“Perfectionism is focused on ‘doing the thing right’, how things APPEAR, and if OTHERS think it’s done right.  Excellence is about ‘doing the right thing’. It is focused on the REASON for a task, and the RESULTS for it to be a success.”

                                                                                                          - Marc Winn

Question:  "What's our goal?"

Answer:  "Black Belt Excellence, sir!"

For the past two decades, I have ended every martial arts class I have taught; whether it was with a group of White Belt kids or a class of seasoned adult Black Belt instructors with the question and subsequent response above. 

"What's our goal?......"Black Belt Excellence, sir!"   

On numerous occasions, I have explained to students the meaning and importance of this question and refrain. 

Although we may seek perfection in our professions, our relationships, our school studies and our martial arts training, it is really the quest for excellenc...

"Gritty people train at the edge of their comfort zone. They zero in on one narrow aspect of their performance and set a stretch goal to improve it." 

                                                                                      - Angela Duckworth

Comfort Zones.  How many times have you heard you need to get out of your comfort zone(s) to achieve the results you desire? 

Authors, coaches and teachers have told us for decades that in order to really realize our dreams, we need to go beyond our comfort zones.

I totally agree. 

In fact, when I think of my own life and when I experienced my greatest results and feelings of satisfaction, it was always preceded with moving out of one of my comfort zones in some way, shape or form.

I also think that comfort zones get a bad rap. 

When I want to relax after a hard day's work and maybe curl up with a good book, flip on ESPN's Sports Center, or connect with a friend/family member, I am in my comfort zone. 

The...

“No one can do it for you, but you can’t do it alone.”

                                                    - Anonymous

There are a lot of men hurting out there.

The issues impacting men are numerous.  These include, but are not limited to relational, emotional, financial and career pressures all while struggling to understand what it truly means to be a man in today’s world. 

The root cause of these challenges often begins early in life during boyhood and get buried rather than expressed.  Most young men are discouraged from asking for help and encouraged to push through and take care if it themselves as “real men don’t ask for help.” 

The negative impact of this norm is that as men develop, their problems and issues continue to go unnoticed or untreated and eventually surface and/or release in painful and destructive ways.

If you don’t believe me, consider this…….

• Men are 3X as likely to become addicted to drugs/alcohol as women
• Young men are 40% less likely t
...

“(A) process orientation (versus outcome orientation) . . . asks ‘How do I do it?’ instead of ‘Can I do it?’ and this directs attention toward defining the steps that are necessary on the way. This orientation can be characterized in terms of the guiding principle that there are no failures, only ineffective solutions.”

                                                                                       - Ellen Langer, Mindfulness

Think of the last time you faced a major challenge in your life.  You may be at that place right now as you read this. 

How many times are we caught up in the mind game of whether we can successfully tackle a challenging situation?  Our minds can go in all types of crazy directions that cause us to delay our actions, bring us upset and ultimately cause us to miss opportunities because we doubt our ability to succeed. 

This is most often rooted in us just focusing on the outcome of the situation and not the process we can move through to transce...

“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”

                                                                            - Carl Gustav Jung

Welcome to the final installment of our three-part series entitled, “The 3 C’s of Creating Breakthroughs.”

In our first segment, I discussed “C number one” which is to Clarify Your Vision. 

Last week I discussed the “Second C” of Creating Your Plan, which comprised of the following four elements. 

• Begin with the end in mind – then break it down
• Identifying who can hold you capable in breaking through
• What obstacles to you need to plan for? And…
• What celebration will you take part in when you achieve breakthrough?

If you would like to take a deeper dive into these and other principles to achieving breakthroughs, download my free report…

The Top Ten Big Ideas to Creating Breakthroughs

In part three of this series, we will explore the “final C”, Consistent Action.

I love the opening quote from Carl ...

“Action cures fear.  Indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fuels fear.

                                                                                                       - David J. Schwartz, Ph.D.

We certainly live in uncertain and challenging times.

In times of challenge, it is understandable for us to be in fear.  It is a natural reaction. 

While unpleasant, one could argue that sometimes fear can be a good thing.  Being aware of potential danger and having concern for our personal safety can keep us out harm’s way.  It can also provide us with a surge of power to overcome an immediate threat that confronts us.

As an instructor in adrenal self-defense training for over twenty-five years, I have witnessed time and again, students using their fear as a catalyst for accessing their inner power.  When they do this, fear becomes their friend, their asset, and their secret weapon.  It allows them to access a power inside themselves that they didn’t even know tha...

“Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.”

                                                                                             - Michael Jordan

Decisions, decisions, decisions…….. Scientists estimate that we make approximately 35,000 different decisions each day.  These range from what we will eat for breakfast and what clothes we will wear to life-altering choices in our businesses, relationships and our health and well-being.  

I know I can oftentimes find myself in “analysis paralysis” as I weigh in my mind what is the best decision to make in a situation. 

However, I have also found that once I make that decision based on the best information and feelings within my heart that I have available, and fully embrace it, forces I didn’t even know were available begin to come into my life to support me.  It was not that I necessarily made the “right” decision, but that I embraced my decision with my whole heart and mind. 

Or as William Hutchison Mu...

“If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.

                                                                                       - Frank A. Clark

OBSTACLES are an inevitable part of the human experience.  They come in many forms; manifesting as health issues, financial struggles, relationship difficulties and overall roadblocks on our path to achieving our goals and desires.

Interestingly, much of our progress in today’s world is derived from our quest to deal with obstacles and overcome them in the easiest and most efficient ways possible. 

Look only as far as our modern-day technologies from the automobile and airplanes in travel to laptop computers and today’s smartphones in the worlds of business and communication and you can directly follow a path to their development originating as a means to deal with a problem or obstacles in our daily lives.

The irony for me is that although we spend so much time developing strategies, processes...

“Sometimes you never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”

                                                                                                   - Dr. Seuss

I originally wrote this blog in 2021, in the Las Vegas airport, awaiting my connecting flight back to Denver as I am coming home from my 40^th High School Class Reunion in Wisconsin (just to be clear, I was only 2 years old when I graduated).

It was an amazing time, reconnecting with so many friends, many of whom I have known since 1^st grade, reminiscing about memories of old and laughing about the times we shared together. 

While physical appearances had changed, many miles were between us and years had separated us for sometimes decades, I was so wonderfully surprised to see how much I still recognized, loved, and appreciated these awesome people from my past; many with whom I shared the most beautiful and exciting times of my younger years, as well as some of most challenging.

It cau...

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”  

                                                                                           - Joel A. Barker

I believe we are all born with a vision for what we want in our lives inside of us. 

Just think back to when you were child and the numerous visions you had for what you wanted to be in when you “grew up”.  Your imagination was boundless.  I personally wanted to be a cartoonist, a doctor, an astronaut and a super-hero (Actually, when I was 5-years old, I WAS Batman).  

I believe these visions are set inside of us so that we have a path of expression to share our innate gifts and make our world a better place.  This is not just available for some of us, but for all of us. 

However, this begs the question:  If this is true, why is it that so many of us allow those visions to become merely dreams that fade away because we never take actio...