Road to Enlightenment

I win. I lose. I succeed. I fail. I perform good. I perform poorly. I feel good. I feel bad. Sometimes things don’t go the way we want them too. I’ve done things I’m proud of. I’ve done things I’m not proud of.

I’ve had bad days in life. I’ve had bad days in the athletic world. I’ve had bad days in the classroom. I’ve had bad days in the bedroom. But I also know I’ve had many good days where I performed exceptionally well in life, sports, school, or sexually.

The thing with me is that when I have that poor performance in whatever the activity was, it tells me that I need to get better. The failure does not define me. The failure ends up being a blessing in disguise. It will make me stronger. In a way, I wouldn’t even call this a failure because it leads me to evolve and develop much better skills at the activity. I recognize I need to put in the effort at improving myself. I appreciate there is so much more out there to learn and expand upon. Which in the end will lead me down the path to greatness. Where in the past I may have been satisfied because I was good or adequate. I can be better than good. I can be great!

Life is going to throw challenges at us. There will be struggles and adversity, stresses and anxieties. Battle through. The past is the past. We move on to bigger and better things.

So my message to you is that when something goes badly. When you fail at something. Don’t get so down on yourself. It does not define you. Pick up the pieces and improve yourself. As a result it leads us to become so much better at something. Instead of being complacent. This is the road to enlightenment.

You and I can mentally erase past mistakes and fear of failure by knowing that we have the capability to perform the successful outcome. I know this because I am in this process right now and feeling the impact. It’s totally possible for us to develop impressive abilities and to learn many new things we never thought were even possible.

I have an obligation to myself to get better at things to the best of my ability. I can no longer waste time not improving and developing my skills. There’s so much potential we have as people, it’s crazy.

We don’t just get to a level of mastery in an instant. By taking steps to improvement slowly and with focused effort we will achieve what we want in time. We often create our own boundaries and set our own limitations. Our mind and body can do amazing things.

I’ve had a lot of fuck-ups. I get over that shit. Those mistakes lead me to strive to change and improve myself. In the end, these mistakes are directing me to a greater happiness. I’m feeling great because I know I’m doing good things. The future has a ton of potential that I am working toward. I’m unleashing the inner revolution within myself. And I invite you to unleash the inner revolution within yourself.

I’m a work in progress. I’m nowhere near perfect. I’m not superhuman. But at times I feel like I’m starting to channel my inner superman. There are so many possibilities ahead. I know I am heading to a valuable, satisfying destination. So I will enjoy the journey and the beautiful stops along the way. I know there will be some rougher stops along the way as well, and it will be the ability to persevere and push ahead that will make this path worthwhile.

So start to work on those rough edges, but don’t abandon your strengths. We’re never done fixing ourselves because none of us are perfect. But I do think that you’re more uniquely perfect than you think!

I’m just getting started.

Rise up,

Nate

Decisions, Distractions

Today was a super busy day with tons of thinking about what is to come. What’s ahead? What does the future hold? Decisions…

I met some bright enthusiastic people. As well as wondering about the motives of another.

Sometimes I try to look too far ahead. Which tends to lead me to distractions. I have to hold myself accountable, so I’ll tell you. Distractions! I get distracted far too easy. Which led to not working out today. Trying to get a million things done at once. When sometimes we just need to take a break or stop what we’re doing… And exercise. It makes me feel better mentally and physically.

I still could have made the DECISION to workout. But I didn’t. I fucked that up. I was DISTRACTED doing other things. So I’m aware of it. And I’m making the decision to not beat myself up over it now. And I’m making the decision to workout tomorrow my first priority.

I just stuck “WORKOUT” on my wall. First order of business tomorrow: getting the blood pumping with an intense workout.

So whatever tomorrow holds: good, bad, or mundane… Decide to get that exercise session in! You’ll thank yourself for it.

If it’s not exercise, do whatever activity makes you feel good. Do it for yourself.

Do it,

Nate

 

The Time Is Right

Some things can’t be taught. They must be experienced. Sometimes you just have to go out there and do shit!

You will never be 100% ready to start something new. That time will never come. That’s why you just have to say fuck it, and start right now. I know there is something you have always wanted to do. But you haven’t got around to it. The time is now. Because the “right time” doesn’t arrive. The “right time” is right now.

Stop putting it off and experience it. Experience life.

No matter how big or small. Something small can lead to big things…life-changing things. Challenge yourself. Expand your horizons. I made a 30 day list to jumpstart myself. Some are just small tasks, others more challenging skills to develop.

Start running, jump out of a plane, take a cooking class, learn a new language. It can be anything. Just do it!

Let’s do this,

Nate

Path to Health

I’ve been interested in health, exercise, and the body since I was young. As far as my own health, I definitely have not been perfect. I have gone through phases. But I do strive to get better everyday. One thing I have always done is that I continue to learn.

From my brothers Muscle & Fitness and Flex subscriptions when we were in our young teens, to books about sports training, weightlifting, running, plyometrics, supplements… and of course the Arnold Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding!

Workout programs have always fascinated me. This started with an off-season football training program incorporating olympic lifts, and every collision sports athletes best friend or worst enemy…SQUATS!

My brother, some friends, and I were knowledgeable about a lot of different training techniques and models as we grew up together. And I knew there was a whole lot out there to learn and utilize. It’s always been so interesting.

I let it fall by the wayside for awhile. Priorities got mixed up. Routine has always been difficult for me. There’s such a wide variety of things that interest me in life, and sometimes I get sidetracked. In life you have to try new things and push it to the limit sometimes. The big point with health is that consistency is key.

The past couple years I have been studying and researching food ingredients. As of late I have been really holding myself accountable for what I put into my body as fuel. Some may start to call me a health freak. Yet I still slip up sometimes. And that’s a struggle when you’re a perfectionist. The funny thing is I’m nowhere near perfect. But I have to hold myself to a high standard. I’m working on not being so hard on myself when it comes to this. But my health is my health, and I want good nourishing food in MY BODY.

The time is now,

Nate

*Your action step: Make your NEXT meal healthy and nutritious. Or throw out something unhealthy.

Real viewpoints

It’s amusing how smart people who say they’re open-minded are actually so close-minded that you can throw their intelligence right out the window. They have no idea how to comprehend looking at a concept or situation from a different perspective. Stop judging.

Put yourself in another’s situation and take a look from their point-of-view for a second. You may think someone acted stupid, or “why would someone do that?”. Really try to see it from a different perspective. Yes I know you can’t get inside their head, but just try to empathize. Set all of your judgements aside for a moment.

We come from different places and can act in certain ways. You may then realize how someone acted or what someone did was not stupid. But it actually made sense at the time, good or bad. Let’s not be so hard on others. And for some, let’s not be so hard on ourselves. We are all human. Well most of us anyways 😉

Your human comrade,

Nate