! It takes away the excitement you once had, and instead of it feeling like a lifestyle routine, it begins to feel like a work routine. After seeing first hand, talking to members and things I find to be pretty effective, I have come up with 7 tips to get you engaged and find the excitement into your gym time….

  1. Gym partner- Finding yourself that SWOLE-mate to lift and push you more than you normally do, can do more than just build a stronger relationship. A gym partner that is as serious as you about the gym, will hold you accountable and push you both mentally and physically to help you achieve results.

  2. Change the environment- Changing the scene can make a huge impact. On nice days, take the exercise routine outdoors. When you have beautiful weather, take advantage. Go for a run and after every few miles, stop and do body exercises for a certain amount of reps or time. Rest after and continue. Most local parks have a fitness trail that you follow and gives you an exercise when you reach a check point.

  3. New routine- If you prefer the weights and machines, try changing the way you train. Example, try switching cardio for strength training first and then finish with cardio. Another switch could be the machine or exercise that you do and the reps, sets and rest time. Play with your routine and see what works with you and gives you a challenge.   

  4. Playlist- We all love music, so why not create a playlist that you can pump iron with. Same with the playlist, add and change the songs from time to time.  

  5. Keep track of progress- Record every exercise you do. Write down how many sets, reps and rest time. Each week you repeat the same pattern, you’ll see where you are getting stronger and where you need improvement.

  6. 15 minute prep – Sometimes all you need is a quick prep. Warming up with a motivational audio. Or driving around and taking the long route to prepare yourself with a playlist or just the peace and quiet you have to yourself. 

  7. Rest- If you find yourself doing all of the above and nothing works, try taking one or two weeks off. Maybe your body just needs a rest and often times we ignore the warning signs our mind and body send. Listen to your body and rest, guarantee you’ll feel better when you get back. 

 

"Empowered Training...Change your mind, change your body, change your life!"

One Size Does Not Fit All

     Don't be fooled by what you see and hear from social media. In the world of health and fitness, much of the material is false and misleading information. With so many social media tools, it is hard to decipher what is true and what is false. It is great that people are out there publishing videos and challenges to get people moving, but what becomes dangerous about the material is when the person in the video or article says, "Everyone should stand like this” or “place your hands 'x' inches apart." That's where we, the viewer, have to step back, do some thinking, and ask who exactly is 'everyone' they are talking about? 

 

     Let me ask you this: if you were to switch cars with any one of your friends, do you think you'd be able to drive the car just by getting in and turning the key? Probably not because you'd have to adjust the seat, mirrors, steering wheel, etc. to suit your own driving needs.

     That’s where I disagree with much of the material on fitness you’ll find on social media. Exercise is NOT a one-size-fits-all experience, and everyone shouldn't be doing the exact same thing as everyone else. Don't get confused and think that I'm saying exercise is not for everyone. What I mean is that the way one person does an exercise, shouldn't justify the way everyone else should do it. We all have different structures (muscular and skeletal). You shouldn't have to jeopardize your safety and body to get the results you want by doing a trendy "high intensity, glute-chiseling, tummy toner 10 minute workout.” That’s not how it HAS to work.

     We are all different -- from the way we sit, stand, walk, sleep, breathe and eat. What social media puts out about the newest and quickest way to get results in less than 10 minutes shouldn't be the solution. Long lasting fitness and health is not achieved by a quick fix. It is a lifestyle that will be with you forever, and results come over time by working out hard, consistently, at your own specialized physical fitness level and structure capability.   

You Don't Need Cardio To Get Results

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              If you think you need cardio to get results, then you must be out of your mind! Just kidding, you need Cardio, Cardio, and more Cardio!  We love it, we hate it, but we need it. Just like doing laundry. When it comes to getting the results you truly desire, asides from the strength training and nutrition, cardio is a must. You don’t like the idea of running on a ‘dread’mill or ‘kill’ipticle for 30 minutes, let alone an hour. But you feel guilty for having those drinks and that burger last night so you have to burn it off. So what is the best way to burn it off and exactly how much, how long, and how intense should the cardio session be? Well that’s what we will dig into today.

