Your Dirty 'Ass'

Don't allow the Demons of your past

  unpack their baggage at the door of your future

This is the story of an old donkey and a farmer.

One day the farmers old donkey fell into his well.

Despite repeated attempts the farmer couldn't get the old donkey out of the well.

The well was running dry, and the donkey was old,

 so he decided to fill in the well with the old donkey in it.

The surrounding townspeople came to help but still couldn't lift out the donkey and finally were resigned to helping the farmer to fill in the well with the donkey in it.

The farmer would shovel dirt in the well and the donkey would shake off the dirt

 and then step up onto it until he rose up and actually stepped out of the well.... !

You dont develop courage by being happy

in your relationships everyday.

You develop it by overcoming adversity

 by surviving difficult times

and challenging adversity every day. 

-Epicurus-

O.K. so there might be one more lesson we can learn from this 'ass' .

The donkey bit the farmer in the ass and he got an infection and died.

The first lesson is obvious shake off the dirt and rise 

the second lesson ?

If you try to 'cover your ass' it'll bite you in the but in the end.

Cleanse that Palate

There Comes A Time When You Realize

 Turning The page is the Best Feeling in the World,

Because You Realize there is so much more to 

'YOUR BOOK' 

than the Page you were Stuck On.

'adapted'

-Robb Buckland-

A common ritual in both wine tasting and fine dining is to cleanse the palate.

It is easier to appreciate all the complex and varied flavors you are sampling

if you clear one taste from your senses before attempting the next.

Change isn't easy, especially if you have a bad taste in your mouth.

Whether it's changing coaches,trainers,gyms, Dojos or training methods.

Separating from what we feel comfortable with is not easy but ...

Life is Change

Feel the Fire when she walks

Lola Montez so Beautiful

Shady and a tempered dame

Blinding your eyes with her spider dance

no words will later come

 Did the spider bite your tongue ? 

 We will surely not forget

The Lola Spider Dance

'Lola Montez'
-Volbeat-

Love , Martial Arts training and business are sooo similar.

Just like with Lola, when she's dirty & flirtatious with you it's HOT.

As soon as she's with someone else we call her a whore.

(When she was your whore it was o.k. though, RIGHT  ??)

It's a psychosis , I have it too.

In business we 'take the gloves off' !!!

What does that really mean ?

We'll say or do WHATEVER to get that deal.
That doesn't generate alot of referrals.

We leave a gym, martial arts style or instructor
 we 'knock' the other style, instructor or coaches methodologies,
Because we are hard wired to resist change.

Twisted but true.

Who is she  ??

After a separation she became a ‘shipboard liaison’.

She thought her escapades were a secret.....

But, Lola Montez was the talk of the town.

The ‘real’ story of Lola Montez was no secret.

She wasn't much of a dancer but her suggestive,

 eccentric antics excited the crowd.

My friend Jerry  ridicules me on regular basis

 on the subject of love  vs  'just gettin some'

In business, love and Fitness,

 GETTIN IT DONE ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH !

We need to aspire to inspire,
We need to have the courage to tell the truth,
The heart to face our fears
and the perseverance to never quit.

Someone I used to know said to me,

" I don't want to be just 'another'."

If you don't wanna be 'Just Another'
You've Gotta, 

Be the One, 
Do not Dwell in the past,
Do not Dream of the Future
The answer isn't in the Why
It's in Living in the Present

-Robb Buckland-

In everyones' life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.

 It is then burst into flame

 by an encounter with another human being.

 We all should be thankful for those who rekindle our spirit.

-Albert Schweitzer-

Product of Legends

We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot.

-Elanor Roosevelt-

It's said that the world was built on legends.

 And that legends are a way of understanding things greater than ourselves.

 Forces that shape our lives, events that defy explanation.

 Individuals whose lives soar to the heavens or fall to the earth.

This is how legends are born.

The Myth of Experience

People think, the more experience you have the better you'll be at something.
This is only sometimes true.

In the world of sales and marketing for example,
 it's easy to find people with twenty or more years of experience.
What if they have two decades of experience but only one of learning ?

I see this at martial arts camps all the time. 
Joe Lewis would often voice his disappointment to me
 about different practitioners who were like this.
On their resumes though, show they have alot of experience !

Some times the teacher, 
always the student


Many people go through their careers and lives doing the same thing the same way.
The people who get ahead are the innovators, trail blazers. 
Not, imitators who get by with repeating the old ways of doing things.   

