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!!!

Team Life 10-04-2017

Happy Wednesday Team. I hope you are all having an awesome week so far. I want to take a little time today to talk about goal setting and complacency. We all have goals we want to achieve. Whether it be work related, mental or physical related goals, we all have areas in which we want to improve or learn as a new skill. For me, my goal list is long. So my struggle is with prioritization. The way I have found to cope with this is to group them and I choose one fitness goal, one mental goal and one work related goal that I can work on together. So for instance, most of my physical goals all revolve around me dropping more weight before I move on to more specific training. As far as my mental goals go I have chosen to read at least one non-fiction book per month to keep me mentally stimulated and for my work I have chosen to study for an hour everyday towards my professional certifications. Like most people though I do fall victim to complacency and sometimes even down right lack of motivation. It is all too easy to let life’s distractions get in the way and derail our progress towards our goals. It is in those moments where we have to adapt and overcome. If we truly want to achieve the goals we set for ourselves we must be willing to put in the work. So one way to ensure you do is to put in place a system to hold yourself accountable. In my case I do this by telling people close to me my goals. This way I know they will be constantly checking up on me and calling me out when I start to waiver. The simple fact is this, we are not growing as individuals unless we go through the struggle. We have to be willing to pay the price in order to achieve our success. We must also understand our motivation for wanting to achieve our goals. We must be willing to appreciate success in achieving the small victories along the way towards achieving the overall goals. For instance, let’s say I want to be able to deadlift 500 pounds and I have not deadlifted in years. I cannot truthfully expect to just be able to walk up and knock out a 500 pound lift straight away. It takes time to build up to that. Sometimes in small increments each and every attempt. That being said, we cannot become complacent with only achieving partial success. We must be willing to suffer and endure the hardships that foster success. This applies to all aspects of life. We should never be satisfied with our station in life. We must always be striving to be a better version of ourselves. I always want to be better than the person I was yesterday. If you want to be Elite, you have to get out there and put in the work and earn it every day. So let’s get out there and light that fire in your gut. Get FIRED UP and MOTIVATED to make each and every day a success. Be ready to dig deep and embrace the suck in order to achieve the goals you have set for yourself. You can achieve your goals. You are stronger than you realize. You are Elite. Believe in yourself and face each day head on. You are Never Out of the Fight!!! Have an Awesome day team and as always, Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 09/27/2017

Good Morning Team and welcome to a brand new day. I hope you are all having a successful week so far. Remember to track your progress and adapt your plans as needed in order to ensure your mission success. Check in with your teams and ensure that they are on track and if help is needed, be ready to lend a hand. We all succeed or fail as a Team. So in recent weeks, the media and social media have been full of divisive stories focusing on NFL player protests, racial inequality and political mindset differences. The fact is, all of these things are occurring for a reason. The NFL player protests started as a call to highlight what is viewed as a rise in the shootings of unarmed individuals in the black community by police. This is tragic no matter how you look at it, but is there a rise or is the perception such because of the enhanced focus to these incidents by the media? On the issue of racial inequality, this does in fact exist. This however is not just an American issue. Racial inequality exists worldwide. If you have never experienced this in any form, then you are extremely lucky so far. Unfortunately it is everywhere. It exists in day to day life and of course it is brought to the forefront of our thoughts because it is routinely highlighted by the negatively dominated media. Political mindset differences will also always exist. From the beginning there have always been political differences. That’s why revolts rose up against monarchies. That’s why we have the United States of America. We fought long and hard over issues such as taxation without representation to win our freedom from the English monarchy. And since the birth of America there have been multiple political parties due to the existence of political mindset differences. Our own Civil War was fought and with great cost to both sides due to political differences. These are all serious and emotional issues for many people across our nation. It is sad to see that as a nation there is such divisiveness. As a Veteran, I gladly chose to fight and defend my country so that each and every one of us gets to enjoy the tremendous freedoms we have as a nation. It is through the sacrifice of each and every person who defends this nation both on and off the battlefield that we all get to freely express ourselves in the matter we see fit. We as responsible Americans need to think long and hard about how we choose to express ourselves. So for instance, I respect the call to highlight senseless killings of unarmed individuals by police. Does this mean police as a whole are corrupt? No, it does not, but there is clearly training and oversight that must be looked at and enhanced where needed as well as punishment in cases where abuse of power is found. However, to expand the protest and continue to kneel during the National Anthem is now an offence and show of disrespect to each and every one of those service members that puts their life on the line se we can all enjoy those freedoms. The tit for tat discourse that carries on in the main stream media and social media needs to stop. Statements laying blame to other races, religions or political parties does nothing to solve the issue. Your political party may not be in office at any given time but if you don’t like something about the current party in power, give your concerns voice but do it in a manner that is not just mudslinging. If you feel you can do the job better than speak up and provide a solution to your representatives and be willing to put in the work to help facilitate the change. Our current president is in office because he was freely elected by the people. Which means if he is not affective those same people can vote him out. Exercise your American right to vote and let your voice be heard. That is how we make positive change in this great nation. As a nation, we need to come together and stand united. We are the most diverse nation in the world so no system is going to make everyone happy, but it is the best we have. We need to treat others the way we want to be treated. We need to get back into the mindset of how can I help to make my country better and away from the mindset of how can I better my own position in life. Like any team, we as a nation succeed or fail as a nation. Take pride in the fact that you live in the freest and greatest country in the world. Each and every one of us has the ability to affect positive change. We simply have to choose to do so. So let’s get out there and get FIRED UP and MOTIVATED to do our part to make the world around us a better place. You are stronger than you realize and we as a nation are stronger that we are currently showing. Let’s fix this great nation together. HOOYAH TEAM!!! Have a great day and as always, Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 04/07/2017

