Three Piece of Advice that Can Change Your Life

Three Piece of Advice that Can Change Your Life

I am traveling to Decatur, Alabama with my family this weekend. We chose to drive because it’s a lot easier with Rock (that’s my one-year-old son). That gives us about eight hours each way for audio books. Yesterday we listened to “One Minute Entrepreneur” by Ken Blanchard, and I was reminded of three points that have changed my life.

These three pieces of advice have been applied to my athletic life and now my business life. I hope that they will help you as well. Here they are:

1. A career should be looked at like a marathon and not a sprint. Whether you are looking to be a world champion or the president of your own corporation, I recommend taking a marathon approach. What I mean by that is take calculated and well thought out steps to achieve your goal. Trying to rush to the top will cause you to miss details, burn out, and ultimately fail before reaching your potential.

In no way am I saying to be passive in your approach. There was a time that I totaled 2022lb in 2001. I knew that I wanted to break Ed Coan’s all-time world record of 2408. That was almost 400lb that I needed to add to my total. At the end of 2004, I totaled 2410lb. I added a little over 100lb every year a little at a time.

I take the same approach with my business. There are certain variables that I monitor every year: bottom line, clicks on my website, total social media, number of total team members, and number of services that I offer. My goal is to improve each of these every year. I have certain people in the industry that I am trying to catch in certain areas. You have to set your sites on tangible targets, make a plan, and execute that plan.

A steady approach will keep you healthy mentally as well. If you are trying to do everything all at once, it will drive you crazy. Things never go as planned when you are rushing. That doesn’t work anywhere in life. The Carolina Panthers are in the super bowl because they executed a plan over several years not just this year. Super bowls are won during your draft strategy, trade strategies, and coaches getting buy in from all the players over several years. That is how greatness happens.

2. The best advice comes in a short sentence or paragraph not a novel. Mike Bledsoe of the Barbell Shrugged Podcast once asked me if I had 15 minutes to motivate and inspire a room full of the most influential people in the world, what would I tell them? That question made me think so deeply, and at that moment “The Barbell Life” Philosophy was born. I would tell them the magic the barbell possesses to bring people together.

My point is to keep your ears open and your mouth shut. When you are around deep thinking people like Mike Bledsoe or the whole team at Barbell Shrugged, listen to what they have to say. Guys like them love helping others. However, if you don’t listen, you have wasted your time. That takes me to the final point of today.

3. Find a Mentor! The team at Barbell Shrugged has without a doubt been my mentor over the last two years. They have changed my life, and the way that I approach life. They have encouraged me to go after the passions in my heart, and they showed me the way to reach them. I owe these guys so much, and so does my family.

Thanks to them I am able to coach and teach thousands of more people than ever before, and I am able to spend more time with my family thanks to the time management skills that they have taught me. I will never forget what they have done for me.

The key to finding a good mentor is to be a giving person. If you approach people like a vampire wanting to suck the life out of them, they are probably not going to be receptive of you. However, if you are sincerely a good person wanting to help others, everyone is going to want to help you. I love the boys at Barbell Shrugged. Everyone that knows me realizes that I am very loyal to my friends like Barbell Shrugged and Caffeine and Kilos. This loyalty is one of the very things that keep those relationships nurtured and growing.

This rule goes for sport as well. I can’t thank Ian Wilson enough for mentoring my boys on the Mash Mafia Weightlifting Team. They take to heart everything that he tells them, and I appreciate him taking the time to motivate and encourage these young guys. A mentor can change your life if you find the right one.

I hope this helps you guys. These three concepts have absolutely changed my life. If you will apply them to your life, I promise that your life will never be the same. You have to open those ears. You have to take life as a marathon. Finally you have to find a mentor to guide you down the right path.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

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