The two most powerful words spoken each morning as I wake up. “I will”….be a champion. I recently just found the quote below, and turned it into a mantra that I am saying every single day…multiple times a day. It puts my mind in the right place, and it reminds me that no matter what is happening right now, it effect, it’s really doesn’t matter. Because I know where I am going, I know who I am. I don’t need to tell people that I am real or that I am this or that, because I know it in my heart. And for me, that is all that matters. I went to this interesting party the other night as a wingman for a friend, and just about everyone was talking about themselves there…it made me pretty uncomfortable. It wasn’t that humble talk either, it was “I am the best thing that has ever happened to the world” talk. I hate that. I would rather let my actions prove exactly what I am…because that is truly all that matters right? Let your game speak.

It is important to know exactly where your limits are. Why? So you know exactly what to do to destroy them. If you are aware of where the boundaries are, then you can create a plan to get over the barrier. It really is not that hard of a concept. The problem occurs when we do not push ourselves as hard as possible. Then, when the time comes…you are unsure of what you can and can’t do. I like to call this the “breaking point” in the gym. When not only the muscle is completely worn down…but my mind is also out. I have been focusing on learning when this is true for me over the past few weeks. Getting completely in touch with where I am mentally, even when I have 400lbs on my back.

It happens to me sometimes where that ego starts to creep in when I am around other people in the gym. When it happens, I have to stop what I am doing. It isn’t about comparing yourself to others, its about comparing yourself, against yourself. No one else matters in the gym except for you. Because if you go to battle in there, you will be ready for battle out in the real world. That’s why I lift. I don’t lift for a 6 pack, for  18 inch arms, for the # of lbs I can put on a bench. I lift because I know that each and every day when I open that gym door, I am in a battle that will teach me how to battle out in the real world. Focus, Determination through Pain, Defying my Limitations.

I get in my head every single day. What is going on in there? Whats bugging you? What still hurts? What is making you happy. Of course, there are things in life that you have to decide to let go, and then there are those things that you realize you have to fight for. The problem is that we sometimes mix up these two ideas and make them one. “Things that you can’t change, accept them. If you can’t accept it, change it.” There are a few things that I have come to accept them as the way it is going to be, and let it go. Let it drift into the wind…and off my shoulders.

I love this. And maybe it will help some understand me a little bit better. I do go the extra mile for people. Doesn’t matter what. Apologies, acts of kindness, friendship, relationships…the list goes on. But I have come to accept that this may be misinterpreted by many. That there may be some sort of underlying motivation or plan behind the action. I don’t wear that. I put that on all of those out there who have been insincere and given those I care about the idea that this could even be the case with me. What I have decided, is that only time will show you the truth. Because people can only pretend for so long. But I am not pretending. It’s who I am. And no matter what, I will wait.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project