HOOYAH TEAM!!! WAKE UP!!!, WAKE UP!!!, WAKE UP!!! Welcome to a brand new day. Oh, and by the way, you made it to Friday!!! It is another Fine and Outstanding day. It is another day above Dirt and another opportunity to give your all. You often see me say that the Only Easy Day was Yesterday. So what does that really mean? The struggles you had yesterday or earlier in the week or even last month, no matter how difficult and stressful they may have been, no matter how much suffering you had to endure to get past them, that was yesterday. You survived. You endured long enough to get past that sufferfest. Today is a new day as is tomorrow and the next and however many we may be blessed to see come in the future. Each new day brings with it new opportunities and new struggles. We have to find that spark that motivation to start each and everyday with the proper POSITIVE ATTITUDE. We need to know our "WHY". What is it that gets you FIRED UP and MOTIVATED to jump out of that rack, get that blood pumping and put that smile on your face each and everyday to venture into the unknown? None of us know what the new day brings. All we know is that we must be ready for anything. Plan for the mission at hand and look at every possibility for struggles and be ready to adapt and improvise as needed. Ensure your teammates are well trained, equipped with the tools and knowledge to effectively carry out the mission. You also see me write that "You Are Never Out of the Fight". This is plain and simple. You may be in the midst of the SUCK!!! Weather it in in your work with impending project deadlines or in your relationships dealing with struggles or even in physical activity suffering in the middle of a physical challenge. Many of us know these struggles all to well. we can relate to being on a long run or workout struggling and I mean really struggling where you are gasping for air, maybe throwing up and sweating. That feeling of being beat down or maybe in the case of MMA actually being beat down and punched in the face and on the mat. We have all heard that little voice in our head that says "Why am I doing this?" If you do not know your Why, most times it is all too easy to submit to the mental fatigue and quit. However, if you do know your WHY, it makes it easier to pull from that motivation and dig deep and claw and scratch and do whatever it takes to suck it up and overcome that struggle. Each and everyone of us has what it takes to overcome adversity. It all boils down to How Bad Do you Want It??? Do you as an individual or do you as a member of a Team want to succeed bad enough that you will lay it all on the line and NEVER GIVE UP in order to ensure your success? I know you can. Do you know you can? This is why no matter what, each and every day is a gift. Never forget that. Everyday you wake up is a new opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the past a push forward on to successful new challenges. Never Stop challenging yourself. We should always be looking for new and better ways to push our limits so we are in a constant state of growth. So Team, Let's get out there and Let's get FIRED Up and MOTIVATED to finish out this week strong and have a great weekend. You are Elite, and You Are NEVER Out of the FIGHT!!! HOOYAH TEAM!!! Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 01/27/2017 - Perseverance

