But I'm too tired to work out! I'm on vacation!!

There I was... traveling on vacation and no destination in sight. The road is starting to get blurry and all I can think about is how good that bed is going to feel when I get there. The more I thought about the palm trees, pools, and fresh seafood. The more I felt like going to sleep at that steering wheel. I had to pull over and get some rest. I tried to get comfortable and I just couldn't get it right in the van. The kids were whiny and the highway food we packed was on empty. I wanted to drink more water, but that would make me stop more and prolong the trip. 

Then. Alas!!! I made it almost 12 hours later! Then we had to check in, get our food, and then the many trips back and forth to get all of the bags in. So this meant that I would need to help get the kids settled, fed, and then finally rest. Right? Wrong! 

Anyone will tell you that to promote energy you need to get moving. I have never been in a car when the heat or air conditioning worked best sitting still. Your body works the same way. Yes I was extremely exhausted and hungry. That's where your mind needs to be counter cultural. Meaning, get out of the leisure mindset. So what did I do? I did what I had to do and hit the gym! After all of the driving, unpacking, and a little fluid. I hit the gym! Was it a long workout? No! It was an effective one. I ran 20 minutes on the hotel treadmill on a very high incline....very fast. Until I couldn't take it anymore. The high intensity took me to sweating in about 7 minutes. Most workouts will take me 15 minutes just to warm up. But, I was on a time schedule to meet family so I squeezed it in. 

The feeling after was complete rejuvenation! I felt like a brand new man and I was ready for 11 more hours of family fun. I felt accomplished so psychologically I was hyped like no other. We went on boats, saw dolphins, and I felt like a responsible adult of taking care of myself. Heck, I even went and raced my teenage son in the pool a few times before bed. 

Here are the benefits:

1. Extra energy

2. A Psychological Boost

3. A great time with family of me being actively involved and not cranky

4. QUALITY SLEEP: Never underestimate how exercise will give you quality sleep. Not just lying in bed rolling for eight hours. But, being out cold for 4 hours will give you all of the energy you need for the next day. The fountain of youth is upon us!

Check out this informative study here.  #TNDO

What is your movie?

I have always been a bigger proponent of struggle. Not struggling just for the sake of struggle. But, to struggle with progress. I often think back to times growing up and seeing how hard the necessary resources were hard to come by. There was always some sort of sacrifice and that really bothered me. I would always ask the question. Why are we always struggling? Shouldn't some of these things come easy. It looks like everyone is succeeding except us!

There was a woman who I went to visit in the hospital one day who told me. "No test, no testimony." Without any struggle there was no progress. There could have been many things that could have transpired to make things easier at the time. But, I would have just become weaker as time progressed.

I often thought about the movies that I liked...they had some struggle included in all of them. There was a hill to climb and there was victory at the end. Life is mandated to have conflict. There needs to be an element to the story that requires us to have some sort of hurdle to clear. I often wondered if people were to see my movie; what would it be like?

I don't think our movie is designed for us to have a silver spoon in our mouths and then go on being that stagnant throughout the rest of life. I want my movie to look like there is something impossible to overcome. I want to see a movie where I would have to live in a dumpster for awhile, eat some food from scraps thrown away, and have people look down on me for a time period. Then, I would want to climb from the bottom and have people inspired to hear and never get tired of my story. I've been homeless. I've washed paper plates in my apartment. I've had ketchup and syrup sandwiches. Those are stories that I keep near and dear to me as I grew up in my early 20's. They were like hell, but I could smile through them. Why? Because I made up in my mind early that I wouldn't stay that way. And I made sure of it! Now that's a movie that I believe anyone would pay money to see. You have a mission. And it might just be to inspire others. The weekend is here and this is where the normal will be celebrated with leisure and drinks. But, there will be those who will make it a work day and keep grinding. Keep pounding.

For those of you that can't wake at 4:30 in the morning.

I find a lot of people don't like to wake up at 4:30 in the morning. But, I believe it sucks. And it should suck. On the flipside of that. I never ran into anyone that was successful because something was easy. The easy thing is clocking in and having someone else tell you what to do on a daily basis. I can't stand having a boss. And whenever I did have a boss...I was taking the initiative of taking MY priorities of work to him/her and there would be no reason for them to be on my back, because I am mission oriented. I have goals, sub-goals, and time hacks.

