Train For Success

Success or failure cannot be quantified by how many wins or losses your life's record book shows. Instead, I believe the measure of a man or woman's success should be dictated by how many times you showed up to play and how prepared you were going into each challenge.

In the February, 2009 edition of Men's Health, Ryan Reynolds, was quoted as saying "I don't expect success, I train for it."

His words should serve as a wake-up call to all those in the world who take life for granted and who believe we are victims of our circumstances, not victors over our circumstances.

No matter the state of life we find our self in, barring the exceptions of permanent handicaps due to someone else's negligence, we are the practitioners of our own current predicaments.

Everything we've endured, everything we're experiencing now, whether it is heartache or complete joy and freedom, has come directly from choices we made prior to our current situation.

We have a choice in every matter: to come or go, to stay or leave, to prosper or flounder, etc... And within every choice we make lies one common denominator- will I choose to walk in LOVE and prosperity or FEAR and despondency.

Everything we as humans do, every decision we make concerning anything under the sun, has at its root these common questions: Am I going to walk in LOVE or hide in FEAR? Am I going to choose to bask in greatness or blend in in mediocrity? Will I believe in my creative potential to be exceptional or listen to other's criticism of my ability to be nothing more than I am?

Some have referred to this common denominator of making decisions based out of love or fear as our "sponsoring thoughts" or our "first and unrecognizable choice"

LOVE or FEAR...

Fear comes in many forms: fear of failure, fear of success, fear of vulnerability, fear of the unknown, fear of death, fear of the "what ifs", and my personal favorite... fear of someone’s disapproval.

But for every choice made out of fear there's the opposite that's also possible, that opposite is a choice made out of love: love for success, love for the attempt, love for changing other people's minds, love of making the unknown what we want it to be, the love of living, the love for "what if I didn't do it?" and the love for personal approval and the satisfaction that comes along with being true to one's self.

Life is a lot like boxing. Punches are always being thrown your way, your back can be pinned in the corner, and sometimes you can even be outmatched. But, like any great fighter, we can choose how to train, how to prepare, how to block, and then how we want to counter to take back control of the round. The best boxers are never beaten, only knocked down for a short while; in their heart they know they're going to get back up and finish the round on their terms.

Success happens when proper training and preparation come toe-to-toe with opportunity.

Let LOVE guide your training, let positivity be the root of your preparation and trust in your God-given ability to prosper, so when the fight-night comes you're prepared, hopeful, and ready to deliver the knockout blow!

Lastly, If you find yourself taking more punches from life than you're giving, it only stands to reason that you should change how you train.

As always, let LOVE guide your steps...
Mason