              Before we dig into a new method of cardio, I want you to understand that cardio comes in many ways. “Cardio” meaning “cardio vascular endurance” is the body’s ability to continue exertion while getting energy from the aerobic system used to supply the body with energy. Wait, What!? Basically, cardio means having the endurance to keep working at an intensity level that is both manageable and still challenging to your body. Some examples are long distance running, swimming, or biking. If your body has a poor cardio vascular endurance, you will fatigue quicker. Sometimes feeling a shortness of breath. But the good news is, you can fix it. Just like you train muscles to get bigger and stronger, or leaner and defined, you can also increase your cardio endurance level. Now … how can you make cardio fun…

              We established that many of us, including myself, are not a big fan of doing cardio on a treadmill or bike for a long time. So what can we do? Well there is one type of “cardio” called High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Some fitness professionals know it as HIIT or metabolic training. What this type of training consists of is various exercises and different time frames that hit every body part in 45-60 minutes; we really don’t need to be in the gym for more than that. Although it’s my way of cardio, I don’t establish it as only cardio, as you would with long distance running. Why? Because with HIIT, you are doing more than cardio. You are, no pun intended, hitting every muscle group by doing exercises with various movements, heavy to moderate weight and progressions in a certain time frame; this does not only work cardio, but muscular endurance and strength as well. Here is an example of a High Intensity Interval Session, or Fat Burning Session as I call them.

The time frame is a 40:20. 40 seconds of work, 20 seconds of rest. You will complete 5 exercises, each individual exercise will be done in 40 seconds, with 20 seconds of rest going into the next exercise. Once you finish the last exercise, you will take 50 seconds of rest and repeat the cycle. Beginners can repeat the cycle 5 times. Advanced can repeat the cycle 7-8 times.

Exercises

1. Jumping Jacks

2. Body Weight Push Ups

3. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift

4. Alternating Dumbbell Curl

5. Body Weight Speed Squat

50 seconds rest, repeat

As you can see, I added a few exercises that require weight. You activate every muscle group and all it takes is 45 minutes, 35-40 for beginners. The next question is how much, how long, and how intense? 

              Let us break down the following question of how much, how long, and how intense, one at a time. If you are a beginner, you might consider doing this at least 2-3 times a week. Intermediate or advanced could go 5 times a week. It’s safe to say we establish that 45-60 minutes is all you really need. As for how intense, that depends on you. Normally I encourage my online clients and personal clients to go at 100%. This doesn’t mean that my 100% will be the same as yours. We are all different. Go at what feels like YOUR 100%. If I were to ask you at the end of the session how you felt on a scale of 1-10. 1-Eh, ok, could have been better; 10-Out of breath or destroyed as my clients say. If you say 8, 9 or 10, then you know you gave it your 100%. Anything less than that is fine as well, if it happens from time to time. You probably had a rough day or night, and hey it happens.

                Everything that I just explained, showed you a new way to spice up your cardio. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not hating on the treadmill. Some people love it, just like they love the bike, swimming or whatever it is that gives them their satisfaction of cardio. But if you are like me and do cardio to drop a few pounds or maintain weight, while losing fat, maintaining muscle, and want to avoid the repetitive routine, then this is the right workout for you. Best part, you can always change the time frame and exercises so it’s never boring. It’s worked for many of my clients, friends, family, and myself.

 

“On a personal note, I want to thank everyone who has supported me on my journey in fitness. All my family, friends, co-workers, and mentors. My passion for fitness and educating the public will always continue to grow. I look forward to growing as a Professional Fitness Trainer through training and learning the lives of my clients. Thank you all for the support. This blog is for you!”

Don't Lose Focus

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                As the summer vacation officially comes to an end, teachers and college students alike are preparing for a new year with new opportunities. Most students are excited for what the school year will bring, wondering what they will achieve in the end, and how far they will go. But how many of the students that start out with a plan actually follow through with it?