Today I wanted to take a moment to write about Perseverance and how it has been playing out in my day to day life. So just to give everyone a little background and history of where I come from and how I have developed as the person I am currently. I have always been an active person. Growing up I loved being in the outdoors and playing sports with my friends but I was also always a heavy kid. I joined the Navy and of course I struggled every time I had a run for time but I never gave up. I have always enjoyed working out but also fell into the common traps and excuses as to why I continued to put on weight. So Like many people I continued to work out and wonder why doesn't this weight come off. There of course is always that little voice in your head that only speaks the truth and is constantly telling you, "you know why." Yes I worked out regularly, but I also was never one to keep my diet in check. Now for me personally, I hate the term diet. So I will phrase it as I was never someone to keep my fueling in check. The reality for me was the day that I stepped on that scale and this was about 4 years ago and saw the dreaded number. In my case, that number was 390. I knew I had to change. So I increased my Physical Activity and started to eat a little better. I started incorporating Crossfit and running into my routine. I even started signing up for local 5K runs. I was having a blast. It was actually an amazing boost to my self confidence when I came in first place in my age group for the very first ever 5K i signed up to do. So I rode that confidence boost into grander goals I and several of my co-workers signed up for our first half marathon. I was focused and deliberate in my training. I printed out a training plan and I followed it to the letter. Before I knew it the miles were racking up. Most of my training runs I would do by myself but my teammates and I would gather on Saturdays and do our scheduled long runs. I was always the last to finish, but I could always count on the fact that I knew I would finish and I knew that at the end of the run my team would be there cheering me on and we would keep each other motivated. Before I knew it, two years had passed and I had completed about 10 5K's, 4 Half Marathons and even a Sprint Triathlon. I was in my mind unstoppable. I had also lost about 20 pounds. Not that significant because I was still not eating as clean as I could or watching portion sizes. So now two years ago I was all set to start training for my next half marathon and also training for my first Half Iron Man. I went out on a normal Saturday morning run in my neighborhood. I was feeling good, the weather was perfect with a slight breeze that just aided in my runners high when I was wrapping up mile 3 and planted my left foot and felt and heard a distinctive pop from my left knee. It hurt bad and buckled my knee and almost took me to the ground. I stopped and tried to assess my knee rubbing it, moving it but I knew I was injured when I tried to bear weight on it again. No Joy!!! it was not having it. Needless to say, I found out that I tor my meniscus. So here I am off to surgery feeling very optimistic and looking forward to a speedy recovery to get back out there. Surgery was done and My doctor said He did not believe in physical therapy, just let it heal for 6 weeks and only walk during that time but after that I should be able to run again. Six weeks came and I laced up and stepped out for my first run. Once again, No Joy. I could not even make a quarter mile on that knee. Talk about feeling mad and misled and discouraged. I went back to the doctor only to be told well your knee was bad to begin with and your weight does not help, take it slow. So slow turned out to be a year. I was back to running again and feeling good doing my CG workouts, my Crossfit and hitting the Gym I ws on a roll I dropped another 30 pounds and then the unimaginable happened and I came down on my right knee doing high knee skips and felt the same pop and pain. This was July of 2016. This time I opted for Physical Therapy first along with a nice heaping dose of Steroid injections. 12 weeks of Physical Therapy 3 times a week helped the mobility but I was still injured. I opted to go for injections into the knee to increase the viscous fluid in the knee to aid in lubrication. This helped for about 3 months. I also went to see a different surgeon. He proceeded to tell me I have a Complex meniscus team along with a partial tear of my ACL and MCL. He informed me that I am not a good surgical candidate due to the fact that if he were to remove the meniscus, the arthritis I have in my knee would take off like wild fire. The real kick in the gut is to hear him say I will not run again. To date I have dropped more weight and I am currently at 326 and hope to be below 300 by the end of March. Perseverance has been the key to it all. Finding alternate methods to work out and keep dropping weight and taking pressure off those knees. I hope to some day be able to prove my doctor wrong. Don't get me wrong, I will not do anything to place my long term mobility at risk but I want to feel that I can take on more and more physical challenges as time goes on. My bucket list is extensive and I do not want to be limited at all. I will persevere. I will run again!!! AS I have stated before, I would love for Blog to be interactive, so please share your Perseverance story or feel free to leave comments. Let's make this an environment of sharing and learing from like minded people. HOOYAH TEAM!!! As always, Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 01/09/2017

