These past few weekends I have had the opportunity to learn and hang with some of the biggest names in the fitness industry thanks to my mentor Luka Hocevar, who is also a huge uprising influence in the fitness industry. He brought Nick Tumminello, Dax Moy, and Martin Rooney all into our facility in only three weeks…. like seriously who the hell can pull that off?!
Needless to say I am beyond thankful for what he has done for me in my life and what he keeps doing to make sure we are on top of our game. Oh yeah I forgot, it doesn’t stop there, we have more coming this summer!
While preparing for each weekend I knew I would get a ton out of the experiences, but each weekend came and left me with more than I had imagined or could’ve asked for. I learned training knowledge from three different perspectives, success from three different prospectives and also each one brought something completely different to the table.
But the biggest thing I took out of each weekend was exactly the same, they all took ACTION. They had a vision, set a goal and achieved that goal by being persistent.
"Action is the foundational key to all success. "– Pablo Picasso
I’ve always considered myself an “Action Taker”, but after this weekend I seriously questioned myself and it was the best thing I could’ve done. My mind is creative, no doubt in that, its always working and coming up with new ideas which made me feel like I was an action taker.
But how many of those ideas did I put into play?
How many times did I write step by step how to achieve it?
What is a real action taker?
I had to ask myself these questions and tell myself that I wasn’t taking near as much action as I should be or have the potential too. Martin Rooney is a big reason why I came to realize what I need to do. Every weekend I saw them each as huge action takers but it didn’t hit me until Martin Rooney came.
[If you don’t know who Martin Rooney is, immediately stop everything your doing right now and google him! He is the most energetic, enthusiastic, motivational and inspiring coach I’ve ever met]
Martin has a way of getting inside your head and making you a better person, and last weekend that is exactly what he did for me. He made me dig deep inside myself to ask questions I would’ve been to scared to ask, BUT this is part of the warrior way and I knew if I was going to be a part of something as big as TFW (Training For Warriors), I needed to do whatever it took.
So we finished the first night off with some homework, write out your 5 core values. Ok. Easy enough right? Just write out what I believe in.
No completely opposite of “Easy Enough”.
Martin said, “While your writing down your core values I want you all too think really carefully about this. A core value is something you believe so much in that you would die for it, no questions asked”.
Ok, now I’m starting to realize this may be tough.
He asked, “Who here is a honest person? Doesn’t tell lies?”
Multiple people rose their hands, so he called on one and asked “Honesty is a core value for you then?”
The man said, “Yes”.
Martin asked, “Have you told a lie recently? Even just a fib or white lie that didn’t even matter?”
The guy just paused. Then Martin said, “You would not die over honesty then, it is not your core value”.
He then told us a story (Martin always starts and finishes with a story and they always get better) and we were off for the day.
I got home and started to write out my values before bed, it took me around an hour to get two core values down.. I’ve been thinking all day for about a week now and got one more now. But the point is that it is more than just writing down what you think is right, but truly thinking about life and asking questions you wouldn’t normally dare to ask.
This is a great example of something you can do to not only become better, which you should always be trying to do, but also learn more about who you really are and what you want.
Here are my core values:
- Respect- Respect your peers, those you do not yet know, yourself and the beliefs of the people around you. This came from past experiences I’ve had but also my mindset. Everyone thinks, acts, learns and believes different things and ways; who are you to tell them they’re wrong?
- Loyalty- Stay true and loyal to your family and friends, whether they are blood related or not. When push comes to shove they are the ones who will be there for you when you need it, as you should be for them. Me and my family/friends have always been like a pack, I grew up this way therefore it is a core value of mine.
- Kaizen- Kaizen is a old Japanese philosophy about embracing change in an improving way. In other words, you should improve daily and embrace the changes that come along with the journey.
- Give- To give or to share is a very important thing to me and I learned this more and more as I got older. My parents always taught me to share, as I’m sure everyones did, but as I grew up I realized the joy giving or sharing can bring to myself. I get more excited for others birthdays now just so I can get them something awesome or meaningful as a gift. I also know that giving can bring fortune and success in many ways, I’ve learned this from experience and also from reading one of the best books I’ve read, The Go Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann. [If you haven’t read this, get on it ASAP… that is if you wanna be successful and live a happy life]
- Vigor- Vigor is a term that means physical strength and good health. But it also means to give full effort, energy, and enthusiasm. I believe in health and fitness more than anything on this planet.. shit, its literally all I do! And I truly believe in the fact that I should be giving my full effort, energy, and enthusiasm in every single thing I do, otherwise I would not be giving my best at all. To top it off thats also the name of the gym I train for, Vigor Ground, so I gotta live up to the name!
Now the most important thing for you to do is to seriously write down your core values, no matter how long that takes. I promise you will grow from this and become better in whatever it is you do.
If you can’t take the time to do this task, what are you willing to do to succeed? Thought so! Get it done!