                You know that hyped feeling on your first day with many new goals, ideas and excitement of what you wanted to get accomplished in the upcoming semester. You started the first day checking off all the things that you needed to do to start your journey to the new goals you set. The first day goes well and you go home feeling accomplished.

              Before you know it, the first week goes by and you manage to check off everything you needed to do. Perfect. Now the second, third and fourth week pass by and what tends to happen? You slowly begin to fall off. Each week that passed by you found yourself not being able to check off everything that you checked off on the first and second week. Eventually you find yourself losing track and falling off course. Flash forward and it’s the end of the year. It flew by and all the motivation you gave yourself and at the beginning is no longer there. Why? Because everything you told yourself you would get done, never got done. You beat yourself up and begin to believe that it’s impossible to set goals.

I don’t blame you. I’ve been there.

               I’ve had the same issue of thinking it was impossible to get anything done. I‘ve found myself repeating the same excuse “I’m too busy, and I just don’t have any time for it.” A favorite line that I would hear many of my friends and family say whenever they “failed” at getting something done. I encourage you to not think of it as failing, but rather that you haven’t yet found the solution. If you feel like you failed, reframe your mind to look at it as being temporarily stuck. Just like a exam: if you can’t answer one question, it doesn’t mean you failed. You can always go back to it when you have an idea of what the solution might be.  With that in mind, let’s talk about solutions to help us stay on track with our goals.

                Firstly, instead of saying that there is not enough, accepting it, and getting comfortable in that excuse, do your best to manage your time. The key to understanding time management is knowing how to use the free time you get to your advantage.

              Find some alone time to sit down for 30-45 minutes with a plank paper and a pen. On that plank paper, you want to outline your weekly schedule Sun.-Sat. Write down the days you go to school and the time you are in each class. Same for the days you work. Write down the days and time you are out with friends and for how long. Write down the days you dedicate to school work. Once you have everything written down, take another sheet or make a chart on your computer with 7 columns. Labeling the top of each column with one day of the week. On the left side make as many rows as you need, because this side will have the hours of the day. Make sure that the first row is the earliest hour that you wake up on and the last row is the latest that you go to sleep during the week. Now that you have your chart created, plug in the days and hours you wrote down in its rightful spot. Be sure you also add in the amount of time you spend traveling to and from school and work; when you wake up and go to bed. Once you have your chart filled in, you will be able to see all the free time you have in each day.

              This is a system I have found works for me and that have worked on many of the successful people that we hear and talk about today. Think of all the free time you spend on social media. Why not put that time to good use to benefit you with what you want to accomplish? Fill each free time spot with something productive that will help you move closer your goals. Think of small steps and doable activities that you can start with. Eventually progress to bigger tasks. You will be shocked by how much you can get done.

              The second thing that will help you stay on track of you goals is getting plenty of rest. Without the adequate amount of rest, you will be too tired to follow your plan.  Each day should be planned with at least 7-8 hours of sleep. You will be shocked with how much you can actually get done in a day. Just imagine what you can get accomplished in one month!

                It important to have control and stability with your day. With only 24 hours in a day, how much time do you spend actually getting work done and being productive? Plan out your day, write down your daily goals. Start out the day with 2 goals that are easy to check off and spread the rest of your goals through the day. Write no more than 7 doable daily goals and keep them in your pocket for a constant reminder of what you need to get done. Trying to keep it all in your head will eventually bombard your mind with too much information to process. Writing down your day allows it to get it off your mind so you can focus on one task at a time.

              Don’t feel bad if one or two days don’t go as planned. It’s only natural. Things happen, but just make sure that when they do happen, you refocus and pick your planning routine back up every night before you go to bed. It will take some getting used to, but once you have control of your time, you’ll have more control of your life.

“Plan Your Work & Work Your Plan”

What Will You Do On Your Next Vacation?

     We can all use a break from time to time. Mini vacations or even a staycation. Whatever you find or can make time for and get away for peace and relaxation. In my case, I am currently on my vacation for 2 weeks visiting family in El Salvador. 

