Team Life 03/28/2018

Good Morning Team and Happy Wednesday. Keep company with those that inspire you to reach your potential. If you spend time in negative spaces and are overly preoccupied by what others are achieving, you diminish the time available for you to accomplish your goals. Gain confidence in yourself, you are capable of great things. Many of us fall victim to our excuses. Many of us fear the unknown. What if I fail? What if I’m not ready or what if I’m not good enough? These are just a few of the questions that linger in that negative space in the dark side of our mind that allows doubt to creep in. How do we overcome this? For me, there is no better method than to take those excuses off the table. Failure is not an option. Quitting is not an option. I may not be ready, I may not be good enough, but I won’t find out until I try. When I try and I do not achieve my set goal, I take it for what it is, a lesson learned and I adapt my plan. I adapt my training and I do it all over again until I achieve the success I am after. Each and every one of us has the ability to achieve the success we are willing to sacrifice and suffer for. Nothing worth having is ever easy. You have to understand your why. So don’t be afraid to set those lofty goals. Don’t be afraid of setbacks. Don’t fear the unknown. Charge head strong into the fray and earn the scars of your courage and sacrifice and wear them with pride. Your scars should not be viewed as a source of shame but viewed as a sign of a life lived hard and with passion. You do have it in you to be elite. You are stronger than you realize. When you are in the midst of your challenge and suffering, “Embrace The SUCK!!!” Pain and suffering are temporary, it will end, but that feeling of success will stay with you for a lifetime. So let’s get out there and make this another successful day. Take the opportunities to keep pushing forward towards your goals. Let’s get FIRED UP and MOTIVATED!!! Rev up that POSITIVE ATTITUDE, put a smile on your face and do your part to make the world around you a better place. HOOYAH TEAM!!! Have an AWESOME Day Team and as always, Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 01/22/2018

WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP!!! WAKE UP!!! Good Morning Team and Welcome to a brand new week and another Glorious Day. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It is that time once again to gather up your teams and develop your battle plan for this week’s goals. Ensure you are all on the same page and properly equipped to execute the plan. Remember, that everyday above dirt is a gift. The moment your eyes opened and you took that first breath of the day you were blessed with another glorious day full of opportunity. The only question now is, what you are going to do with it. Always remember that in your quest for improvement we must push ourselves to be better than we were yesterday. So approach every new day with a FIRED UP Intensity and the right mental attitude to get you moving forward towards your goals. So let’s get out there and make this another awesome day and successful week. Do your part to make the world around you a better place. Let’s get FIRED UP, let’s get MOTIVATED!!! Put a smile on your face and greet the world around you with positivity. HOOYAH TEAM!!! As always, Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 01/02/2018

