Charging Through Life

Today I hit one of those small goals on my way to the New Sam; I completed my first month of Barry's Bootcamp known as The Academy!

It may come to be known as the toughest part of my physical transformation. In those first few weeks I had terrible trouble keeping up on the treadmill, I experienced the most excruciating shin splints I've ever known, I had trouble with lighter weights that should have been easy for me, and I constantly felt lost during class. But I kept going every day and I kept pushing myself. I made some nice friends and started choosing heavier weights.

Today I'm running further and faster on the treadmill and pushing 30 to 35lb free weight dumbbells in the various exercises. People in my everyday life have been encouraging me all along but now they are starting to tell me they see results showing. I can't say that I see these changes as of yet, but I'm starting to feel them.

This first month of exercising, for me, was all about proving to myself that I can do this. It was about fixing and reenforcing my foundation so I have strong muscles and strong emotions to continue building upon. And it was about getting my body use to the idea of pushing harder and feeling stronger while shedding fat. I've followed through with the commitment I made of getting up every morning (even though I really don't half to) and getting myself to the gym. I've been diciplined about my diet and significantly cut out crap-foods like soda and processed junk with excess sugar. I've had a Shakeology nearly every morning and vitamins after nearly every lunch.

As I get ready for the month of May, it's time for me to intensify everything. I intend on continuing Bootcamp every morning but I'm going to add an additional 30-min jog and P90X routine in the afternoons. I intend on becoming even more disciplined with my diet by eating a small healthy meal every 3-4 hours. I intend on using protein powders to help feed my muscles more throughout the day and even at night while I sleep.

My problem areas still glare at me with contempt when I look at myself in the mirror. My ass is still disproportionately large, as are my thighs. Most of my jeans still don't fit comfortably and the elastic on my underwear is stretched to the limit when sitting on my hips. But despite not having some miraculous transformation in only 20 workouts, I do take away from this first month a since of accomplishment as well as a since of resolve. I am proud that I completed this first month. I feel a since of progress and improvement. And I am determined to step up my game and attack my physic with greater vigor in this next month. Just wait and see what I can accomplish next!

You're a man on a mission. It's inspiring!
-- Barry Stich

The power and impact of positive reinforcement is staggering. And when you have people in your life who believe in you, encourage you, and push you - there's nothing that can't be accomplished.

This morning I was sorta not wanting to get out the door to go workout. It was cold, I was sluggish, blah. But, as we've discussed, getting to Bootcamp everyday at 8AM is part of my job right now. I just get up and do it regardless. And when I got to class I felt great! I was pushing myself and really getting somewhere. I felt accomplished. And my efforts were recognized when Barry said those very kind and unexpected words to me.

What a change from only 30-days ago when I was depressed, lazy, and constantly told what I can't do in my life. My experience in the corporate world at Beachbody was all about limits. Barry sees nothing but possibilities. And he is influencing me to see all the possibilities in myself as well.

That's the power of a great cheerleader or mentor. They have the ability to see within ourselves something that we don't yet believe exists. And sometimes, without even realizing it, they are able to awaken what is dormant inside us.

Mentoring a skill I think many of today's managers lack. Corporate life today is about 'playing the game.' At many places, managers spend their time skirting blame while over-hyping trivial successes. Managers see their role in only being about what they can accomplish for themselves, instead of focussing on the success and growth of those who report to them. I know, for me, I alway outperform for those superiors who challenge me, encourage me, and are able to reward my successes. Sadly, that was completely absent from my last job.

Luckily, this new job has those attributes in abundance, which is why I think I'm performing so well right now! But it's up to me to continually surround myself with positive influences and seek new inspiration to fuel my efforts in getting in great shape AND finding my next great career. By having focus for myself and encouragement from people around me, I will begin living the life I wish for myself.

I believe Barry is right: I AM a Man on a Mission. And every day that mission is becoming better defined and more realized than before.

Do you believe that people in LA are shallow? It's OK if you do; it's a prevalent stereotype that is not all entirely untrue. When thinking about today's topic, it's tough for me not to come across as a shallow LA fag. I tried to frame it differently, but it is what it is. So here goes - don't think less of me...

How we define success in life is so very different for every person. Some look towards fame, others towards family, others toward work to measure success in their life. And how you define your own personal success will change many times throughout your life. Getting that first great car in your 20's makes you feel successful, though not nearly as does owning your first home. Then, as your children graduate high school and are off to college, you probably feel more successful than at any prior moment in your life. That is until the grandkids come.

