Winning: A How to Guide for 2017

Before Nationals, we were told we could choose the music we wanted to lift to. At first, I hated this task and thought I would just not do it and let play whatever was playing. But I couldn't do that. I knew I'd have FOMO the moment the meet started and everyone else had cool music. So I come up with a playlist, and I was actually really proud of myself for doing it! I'm not a music person, so this was outside my comfort zone. The song that was to play on my second attempt deadlift, the lift that I had planned to put first place out of reach for anyone else was "All I Do Is Win" by Dj Khaled. Now I was having some fun with this but because the song was stuck in my head for the weeks leading up to the meet, I found myself saying it all the time. If I had a meeting at work, before I left the office, people would say good luck, I would say "all I do is win", so you get the idea. It has since been stuck in my head and taken on quite a few different meanings.

Fast forward to after actually winning the meet, all of my family and friends, there's all this buzz and chatter about going to world's and sponsorships, etc. So for a brief moment I get into it, I try to post more, hashtag more, build more of following, send some e-mails, you know important things. Obviously nothing much has come of it as far as a sponsorship goes, not to say it won't or that I've completely given up, but for now, that's where it stands.

The other night with my family, they are asking about sponsorship and make comments like "seems like it would be easy to get a sponsor, just tell them what you've done". That's when it hit me.

I have a small following (and I'm grateful for that), but compared to other athletes that may or may not rank as highly as I do, I'm really just a tiny little fish. I don't train or write programs for other lifters, I don't buy a ton of products or apparel, I'm not all that interactive with other lifters on the internet; I don't schmooze or network. It's just not my bag. I'm really just fine with that.

So I say to my family:

It's not that easy, I don't have much to offer companies. All I do is win.

The good news is I love winning and I love lifting and I love competing and I love getting better and I love my team and my people and love getting to be a part of them getting better. And that's enough for me.

So let's get to the point. What is winning? What do you define as winning? Winning is everything. You can decide that you are going to win anything and everything. Is winning just being number one? Is winning just beating your competitors? Is winning just having the most at the end of the day? Hell no. At least not how I define it.

Winning is taking the little idea that pops into your head and seeing it through. Winning is taking action NOW and not waiting until Monday or the first of the year. Winning is coming up with a plan and working the plan. Winning is NOT beating yourself up when you get off track or miss a rep or have a shitty session or shitty day at work. Winning is leaving all that behind and getting right back on the fucking horse. That's how you win.

Let me break it down for you.

1) Come up with a goal. I know you've thought of one.

2) Now, take it from your brain to real life.

3) MAKE A PLAN, MAKE A PLAN, MAKE A PLAN

4) Write that shit down. Get specific. Include dates.

5) Take action. NOW.
Do not get stuck in the waiting place. The waiting place is a graveyard for losers and ideas that never became anything more than an idea. The waiting place is for quitters. That's not you. You are a winner and the time to win is now.

6) Beware of the feelings.
You will have feelings and they will fall within the range of fear. Self  doubt, failure, not good enough, like you've ruined it, like you suck, like you don't belong, like everyone is better than you. You will have days that you don't have feelings of motivation. Take those feelings and stomp them into the ground. Then stand on top of them as you do the things that you've you planned out to reach your goal despite your sweet little insignificant feelings. Repeat. Do that until you're standing on top of the goal you set.

7) Ignore everyone.
All of your well meaning friends and family (bless them) will question you. All of their little feelings (fear) will come out when they ask you about how it's going and what you're doing to get there. Ignore them. You can teach them how to win by ignoring them and chipping away at your goal.

8) Roll with the punches.
Things will happen. Things won't go exactly as planned. That's ok. It's 100% normal. What's not normal is making the adjustment and sticking to plan. Normal is quitting. Normal is the ever elusive "starting from a clean slate" which is usually the following Monday after a binge of not winning, which turns into the eternal restart.  You're not normal anymore. That alone will put you into the winning category.

9) Do not give one single shit about failing
Failing is absolutely not the worst that thing that can happen. If you follow steps 1-8, failing is not the end. It's only the beginning. The experience of getting after a goal and taking an idea from your mind to real life, that's fucking winning. It's way more bad ass to see someone fail, time after time and their spirit not be broken than to watch someone live some mediocre life and not even scratch the surface of what they are truly capable of.

10) Believe
You must believe in yourself. It is often our own minds that are the hardest to tame. It is hard to think of yourself as doing something great, as being great. It is more difficult to truly let your mind go free and believe that you can accomplish these seemingly far fetched goals. Train your mind to get rid of toxic thoughts of doubt and fear. You already believe that it exists within you because you thought of it on step one, everything else is bullshit.

Can I coin the term "fearlings"? Seriously, fearlings are the grim reaper of the greatness that lies within you and you must defeat them. Every time you defeat them, you win.

So if you follow me and see the hashtag, #allidoiswin, you know my secret. It doesn't necessarily mean that I can not be defeated via competitive powerlifting, I can, and I will be, it's inevitable. It's just not enough to stop me from winning. Winning is choice. I will choose winning every time. Will you?

#allidoiswin #poweryourown