Finish the Year with a Bang!

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and serves as a great time of reflection, but don't be like everyone else and just ride the rest of the year out and postpone everything until after the first of the year! You know those resolutions you thought of last year, but probably lost track of midway through january? Dig those fuckers up and try to actually get something done in these next 4-5 weeks! Don't use the excuse that this is a busy time of the year, or that now is just not the right time, or whatever soft ass excuse people use.Not to sound corny, but make it a challenge. Don't pick your toughest goal out of the bunch, but go after something within reach and in the midst of all the holiday mayhem, focus on that or one or few things and make it happen! Be able to actually start the new year on a good foot and not in an 0-2 count like most people. So if you spent the last 11 months getting butt naked, keep your clothes on for this last one!

The Difference Between a Good Day and Bad Day

is your attitude. Decide what type of day you will have the second you wake up...will it be a great, productive day or will you talk yourself into having a shitty one? Give each day a fair shot...I can't count how many times I've showed up at the gym exhausted and not feeling up to doing anything but ended up having a great session. Your days in this life are limited, so make the most of them!

The Long Term Approach

In Martial Arts, In Life, whatever, shit is going to happen. You are going to have bad practices, bad days, bad weeks...this is just how it goes, but you don't need to live your life in anticipation of these things happening nor should you get down when you have a day where things didn't go as planned. Its great to have high expectations, and everyone should be always be striving to be something more, but as I've gone into in previous entries - don't be afraid to just "be" -as Dan John says- show up, don't quit, ask questions. If you do those 3 things and stay positive while doing it, any goal you'll ever have will be reached! I promise you this. At Underdog BJJ and IMB , we are extremely fortunate to have great instruction and GREAT training partners - no one is top dog and everyone is tough, technical, and like minded in the sense that when are at the academy to train we are there to do just that. I get beat all the time... but I also have my good days, and I understand its all part of the process. If you are not getting beat in training, ever, than you are training with the wrong people or you are just not taking the necessary risks! Michael jordan missed THOUSANDS of shots in his career, but we don't remember those times...we remember him jukin' mugs left and right and sinking jumpers at the buzzer. The difference between people like Mike and everyone else is that number one, he worked restlessly to perfect his game and number two, he always took risks! Sure he had bad days, bad games, bad series', but the reward was so great that those misfortunes were easily forgotten. As Fabi would say, you gotta believe, kid!

Give Yourself Direction

I consider myself very fortunate that I have something in my life that I am passionate about and that I absolutely love doing. Martial arts has literally transformed my life and at 23 I have a clear vision of what I want to be doing for the rest of my life - and I am going to be loving it! Its depressing to see people who go to work everyday absolultely miserable, and I refuse to be one of those people! I want to live the dream and be happy - I'm not saying its going to be easy, or that there aren't going to be ups and downs, but I try to take daily steps to make it happen. But to get what you really want out of life, you need to dig deep and find out what TRULY makes you happy - not just what you think might make you happy. Once you do this and practice putting yourself in that mindset everyday, then all of the sudden things start to happen - maybe not tomorrow, or next week, or even next year, but I promise that only the people that take action on a daily basis will reach their destination.

So, as an exercise, what you need to do is sit down with a pen and paper and write down what you truly love doing and write down what you want out of life.

Think about what truly makes you happy and the type of life that you want to live, and go from there. You'll never get anywhere if you don't know your destination!

How to Achieve Excellence

Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence. - Vince Lombardi

write it down

Lots of people might have a vision or goal of some sort that they want to acheive one day, but one very powerful tool is to actually write down your goals and what you need to do to acheive them. By actually putting the pen to paper, you have just took your thoughts and have put them into some type of action. If they are important enough to you, write them daily - have a constant reminder of why you are working so hard and something to keep you in check. For myself, I like to have a timeline of where I would roughly like to be at different points in time and then use that timeline to determine my monthly, weekly, daily objectives. Its important to stay flexible and remember that its the big picture you're after, so don't sweat it if shit goes wrong for a day, or a week. Little and often over the longhaul.

Lower Your Expectations

Huh? Everything I talk about seems to be about raising one's expectations...right? Wrong! I'm a firm believer that if you consistently do the right things, then there's no reason to ever place high expectations on any single event. It literally should just be another day, and by putting something on a pedestal you are automically putting extra pressure on yourself to perform. Shoot for the moon, yes, but don't get overly anxious about any one particular event. Do the right stuff pretty much all the time and everything will fall into place. You ain't got to get ready if you stay ready.

Have Your Behaviors Match Your Goals

Have your behaviors match your goals. To keep yourself in check, this is a good general rule to follow...if you want to lose 20lb, but you go to the bar 4 nights a week, then I guess your behaviors are not matching your goals! I'm not saying that you need to be perfect all the time (often times, this can just lead to more stress and steer you further from your goals), but keep the big picture in mind and focus on taking baby steps to accomplishing something big. Often notice how people who are always complaining about whats going wrong in their life tend to bring it all upon them? This is not just some mystery, because if you were to back track and see what they've done in the past - more often than not, they've been fuckin up for a long time. So in the words of Ice Cube, you better check yourself before you wreck yourself. If you do the small things on a regular basis, then it'll all come together at the end, and vice versa. In the example of a competitive mixed martial artist, if you keep putting off that you need to work on your defense, but you continue to just spar and not drill, and then proceed to knocked the fuck out, then I guess you deserved it!

Fake It Til You Make It

The most successfull people are those who envisioned themselves being where they are a long time ago, took action, and then through calculated risks ended up at the top of the mountain. While you certainly need to remain humble in your journey, and realize that it is going to take a lot of work, you need to put yourself in that moment, in that mindset as often as you can. Feel what its like to have conquered your goals and remember that feeling to drive you past any detours that pop up. People who are constantly down because they aren't where they would like to be, are definately not helping themselves with their negative thoughts. By constantly feeling sorry for yourself and your PAST actions you are not advancing forward into the future. Work hard, be positibve, expect to constantly acheive more, and after that its all gravy, baby.

5 People

Its been said that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. In that case, I guess i'm hit! Joking aside, choose the people you hang with wisely, let them know your goals and aspirations, and if they are not helping you in some way then they are hurting you. Stick with positive people with a positive outlook on life, because it just takes one downer to bring everyone with them! Its not all flowers and sunshine, but no matter what you do on a daily basis, you are setting your path NOW for the rest of your life and the people you surround yourself will be in direct correlation to where you are headed.