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Zach Even-Esh Bombs the Mash Mafia with Knowledge
This past weekend I had the honor of teaming up with my man Zach Even-Esh for an Underground Strength/Learn 2 Lift joint cert. It was Fire!!! Having the two of us made it even easier to bring the heat all weekend long. It was just as exciting for me to learn from Zach as it was to teach to our campers.
Zach is a constant reminder of what is important to me. His priority is his family first. Zach is all about staying true to himself. He enjoys coaching athletes to improve athletically and as a person. He wants to show them that fitness keeps you health, makes you strong, and directly reflects life.
The hard work that one puts into fitness will directly reflect the results. Life is the same! The harder that one works at life is directly related to the amount of results. Zach is passionate about teaching the coaches at his certifications that coaching is much more than lifting weights and banging out sprints. It’s about preparing them for a life that will involve goal setting, hard work, and mental toughness.
The entire experience made me think hard about my future. Sometimes in one’s career, they are offered multiple opportunities, and that doesn’t mean that one should take all of them. The key is approaching your career, athletics, and family with a clear path. Establishing clear values, principles, and vision is the key to making decisions in life.
My values are super easy:
• God first
• Family second
• Glorify God by teaching the world about The Barbell and Fitness, while sharing Christ’s love.
• Helping others find their passions and helping them live that.
• Loving my friends with all my heart
Principles are then developed with values in mind. This takes a lot of thinking and praying, but here is what I have so far:
• Never let anything compromise my faith in God!
• Never let business or an activity intrude upon time with my family or God.
• Never let profit come before my passion to help others.
• Never let communication cease between my partners/employees and me.
• Never get too busy for friends and family!
Quite honestly, I am constantly looking at these principles, and making changes based on experiences and season of life. At 42-years-old, my love of God and family has become way more important than in my 20’s. My pursuit of glory in my earlier years caused me to make some really selfish decisions. If I had made clear-cut values and principles early on, it would have probably kept me from making these regretful decisions.
After establishing values and principles, one can then create a clear vision. As Stephen Cover says, “Begin with the end in mind!” Knowing where one wants to go is the only way to establish a plan on getting there. Personally I just want to help as many people during my life as possible. I want to do that while loving my family like no father has ever loved. I want to do all of this while loving God with all my heart and soul. This is my vision in a nutshell!!!
Hanging out with Zach this weekend, reminded me to stay focused on the target, and let all the extra stuff fall to the wayside. On Friday before the Cert., my family invited Zach over for dinner on our farm. We own about 12 acres of pastures, barns, horses, chickens, dogs, and beauty. We are truly blessed to own such an example of God’s majestic beauty on earth.
After dinner, we took a walk and looked around the farm. We shared the same desire to simplify life, spend more time with family, and stick closer to our passions of coaching. Sometimes in life one gets distracted from the path, and that is ok. These times of distractions are needed to remind us what is truly important. I have no doubt that God has been teaching me lots during the last two years. It has been a tremendous time of growth, excitement, and yet loss accompanied by sadness.
It’s crazy to expect a life filled with all sunshine and rainbows. The key is to learn from the tough times. That’s all I believe that God expects. I just pray that each time I get closer to living my values. That’s all one can expect!
With this in mind, Zach and I attacked the Cert. like to men on a mission. That mission was to get back to what we do: Coach! We wanted to bring the heat like never before, and we did. We coached this group of coaches like we coach our athletes, and with that same passion we taught them to coach their athletes. We coached with everything that we have inside, and we grew our Barbell Families by loving this group of coaches.
I feel so much more focused and ready to attack my life! I hope that our coaches that attended the Cert. are even more fired up. For all of you that missed the Underground Strength/Learn 2 Lift Cert., here is the live Q&A Podcast that we performed on Saturday after the first day:
Zach Even-Esh and Travis on The Barbell Life!
I hope that whether you are a coach, athlete, or whatever that you will all start with the end in mind, establish values, establish principles, and form a clear vision with all of this in mind. These steps will prevent you from living a life filled with mistakes. Love you guys!!!!
Travis