Good Morning team and welcome to a brand new week. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. It is that time again to get FIRED UP and MOTIVATED!!! Rev up that POSITIVE ATTITUDE and charge out into the world ready to do your part to make a difference. Gather up your teams and develop your plan of attack on your goals for the week. Ensure that each and every team member know his or her part and that they are equipped and ready to execute the mission. Let's focus this week as a team on helping each other develop "Situational Awareness". In your quest to be Elite and to be effective leaders you must develop a strong sense of Situational Awareness. So what is Situational Awareness? For those who may be unfamiliar, As it was pounded into me in boot camp, Keep you head on a swivel. Always be scanning, always be assessing and always be developing that action plan based on your assessment. Too many of us get complacent in our everyday lives that we get stuck in our predictable routines. As a leader you want to be in a position to best be able to protect your team. Now for most of us, that team is our immediate family. So when you are out and about, start scanning. Be aware of your surroundings. If you go out to eat, Assess, Where are the exits? Where is the kitchen, Where is the bathroom, Where is the nearest weapon? Always be asking your self, If something goes down, What am I ready to do? Situational Awareness is a skill like any other that is developed and honed with practice. and the ease of it is, that you can do it any where and everywhere. So start making your self stronger and smarter by developing your skills. Situational Awareness not only applies in a tactical sense but in our everyday lives. Lets say I am out on a hike or trail run. I am constantly scanning my environment for hazards or changes in terrain so that I may be able to successfully adapt and successfully complete my outing injury free and be ready to train again. So Let's get out there and Make this another Fine, OUTSTANDING and Successful week. HOOYAH TEAM!!! Keep pushing forward towards your goal. Remember, "The Only Easy Day Was YESTERDAY!!!" You are Elite and you do have it in you. As Always, Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 01/06/2017

WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!! Good Morning Team and Happy Friday!!! We have made it to the end of the first week of this brand new year. I hope it was a successful first week. So since this is one of my first post for this year I want to discuss Team and the Team Life Mentality and Why I promote Team Life so strongly. The bottom line is this, we all need a support system in life. No one ever achieves a level of success alone. Even the athlete in individual sports such as running takes a team to succeed. From the coach to therapists to nutritionist, they all play a part in getting that individual runner across the finish line. So everyone of us needs to develop our Teams to lead us to success. Success is determined differently by each and everyone of us, so how do we build the right teams? The best way to build your team is to surround yourself by like minded positive people. People that will challenge you and hold you accountable. My desire is not to be the smartest on my team. I want to be able to learn and grow but also be willing to share my knowledge and skills with my teammates. Remember a team is a symbiotic relationship you gain from the team as the team gains from you. You must hone your skills and allow yourself to develop into the leader you know you can be. In order to lead though, you must be able to follow. You must be able to accept criticism and you must be able to accept the responsibility of command. Good teams want to ensure that every member of that team can effectively step into that leadership role when needed. We should all be willing to step up and take charge when our skill set demands it. Remember, Good leaders lead from the front, they lead by example and never ask your team to do something you are unwilling or unable to do yourself. You are not supposed to know all but you must be open to learning from your team and they must learn from you. So let's get out there and start the year off right. Keep building those teams, keep setting those goals and keep pushing those limits. Each and everyone of you have it in you to be Elite even if you don't know it yet, I do. So let's get FIRED UP!!! Let's Get MOTIVATED and Rev Up that POSITIVE ATTITUDE and let's make this another OUTSTANDING day and let's have a wonderful weekend filled with Friends, Family, Faith and Fitness!!! HOOYAH TEAM!!! As Always, Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 05/20/2016

