Disclaimer: I was looking through some old notebooks (I have a composition book problem) and found some notes I took at who knows what fitness conference/mastermind/training years ago. So like when I teach kettlebell workshops, I didn’t come up with any of this on my own, but I’ve been fortunate to have spent time with people much smarter than me who have shared their knowledge and wisdom.

“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.” –  Christopher Reeve

BELIEVE

The process of success is conceive – believe – achieve. Once you conceptualize what you want to accomplish, there is a very important step of believing it will happen that must occur before you achieve success in your goal. You have to BELIEVE in yourself. You are what you believe. Bombard your brain with positive affirmations and program your mind for success. If you think it is, it is.

GOALS

Be unsatisfied (not dissatisfied.) You must always be on journey towards something. I had a quote on my computer screen for a while that said, “Comfort makes cowards of us all.” We must constantly be taking baby steps out of our comfort zones to expand in what is comfortable to us. The circle gets bigger one tiny risk at a time.

BE ABLE TO TAKE RISKS

If you want to be great, you have to take risks. The pain of not trying is worse than the pain of trying and then losing (caterpillar quote.) Every time you have an experience it will elevate you to a higher level. A level of understanding, a level of compassion, a level of love… If you’re not willing to open the boxes of the gifts of experience that are given to you, you’ll never be great at life.

OVERCOME ADVERSITY

There’s always a silver lining. Failure is not the opposite of success, but steps along the way to success. If you try and fail, you’re still trying. You never fail if you sit still and don’t DO anything or try to make a difference. “I didn’t fail 1000 times trying to invent the lightbulb, I found 1000 ways to not make a lightbulb.” -Thomas Edison

YOU MUST TRAIN MENTALLY AND PHYSICALLY

The mental piece is often neglected. Visualize! See yourself making the lift or crossing the finish line. Your brain doesn’t know the difference. Also focus and live in the moment. There is no such thing as multi-tasking.

YOU MUST WORK HARD

This does not mean overtraining in the gym. Please don’t take this as meaning the “Go hard all the time!” mentality when strength and endurance training but there are no free rides in life. You have to pay a price to be great. If you’re willing to work hard you can do anything. You have to push yourself.