Take responsibility for change within yourself, and your life.
If you fail, try harder in NEW WAYS.
When unforseen circumstances come into play,
embrace them and try something else.

You don't need more experience ........

You're ready NOW  !!

What you need is more COURAGE !!

A Matter of Perspective

If you don't design your own life plan,

  you'll probably fall into someone else's plan.

 And guess what they have planned for you?  

  Not much.

-Jim Rohn- 

 

 

(A letter home from an Aussie soldier)

 

 

Dear Mum & Dad,

I am well. Hope youse are  too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that the Army is better than  workin' on the farm - tell them to get in bloody quick smart before the  jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because  ya don't hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz  all ya gotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and  clean ya uniform. No bloody cows to milk, no calves to feed, no feed to  stack - nothin'!! Ya haz gotta shower though, but its not so bad, coz  there's lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing! 

At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo  steaks or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again until  noon and by that time all the city boys are buggered because we've been  on a 'route march' - geez its only just like walking to the windmill in  the back paddock!!

This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil  with laughter. I keep getting medals for shootin' - dunno why. The  bullseye is as big as a bloody possum's bum and it don't move and it's  not firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull  got into their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is  make yourself comfortable and hit the target - it's a piece of piss!!  You don't even load your own cartridges, they comes in little boxes, and  ya don't have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting  truck when you reload!

  

 

Some times ya gotta wrestle  with the city boys and I gotta be real careful coz they break easy -  it's not like fighting with Doug and Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve  and Muzza all at once like we do at home after the muster.
Turns out  I'm not a bad boxer either and it looks like I'm the best the platoon's  got, and I've only been beaten by this one bloke from the Engineers -  he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles across the shoulders  and as ya know I'm only 5 foot 7 and eight stone wringin' wet, but I  fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the boozer.

I  can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before  word gets around how bloody good it is.

Your loving  daughter,

Sheila

This letter made me laugh ,

 but also made me realize ....the women of Team Fearless have more

Courage, Commitment, and Consistency

 in training than any two of the men !!

 

 You must look within for value,

 but must look beyond for perspective.

-Denis Waitley-

A Question of Influence

Funny this started of as a story about Memorial Day and reflection..... 

If we miss certain events in our lives

 we were meant to experience

what happened instead..

-Dan Pachtman-

 Patriotism consists not in waving the flag,

 but in striving that our country shall be righteous

 as well as strong
-James Bryce-

Of the people, by the people, for the people.... starts with people.

The truest path to a strong collective is to strengthen the components.

So what does being a strong and confident individual mean ?

How do I achieve it ?

 

Lesson one you could take from my dogs Spiff and Meeka as I do.

Every day they are happy to eat, drink water and play in the sunshine.

 I think some times we get so wrapped up in our 'plan' or our schedule

that we forget the simple joy that is our life.

I don't mean become complacent and submissive......

I mean celebrate the simple things.

Lesson two comes from a little girl .

 

 She was acting in a local stage production.

She was to sing and also had several lines in the play,

 and had rehearsed tirelessly for months.

As opening night grew closer her speaking parts were taken from her

The lines were distributed among 'the older kids'.

When I  complimented her on her performance she told me about how

'local theater politics'  had caused her lines to be redistributed,

she said,

"If  I keep practicing I'll get the lines next time."

I was so proud of this little girl !!!!

I sure didn't have that confidence and perseverance at that age.

As a salesperson , teacher and a martial artist I watch people quit every day.

The first step to overcoming adversity is not to personalize it.

Peoples objections to your performance, your words or you personally;

 has to do with the noise in their own heads not with what's really going on..

A great leader sees things as they truly are, not worse.....

 then inspire others to do the same.

 

Transforming vision into reality requires strategic,

 incremental change to achieve radical results.

 

The Anatomy of Courage

A coach must be able to help a student to believe in oneself.

 He must build self-esteem before confidence can surface.
 

 Self-esteem gives rise to self-confidence;

 not the other way around.

 A coach must understand this process to develop a student’s
 level of consciousness.
 

 Consciousness is one’s ultimate survival tool in a real altercation,

 not some technique or style of martial arts.
 

 For a fighter,
 the authority of one’s will is their ultimate attribute.

 

-Joe Lewis-
 

Vicky Soto,

A non-trained woman of exceptional courage

gave her life that others may live.

Her selfless act should be a cornerstone on all our lives.

