Four Words

Earlier this year, after the TeamBeachbody Coach Dream Extreme Summit in California, I purchased several motivational books. Some of which were suggested, some weren’t, but I found them in the self-help section of the bookstore. Some of these titles include: Eat That Frog; Think and Grow Rich; Make It Stick; The One Minute Manager; The One Minute Sales Manager; 150 Ways to Get Your Point Across In 30 Seconds or Less; Failing Forward; and How To Win Friends and Alienate People. True, these are a lot of books, but some of them are thin books while others are thick. But my reason for getting them was to help broaden my knowledge in learning more about myself and how I can use what I learned to expand my coaching business.

In addition to the books, I picked up an audio CD by Anthony Robbins titled “Unlimited Power”. I’ve listened to this CD in my car every single day since the summit. I’ve listened to it so many times that I know pretty much what he’s going to discuss from one section to the next. So I had to change it up. I bought three of Anthony Robbins’ books: Awaken The Giant Within; Giant Steps; and Unlimited Power. The reason I bought them is to use them in conjunction with the audio cd. In addition, I bought a multi-cd set from him titled “Lessons In Mastery”.

Last night, I was at my desk paying some bills, and I put on the first CD for Lessons In Mastery. As I’m paying bills, I’m hearing Anthony Robbins talk and I completely understand exactly what he’s discussing and how he’s motivating you to take that first step. Then he said something profound and I stopped everything that I was doing. He said (and I have to get the exact quote), “What is it that you can say to yourself today that will motivate you for the rest of the day and the rest of your life?”

I thought of the Coach Summit when Beachbody CEO Carl Daikeler asked, “What is your WHY? What is your reason for working out, for getting in shape and taking care of yourself? Why are you doing this?” At the time, my reason simply was – my future. I’m working out for my future because I want to be in good shape for the future. I am in ok shape now but I know that I can do better. I used that to motivate me throughout the first half of P90X, and that was extremely helpful. But then I reached a point where it wasn’t enough, and I started to slack off a little bit. I lost my motivation.

So I posted my day one photo on my mirror with the caption “do you want to go back to THIS again?” That motivated me for a week or two, but it stopped. I took the photo down and revised the text with motivation words. The words were: inspiration; dedication; persistence; consistency; diligence; supplementation; and hydration. These words will help me to continue working out. But they aren’t the WHY.

I stopped the CD and I started brainstorming about it. I thought about what I wanted to achieve, where I wanted to go and what I wanted to look like… my goals, my dreams, and my aspirations. Then I thought about how I was consistent with eating nutritionally and healthy, continuing to eat healthy foods as well as drinking 72 ounces (or more) water daily to keep myself hydrated from the hard workouts that I’m doing. I also reflected on the years that I did theatre, on how I was usually the first person in the theatre making sure that everything was set-up for the night when I was stage managing a show, and how I was always the last one to leave at the end of the night. I thought of how with the family business how I’m persistent with the finances and diligent making sure that the numbers match and everything flows smoothly, and I’m the same way with my personal finances as well.

On the CD, Anthony Robbins said, “Just say it out loud to yourself.”

I said, “I refuse to quit”.

BAM!
Everything came full circle. In an instant, I saw everything that I have been working towards for the past two years - the workouts, constant hydration, eating properly, taking vitamins daily to supplement foods that I am not eating, sleeping enough, working hard during the day, managing the house, managing the business, managing my LIFE… I’m talking EVERYTHING!

I found my why. I found my reason for persisting why I do exactly what it is that I do.

People have asked me questions such as “why do you workout so hard”, “why are you so persistent with your workouts”, “why do you keep doing the things that you do”?

Because I refuse to quit.

I sat there basking in awe, in this profound moment of clarity. I had to call someone and tell them about it. Mind you, this was 9:45pm at night. I called my girlfriend. I told her exactly what happened and precisely what I saw in that instant and how that moment changed my life. She said, “That is amazing!”

Four words put together to form a sentence that truly defines who you are as a person. THAT is intense!!!

Think of the opposite. When you DO quit, what happens? Bad habits slowly start creeping back into your life little by little. If I gave up and quit right now, I already know the consequences – eating bad food, gaining weight, destroying my health results, lack of energy, no motivation… Everything that I would have achieved in the past two years would be destroyed in an instant!

But I will not let that happen, because I refuse to quit.

I logged onto TeamBeachbody and changed that to my WOWY name. In addition, I am making necessary contacts to change my website, youtube page, this blog, coaching business cards, and everything else associated with “scorpionj”.

This one thought, this mantra, is the one single thing that has changed my way of thinking, my lifestyle, and the way I choose to live my life because I’m telling you – so many things are going to change for the better because of this. I am extremely confident about it, and I am anxious to see the positive changes that this will have upon my life.

I know that I have a lot of work ahead of me. I expect it, and I embrace it because I know that once the hard work of making this change has been completed, then all I need to do is continue living my life and be persistent about my goals.

As you may have noticed, I have changed the name of the blog from “scorpionjfitness.blogspot.com” to reflect this change. My new URL for the blog is http://irefuse2quit.blogspot.com and the title of the blog is “I Refuse 2 Quit’s Fitness Blog”.

I refuse to quit.

What is your why?