HOOYAH TEAM!!! Happy Friday!!! I hope you have all had a great and successful week. Now that the weekend is upon us, we must take time and take a step back from work and find that balance in our lives. Take time to now focus on Family, Friends & Fitness. Get outside and enjoy the wonderful world around you. Let's rev up that heart rate, get that sweat running and breath in that wonderful fresh air. Set a new goal to to push your limits. We only grow and improve by continually pushing our limits and either succeeding or by learning from our shortfalls and never giving up. Remember, no matter what the obstacle you may face in your life, you are Never alone. You teammates have your back. You must be willing to do your part by not being afraid to ask for help. You are not weak by admitting you may need help. At some point, we ALL need help from our teammates. So let's get out there and get FIRED UP and MOTIVATED to always keep pushing forward towards success. Keep setting those goals and make every effort to spread your POSITIVE ATTITUDE. HOOYAH TEAM!!! You are NEVER out of the fight!!! Never Give Up!!!

Team Life 04292016

Good Morning Team and welcome to another Fantastic Friday. I hope you have all had a successful week and have achieved or made forward progress towards your goals. So today, let's talk about one of the key attributes you need to possess in order to succeed in life or what ever mission or goal you choose to take on. That attribute is INTEGRITY!!! So, put simply, what does it mean to have integrity? In it's simplest terms, what that means is that I will do what I say I will do. Many times it is all to easy to say, "Oh, I can do that for you, or Sure I would be happy to lend a hand". Then, after some thought we may question as to why did I say I would do that? Why did I say I would help when I really don't care to, or something more fun or interesting is offered to you when you have committed to be available. The bottom line is this, if I tell you I am going to do something for you, or if I tell you to call me anytime you need my assistance, then I am going to be a man of my word and make myself available. We all have moments in our lives where we have said to someone, I can help you with your task and arrange for a date and time only to have an actual life emergency inter-fear. In cases such as this, it is my obligation to you as the person I made the agreement with to inform you as soon as I possibly can and also state, I will still make my self available to you and let's reschedule. Your Integrity is the base of your reputation that will always follow you around where ever life takes you. Trust me, a person is quickly labeled by their friends, coworkers and neighbors as either someone they can take at their word or someone that they know they cannot rely on. Which do you want to be? Don't get me wrong, there are moments where everyone struggles with this. But as my wife reminds me from time to time, Nothing worth having ever comes easy. We as individuals must be willing to make that conscious effort every day to be the best person we can be in order to achieve our personal success and to aid in the success of our teammates. Until next time team, Have a great day and as always, HOOYAH!!! Never Give up!!!

TEAM LIFE 04/20/2016

WAKE UP, WAKE UP, WAKE UP!!! HOOYAH Teammates!!! Welcome to a brand new day. Time to hop out of that rack and get that blood pumping. Knock out a few push ups, sit ups and burpees and jump into that COLD shower. No better way to start the day!!! We are half way through the work week and time is flying fast. Are you meeting your goals? Is your team on track to meet their goals? Now is the time to reassess your plan and adapt and improvise if needed. Remember a good leader is always willing to adapt his or her plan as required to ensure the success of his entire team. You must be able to positively motivate your team mates and keep in mind that no two teammates are alike, so this requires you to be hands on and really know your team. Remember, our mission day in and day out is to be the best we can be. We ALL want to be elite. So start your day with these two questions. 1, What will I do today to make me better at my job / mission? 2. What will I do today to make my Team / Company better? At the end of each day follow it by asking these questions. 1. Did I make myself better or did I achieve my mission today? 2. Did I make my Team / Company better today? If the answer to those end of day questions is no, then sit back down, because your day is not done. To be a true leader we must say what we are going to do, and do what we say we will do. So now lets all get FIRED UP and MOTIVATED to make this another Outstanding Day!!! HOOYAH TEAM!!! Never Give Up!!!