 

So many people with the will and strength to survive being overcome by violence engage in and lose a fight for their lives  because they're out-massed, out-gunned and untrained. 

 

 Try to stop a moving car by getting in front of it instead of turning off the ignition.

Seeing a person as a machine—and then shutting it off—goes against everything we are and love.

It is a failure of our humanity and our society.

All of us wish we could have been at the verge a of disaster with a firearm,

 or at least armed with knowledge and skill and in the right place at the right time.

 

    Practice means that when it matters most it won’t be the first time you’ve done it, but the 101st.

That fantasy of making a difference is made real by preparation.

The worst time to be reminded that you meant to learn CPR,

is when someone is having a heart attack right in front of you.

 

  There is no beast within you waiting to be unleashed as your window of existence begins to close.

  You will only have what you brought with you.

 

Right now.......

You know how to run and you know how to hide. 

 

.

This is why I teach and train.
 

 I can’t be with you every moment of every day. 

 But the information, the knowledge can. .

Blinded by our Passion

 

In our desperation not to face our challenges
 we tend to hide behind people and things

 all the while knowing
 it's much easier to face them head on
 than to run and hide.

We were given hearts to love and be loved,

 sometimes they break.

 

Over time they mend,

the way to mend a broken heart is to love more than ever.

There are people who touch our lives trying to break us down,

but everyone who touches our lives is a teacher.

Trust, like respect is earned not just given.

 The road back to trust and respect is not an easy one.

 It is paved by taking chances, letting someone in,

 giving them a chance to love the hurt away

and reignite our passion.

Some will hurt or disappoint us anyway.

We need the courage to persevere, 

taking every chance to find our passion.

One day someone or something will touch our life,

 inspiring us with their willingness to give us more love,

 more passion than we ever thought we had to give in return.

-Denise Lora Webster Davis-

 ('Sissy') holding her daddy Joe Lewis' hand as he died. 

 

Our passion is sometimes 'birthed' in tragedy.

 

People are always blaming their circumstances,

for what they are.

 

 I don’t believe in circumstances.

 

The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want,

and if they can’t find them, make them.

 

 ~George Bernard Shaw-

 

Find mentors and get advice when pursuing your dreams.

Mentors and pain birth your dreams.
-Dr Mike Murdock-

 Don’t place too much value on family and friends advice.
 Though  well intentioned they're
 advice is more often than not.....wrong for you. 

Draw the line with friends or with an ex
 who's too emotionally needy.

 Professional/personal setbacks feel like the end of the world.
 They don't mean you’ve failed.

 It  means you’re forging a new path.

Joe Lewis said,

 We need to sense whether we've  been motivated by fear

or by confidence.

 One will lead you to being the martial artist you admire,

 the other will lead you to avoid challenges

 by allowing you to continue to hide in fear of being exposed.

 

Feelings are the keys to our motivation and our desires.

 Our spirit is our energy and our pathway.

 Our mentors and/or instructors are our guides and our escorts.

 

 

 

 

 

Heffalumps Revisited....

Some story's just beg for a sequel.........

(in case you missed part one)


http://fearsltd.blogspot.com/2012/08/heffalumps-and-woozles.html

 

Is it REALLY our failure as a coach when a client quits,

loses there passion

 and let's their (BB&T) grow out of control ? 

It is never too late to be
 who you might have been.
 -George Eliot -



Excuses are like body parts: some stink, some don't.

We all have the same number of hours in each day.

 We all have the potential to use them to do what we want.



I've returned to Maine to fulfill my responsibility
 to my students, my clients and to Team Fearless.

A former client,
 who had suffered signifigant weight gain since quitting training pulled in at a gas station,
recognized my vehicle, saw me, u-turned and sped off.

Fear of judgment and negative body image are not an easy burden to bear.

 You're not disappointing me.....

The only person you let down when you fail at fitness...
is YOU !
True courage and self esteem don't come from first time successes but from failing or falling and getting back up and never , never , never quitting !

Running from the mirror and hiding from the world behind your sunglasses and keyboard will not solve your problems.

Don't Fear the Mirror

What we can do is decide that our dreams are important

 and then leverage our passion to honor them.

It may be that the satisfaction I need depends on my going away,
 so that when I've gone and come back,
I'll find it at home.
-Rumi-

 Following the death of my mentor and friend Joe Lewis,
I returned from Ft Lauderdale, Florida
to reestablish my Fearless Fitness / Martial Arts
Northeast Training Centers.