HOOYAH TEAM!!!! Welcome to a Brand New Year!!! 2018, Wow, how time flies. I hope you all had a successful 2017. Time to leave last year in the past and focus on the goals and challenges that lay ahead. Take the lessons learned from last year and apply them to your plans to move forward. So many of us fall in the routine of the New Year’s resolution. We set lofty goals for the entire year and unfortunately many of us fall short or just give up after a few short weeks. This is a common mistake many people make. Why? Most of us fail to stick to those resolutions because we set goals much higher than we realize. Sure it sounds easy right? I vow to go to the gym every day for a year, or I vow to give up sugar or lose weight or quite smoking. These are all great goals and in no way would I ever say not to work towards each of these examples. My recommendation to you is to first, ensure that this is something you are ready to commit to. You also have to be ready to accept and understand that there will be setbacks. The gym is a common goal many people set. Sure, going to the gym everyday sounds like an easy goal and in most cases, it is. However, life happens and sometimes there are obstacles. You have to have the self-discipline to overcome those obstacles as they come. For instance, let’s say I pack my gym bag and I intend to work out at lunch time and work is hectic and lunch time comes and goes and you didn’t make it. So then you say, ok, I have my gear I will go after work. Then after work, you realize, oh I have another commitment or my children have a function or I’m just tired. Having the self-discipline to ensure that no matter what you will wake it to the gym today is key to success. The goals that you set for yourself need to be handled like any other priority in your life. For instance, you know you suck it up and do what it takes to make it to work or to pay your bills or to ensure your children make it to school on time. The same mindset needs to be applied to ensuring your goals and targets get met. So if your goal is the gym, school, or career advancement, make it a point to schedule that time every day to work towards those goals. There are 24 hours in each day and let’s be honest, many of us spend way too much time in idle wasted pursuits such as TV or video games or other tasks that are not helping you advance in any way. If your goals are truly a priority, get up an hour earlier or go to bed an hour later. Do whatever it takes to ensure no matter what, you have done what it takes to work towards your goal or goals for that day. Create yourself a check list and make it a point to review it first thing in the morning, mid-day and at the end of the day and if you haven’t checked an item before you end your day, take that opportunity to Get After It!!! Now, there will be times that no matter what you do, you may miss a day. It will happen, but when it does, hold yourself accountable in some way. Issue yourself some sort of penalty or punishment but also pick it right back up were you left off the next day and keep moving forward. This is where many people fail. They miss a day, then they miss two or three and they say well, I guess I blew it, I will try again next year. That is just an excuse!!! Suck It Up, pick yourself back up and lace up those shoes or open those books and get right back in the fight and keep getting after it. We all have it in us to achieve the goals we set for ourselves. I say this all the time, but it is true, you are stronger than you realize. You can endure more than you ever thought possible with the right positive mindset. Surround yourself with a good strong team to help support you and to help hold you accountable. Embrace the pain and suffering that comes along with any challenge. The thing about pain and suffering is, that it won’t last forever. It does end. How it ends is up to you. Does end through weakness and a lack of commitment by you giving up, or does it end by you sucking it up and overcoming the pain and suffering and Embracing the SUCK to lead you to victory? The choice is always yours to make. No matter what life throws at you, you always have a choice. How will you write your story? Will it be a story of just pain and suffering and defeat, or will it be one of pain, suffering and perseverance on your road to success? I want to wish each and every one of you a very happy and successful 2018. Let’s get FIRED UP and MOTIVATED to ensure we have another great year. Rev up that POSITIVE ATTITUDE, put a smile on your face and do your part to make the world around you a better place. Lead from the front. Lead by example and remember that the example we set is seen by more people than we realize. Our children and the younger generation that we all interact with see how we carry ourselves day in and day out. Set the example you would want you children to follow. So let’s get out there and do our part and make this a successful 2018!!! HOOYAH TEAM!!! As always, Never Give up!!!

