Sunday, October 31, 2010

Fears

I've decided that I will start posting news updates for One Amazing Life in here as well.

I hope you had an amazing weekend.

News
I've decided to change things around a bit. The mastermind course will be postponed.
Instead I am going to offer a six week professional speaking course.
It will start Wednesday, November 10th at 7:30pm and finish on Wednesday, December 15th.
Each class will last for two hours.

For those that are not familiar with my speaking background, here is some information:
-My two year coaching certification included training in professional speaking from two professional speakers certified through the Bill Gove speech workshop. This is the best school to attend if you want to become a professional speaker.
-I have prepared and conducted numerous 1-4 hour seminars/workshops for individuals, companies, universities, etc..
-I currently teach a Presentation Skills course to Korea University's Executive MBA program.
-I also teach professional speaking/presentation skills to a VP and a CMO at two of Korea's largest companies.
-I placed first out of a field of 50 in a presentation competition done for the US Army.

Some benefits of attending this course:
-Build self confidence and greatly reduce your fear of speaking in public.
-Learn how to prepare content and connect with any audience.
-Increased leadership skills.
-Understand how to effectively deliver you message.
-Potential to get promoted in whatever field you are in.

I am also a member of Toastmasters. Toastmasters is a great way to bring your public speaking level up to a competent level and I highly encourage you to visit a meeting sometime. I am a member of KH Toastmasters here in Korea. You can check out their website here:
http://khtoastmasters.com

However, Toastmasters can only take you so far. This course takes you to a whole different level.
My normal fee for this is a minimum of 100,000 won an hour. In this case this course would normally run 1,200,000 won.
However, I want to make this as accessible as possible to everyone so the entire 12 hour course will cost only 300,000 won. That is a savings of 75%.
I am also limiting the group size to eight people.
By the way, you do not have to have any experience in public speaking to attend this course.

Here is an example of week 1:
Audience Issues
How to connect with the four different types of people found in any audience.<--This will also help you at work, in relationships, with friends, etc..
What happens if you don't connect with these people.
Examples of how to do an unscripted speech.
Each student delivers a very short unprepared speech.
etc..

If you notice almost all leaders in any organization also tend to be great speakers. It doesn't happen by accident. So if you would like to greatly enhance your professional speaking abilities send me an email here:
bob@oneamazinglife.com

Quote
"You are going to let the fear of poverty govern your life and your reward will be that you will eat, but you will not live."
-George Bernard Shaw

My Thoughts
Many times people get so caught up in fearful thinking that it paralyzes their ability to move forward and make progress. Of course there are many types of fear, but I think fear of poverty really clouds many people thinking. It keeps people working at jobs they dislike for years and years hoping that one day luck will somehow find them and they will be rich or at least doing something they like.

Fear can inhibit our ability to reason properly. For example: I have a fear of spiders. Now I know logically that a non-poisonous spider will do no harm to me. However, if a spider were crawling up my arm I would run out of the room, screaming like a little child. Of course this is a very unreasonable reaction.

The same thing happens when you have a fear of poverty, or a fear of what others may say, or a fear of failure. You actually talk yourself into staying at a job you dislike doing work that you hate for a boss you can't stand. And the funny thing is you think it's reasonable.

What do I recommend?

Stop focusing on the fear and start focusing on what you want to do. What inspires you? What are you passionate about? As Steve Jobs said back in 2008 (paraphrased) "If you were going to die today would you be doing what your about to do?".
I am not saying it's easy to follow your heart, but I guarantee you will feel more alive.

When was the last time you really felt alive?

Have a great week.

Until next time...

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Enjoy Life

Quote
"Dance as though no one is watching you; love as though you have never been hurt before, sing as though no one can hear you, live as though heaven is on earth."
-Alfred Souza

My Thoughts
You may have heard this quote before. I think it is really reminding us to enjoy life.
Sometimes we can get so caught up in our work, education, health, family, or spiritual goals that we forget to stop and enjoy life.

If you continually struggle to reach a goal without pausing to celebrate your successes along the way you will eventually get burned out. It may even lead you to despise the goal that you chose to pursue.

What do I recommend if you are feeling down and burned out?

Ideally, take at least three days off and go somewhere. Wherever makes you relaxed, go to that place and relax. I would use two of the days just to unwind. The third day I would spend time reflecting about your life. If you absolutely can't take three days, take two. If you can't take two, take one. On these days do not have work related discussions with anyone. So no email and preferably no phones.

So remember to set some time aside to relax and really enjoy everything life has to offer. Take time to celebrate your victories. Pursue your dream but remember to have fun along the way.

Until next time...

Sunday, October 17, 2010

What is Success?

Quote
"Success is the progressive realization of a worthy goal or ideal"
-Earl Nightingale

My Thoughts
I really think this quote sums up success beautifully. Success is whatever you define it as. Your definition of success may differ from someone else's definition. For some people success relates to money, for others it relates to health, and still others it may be family. It could also be keeping the many different areas of your life in balance.

