Reach Your Greatest Heights

"You can’t live off potential for the rest of your life."

I came across this quote on twitter, but, unfortunately, there was no source. As soon as I saw this quote I fell in love with it. So many people thrive on what others have said to them regarding their ability level, their intellect, or who they are as a person. Alas, instead of working on improving themselves even more they seem to hit a plateau on many levels. This is because once a lot of people reach the point where compliments are being thrown at them left and right, they feel they don’t have to work hard anymore. People get complacent far too easily, lose the mental and physical edge they may have once had, and from there it's a long fall from the top of their high horse.

Take for example the so-called “sophomore slump” in sports. A rookie phenom will come into a league and work their ass off right out of the gate and try to prove themselves. They'll put in the hard work day in and day out that is necessary to establish themselves as a great player with a tremendous work ethic. All of the focus is on how much potential this athlete has to be “one of the greats” and how much he/she has shown it in their first year. Then this particular athlete gets into a position where they've already had success, knows that they're in a position to succeed, and then slacks off the next offseason in the weight room and on the field. So, while many others were working to get better and improve, this particular athlete has been in quicksand due to their ego and can’t seem to get out.

It happens all the time in sports. Top draft picks in the NFL never make the pro bowl, but undrafted guys become big impact players and win games because they will always have something to prove. Success is a direct correlation with hard work.

This quote doesn’t just have to apply in sports either. You can apply it to student life, your job, or quite possibly the most relatable application to many people, which is in relationships. People always work so hard to impress that special guy or girl, but once they have that person, the effort doesn’t continue at such a consistent basis. Maybe the effort doesn’t even continue at all. New relationships are full of flowers, passion, and “I love you.” As the relationships mature, you either continue to put in the same effort to maintain the fire and passion, or you slow it down or stop completely. It’s the people who continue to work hard for each other that end up staying together.

Now apply that to fitness, dieting, or sports again. If you keep working hard and maintain that focus, your possibilities are endless in what you can do with your life. It’s the Tom Bradys and Peyton Mannings of the world who work their asses off every day in preparation who are some of the greatest of all time. It’s Jon Jones and GSP in UFC, it’s the Dustin Pedroias in baseball, and it’s the new YOU if you can channel your energy into the right things in your life.

Forget about even athletes for a second. How about the cancer patients who have to fight every day for their lives. How about the war veterans. How about the single parents who have to not only make their children's lives amazing, but need to do something for themselves every once in awhile. Make that connection in your brain, whatever your situation, and then when your focus is there, make sure that everything you do, you do it with a burning passion that nothing else can rival. Fight for your happiness. Fight for your success.

Every single person in this world has amazing potential within them, but so few use it. The truly successful people in life take that potential, harness it, and work hard to reach it’s peak. Truth be told, I don’t believe anybody has actually ever reached their true peak potential. There is ALWAYS room to improve. You can’t strive for perfection, but everybody should always be striving to improve in some aspect of their life. I’d even go so far as to say we should always strive to improve ALL aspects of our life. Always try to be one day better than you were yesterday.

The biggest problem is people either think they’ve reached their peak and put their efforts on cruise control, or they get discouraged when they fail a few times and end up quitting because they think what they’re attempting is impossible. Realize what you could be, and it’s what you will become.

“If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.” - Thomas Edison

Live Inspired

I’ve grown a lot as a person over the last two or three years. One of my biggest triumphs has been in finding that despite what you may believe, you have a bigger impact on other people’s lives than you can ever imagine. You see, as a strength coach and a motivator I often wonder; am I really making a difference? Are these people truly getting as much out of me as I'm trying to give? I talk to a ton of people over the course of a day, and I try to be the most positive person that these people will converse with throughout the day. I try to be the most uplifting spirit that they drift into. The problem is that there is no "instant gratification" in this business, from my perspective as a trainer, or theirs as a client with long term goals. Due to the longevity of it all and the broad scope of all the things that I'm trying to do for my clients, there are a lot of times where I feel that maybe I’m not as much of an inspiration or as much as a life changer as a aspire to be.


Then one day the gratification started to come. It started with one person, the over the course of a few weeks, and a few months, I was beginning to have clients tell me how much I’ve changed their lives. They’d say I changed their way of thinking, I’d made their lives more positive, and in turn they had become more happy than they’d been in a long time. There is one client in particular who actually cried the first time she was able to do a full sit-up. This was middle aged woman who would do anything for her children, who works 3 jobs so that those kids could get through college without any debt, and a woman who is a true inspiration to myself. This person was changed in that moment. For somebody who is always working so hard for others and to provide for her family, was also finally working equally as hard on herself. She suddenly felt the motivation to be able to better herself, and not just focus on helping others with 100% of her time. Seeing the emotion pour out of her in that moment, and to feel the hard work literally pouring out of her, it warmed my heart. This woman is the type of person who we should be putting on the cover of a magazine, not Miley Cyrus.


You see, these are the stories I live for. These are the stories we all should live for. And over my short time in this profession, I’ve heard many similar stories. From a man who lost weight and overcame his depression, to an alcoholic who stopped drinking and found her old self along the way. This what life is all about, overcoming our daily struggles and turning negatives into positives. I’m not saying I.m the reason for turning these peoples lives around, but knowing that I played a role in that change is HUGE. Knowing that giving someone a little extra push, holding a smile for a few extra seconds so that the person knows it’s genuine, or even giving a simple high five after a grueling workout, can help direct people towards a healthier and happier path in their lives, means the world to me. My clients inspire me as much as I try to inspire them. It’s a constant give and take of positivity. Live inspired, and you will know how it feels to truly live, and to not just be alive.