Since I just turned 40 on Friday, I figured I’d share 40 lessons I learned in 40 years. No particular order.

Just to be clear, these are my personal lessons. Hopefully they do help you. Let me know which one resonates with you the most or what you might add!
 

1. Reading is good for the soul.

2. Move every day.

3. Be present.

4. Be thankful. Tell people I love them.

5. Always give before I expect to receive.

6. Be intentional about thoughts. If not, they can go dark quickly. 

7. Do solitude.

8. Rest for a 24 hour period each week (i.e. Sabbath).

9. Go to bed and wake-up the same time every day.

10. Develop the skill of goal setting.

11. Ask for help if needed (it is). 

12. Jesus first – Ask God to direct my path each day.

13. Relationships trump all else.

14. Spend most of my time working in my unique gifts/strengths.

15. Everything matters – How you do the little things is how you do everything.

16. Save and invest a portion of all I make.

17. Have fun/laugh every day.

18. Forgive people.

19. Let go of the past and move on.

20. Be the friend and leader I would want.

21. Have a “life team.”

22. The right coach is one of the best investments you can make.

23. Nothing will beat persistence, perseverance, and consistency. 

24. Be energetic and passionate.

25. Pray.

26. Praise people.

27. Have grace for others and myself.

28. Time is the most valuable thing I have. Pretend I had to pay $10 for every minute. How would I spend it?

29. Expect to win.

30. Expect to experience problems, failures, and loss.

31. Tell and show my kids how much I love and believe in them.

32. Love my wife and be willing to lay down my life to serve her.

33. See people how they could be rather than as they are.

34. Time is fleeting – All successful people have some sense of urgency.

35. Work really hard on yourself. It’s worth it.

36. Make solitude a habit

37. Be 15 minutes early. This is a challenge for me. 

38. Never write an e-mail while emotionally charged. 

39. Be long-term minded.

40. Don’t ignore sadness, fear, and anger. It will come out one way or another.

In this video, I talk about the 2 BEST times to workout for optimization as well as strategies for success in your goals. Check it out!!

Read more about our October 2019 Fred of the Month here.

Have you heard this concept before?

Basically, it says this. When someone dies, their birth year is engraved on their tomb as well as the year of their death. The only thing separating them is a dash.

That dash represents what they did between those years. This is what matters most.

I’m at a point where when I get together with people my age, much of the talk is centered around investments, houses, and cars.

While those things are all important and certainly have their place, none of them go with us after the dash.

I’ve spent more of my life than I like to admit being concerned with things that have no real lasting value.

It’s sad that many people don’t think about purpose or significance in their lives until their later years.

We don’t get to choose how life works for us (e.g. the rules of life and our circumstances) and we don’t even get to choose being born.

How cool would it be if people started thinking and acting on this truth much sooner?

People who are merely consumed with moving up the totem pole would do much better to live life with a different mindset – one in which they commit to see those around them rise up. People that do this right realize that the impact they make will outlive them.

The perfect example of this is children. I can’t think of too many better gifts to give the world than helping to create children who go on to do great things.

I’m realizing now that how my kids treat each other is much more important than a checking account balance.

Here’s to living a life of service and creating impact that goes beyond us!

We all have had stuff happen to us.

For some reason when we go through hard times we feel alone. This is why it’s so important to have a good support team around us.

It’s so interesting how much our attitude shapes us. I know this first hand. There have been times when I played the “victim” for far too long. All that did was cause me to feel stuck.

Then there were other times where something bad happened to me and I had a good cry and moved on. I didn’t get stuck in the blame game. When I approached things that way, the “bad” thing seemed to serve more as a springboard.

I’ve worked with hundreds and hundreds of people on their physical and other transformations. I can tell you with absolute certainty that Henry Ford was right on the money.

“Whether you think you can’t or you think you can you’re right.”

-Henry Ford

Perhaps one of the following things has happened to you:

• Someone did something bad to you

• You did something bad to yourself as a result of a decision

• Something bad seemed to happen to you for no reason and seemed unfair

I hear you on all three. Nobody likes to go through any of that.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you weren’t a victim of another person’s action or poor circumstances.

What I am saying is that you don’t have to remain a victim.

You can choose some habits that will help you make some progress.

You CAN do this for your physical or any other (e.g. spiritual, relational, financial) self.

If you need support on the physical side, let me know!

I’m pretty sure whatever you’re dealing with (not to minimize it) has been overcome before and I have no doubt that you can move forward!

Stay Focused,

Billy

Summer is sadly coming to an end, now is the time to get your fitness schedule back into your routine.
Watch this video to find out the 3 things you will need!

Mark Twain said, “It isn’t what you know that hurts you; it is what you know that isn’t so.”

Faulty thinking prevents us from moving forward in all areas of our life and it’s certainly true with fitness.

One of the common forms of twisted thinking I’ve worked to overcome is “all or nothing” thinking.

Those might be thoughts like:

• I always fall off track

• I can’t stick with anything

• I never make good food choices

The key words here are always and never. Almost any sentence that starts with those words is a distorted thought. You’ll need to recognize it as such in order to correct it.

So how can we re-frame that second example?

Rather than say, “I can’t stick with anything,” you might say, “An example of something I’ve stuck with is _____________.” What things can I do to help ensure I stick with this?”

I’m sure you can see how the revised thought would be more productive.

Another form of distorted thinking is another one I know all too well. It’s calledfortune telling.

Examples of fortune telling might be:

• This won’t work

• I’ll never lose any weight

• Something will derail me

We pretend to know the future and seem to always tell the future in the negative.

To fix the first example you might say, “I’m going to stick to the plan and take it one step at a time. Everything worthwhile takes time and I accept that.”

The final example of negative thinking I want to point out is blaming.

That might look like:

• My trainer didn’t motivate me enough

• I don’t have the time

• My spouse doesn’t eat healthy so it’s impossible for me to.

To fix the second thought you might say, “If it were easy everyone would do it.” We all have the same 24 hours and I get to choose what I do. I’m going to prioritize my health because it’s something I value.

Most of what holds people back is underneath the surface. These thought patterns come from somewhere and it’s worth it to explore so you can become who you were destined to be.

I was recently conducting a training session and one of our members said something that was more powerful than even she probably realizes.

She said, “I recently had a bone density scan and even my doctor was surprised that the results were perfect.”

She went on to explain that the doctor told her he thinks her perfect results were due to the resistance training she does with us.

She was especially pleased because she’s in a phase of life where all of her friends are getting bone density scans as well.

Most of her friends, even the ones that “workout” are being diagnosed with bone density issues.

Her friends do different workouts, including pilates, yoga, and different forms of cardiovascular training.

While those forms of exercise can be very beneficial, they won’t have the same impact when it comes to bone density and even fat loss.

Needless to say, she was thrilled as she should be.

This story illustrates the importance of doing resistance training when it comes to maintaining strong and healthy bones.

This may not be overly appealing to you but if you’re over the age of 40 it should be.

By the time we reach that age, we slowly start to lose it.

Thankfully there are things we can do to prevent severe bone loss. And that’s the key.

You see low bone density (osteopenia) can lead to weak bones (osteopenia) and eventually osteoporosis. This is a point where bones become weak and fragile and can break easily.

When doing resistance training, you’ll want to choose the correct exercises and do them properly.

If you’d like some assistance here, reply with “resistance training” and we’ll set something up!