     How often do you hear people complain about their vacations because one or two things didn’t go as planned? Or because they have to pack, and they don’t want to live out of a suitcase? My favorite one, “It was an ok vacation, I didn’t know what to do so I stayed home the entire time”, but my question is why? Why stress, complain or just stay indoors when you are finally given the time to do something fun and exciting. You complain all year about needing a break and when the opportunity is in front of you, you let it pass by being bored and unhappy. Now I’m not saying you have to do something crazy and out of the ordinary like cliff diving, but I’m saying that whatever gives you pleasure and makes you feel relaxed should be the thing or things you do on your time off. Take a few minutes to make an agenda of the things you been meaning to get to but never had the opportunity. Make time to catch up on a few books you been meaning to read, get fresh air and don’t feel guilty if you wanted to sleep in a few extra hours. In the meantime, all the stresses of work and your personal life should be forgotten. Let it go, relax and breathe. Stress will never go away, it will be waiting when you get back so don’t let it suck the fun of all your ‘you time’. The time you get to vacation, you should really enjoy it. Make every moment count and reflect on all that you have accomplished. Organize your thoughts and see where you want to keep moving towards when you get back. Usually the answers to most of your problems come when your mind is at ease. For me, it’s been nothing but relaxation and a clear mind.  

     These past few days have been refreshing. I have come on vacation with my family for 2 weeks, visiting family in San Salvador, El Salvador to be exact. Traveling and doing a lot of site seeing with family has been quite an experience. Never staying in one spot for more than 2 days, I haven’t had the time to update my weekly Monday blog. As much as I don’t like getting pushed back on tasks that need to be done by certain deadlines, I didn’t mind as much with this one. I have been visiting family and hiking mountains that I never once stopped to look at the time. It’s a great feeling knowing that for 2 weeks I don’t have to live my life by a clock. I came here with an agenda of tasks that I wanted to accomplish. As much as I want to get them done, I decided that for these 2 weeks only, I was going to take each task as it came, example this blog. These past few days have not only been time to vacation, but time to think and reflect.

     This is your time, your moment, to enjoy with your family and have stories to tell for years to come. Take the time to do what you been meaning to get done, because at the end of it all work will always be there and so will stress, but the time you have with loved ones and for yourself won’t.

“Take Vacations. Go as many places as you can. You can always make money, You can’t always make memories.”

 

 

Look Around You

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     Motivation! One of my favorite topics to discuss about with clients and with friends. What would be the number one thing that motivates YOU? Truly and carefully think about it. Meaning what comes to mind the moment you feel defeated, but brings you back to your feet? Maybe its family? A friend? Or your dream career? What is it? If you don’t have anything that’s fine. Not all people can say they have something to keep them going when they are defeated. What I can say is, motivation starts with your environment and the people around you. Mostly speaking the friends around you.

     When someone asks you who your friends are, who comes to mind? From that amount, how many of those would you consider to be the ones that push you and always have nothing but a great time with you? If the number stayed the same, congratulations. It’s safe to say you have found your true friends and you really don’t need to read much more.  If you couldn’t find one person, then you should do a reality check and get rid of the negative people in your life. Or maybe consider changing your environment. We always hear the saying, “Friends come and go, but family is forever”, anytime an argument happens between friends. Arguments and disagreements can cause tension in relationships, and this ultimately leads to hurt feelings. The “friends” that constantly bring nothing but tension, stress, and mentally and/or emotionally drain you. I know this from seeing and hearing it from clients. I have and had the privilege to work with countless clients who came to the gym looking to get in shape because they are tired of feeling sad and are unhappy with their lives. Usually unhappiness and negative emotions that are a result of a stressful job, bad relationship with a significant other, death, or family problems. By working out, they are looking to find a way to better their health and find their stress reliever.

