photoSo around the end of August 2013 I decided to do something crazy that I thought I would never do.

You see ever since I as a kid my dream has been to become a strength coach and run my own gym and fitness blog.

My plan was to go to college study Exercises Science, get my bachelors, and then take the CSCS cert (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist). This cert is one of, if not the best certification you can get to label yourself as a strength coach.

Ever since I knew what I wanted to do in life, my goal was to have those four letter after my name.

Well this past summer (2013) my whole life plan changed. At the beginning of the summer I set out a goal; my goal was to create my blog – design it and have it ready by the end of the summer to just start writing once I started school (which was either going to be Rutgers U or Temple U).

Well that’s exactly what I did; what happened next was never part of my plan.

Towards the end of August I had a deep deep desire to concentrate wholeheartedly on my blog. I felt that school at the moment was going to get in the way of my writing for the blog, which was working towards my goal of running my own fitness blog. Something that I had only dreamt of as kid.

The motivation and desire was so real that I decided to not go to school, save money, and be a self-taught entrepreneur and strength coach. I decided that instead of paying someone else to teach me what they’ve learned from reading and applying; I was going to read and apply what I’ve learned from the books I read.

I decided to learn the old fashion way – I set a goal to read 3 books a month, start going to seminars, and getting more certifications. This way I learn what I WANT to learn and I can start applying it to myself and clients.

This was one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make and to be completely honest I was scared shitless.

I thought about all the bad things that could happen; never becoming a strength coach, getting a 9-5 job because I didn’t have a degree, struggling to pay the bills when I have a family to take care of.

All these worries rushing through my head didn’t really help the situation because another part of me was telling me something completely different. I had a gut feeling that everything was going to be ok but this gut feeling was so intense that it made my worries about the situation completely go away.

I had moments where I would think of all the bad things that could go grow and then in an instant my heart told me not to worry and the feeling of anxiety and nervousness went away.

Luckily I had all the support I could of asked for.

My parents had my back and told me they trusted me enough to know that I would make the right decision. My grams was the same way.

I even spoke with Neal the PT manager at my gym (we’re homies so I trust his judgement).

He was on board as well. He knew I would make the right decision and no matter what I’d be ok.

So you see I had all the support I needed, which made it much easier for me to decide the toughest decision I’ve had thus far.

It’s been 5 months since I started my journey and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love my life; I’m not stressed from shit loads of homework, I’m not burying myself in debt, and most importantly I’m living the life I want.

This has actually been the best decision in my life and I’ve learned a lot from it.

5 things I’ve learned throughout my journey (so far)

1. Don’t be afraid – just do the damn thing

So this one’s pretty much self-explanatory; If I was afraid to drop out of school to follow what I really love, then I would never be in the state I’m in now.

Too many people in this world are too afraid of taking action.

Maybe it’s the consequences that scare them

Maybe it’s because they have no support.

Whatever the reason may be, fear is imaginary, fear is put into place when YOU think about it.

[quote type=”medium” align=”center”] The fear is simply because your not living with life, you’re living in your mind. Your fear is always about what’s going to happen next. That means your fear is always about that which does not exist. If your fear is about the non existent. Your fear is 100 percent imaginary. [/quote]                                                                                                              – Sadhguru

The way I look at it is – you only have one life. If you live it safely and never take risks because you’re to afraid; that life is wasted.

You’re not living, you’re just being.

2. Trust Yourself

This goes hand in hand with number one.

If you don’t trust yourself and your own judgment’s toward situations. Then you have a big problem in your hands.

Trust, especially in yourself is huge if you want to live life to the fullest.

If I didn’t trust myself I know I wouldn’t be writing this post right now. I’d probably be in school, stressed from the workload, fat and unhealthy from the food they serve at school, and most likely very unhappy.

I cant have that shit and neither should you. Which leads me to number 3

3. Happiness is Everything

To me happiness is everything.

Training and helping people become healthier makes me happy.

That’s why I decided to make it my profession.

If you’re not basing your decisions off of your happiness you need to stop that shit. It’s not worth it. You can have all the money, cars, houses, love in the world but if it doesn’t make you truly happy then you might as well have nothing.

If you’re not happy do something about it. You have the choice to either be happy or be miserable. And that’s where people go wrong.

They don’t understand that happiness is a choice – A state of being

And what gets you to that state are your choices.

So remember always base your decisions off of your happiness.

4. Break The Rules

Ok, so to get one thing straight, I’m no bad boy.

I take risks and break rules to an extent. This journey is probably the most serious rule I’ve ever broken.

Going against the norm and not following what society says is politically correct is a great feeling. Knowing that I have full control of my future and that I’m not going to owe anyone $100,000 in 4 years is also a major plus.

Breaking the rules is important if you want to be successful.

Nowadays everyone is doing the same thing, no matter what industry you’re in. If you want to be unique and successful in your industry, break the rules.

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5. Creativity will take you places

As we grow older our inner child leaves us, taking creativity with it.

I’m not an adult with a family or huge business yet but I know for damn sure that when I am an adult with a family and a huge business, my inner child will be with me through it all.

Why you ask?

Well simple. No one likes a boring person and I feel as people age and get older they become more serious and less happy.

In my experience the most fun people I get to talk to and interact with are also the most creative. Being successful in life and in your business is all about networking and being different in the market place.

You have to do things others don’t do; if you want to achieve things others can’t.

If you’re creative you’re already a step ahead of the game. If you’re not you might be wondering – How the hell do I become creative? 

I’ll admit when I first started this endeavor my creative juices weren’t flowing. This made it hard to keep moving forward with growing my blog. I couldn’t think of creative ways that would make me stand out from the crowd.

So I started to do childish things; I started to color, draw more, play more, sing more, dance more, and even laugh more, I did anything that kept my inner child happy and I’m glad I did.

I started living more in the moment. I wasn’t worrying about the future or thinking about the past.

I was having fun – and in the process I started coming up with really awesome ideas, not just ideas to help grow my business but ideas in all aspects of my life; for example, ideas on how to make my workouts more effective, ideas on how to spice up my meals, and even ideas on  how I want my gym to look like when I open it.

Everything I have done to become more creative is weird for most people, but that’s why most people aren’t successful.

Remember you have to do things others wont, to achieve things others can’t

Talk to you later,

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