Excuses, what's yours?

Excuses are like assholes, everybody has one. I've chosen to lead an excuse-less life. Any "reason" I have for not doing something I should do or something I said I was going to do is forever and always known as an excuse in my book. Just woke up a half hour ago and want to spend my morning trying to motivate some of you to keep moving forward. I'm currently taking 6 classes in college, working 20-25 hours a week, and workout a ridiculous amount. Here's a little something crazy...

I have a log of ALL of my workouts, sets & repetitions, and how many miles I've run during that day or workout. I lift weights, heavy lifting. Turns out, since March 1st, I've worked out on 25 separate occasions and have not taken a single day off this month. Oh, I'm also trying to get STRAIGHT A's! Doing pretty well at it so far too, 7 weeks into the semester.

Why?

My father was never around in my life, he worked nights and always slept during the day. Haven't seen my mother since I was 10. My father is a drug addict and didn't graduate high school until he was 26 (he dropped out and went back to get his diploma). He was never there for me a highly neglected me as a child. He one told me "Josh, I'm the poster child of what you should not be. Don't grow up to be like me." So, I've taken a tremendous load on my plate and I'm determined to take care of as much as I possibly can, to push my self TO THE LIMIT.

In my world, there are no excuses. Only cowards use excuses in my world.

Set the bar high!

I devised a quote when I was about 16, it goes :

"You gotta do what you gotta do to get where you gotta get."

This means that you must do whatever it takes to reach the goals you set for yourself. Sometimes you have to do things against your code of ethics, sometimes you got to do things that you might not like doing, and sometimes you've got to sacrifice what you would never want to sacrifice. 

I want my life to be evaluated from how far I've come. I want to be the first person in my family to graduate from college. I want to be the first person in my family with a Bachelors degree. I want to be the first person in my family with a Masters degree. I want to do what others in my family FAILED to do, set the bar HIGH. I want my kids and grand-kids to look at me and wonder how I did it. I want them to question me, ask me for advice, and allow me to lead them through life.

If there's one thing I learned in life, a good role model can impact many lives. A bad role model can ruin many lives.

Have a great day everyone.

Equation to success!

Hey everybody.

I've been thinking lately about where I am in life and how I got here. Going from a weed smoking, over-weight, 1.81 GPA high school kid to a now 3.07 GPA, clean, and in shape man. I'm 20 years old and in a matter of the last 12 months, I've really changed things. With many lessons along the way, one of the most valuable that I've picked up is that hard work really does pay off. While everybody goes out on the weekends to go to parties, drink, and/or try to pick up girls, I'm usually at the gym, working, or doing school work.

I've made a few VERY specific goals that I'm on my way to achieving, here they are.

1. As far as weightlifting goes, keep the body fat low and enjoy lifting.
2. Graduate from a university with a business degree with a concentration in accounting with a 3.5 GPA or higher. (first person to graduate from college in my family)
3. Obtain a well paying job right after graduation or before.
4. Try and preserve my youth.

Number 4 has really been hard for me. As stated above, I'm constantly working for my goals and a social life really isn't included in them. I'm 20 years old and feel like a 25 year old, doesn't sound like it's too old but you shouldn't feel like that when you're 20 haha.

Fact of the matter, setting goals has really helped me become a more successful individual. I may have only shared 4 goals with you but I have dozens of them and meet goals on a daily basis. This keeps me motivated to continue achieving and excelling in life.

I've kind of found an equation to success...here it is:

Motivation + Hard work + Positive Mental Attitude = Success

With this combination, you can do WHATEVER you want in life. Sounds simple, but staying motivated is very hard...that's why I've created this blog. I find myself losing motivation and I use this to obtain feedback from others and hopefully I can help motivate them. Hard work is learned, the environment we've grown up in shapes our work ethic and we must sometimes have to flip it around and learn a better work ethic.

 Positive mental attitude, this one might be the hardest of all. All we see on T.V. is negativity, death, and tragedy. News stations and newspaper companies seem to be very good at outlining all of the terrible things that go on in the world. I've chosen to look at every situation with a new view. I constantly ask myself, "What do I have to complain about? Honestly? What in life is so bad that I can't reach my set goals?". I find it harder and harder to answer this question as I get older and older. We really have no excuse to reach goals. No matter how bad the situation, you can always find a positive light. A quote I've devised to get me and others through tough times:

"When life hits you hard and it's the darkest time you've seen, the light will shine brightest. Find it."

I hope at least ONE person can take from this post, I constantly spend my time writing these blogs in HOPE that I can help somebody. Please feel free to comment on this with your opinion or share it with others. I don't make any money on this blog, I just want it to reach as many people as possible. Thank you for your time, happy Wednesday!