     Every client walks in with the same expectation, to see physical change. What they are not realizing is with change they are not only going to see physical change, but also mental and a lot of positive emotional change. As a self-defense mechanism, most clients tend to be shy and stray away from people because they are not confident with themselves. What they are not realizing is that everyone who they think is or could be judging is actually doing the same thing as them, feeling shy and nervous. By saying a simple ‘Hello” and smile, you begin to create a new positive atmosphere around you because you are beginning to break away from that shyness that leads to meeting new people. People who could in fact share the same, or if not slightly different story on why they started working out. Once they see that they are not the only ones who have felt defeated, they begin to form a mutual friendship. The type of friendship that motivates one another to keep pushing and looks out for you. A friendship that gives you someone to help you on your journey to a better you.

     It doesn’t have to only happen in the gym. I used my clients because they are an example on how changing your environment leads to making the right friends and helps you find the positive motivation that you have been looking for. It can happen in anyplace. Just make sure to choose a place that you find to give you the happiness that you seek. Eventually the positive people that belong in your life as well as the right motivation will begin to fall in place. Trust me, it feels great to have 5 loyal, motivating friends than to have 25 “come and go” friends.

“Once you learn how to be happy, you won’t tolerate being around people who make you feel anything less”

"This time next month, I will be different."

              Ladies, what is the one thing that you love, but hate at the same time? If you guessed your husband, then you’re wrong. Great guess though. Actually, the answer I was looking for was food. Speaking in general terms women seem to lose weight at a much slower pace than men. Most men lose and drop weight quicker than women. As unfair as it may be, it is the harsh truth, but I want to give you the right tools you need to build the foundation to a better you.

                As a trainer, I often hear women talk negatively about their bodies. Ladies, you need to understand that by bashing on the situation will not fix it. Face it, it is what it is. If you want to see the change, you have to make a change. For starters, begin by looking into the mirror. Learn to embrace your body and who you are.  Embrace it and tell yourself, “This time next month, I will be different”. I say this because any women that struggle with weight loss knows how hard it is to lose weight. They don’t know what to eat and when to eat certain foods. They know the struggles of finding time to work out when they are constantly looking out for others and not too much on themselves. I know this from working with many female clients who once had this issue. So I get it! BUT, what you ladies need understand is that for every problem, there is a solution. I want to help you get a better start to a new you.

                First thing you want to do, like I said, is embrace who you are right now. Learn to silence the negativity and tell yourself every time, “This time next month, I will be different”. What I mean by this is by seeing yourself every day, you are creating the image of your future self in 30 days. By being negative about yourself you are mentally defeating yourself. Never giving any change a chance. You need to first understand that change comes from action. Action comes from having a vision, and that vision comes from having a positive attitude.

                Now, we move onto the basics. The basics meaning working with what you have control of. We all know that the key to results is watching what you eat and being physically active. If you do, then you are on the right track. So, if you know that eating less than what you burn in a day helps to lose weight, and eating more than what you burn makes you gain, then you know that the first thing you need to start doing is eating in portions. Controlling your portions will not only help you to lose weight, but it also helps to build the foundation to understanding the importance of it. Doctors say that you should have at least a serving size cup, or no greater than your own fist, because the size of your fist is the size of your stomach. Begin by reducing the amount of food you put onto your plate every time you eat. Don’t go from large meals to small meals in a heartbeat because you are not mentally and physically ready for it. Start off by having small portions in the evening. Gradually work yourself into the habit of having small meals every time you eat. As for physical activity…

              You hear “physical activity” and you assume hard tiring work that requires every bit of energy. Wrong! Physical activity can be as simple as taking any 30 minutes of free time to go for a power walk. Ask a friend to join and help each other to make a change. Those 30 minutes will eventually become easy and soon be 45 minutes and soon 60 minutes. Physical activity can be anything that requires you to move around more than the norm. By norm I mean anything that doesn’t involve the daily slow paced or no movement that happens in your everyday life. It’s important that what you choose as your physical activity that you make it fun and exciting. If you are making a change and going on this journey to a new you, wouldn’t you want to enjoy it and tell your friends on how easy and exciting it was to lose weight?

             These steps are your basic tools to creating the foundations to a new you. It all starts with how fed up you are with being where you are and wanting to make the change. Let the frustration out of your mind and learn to accept the way you are and the only way to change is by action. Action comes from telling yourself, “This time next month, I will be different”. YOU are in control, YOU have what it takes. You have to take control of it and make it happen and YOU have the power to create your own happiness.

