Three Enemies Of Success
I don’t know your situation—but I do know mine. I know where I am and I know where I came from. I know that I was average and just getting by, Making C+’s in life until I decided that I was born to change the world and live a life of excellence through the change that I wanted to see. Now at 26 I own a sports nutrition and contest prep company that is internationally known. This is only the beginning. I am absolutely not where I want to be, but bet your ass I am getting closer daily.
Let me tell you with brutal honesty how to succeed in your endeavors to transform your physique, your business, and your life.
You have 3 enemies. Confront them.
1) LAZINESS. No matter how you look at it, we are all lazy on some level. Our comfort is very important to us. However, you need to know that there is an inordinate amount of men and women out there with the EXACT same dream as you. The ONLY difference between you and them is the amount of effort you are willing to put forth. Let’s apply this in terms that you can relate to: building lean mass and strength. Strength is simply but the byproduct of a struggle. If you do not show your skeletal muscle and central nervous system a stress stimulus BEYOND what it is accustomed to you will not grow, and you certainly won’t impress anyone with that Dad bod on the beach this summer. We grow when we FOCUS on a goal and then get uncomfortable. It doesn’t feel good to push out forced reps when the equivalent of battery acid is pumping through your veins, and it doesn’t feel good to admit we aren’t top dog and need to GROW and cultivate our craft and passion. Lion or gazelle? Are you chasing to kill or being chased to be killed? Is your passion and dream important enough to you to skip parties and lose sleep? Is your dream important enough to you to make the most of that precious gift we never seem to have enough of—time? DECIDE right now to change your life by refusing to let mediocrity be the residence of your passions. Repeat after me, “I am a workhorse, I am unbreakable. I am designed for greatness, and I WILL become extraordinary.”
2) PRIDE. And yes, just like the Good Book says, it does in fact come before a fall. Pride and Arrogance are synonymous in forming the gateway to complacency. As we become complacent we become comfortable. We are comfortable with our routine, our achievements, knowledge, and work ethic based on our own perception of doing or knowing “enough.” The best thing that ever happened to me was the realization that I MUST remain a NOVICE to move forward. If you are content in what you know and are not stretching your mental capacity to improve, you are a fossil. Swallow your pride, and remain NOVICE ALWAYS. Accept feedback based on personal failures, and create a path to success. Repeat after me, “I MUST IMPROVE to excel, I AM going to seek out those who have excelled where I am weak and LEARN from them.” Is your dream important enough to you to admit you don’t know shit about shit and need help? Humility is the opposite of pride. It welcomes knowledge and correction. It is not weakness, it is STRENGTH.
3) Going UNCHECKED and UNCHALLENGED. Change this. LACK OF ENCOURAGEMENT, NO ACCOUNTABILITY, and POISONOUS CONNECTIONS are toxic to a lifestyle of excellence .Well, if that doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will. We choose who we surround ourselves with—for the most part. We can’t choose our family, but we can certainly choose our friends. People really only talk about 3 things: other people, objects, and ideas. When you are with your inner circle, do you find the majority of your conversation to be gossip, materialistic, or purpose driven? Whether we realize it or not, the people we surround ourselves with will be the type of people we start to emulate. Don’t believe me? Look back at your childhood and adolescence. Most of us were hooligans with our ‘ride or die’ … crew were we not? Look at people in your life that you know that unfortunately have been caught up in the world of drugs or alcohol. At some point we were or currently are surrounding ourselves with enablers. These are people who may have seemed fun at the time but in all actuality are toxic.
Lack of ambition is a dream killer, for you and those around you. Ask yourself a hard question: are your 5 closest friends pushing you to excel and improve your quality of life? Do you have mentor figures speaking life into you, or do you have leeches dragging you down? To be honest, most of the time you will not even notice that you are regressing or spinning your wheels. The strides you “need” to make will take only take precedent when you have a wakeup call and are forced to reevaluate your past decisions. Take some time to list out your friends and what they stand for. Don’t go unchecked. Have people in your life that will hold you accountable to a standard of excellence. Once you have completed this self-evaluation those “needs” will turn into “WANTS.” These wants will check, challenge, and hold you accountable. You will succeed by embracing what it takes to get to where you WANT to be. Repeat after me, “What I allow – I become”
Careful what and who you allow to influence you.
Brian Melancon – CEO C620Nutrition LLC