Team Life 12/27/2017

Good Morning Team and Happy Hump Day!!! Today I want to share something a little different for you all. I don’t always dive too deep into my personal life in my Team Life posts but today is special. So on this day, 26 years ago, my life was changed forever. Today marks my oldest son’s 26th birthday. David Alexander Salinas was born at Andrews Air Force Base while I was stationed in Washington DC in the US Navy. His mother Sylvia and I were young but we were full of joy and knew we wanted to start a family. It’s funny when I think about my mindset back then. How I knew in my heart I was ready for children and then BANG!!!! Here he is and you realize you can never be ready for the impact your child will have on you. Shortly after David was born during his mom’s 6 week follow up exam she was admitted into the hospital for almost two months. While they tried to determine what was going on with her health. She eventually was diagnosed with Lupus. Although that time was rough, I would not trade the time I was given to raise my son and bond with him during that time. Of course like I always say, no one goes through hard times on their own. Thankfully my mother-in-law was able to come and help for a week as well as my mom. They were both a tremendous help guiding me and teaching this new dad who didn’t know a thing about caring for a child on my own but we made it through. David was just like any young boy. Always running and jumping and pushing his limits. I recall a time when he discovered he could jump the small section of stairs going up to the second floor of our home. The stairs were split into two sections. A small section consisting of four steps and then the large section of about 13 steps. So on this occasion he jumped the small section and proceeded to eyeball the larger section of steps and before I could even try to say no, he was up in the air attempting to jump the large section. He did clear 5 steps and then proceeded to tumble the rest of the way down. He landed on his belly face down on the floor, looked back up at the stairs brushed himself off and went right to that sixth step and jumped back down. The boy has no quit in him. Over time, as he got older and like many couples, his mom and I divorced and he and his brother went to live with her. That was a hard time for me. At the time both of my sons specifically asked me to let them live with mom. Like a lot of fathers, I was the disciplinarian in the family so I guess they thought they would get along with mom better. Shortly after that she re-married and proceeded to move them to Virginia and to Las Vegas for a time. During those years of course David was growing into a teenager and getting into teenage trouble. Through all of his ups and downs though, he has always known right from wrong and quickly realized he did not want the wrong choices. David has also dealt with his share of adversity. As a young child he had repeated problems with his ears and multiple procedures to try and resolve them but unfortunately he still lost a significant portion of his hearing on one side. We tried to get him used to wearing a hearing aid but like many kids he would have nothing to do with it. I can’t tell you how many hearing aids he lost or broke. He never let it slow him down though, he adapted and you would never realize it today unless he told you. David has struggled with some emotional teenage issues but did what he needed to do to overcome them. He moved back to Texas to be back with family with the help of my dad. My dad gave him his first job and while living in San Antonio is where he met Amy. Amy is now my sons wife and I have to say she is the rock that keeps my son grounded and at peace. Amy and her kids are my son’s family and he treats them all with the love and respect they deserve. David and Amy are truly one of the happiest couples I have ever seen. She is not only a blessing to my son, but a blessing to my family as a whole. When I talk about Team, it is not just among coworkers or fitness related teams. Most of us forget that the biggest and best Team we are a part of is our family team. David and Amy are truly the picture of an awesome team. David has also impacted my life as an adult through his support of me. From an emotional stand point when I had to talk with him about the failing of my second marriage and the development of my new relationship to Elizabeth. He has seen me struggle and he is always there to talk and listen and offer word of support and encouragement. I cannot fully express just how much it means to me that I have the relationship I have with not only David but his younger brother as well Major. As a father, I am blessed to have my sons in my life. So let me say this, in no way would I ever claim to be even close to a perfect father. If I could go back there are so many things I would do differently, but none of us have that luxury. But we can learn from our shortfalls and keep pushing forward and I am proud to say that I see that Never Give Up mentality in David. Each and every one of us has the ability to adapt and improvise and overcome adversity, the choice is all yours. Yes, it is a choice. If you get beat down by the SUCK, you can choose to stay down and blame everything and everyone else but yourself or you can suck it up, pick yourself up and get back into the Fight. So today, I want to Say, Happy Birthday David. I hope you have an awesome day wherever the road may take you. Hold true to your values and never let anything or anyone come between you and the man you want to be. You are stronger than you realize. Embrace the SUCK and keep pushing forward towards your goals. I am proud and honored to be your father. I love you. To all of you onboard the Team Life team, each and every one of you are stronger than you realize. You do have it in you to achieve your goals. You are Elite. Keep pushing forward and as always, Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 12/13/2017

Happy Wednesday Team. I hope you are all having a good and successful week so far. The work week is half over so now is the time to gather your teams and discuss your progress for the week and adapt your tactics if needed. Ensure that everyone is on track and if anyone needs assistance, ensure they get the help that is needed so the team succeeds. So let’s talk about assisting. Inevitably on some teams there are members that struggle from time to time and could use a hand. However, sometimes there are teammates that are just slackers and repeatedly ask for help simply because they do not want to do the assigned task and they know if they ask for help that someone will step in and take on the lion’s share of the work and get it done. So how do you as a teammate handle the slacker? In my opinion, the best answer is to just do it. If that slacker doesn’t want to do his job then step up and do it. Trust me, a good leader will, over time know his or her team and will see the actions and results of his team members. Eventually the slacker will start being assigned fewer and fewer meaningful tasks and if that individual is not smart enough to see the writing on the wall or even if he or she does and does not care eventually they will find themselves no longer part of that team or organization as a whole. So the next question for you is, as a leader, how do you handle that slacker team member? First off, as a leader, it is your responsibility to know your team. Know them as people first. Know what makes them tick, know their likes and dislikes and most importantly, know their level and quality of work. All of these things can be learned over time by being engaged with your team. A good leader does not just dole out tasks and simply wait for an end result. A good leader assigns the tasks and regularly meats with the team as a whole and individually to check status, assess plans, and also taking advantage of this time to build that personal relationship with the team. So, if you are that leader that has the slacker, coaching is key. The slacker team member needs to be informed of his or her substandard performance and a plan needs to be put in place to give that individual the opportunity to mitigate his or her shortfalls and get on a path to success. There is absolutely no reason to make this a tense confrontation. However, if once given the opportunity the individual fails to take advantage of the opportunity, then some hard questions need to be asked. There may be outside issues impacting your team member’s personal life that are affecting his or hers focus. Let’s be honest, we all have moments where life outside of work can be hitting us hard on multiple fronts. If this is the case, let your team member know you are there for them. Let’s face, it most career jobs, we spend more times with our work team than with our own families and that being said your work team is your family as well and they need to be treated as such. A good leader truly does care about the moral of his or her teams. If the issue is simply one of unwillingness to comply with assigned tasks or standards and fails to correct the sub-standard performance, than as a good leader it is your duty to sever the tie to that individual. That is what is best for the team and the organization as a whole. Remember, as a leader you are not only responsible for you team but you also have a responsibility to the big picture and the success of the organization. Each and every one of you has it in you to be a good leader. Some of us are willing to step up and take on that role but in some shape or form we are all given opportunities to be leaders from day to day. Take ownership of that and lead to the best of your ability. Have the discipline to hold yourself to a higher standard and lead by example. Never ask your team to do something you do not know how to do or at least have the willingness to learn how it is done by your team. You rely on your team to be the experts in their fields so trust that they can help get the team to success. Take care of your team, because it is your team that takes care of you. So let’s get out there and continue to push forward towards our goals. Be willing to go all in and embrace the SUCK!!! Be ready to adapt, improvise and overcome the challenges that lay ahead. So no one is ever a success on their own, we all succeed or fail as a TEAM!!!. Have a great rest of the week, and finish strong. You are Elite!!! HOOYAH TEAM!!! Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 12/11/2017

WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!!! Time to get out of that rack and get that blood pumping and lets get ready to jump right into a new week of possibilities and challenges. Let's get FIRED UP and MOTIVATED to meet those challenges head on. Remember, that you are stronger than you realize and you can take on any challenge with the right attitude. Remember that life is not about the struggles you face or how many times you get knocked down. It is about how you adapt, grow and learn from the challenges and beat downs and how you endure and get back up and keep getting after it day in and day out despite the struggles. Nothing worth having is ever easy. How bad do you want it, is the question? So get out there and gather up your teams and ensure you are all on the same page. Ensure you are ready and properly equipped to take on the challenges of the week ahead and get after it and successfully execute your goals. Each and every one of you has it in you. You are Elite!!! Now let's get out there and kick those challenges in the teeth!!! HOOYAH TEAM!!! Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 11/28/2017

Good Morning Team and Happy Hump Day!!! So we are half way through another work week and I hope you are on track to meeting your goals. If not, now is the time to regroup and reevaluate your plan. Gather your teams and ensure you are all on the same page and determine if anyone needs assistance in order to accomplish the mission. So we are now two days away from December and the year is rapidly coming to an end. I hope this year has been a successful one. Now is the time to start wrapping up on your 2017 goals and developing your plans for 2018. If you have already met your 2017 goals, it is never too early to start on your new goals. What is it that motivates you? What drives you to get out of your rack each morning and keep pushing forward towards your goals? Each and every one of us must know our “Why”. What is it that makes this goal important to me? Remember that in the end, you have to really want to work and sacrifice for that goal in order for you to achieve success. Your likely hood of success is low if you can’t define your own personal reason to want to accomplish a task. It cannot simply be because my boss tells me I have to or my trainer is putting it in my plan. Yes those people in your life have their reasons why they want you to do those tasks but unless you have your own personal motivation to get it done, success is not as likely. Hold yourself accountable for your goals. Make them public so others are aware and ask them to regularly inquire on your progress. Another method is to write your goals down and assign completion dates and sign them. In essence you are making a contract with yourself to aid in keeping you accountable. Each and every one of us have a natural desire to want to improve ourselves in some way. Weather it is in our jobs, knowledge, health or physical fitness. The difference between success and failure is our willingness to push our limits and our willingness to keep pushing when we are knocked down. Are you willing to put in the hard work and sacrifice in order to achieve that success? Remember that each and every one of us is stronger than we realize. Most of what it takes to achieve your goals is mental. You have to have the right positive mindset. You have to get up every day and stoke that fire in your gut and remind yourself of your “Why” and get after it each and every day. You do have it in you to succeed!!! You do have it in you to be Elite!!! It pays to be a winner and the only easy day was YESTERDAY!!! So let’s get out there and make this another successful day and wrap up November with a Bang and let’s get FIRED UP and MOTIVATED to end the year strong!!! HOOYAH TEAM!!! Never Give Up!!!