Simple ain't easy!

For those of you that know me, I mean really KNOW me, you know that my mantra to life over the later part of this past year has been that of “simplify”.

This decade brought many personal ups and some unfortunate downs. In the early part of this decade I went from the hopefulness of a new marriage, and the blessings of a new child. During the middle of the “oughts”, we trudged through many sleepless nights and the silent anxieties as the parents of a special needs child. Then later in the decade I fell to stark reality and the sadness of an unfortunate divorce.

I've had the opportunity and excitement of starting a new career, which lead to numerous job opportunities that have helped me in a small way, shape a community where I have toiled and lived for the last 15 years. These opportunities have allowed me to mentor (and warp) the minds of idealistic college students.

Along the way I've had to learn to do the corporate "thing", maneuver around office politics and suck up to the right people... Well 1 out of 3 “ain't” bad.

It's has been a heck of a decade so far... Yet, even with the ups and the downs, the trials and tribulations, the stress, anxiety and pure joy I wouldn't have given up the experience. I really do believe that I am blessed to be able to ride this roller coaster of opportunity and knowledge.

To say that it has been an easy ride would be foolish - but through the love and support of family and friends I have lived through it. There are times that I have loved it and other times where I have cried through it. I've banged my fist hard - yet danced all around it. For sure I know one thing and that is that I wouldn't give up any of it.

Even with some sad times, I'm still blessed to have had all of these opportunities. Without them, I wouldn't be the person that I am today. And more importantly I wouldn't have the experiences to draw upon and the perspective that I can pass along to my son.

After I finished my Masters Degree in the later part of 2007 my NEW theme was to try to keep it simple. Give myself a break - it sounded good… the problem with simple is that simple isn't easy.

When we keep it simple, we're usually left with the hard part: Doing the work! That has always been the battle for me; trying to change the lifestyle choices and behaviors that continue to allow me to make my life more challenging than it needs to be.

It's usually much easier for me to pretend like I don't know what to do, that's because what I need to do is hard.

We pretend it's complicated. It's not complicated, it's just hard.

Usually, the game is not figuring out what to do. The real game is doing what we know we have to do... Denzel Washington in a recent interview said, "Do what ya gotta do, so you can do what ya wanna do." It's a simple thought and so true.

See, if you want to make a change, you gotta want it.

You've got to want it enough to do it.

If your goal is to be fit, it doesn't take a million hours in the gym, or fancy recipes in the kitchen. If the goal is financial success it does not take endless meetings in the board rooms. It takes ACTION.

And the actions you must take, must be done in such a way, that it is going to produce the results you want.

Life is about intention and purpose. It's about overcoming challenges to produce a change. It's about fire and passion. If you want something to change in your life, that change needs to come from the core of your being. The desire for change must course through your veins, and you must toil with your sweat and even some tears. If you want a change - But most importantly it has to be relevant to your entire being.

If it's about becoming more fit - then you need to work out like you're transforming every cell of your body each and every day. People only resist doing the work because they don't connect it to the results.

Most of my clients HATE doing leg work (usually squats and lunges). But if they knew how good those exercises were to help them reach their results, they would beg (OK, beg is strong) to do them every workout. Usually, it's the basics that are the most brutal and yet most effective.

When you are eating like Jessica Biel or Kelly Ripa, you'll have a body like Jessica Biel or Kelly Ripa. If you are committed to doing the right things and then follow up by doing the right things, you WILL see results.

And the results will get addictive.It almost starts to become like a video game. If you can lose 2lbs of fat this week, you'll want to lose 2lbs again next week.

I know it sounds odd, but doing the work starts to get fun.

Getting consistent results is fun.

Trust me, from experience, fun and effective is even better than easy…

Til Next Time....