Friday, January 25, 2013

Trade Off's... You Have to Give Up to Grow Up

We are going places... Who's with us?!

Eric Hoffer said, "People will cling to an unsatisfactory way of life, rather then change in order to get something better for fear of getting something worse."

What will it take for you to get to the next level?

Vision. Yes.
Hard work. Of course!
Personal Growth. Definitely.

How about letting go of some of the things that you love and value most? Yes, and believe it or not this is the question that often holds people back even those who have achieved some level of success.

When you are first starting out in your career it is not much to give up. Why? Because your everything isn't much of anything.

But what about when you have a job that you have started to earn some things: good salary, a growing community you are apart of, a level of security, love and respect. Are you willing to give up those things for a chance at doing something that will take you closer to your potential?

Last week was the last at CrossFit 818. This was another significant tradeoff in my life. It was my second time around being apart of building a CrossFit box from Day 1. I leave with nothing but amazing memories filled with friendships that felt like I have had since childhood, a wealth of experience added, increased confidence in coaching and dealing with more individuals personalities.



Everyday was a great day at CrossFit 818. I cherished every coached class, every nutrition check in, every challenge, every weekend get together, every relationship that was built.

Over the last week I have been reminiscing of the last 22 months (688 days to be exact). And the thoughts and events that led me to our decision to leave and start over again. I can tell you it has been one of the hardest and simplest choices I have ever made in my life.

Hard because of the blood (literally), sweat and tears we put into the gym. Hard because of the deep rooted relationships and love that was build so strong and so fast. 
Simple because of those same reasons. Simple because this is not the end but only the beginning. Simple because of the opportunity and potential that is starring myself and Annie in the face.


I've always been more motivated by the possibility of success then the fear of failure.

I had to ask myself the HARD questions.

How hard with this transition be?

What will my friends think of me leaving?

What will I do if this new venture does not work out as planned?

To stay and keep going or to leave and keep growing??


The Truth About Tradeoffs. 

Life has many intersections opportunities to go up or down. At these intersections we make choices. We can add to our life, subtract from it or exchange something we have for something we don't.

The most successful people know when to do which one of these three.

Tradeoff's are available to us throughout life. Everybody makes trades throughout life. Whether they know it or not. The question is are you going to make good ones or bad one's. In general I believe unsuccessful people make bad tradeoff's, average people make few tradeoff's, successful people make good tradeoff's. I feel I have made about 5 significant tradeoff's thus far in my life. I made three of them in the last 2 years. I have come to realize that I have to be willing to making significant tradeoff's if I am going to keep striving to reach my potential.

We must learn to see tradeoff's as opportunities for growth. Nothing creates a wider gap between successful and unsuccessful then the choices we make. Too often people make life more difficult on themselves because they make bad choices at the intersections of their life or they decline to make choices because of fear but it is important to remember we don't always get what we want we always get what we choose.

When Annie and I took a long hard look at our lives we had to question ourselves on the following...

Where do we see our lives in the next year, 3 years, 5 years, 10+ years?

What do we ultimately want out of our life together?

What do we have to do to reach our FULL potential?

What are the plus's and minus's of this trade off?

In the end we had to look at each other and be willing to make the choices we need to make in order to live the life we want. The more I associate with high successful achievers the more I come to realize that the price of success can be a long hard road. You don't reap the benefits of success until you have paved the way. But to put ourselves in an opportunity to reach our full potential is worth it.

Believing in yourself, your cause, your vision and your dreams is the most empowering feeling you can have in life.

When you are faced with tradeoff's this year I encourage you to ask yourself the similar questions we had to ask ourselves. 

And GO FOR IT! Go for what you believe. Go for what you dream about! Don't let anyone or anything stop you. You are the only one that can stop you. Get out of your own way and make it happen!

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