Challenges_02-19-2014

Hello Team, It has been too long since I have posted to the blog. I will rectify that so we can continue sharing our insights with one another. So today I wanted to talk about challenges. We all have them in some shape or form. How we deal with them is what forms our character. The Challenges in life play factors in defining ones confidence, self image and integrity. Every challenge presents us with a choice. That choice is simple. It is, are we going to tackle it head on, or are we going to look for the easy way out or for that matter, are we going to quit and not accept the challenge. In each of these choices we take another step in defining our character. Quitting; this should simply not even enter our mind. Challenges by their nature are designed to be hard. If great things in life were easy, everyone would do them and we would all lead the same boring existence. The desire to quit stems from the deep seated fear of the unknown. Trust me; we all have that deep seated fear of the unknown. The key is to look beyond our initial fears and take that leap of faith. Faith in God and trusting in the fact that this challenge has been placed before you for a reason and you may not know that reason, but God does. Have faith in your choice to accept the challenge and most importantly, the faith in your abilities to be able to rise up and meet the challenge. The Easy Way; many of us fall into this trap. In the midst of our endeavor we are bogged down with this feeling of being over whelmed. I can’t tell you the number of time I have started a challenge and then suffered and been mired down with that nagging question of why did I choose to do this. As a matter of fact, the last time this happened to me was this past November when I was in the midst of the San Antonio Rock N Roll Half Marathon. The week before the weather had been cold and windy and I remember discussing with my team about maybe needing to acquire some cold weather running gear just in case. Well, here in Texas, the common saying is if you don’t like the weather, give it a minute, it will change. Needless to say, on race day it was sixty eight degrees and humid at 4am when I started to get ready. That day everyone suffered. I myself suffered from cramps and even to the point of heaving my guts out at mile nine. The choice of the easy way out and quitting at that moment were the same. That thought of why am I doing this kept creeping back into my mind. But the reality was this. I was at mile nine and only just over four miles to go, I was not going to quit. I would finish no matter what. I hit every water stop ran through all of my fluids I carried with me. I finished all of my energy gels and kept downing salt packs, but the bottom line is I finished. I was able to prove to myself that I had the heart to accept and overcome the challenge I had set before me. Tackling it head on; many times, this seems like an easy enough task. It is almost like saying, “Ok, There’s the target, now go take it out.” However, accepting any challenge is never as easy as it sounds. Tackling a challenge head on takes time. It takes careful preparation and planning. You have to be willing to give your all and ensure you are prepared mentally and physically for the challenge that lies ahead. In many cases simply ensuring you are ready can take weeks or even months of training and preparation. The key to being successful is maintaining that fired up positive attitude and breaking your overall goal into smaller objectives. It can be discouraging to constantly be thinking of the larger end result. Instead, keeping smaller targets satisfies that inherent need for success along the way and helps build that confidence and keeps you motivated to keep digging deep and pushing on to then next objective. So Never forget every challenge has a choice. Do not be afraid to test yourself and accept the challenge. Also know this; to fail at a challenge is not something to be ashamed of. Failing means you at least put forth the effort. Failing at a challenge also leaves you better equipped to tackle that challenge the next time it presents itself. We learn through our failures, so never be afraid to learn. So team, as always please feel free to comment and share your thoughts and stories. I would love this Blog to be completely interactive. Have a great day team and as always, Never Give Up!!!!

Perseverance 10-09-13

Perseverance is a valuable key to success. No one can be successful without it. How many times have you been struggling with completing a task at work or felt like you were on the verge of giving up in a hard workout? What made the difference in that moment? Did you give in and then later regret quitting and selling yourself short, or did you dig deep into your soul and tell yourself "I Will NOT Quit!!!!". These are gut check moments that build our character in one way or another based on our choice to fail or succeed. I know for me, I always tell myself I will not quit; I am never out of the fight. No matter how hard the challenge, I will give it my all, and when I feel I am on that verge to give in, I dig in, even if I have to claw at the ground and keep driving my legs to keep going, my drive will always keep me moving forward. With that in mind, no matter what we do to overcome, failure is sometimes unavoidable. No one can ever say they have been a success at everything they have done, and I for sure have not. The key is having that perseverance to get back up when knocked down, to keep attacking when punched by life and to learn from our mistakes. Take full advantage of your failures and the failures of your team mates to learn and take those results to make yourself successful the next time you accept the challenge. Never fear the outcome of your efforts, as long as you know in your soul you have given your all every time, you are persevering. Keep up the hard work team. You have it in you to be great and to do great things. You only have to believe in yourself. I believe in YOU!!!! Persevere in all you do and you will not fail. Have a great day TEAM!!!! Never Give up!!!!