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve”

 

               

                 

 

What Is Your New Bike?

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               Like the old saying goes, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.” I’m sure that many, if not everyone, have heard this saying multiple times in their life. When and why where we told this exactly? Well now that’s when it all changes for everyone.

                Personally I like this quote and I truly believe that if you don’t succeed the first time, try again. Why? Well for many reasons. One reason being is finding success after many times of failure. Second reason being that everything is trial and error. We don’t always succeed from the first time. This quote, I have found to be applicable for many scenarios. Some examples, trying to save money for a desired goal like a vacation, car, or just to save for emergencies.  Possibly getting a degree for a future career, or the one that many have dealt with, relationships. If you can agree with any one, or all, of these scenarios you can remember the hard ships that came with any of them. As much as you want success in anything you truly want to accomplish, the feeling of failure or failure itself, comes into play.

                Failure or the feeling of failure should never be the excuse you give yourself to let it all go and stop at what you worked hard for. See it as another trial and error moment in your life. Think of the time in your life when you got your first bike with training wheels. Can you remember the bike? The color? The feel of the brand new rubber handles? Or the smell of the fresh new rubber from the tires? How excited were you? Knowing you can now join the neighborhood kids. I can remember it all and I was always looking forward to the afternoon, after my mighty morphing power rangers of course. The bike in this case, was the dream that I always wanted to come true. I had it and it was great while it lasted. Like anything that once gave us excitement at some point becomes stagnant, and that’s what happened.  As much as I loved the bike and being out, I wanted some more excitement and that excitement came from the vision of riding with no training wheels. Now we come to the day where the training wheels are off. It’s there, right in front of me, the bike with no training wheels. Excited, I jumped on, took my first few pedals and…..fell right off. At this point, the feeling went from excited to, “never mind I need the training wheels again.” Luckily I had my older brother to help me get back up and try and try again. 3 days later, I was falling less and feeling more confident. Eventually I was on my own and riding with ease.

                It’s funny to see how much more confident we are as children, but the older we get, the moment we fall off the bike, we want to give up. The bike example is my example to relate to the quote and to help you understand that everything is trial and error. When we fall, just get back again and continue riding. When a goal or vision becomes stagnant and you feel giving up is the best solution, take a few moments and ask yourself, why? What can I do to make it better? What caused things to be the way they are? If you can take the time to answer these questions and get to the root of the unhappiness, chances are you will find the solution. Just like the bike, you fall once and you fall twice. After the first few trials, you still fall, but after some time passes, you are falling less and less. Why? Because you begin to find out why you are falling and what you need to correct it. Maybe you went too fast, you wobbled or leaned too much to one side, either way you find the reason. Once you find the solution, apply it and don’t get frustrated when you don’t see results right away. It takes time and if you try your best and still see no results, than that’s that, it’s another lesson learned. You will realize that you gave it your best and what’s meant to be will be.

Apply this to any goal, doesn’t matter if the goal is to lose weight, changing career paths, or even being in a relationship. Keep fighting for what you truly want and gives you the excitement of the new bike.

“Life is trial and error. Every relationship is not meant to work. Sometimes you’re just meant to learn the lesson”

 

You Will Never Know, Until You Try

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Why do we stop working for what we want? Why are we so quick to give up before actually investing time into something worth investing? Well one word comes to mind, Frustration. Frustration from things never going as planned. Frustration from constantly having setbacks that makes us feel like failures. Frustration from the thought of all the hard work you must invest to get to where you really want to be. Frustration can really push you or break you. It may set you in a negative state of mind that causes you to quit. Any frustration, big or small can stop you from thinking clear on what you want to get accomplished. It could also be the other way around. Frustration can be the reason why you achieve the success you want from any goal that you set. In other words, you find the opportunity in a negative situation.

