Push or Be Pushed

You get one of two choices in life. Choose well.

I have the pleasure of training an ideal client. On a weekly basis she was dropping body fat, lifting heavier and heavier bells, and basically just kicking ass and taking many, many names.

Well, after months of this she hit a wall. The wall wasn’t in the form of a plateau or anything like that. It was in the form of life. Changes at work, family problems, and a few other things stopped her dead in her tracks.

She asked me for advice. She needed anything to help her get through this tough time. This wasn’t my first rodeo as I’ve seen this before. Fire gets lit and burns everything in sight only to dissipate into a mere glow.

You can remind yourself of your goals and why you’re doing what you’re doing. Why you put yourself through extreme conditions and eat the way you eat. You could have the best reasons in the world but sometimes it isn’t enough.

So what is the key?

The key is to know there is only one of two ways this will play out.

1. Life will push you around as you get tossed like a seal being attacked by a Great White. In your eyes there is nothing you can do about it. You become helpless.

Or…

2. You man/woman up and say no. Say no to being pushed around. You take care of yourself first (sorry, but a little selfishness is in order here). You say no to excuses, no to people that don’t matter, and no to anything in your way.

The first option you are being hunted, but in the second you are the hunter. You are in pursuit of what you need. This means saying no to performing endless favors for people, putting too much on your plate, and ultimately putting yourself last.

That’s what my client was doing. Putting herself behind her job, her family her boyfriend, everything. She was putting herself last in her own life.

When you do that what do you think will happen? Of course things will come up. Things will ALWAYS come up and get you off track.

When you simplify it to one of two options it becomes painfully obvious what choice needs to be made. There is no leeway. There are no asterisks.

Push or be pushed.

This doesn’t mean you have to be an a-hole pushing people over to get to the front of line or cut people off in traffic.

It just means your priorities will be met. Now, I’m not a single guy who only has himself to think of. I have a wife, two kids and a growing business. I have my fair share of “Calls of Duty” but I have also made a pact with myself that in order to best serve my family, friends, my clients and society in general, my needs must be fulfilled.

That is no one’s responsibility but my own.

Ask yourself if you’re happy with where you are. If not, and you’re doing something about it than more power to you.

If you aren’t and you feel like:

a. There’s no time
b. There’s no point
c. There’s too much to be done at work, home, etc

Then, my friend, you have chosen Option #1 most likely without realizing it. Put simply, there is ALWAYS enough time to do exactly what is most important.

There are many people that exemplify this kind of living. One of which is my friend Mike Mahler. To quote him, you must “live life aggressively.” Perfectly put.

Aggressive living is the only way to get the most out of your life. You don’t see a passive defense in Champion basketball teams or a weak offense in dominant armies in history. Why would it be any different in your life?

Last chance. Will you be the seal getting tossed around like a rag doll only to end up in the jaw of Jaws or will you be the one making the calls in your life?

Choose well. Your life depends on it.