9-11 Remembered

Hello Team, 12 years ago today, our Nation was struck by a devastating blow. This attack left us devastated, broken, and in shock. I remember my thoughts when I was watching this take place. How could this happen??? How could we not have seen this coming. I remember watching those images of the towers coming down, the desperation of some as they jumped knowing full well it meant death. I was just sick to my stomach, my guts in knots. As a Nation we were stunned and dazed, we could not believe we were just blind sided like this. Then came the anger. The I want payback mentality. We all wanted to know who the hell would do this to US. Who would have the gall to do this to US. So as a Nation, we vowed to avenge the senseless killing of 9=11 and we have. Thanks to the selfless sacrifice of our brave men and women in uniform, we know they are making them pay. Lord knows we need them to do what most of us cannot. As a Gulf war veteran, the job they have done and continue to do will always be sacred to me. So I want to keep this post short and sweet, I just want us to always remember the tragic loss of life that we all suffered on 9-11. Keep those families in your hearts and prayers, and Let us also keep praying for and supporting our troops as they continue to selflessly sacrifice to ensure our safety and our continued way of life. Remember, we may not always agree with our government leaders, but we must ALWAYS have support for our warriors that sacrifice, bleed, & die for us. GOD Bless you all, GOD bless the UNITED STATES of AMERICA!!!! HOOYAH!!!! Never Give up!!!!

Focus - 090313

Hello Team. I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day Holiday weekend. I know I sure did, got in some great workouts. 5K on Saturday, 5K on Sunday did not meet my 4 mile goal, the heat just beat me down, but still pleased with my 5K time, and a great WOD on Monday morning at Helotes Crossfit. The rest of my weekend was spent enjoying quality time at home relaxing with my wife. So let's talk FOCUS today. We all have those moments in our lives where we feel pulled in many directions at once. It is human nature to want to control every aspect in our lives, but we all have that breaking point of when we take on so much that some things begin to suffer. What is it for you? Does your home life suffer? Does your work suffer? Does your health and fitness suffer? What is it, at some point we all feel like we are losing control. So how do we change this? How do we take a step back and bring those things back into balance? The answer is through focusing on what is important. In this day and age of multi-tasking we are so used to keeping many tasks going at once. It is like the spinning plates acts you have seen. The down side to this is we run the risk of having so many spinning plates that we are trying to balance that we start to falter and our plates start to crash and break. We must develop and maintain focus and prioritize what is important in our lives in order to achieve success. We all set goals. Part of setting goals is to establish a checklist. This checklist is a tool to keep you on task and not only identify accomplishments, but also identify what is still needed to be accomplished. This can apply to all aspects in our lives, such as completing projects at work, or helping our children succeed in school. Your checklist should also include resources that are needed to complete your goals. For instance if you are trying to help your children in school, many of us don't remember how to do many of the math equations that are assigned in the homework, so some resources could be books for you to learn, the internet for examples or tutors for both you and your child. Resources are not just material things but people we may know that can help us in areas we are weak. These are people that we should engage and add to our TEAM. Remember, in life, there is nothing that we accomplish on our own. We are all guided at some point by someone who has accomplished the task before and in turn we provide that knowledge to assist others when they need guidance. Remember that your knowledge, guidance and focus are valuable tools to others as well, so we should all do our part to pass on our experiences through our successes and failures. All of your experience is valuable. Finally, It is important to also help your teammates maintain their focus. When you see your friends, family, coworkers and children faltering, it is our responsibility to call them out and help get them back on track. We are all accountable not only to ourselves, but to our teammates as well. So carry on, stay focused, stay motivated and as always, Never Give Up!!!