Thursday, January 29, 2009

Was checking out a great website called pickthebrain.com...(www.pickthebrain.com)...ever since I've started blogging, I've had that great pleasure of reading the thoughts of many others like myself who enjoy blogging and those who simply enjoy reading them. And it's been through this new discovery of blogging that I've met some pretty interesting people. Meeting different people from all the over the world and learning perspectives on life, fitness and health is awesome. And it's all within your fingertips!

Here's a great one I found...it's about "What do you REALLY want?". It was a post by a blogger at that site (John Wesley) back Dec 7, 2007.

I find this a question I ask myself with alot of my own reflections of life and those of others who may be in the same boat as I may be in. It might not be in fitness..it might be anything under the sun...but that's a pretty good question to ask ourselves every now and then.

What do you really want? In fitness: what do you really want to accomplish...a sexy body, better health, a better you? What's your real motivation? What's your drive? What makes you keep going?

This great article has alot to do with setting specific goals for oneself and being persistent enough to stay with it. Let's face it: the closer you are to your fitness goals the harder it becomes. I'm realizing that and that's so true! But you have to set some sensible, attainable goals to get there. I agree with him: you have to set some goals and follow a clearly defined path #1...

Here's the article! It's a great read.

******


"The statement, “You can do anything you put your mind to,” leads us to believe that all you must do is imagine what you’d like to accomplish, set your mind to the task, and wait for success.

To a certain degree this is true. Focused intention combined with action is a powerful force. But the statement is misleading because it fails to mention the difficulty and necessity of focusing your mind on a specific goal.
Most of us don’t know what we want. We think we do, but we really don’t. We only know what we don’t want. We don’t want a boring job. We don’t want to be poor. We don’t want to disappoint our loved ones.


Knowing specifically what you want is much different than knowing what you don’t want. When you only know what you don’t want, your intentions aren’t focused. Consider this example.

Pete doesn’t want to be poor. He’s sick of earning less than his friends, and he’s determined to raise his status. To accomplish this goal, Pete could take many different paths. He could train for a high paying profession, such as doctor or lawyer. He could start his own company, go into real estate, or do many other things that would lead to acquiring wealth.

But Pete isn’t sure what he wants to do. He doesn’t know which path best fits his skills and personality, so he doesn’t resolve to follow any particular path.

Hoping to answer this question, he investigates a dozen possibilities, but as soon as he runs into adversity he decides that path isn’t for him and moves on to a new solution.

Pete’s actions aren’t focused. Although he works very hard, his efforts don’t build on each other. Rather than building one giant impenetrable sand castle, Pete has built twenty smalls ones that are easily toppled. He ends up confused and discouraged. Ultimately Pete’s lack of focus leads to failure.
Now, what if Pete had chosen a specific path? Suppose he decided on the law profession. His actions would have been clearly defined:

Get a high score on the LSAT
Attain letters of recommendation
Get accepted to a good law school
Decide on a field of law
Earn a law degree
Find a high paying job with a good law firm

A set of specific goals is much easier to achieve than a vague end goal like becoming wealthy. Being focused on a path gives Pete a logical set of actions to follow. Each accomplishment is one step closer to the final goal.

I think we can all agree that committing to a clearly defined path, regardless of which one, gives Pete the best chance of becoming wealthy.

But how can he choose a path if he doesn’t know what he wants? Maybe money isn’t his only goal. Maybe he wants to do something he loves at the same time. Maybe he can’t afford to go back to school. Reality is complicated, and Pete doesn’t want to commit too soon.

And that’s why he fails.

But I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. Most people don’t fit neatly into a predefined path. Forcing yourself into one may lead to success, but it probably won’t make you happy.

This is the point. If you want to be conventionally successful, to attain wealth and status, you need to choose a specific path (preferably something mainstream) and follow it to the letter.

On the other hand, if you aren’t particularly concerned with wealth or success, you can take your time searching for that perfect niche. ---> (Sounds like me! Hahahaha!!)

Just don’t wait too long to decide. Each moment you deliberate, your already committed competitors sprint further ahead.

But, then again, maybe life isn’t a race, and maybe the most interesting people follow a path all their own."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Another great post, Andy.

I'm going to play the "age " card and say it's okay to not know exactly what you want to do as long as you keep your mind open...Setting specific goals and how to get to them (workouts, nutrition, support, etc) is important, but just like any other journey, you'll probably change directions more than once. If someone had told me 20 years ago that I would be punching and kicking a heavy bag to improve my cardio I would have laughed at them.

But I agree completely when it comes to persistance...Gotta keep 'keepin' on'...NO quitting. Most important is to focus on what you want, NOT what you don't want or want to avoid. That's where we get ourselves jammed up.

As you can guess by now, I believe you make your own luck, whether good or bad. Looking at your before and after pics, you've been amazingly successful at hitting your goals.

My 2 cents.

Awesome Parkour video!!

Thanks.

F.

Andy said...

GREAT POST FRANK!!!!

I think I've changed directions in this journey more times than I think as well - one too many times...and I agree it is a good thing. You got to learn it and go through it to know what you want in life. Experience is the best teacher and I'm sure you've gone through more things than I have in this great thing we call "LIFE"...

Great post again, Frank...

a.

Anonymous said...

Fred.(I've been accused of being too 'frank' many times...)

Happens all the time...

By the way, I just saw that you won the Flip camera! Awesome...now we can all expect to see you star in your own Parkour video!!!!!!
(insert sound of everyone who reads your blog cheering, clapping and saying "oh yeah!!!")

(just watched it again...that guy is sick! Fantastic!)

Have a great weekend!

Fred