Everyone wants to get to their end goal as quick as possible, right? It’s like driving a car. You start from point A and you drive until you get to point B. You estimate a 45 minute drive if you leave early to avoid any major traffic. You decide to play it safe. Making it an easy and stress less drive. Just like you planned, no traffic and arriving at the time you estimated to arrive. Awesome! You’re happy you got their safe and everything went as planned. Often times, goals can indeed be very similar like the car example. Everything goes smoothly because you decided to play it safe and planned ahead on how you would reach the end goal. But sometimes destiny has its own plans and well, everything can go out the window, despite how much effort you put to avoid any obstacle.  

Let’s take that same example and add a twist. So, you start from point A and plan to arrive at point B in 45 minutes. On the way, your car gets a flat tire. You’re 30 minutes into the drive and your destination is only 20 minutes away. You are by yourself, cell phone reception is low, the nearest gas station is a few miles away, and you never changed a flat tire in your life. So what do you do? You change the tire any way you can, despite never doing it a day in your life. Why? It’s either find the solution in yourself or stay there longer until a miracle happens. You realize you are almost to your end goal, turning back will be pointless. If the tire can be replaced, its common sense to keep going forward until you get to your point B, or nearest help. Once you get the spare on, you slowly drive with precaution. Now you’ve arrived to the nearest gas station, found someone to fix it and got yourself back on the road.

With all that talk about cars, I want to make it clear that all goals can be very similar to that of the flat tire. How? Why? Well in the scenario, the flat tire represents the obstacle. Fixing the flat tire is best solution. You know you are not far from your goal and if you decide to quit, then you will never know how long you will have to wait until help arrives. Once you let the frustration pass, you take the time to think clear and find the solution within yourself. You not only begin to find various solutions, but you learn to be stronger and more confident. Once you take your solution idea and put it into action, the results only move you forward. Taking every step along the way with precaution, until you’re confident enough to move forward with ease.

We shouldn’t be too quick to give up the moment frustration comes into play. Obstacles are inevitable and you can only have control over so much. Do not allow frustration to overcome you. Let it pass, take the time to cool off, or even sleep on it. I guarantee results will come when you have a clearer mind and begin to brainstorm. Treat each obstacle that comes your way as a flat tire, the only solution is to fix it and once its fixed, keep moving forward. I’m sure you wouldn’t abandon your car and begin to walk home. Fix the solution and with every step along the way, you will realize more about yourself then when you started the trip.  

“To conquer frustration, one must remain intensely focused on the outcome, not the obstacle.”

 

All You Need Is Some R&R

     Rest can be defined in more than one way. It all depends on the person that you ask. Some might say rest is getting a few extra hours of sleep. Rest might be taking a full day off, and some might say rest is taking a vacation. Who would be correct?

     Well there is no one right answer. Rest is defined differently due to the amount of work someone does on a monthly, weekly, or yearly basis. For example, teachers will say that having mini breaks during the school year and 2 months off in the summer is the perfect amount of rest they need. So whichever way you see it, the fact that you agree to taking rest means you are doing the right thing.

     Let’s face it, how many of us like to take on each day with no break? If that someone is you, then you know that after a long period of time, all the work catches up to your body. Then what happens? Your body begins to ache, you wake up feeling drained and each task begins to feel over whelming. Why? Because your body is telling you, “Hey let’s take a break and rest”. Instead you ignore it and the fighting spirit in you wants to keep going. That’s great to have and I applaud you, but how much is exactly too much? And what negative effects will it have on your health, both mentally and physically?

     Rest should never be seen as a bad thing. It’s important to stop and break away from it all. Why? Because if you don’t, your attitude will begin to show it. Your fighting spirit will begin to break because your body is slowly burning out. Without the adequate amount of rest, you won’t be able to perform at your best. It will show in your work, your energy levels and it may affect the way you view your surrounding and peers. It’s ok to take a day and let your mind and body reset itself. Find one day a week to sleep in a few more hours. Treat yourself to the things that you normally don’t have time. The things that give you satisfaction and require little to no physical and mental work. I think it’s fair enough, you deserve it. See how you feel the next day. Your mind and body will thank you.

“Don’t always go for the green lights, enjoy the view at the stop lights”