One cannot avoid problems in this life.

 No sooner is one resolved, than another one presents itself.

The solution is not found by focusing on the problem!

 Focus on the desired outcome.

The Solution

As a trainer, you must count rep speed for your clients.

Varied rep speed creates muscle confusion
 and better results.

To trigger muscle building and lose fat,

use a greater time under tension.

 To increase strength and target the central nervous system,

use explosive motion  (less than 20 seconds under tension.)

That's the Body,
Now the Mind and the Spirit...

Calmly and consciously,
give yourself the opportunity to express what needs to be expressed without hiding or holding back.

It’s scary sometimes.
 Take lots of deep breaths!
When we share our thoughts and feelings,
whether it's negative body image, fear, hate or jealousy,
 we experience a sense of,

“Clarity and Self Love"

"Legends are Forever."

Joe has gone in search of the yellow moon,
 

in search for his relatives, their daughters and their sons,

gone to the land where buffalos graze in clover fields
 without the sound of guns,
 

where the red sun sinks in the mountains filled with gold,

 

peace for this warrior is where the healing waters flow,
 

the time has come to unstring your bow.

 

Rest in Peace

 

-Jim Maloney-

 

 Since August 31st, my daughter Alli has sent me a daily text reminding me that

 'Legends are Forever'

 and that my friend and mentor Joe Lewis would live on through me. This message was echoed at the 'Memorial' and the 'Memorial Workout' that preceded the full military funeral in North Carolina.

Joe Lewis was laid to rest in Knightdale, N.C. last Saturday, ending a journey that took him around the world and back to North Carolina, one punch, one kick, one knockout at a time.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/09/08/2325681/decock-the-knightdale-man-who.html#storylink=cp

"Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love."

-1 Corinthians 16:13-

A hundred years from now
 it will not matter what degree Black belt I was,

the number of World titles I had won,
or how much money my martial arts school had grossed…

 But that the world may be different because I was important in the life of a student…
 What you put into the lives of others comes back into your own.

- Joe Lewis -

Whenever we think of success in Martial Arts, sports, entertainment or sales we tend to think of the stars in the spotlight. However, behind every great athlete is a great coach.

 

What I find to be the hardest thing about doing martial arts is giving up on trying to be the greatest and to simply begin working on just being yourself. Being yourself is what makes one great. The main purpose of being a good Martial Artist is sharing w/others the things you have acquired yourself and to achieve a sense of accomplishment.

 - Joe Lewis -


Joe Lewis taught us that we are worthy of receiving or achieving anything we can imagine.
We are only handcuffed by our willingness to allow success.

Take the brakes off your thinking and your imagination,
believe that everything you can imagine is possible.

 'My Joe Lewis Experience' is like peeling an onion.
 Each day as I peel back another layer,
I will uncover another lesson and probably shed some tears.

I will not let you down Joe Lewis,
 I will

 "Aspire to Inspire "

 

Aspire to Inspire

I believe life is constantly testing our level of commitment.  Life's greatest rewards are reserved for those who demonstrate a never-ending commitment to act until they achieve.

This level of resolve can move mountains

 but it must be constant and consistent.

 As simplistic as this may sound, it is still the common denominator separating those who

 live their dreams from those who live in regret.

- Anthony Robbins -

A professional is dedicated to a career regardless of the field.
It’s the opposite of an amateur.

I have been a professional Martial artist since the mid 80's.
 The biggest step was committing to being a lifelong student.

 In sales situations and in life,

 the way you present yourself plays a big role.

In your training and in your life a professional approach is a must.

No one aspires to be a professional at breaking up but handling it like a pro sure helps if you’re struggling to get over a breakup.

 Negative triggers will keep you stuck.

Both
 looking at old pictures
 and talking to mutual friends are anchors to the past.

 Plan to avoid these triggers.

Lets face it diets suck !

If you’re having a hard time changing your diet,

  steps in the direction of diet perfection are to avoid having the wrong foods in the house and portion control in a resturant.

Water over diet soda is another wise choice.

Studies also show that diet soda actually sabotages your diet !

Joe Lewis taught me that many martial art styles practiced today lack a structured philosophical base. This is why the majority of those involved in the arts will eventually resign from any lasting, active participation. It's unfair to call them “quitters” because in the sacred core of their spirit, they never really started.

 

They were motivated to start but not inspired to continue.