For me, today, at this moment, success in life would half to be defined by 'getting my shit together' and engineering an entirely new stage for my life. I would feel successful by finding and landing a fantastic career that pays me very well, getting a handle on my mortgage, getting toned and muscular, and having an incredible summer without the depressed or jealous feelings of inadequacy I have around those friends who do have the money, the career, the house, the muscles.

And here's the part where feel guilty that my definition of success today is just a bunch of superficial crap. "Where," my guilty conscious asks, "are the deep meaningful friendships, the efforts to improve the world, the impacting of other people's lives, the being kind and forgiving bullshit answers you're suppose to say about what constitutes a 'Successful Life'?"

See, I'm shallow. It's an LA thing, give me a break.

Though, thinking about it, it could be a fundamental character flaw I have in my attraction to material things. When I was a kid growing up in Fortville there was this funeral home that was two-stories tall and had white columns from the porch to the roof. I always associated it with being a 'big and glamorous house.' I would tell my parent's that, "one day I'll live in a house like that." Sure it doesn't look like much today, but to an 8y/o living in fucking Fortville, IN it might as well have been a mansion. Sad thing is, the one-beadroom condo I own in West Hollywood today probably costs more than that old house which still sits down the street from an abandoned grain silo.

Who's to say how I'll define success 30 years from now? I look at my buddy Topper, who's in his mid-seventies, and hope that success in my later years of life skew in similar directions as his have. He owns a successful fragrance line, a spa, has a husband of a million-years, and more friends than he can count. But the thing for which he feels most fulfilled is in the abundance of good friends who come by his store just to chat. He feels success by being able to graciously welcome and entertain them, and provide a comfortable space for others to enjoy. The money and the business don't mean nearly as much as the connections he has formed with others.

I'm sure I'll get there someday (hopefully). But today, being able to support myself financially with some  extra mula around to play with, and having a career that engages my creativity and fuels my passions, is pretty top on the list of priorities. And it's a damn good way to gauge success in my life.

Sure, I could gauge success by looking back at my accomplishments through these past 34 years - and I would have plenty of examples to choose from. My accomplishments go as far back as third-grade where it was decided that I had a learning disability and needed to be in Special Ed classes; but by middle school, the Special Ed classes became optional. And by high school I was accepted into elite-status classes such as Journalism. Today you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who thinks I ever had a learning disability (unless they see my awful spelling, that is).

Other examples of success from my past include me moving out of my parent's house when I was 18 to attend college. My Grandpa Watkins didn't think I would do either of those things, instead placing his bet that I'd, "be back living with Mom before the end of the first year." Yet four years later, there I was, the first person on Mom's side of the family to earn a Bachelor's degree. And I payed for it all on my own (for several, several years to come).

I was also successful when I ventured on my own to move to California while much of my family remains in the same Indiana county they've lived their entire lives. And success further would be be in always fighting for myself: be that by coming out of the closet in the early 90's, or in finding new income when previous jobs were lost - never asking for or requiring financial assistance from relatives.

But I've done that stuff already - it's old news. What's important today is to concentrate on how I view success now, and how I'm striving for a more successful life in my future. Hopefully you will agree that I am making very deliberate and effective efforts to obtain a successful life. I'm committed to staying dedicated to my goals of hitting the gym, of meeting with my Life Coach, of further discovering and developing my interested and talents. These, and other goals, will lead me towards securing a new career that can be an instrumental component to achieve more successes in the long-term; no matter how I may change or re-define what constitutes a Successful Life for me in the future.

The routine and reality of my life today, a mere two weeks after leaving Beachbody, is so unbelievably different than when I was hitting the daily 9 to 5 (excuse, me - 9 to 6). I am happy to report that I have gotten more accomplished, had more fun, and have improved myself more in these two weeks than I have in the past three years. So far I have:

• Opened up a personal loan to start re-building my credit
• Completed my first week of Barry's Bootcamp where my ass has been pushed hard on the dreaded treadmill
• Began seeing my buddy Chris who is a Life Coach to help me transition to a better career path instead of just accepting the first shitty job offer that comes my way
• I set up a new home office and organized all the office clutter in my life (one really can not live his life entirely paperless, as I have discovered)
• Discovered my top 5 strengths
• Payed my taxes
• Set up a load of projects to accomplish during this down-time
• and spent more time with my friends, including on really fun band with Andrea and then rock climbing with Wes