For example: If you define success as being a great parent, then as long as you are doing your best at pursuing that goal then you are successful. On the other hand, maybe a business owner defines success as delivering great value to his/her customers while being able to provide for himself/herself. Perhaps he/she doesn't want children. Two different people with two different ideas of success and yet both are successful.
As long as you are holding true to your values and your definition of success then you are successful.
This is assuming of course that you are not stepping on other people to get ahead. Note the use of the word "worthy".

One other thing to remember is that success is a journey. It's not an end point. I also believe as we go through life our notion of what success is changes. As our awareness grows we tend to view the world and what is meaningful for us differently.

The question I would like to pose is do you know what is your worthy goal or ideal?
If the answer is no, don't worry. It's inside of you somewhere.
Another question you may ask is "If I absolutely knew I wouldn't fail, what would I be doing?".
The answer to that question may start to give you clues about your worthy goal or ideal.

Until next time...

Monday, October 11, 2010

Forgive Yourself

Quote
“When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.”
-Catherine Ponder

My Thoughts
Forgiving others can be very difficult at times. However, if you continue to hold on to past memories of hurt you will certainly impede any forward progress. Interestingly enough, when you forgive someone else you will find that you are really forgiving yourself.

This brings up another point. Many people also find it difficult to forgive themselves for past perceived mistakes. For example: Some people will blame themselves for years for a failed marriage/relationship. They run through the "I should of done this or that" scenario. This will plague current relationships and ultimately cause them to end.

What do I recommend if you have trouble forgiving yourself?

Acknowledge that mistakes were made, but do not dwell on those mistakes. You did the best that you could at that time. Admit that perhaps with your current perception you would have done things differently, but remember you can't go back and undo what was done. So move on and continue to live your life to the fullest.

Until next time....

Friday, October 8, 2010

5/3/1 Workout Program

I realized I haven't posted much about workouts recently.

So what has happened since January?

Well, I recovered from my pulled lower back only to find myself with a very annoying shoulder injury. I spent about seven months doing light workouts to rehab it. The great news is that the rehab worked and now my shoulder feels much better.

My weight is down a bit. It's hovering between 210-215lbs. Ideally I would like to be up around 240-245lbs and then cut back down to 215lbs. I am not sure when my schedule would allow for such a large bulk so I have decided to follow Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program.

Basically, it's a powerlifting program designed to increase your overall strength.
Why did I choose this?
Great question. First, here is a recap of my working out history:
While in the Army (1998-2003) I followed military style workouts for five years. It was basically a ton of pushups, pullups, sit ups, dips, running 3-5 miles, etc... I also trained MMA (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with some Judo and Muay Thai) for about three years.
In 2003 I started to get more into weight lifiting. I seriously started to follow a bodybuilding program in early 2005.

I tipped the scales at 133lbs in 1998 when I was 18. My peak bulk weight was 238lbs in 2008.
The reason I decided to do this is because I have never followed a strength training routine before so I am looking forward to it. I also personally know people that have gotten some serious results from this program.

Here are the essentials of the program. Ideally you workout four times a week.
The workouts are divided into Bench, Squats, Standing Military Press, Deadlift.
You can also do assistance work. I am doing the "boring but big" template.

Here is what my workout looked like today:
Wave 2 Flat Bench
Flat Barbell Bench Press: 155x3, 177x3, 200x4
Flat Barbell Bench Press: 133x10, 133x12(zoned out), 133x10, 133x10, 133x10
DB Row: 60x10, 60x10, 65x10, 65x10, 75x10
DB Curl: 35x10, 35x10, 35x10
DB Hammer Curl: 35x10

I have added in the DB curls.
So for tomorrow Squats will be up.
Saturday will be a rest day and Standing Military Press will be on Sunday.

If you are looking to switch up your routine I highly recommend this program.
For more info, check out:
http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Mistakes

Quote
“What do you first do when you learn to swim? You make mistakes, do you not? And what happens? You make other mistakes, and when you have made all the mistakes you possibly can without drowning - and some of them many times over - what do you find? That you can swim? Well - life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live!”
-Alfred Adler

My Thoughts
It's interesting that when we were young we often made many mistakes learning something new. We fell many times learning to walk and ride a bike. We didn't stay on the ground and say "Well I guess I am not meant to be a walker.", or "I am not meant to ride bikes.". Instead we got up and kept going.

Yet oftentimes as adults we feel we must do everything right the first time. It causes stress and anxiety. We will often say "I can't do that because I don't know how.".
Have you ever considered for a moment that no one has known exactly how to do something until they've done it?
Think about that for a minute.
Here are some examples:
- It was widely believed that Mt. Everest was impossible to climb until Sir Edmund Hillary reached the top in 1953. Hillary didn't know exactly how he was going to get to the summit (and actually that was his third attempt), but he made it. Since that time around 2000 people have made it to the top.
- Prior to 1954 it was thought that no human could run one mile in under four minutes. Then Roger Bannister came along and ran it in 3:59. Now the record stands at 3:43.

We could also relate this to business. Sure there are many theories on how to set up and run a successful business, but until you actually do it you don't know how.

Remember, don't be afraid of making mistakes. Two of my mentors Paul Martinelli and Bob Proctor are often fond of saying "Do it afraid.". This is what I would like to encourage you to do.

Until next time....