4:30 when you think about it is just around mid morning. 6AM to be exact. I can remember I used to work in manufacturing and I would get there at 4:30 in the morning. Why? Because, I was the supervisor and there was no way in the world that I would let any of my subordinates tell me where pieces were at and where we were on the production schedule. The normal time to come in was 6:30 and from there the first break was at 9am. There was no way that I would be worth a grain of dirt in production meetings if I didn't have enough information on where pieces were; the status of those scheduled to ship; and how many pieces I got out the door. There was just no way in the world. I was embarrassed in a meeting ONCE. And that's all it took for me to start waking up early.

What I found was astonishing. I was getting to work faster, because there was no traffic. I could walk around the facility at will due to me being one of the few there. My actually work day would be shorter, because I did all of the dirty work early. So I could cruise for the remainder of the day.

The amount of work that I could get done with it being quiet is second to none. I would guarantee that anyone who ever hit the gym early or on a Friday night to explain their experience. It's empty and the quality of work to get done is exponential. There is no way that anyone who has the gym to themselves not have enough time to get the work in. If it's 4 in the afternoon the gym starts to get crowded. And when it's crowded. It backs you up and you have to wait for others to finish sets, etc. That's annoying to me. When my heart rate is pumping I don't want to have a downer by trying to rejuvenate my heart rate.

This method to life works exceptionally well if you are someone who has children. I found that I could never get anything done after 8am. I would have to wait until late night to do entrepreneurial work and then go to work tired as all get out. That didn't last long. And neither will you if you try to go full force everyday. It's just that simple.

Part of the trick is to get to bed early. Taking sleeping pills if you have to. But, get the cycle started now. Forget the fun stuff. You've already done all of that. There is no more time to be wasted. It's time to be a producer and not a consumer. Stop the Netflix and Hulu binging. Save that for days you are breaking. Which shouldn't be anymore than 1 or 2 days a week. Max. Why watch people make money when you could be making it? I never understood that. I know people that have worked numerous hours just to spend it to watch someone else work. With DVR and the social media sites there is no reason that anyone can be out of the loop on what's going on. If you are not ready to kick entertainment to the side. Then, you are not ready. Go with the regular people and make regular money. Check out my friends here on this clip and see what they have to say.

Exercising Your Mind

Happy Sunday and I know it’s late, but I just finished reading an amazing book about the Comanche warrior Quanah; in Empire of the Summer Moon. There are really some great books out there that need to be read and I can’t even remember how I came across this one. I’m pretty sure that it was the cover. It had a picture of a Comanche warrior that looked like he was ready to kill and take over any white men that wanted to step to his tribe. I read this thing in a week and leisurely reading for me that is fast! I usually leave all of my intense reading back to my days in grad school, but this was definitely grad school reading material. Not only could it have been a history text book on the American West it also told a great story that kept me interested.

So Ahmad, what the hell does this have to do with me? Well, I’m glad you asked! Most days are spent watching television by most Americans and all we ever do is listen to cable news or sports stations babble about how in some crazy way they are an expert on the government shutdown or the next Super Bowl winner. In other words, they exercise their minds to twist some angle to justify their stupidity of consciousness. They crazy thing is we watch it everyday! Yes we are all suckers for the same thing and the producers know it. It’s our crack!

With this knowledge I took the opportunity to do something new this final quarter of the year. I plan on reading 50 books. Not just some comics, but 50 real books. As a writer it is a rule of thumb that we all read four to five times more than we write in order to stay sharp. And it works! Reading just makes you smarter. It stirs creativity, expands vocabulary, and creates new ways of wanting to live. I can’t explain the feeling of turning on the Easy Listening station on Pandora and sitting back with a great book to read. It really does slow down the rest of the world and really makes you feel a sense of accomplishment once completed. How much better can life get? So the next book I have on the list is The Red Rooster by Michael Wallace. Nothing like a great thriller novel to read.

But all in all, get your brain turned up. We only get one and it’s one of the best ways to keep yourself sharp into your older years. Happy Reading and see you next Monday.