Become

"What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals."-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I thought I'd start today's blog with an historical quote. This one says it all. I started off with a goal to lose more weight and tone up, but the internal changes that have occurred through discipline, focus, and self-sacrifice have helped me to become much more than I ever thought I could be, and surely, I will continue on this path and focus on an ideal, allowing me to become "more than a man" (a phrase from a quote from "Batman Begins" that has stuck with me). As I strive to hit more milestones in my health and life, I continue to challenge myself and set the bar higher, and I feel myself on the brink of great success. But this blog is really not about me--it's about YOU.

Yesterday, one of my newer trainees, Luis, was telling me about a friend that he says constantly has innovative ideas and possesses musical talent. He told Luis how he wanted to trick out his guitar and always seems to have ideas on what he'd like to do in music, but for one reason or the other, never seems to do what it takes to move forward. Sound familiar? It does to me. I still have some issues with this, especially when I think about many past projects that I had ideas for but never had the "gusto" to carry them out to completion. You, too, have probably experienced this, and may be experiencing this now in your life. Pertaining to fitness, some of my friends have purchased the P90X system, knowing through my example what is possible, but lacking the desire to challenge themselves to do something great for their health and their lives. That is just one example, though. Do you have a dream? Do you have a desire? Truly, if you dare to believe in yourself a little bit and make some small sacrifices, you will start to see that you are capable of becoming much more than the present version of yourself. Once you achieve your goals and hit your personal milestones, you will never again settle for mediocrity.

When I left work yesterday, I noticed that one of my good friends from high school that I had seen at my 10-year reunion had called me. Last Wednesday he had contacted me regarding what I had done (fitness-wise) because he had my business card and saw my results. "I want to get my six-pack back," he told me. We planned to meet on Saturday, but I spoke with him again on Friday, and he told me he wanted to purchase the system. I kind of had to settle him down and explain that I still wanted to meet with him to catch up, get some information, and make my recommendation then, and I realized that something in his mind "clicked" and he had made the conscious decision to pursue greatness. We did meet Saturday for about 3 hours, discussing everything from what we had both gone through in the past 10 years, and also about fitness and nutrition, and he was so responsive to what I was teaching him that I knew when he ordered the system, he was definitely ready to succeed. So yesterday I thought he called me to tell me he received the package, but this wasn't the case. Actually, he called me to discuss his recent trip to GNC, where he was looking into a great protein product to help him with his sports nutrition and the athletic undertaking that lies ahead. He explained to me that he knows he still has athletic ability and wants to pursue a professional sport or other career that involved athletics, and I encouraged him because I know that whatever he, you, or any of us put our mind to, we can and will do it, and it is only this mindset that I, unfortunately, can't help you with.

So my friend went from wanting a six-pack to wanting to be a professional athlete, a dream many of us have had when we were growing up playing sports but that most of us have all but given up on due to a combination of factors. Maybe we lacked talent, maybe we wanted to do something else, maybe we have children and have had to foresake these dreams to sacrifice for them. What I know we lacked was maybe not even the motivation, but the plan. Think of yourself taking on a major project, like building the greatest bridge in the world. Well, if you are not an engineer and you have been given this task and only a pencil and paper, this project's future looks grim. However, if you are given the education, the tools, and the blueprint for this same project, the only thing that will keep you from completing this bridge is yourself. Apply this to fitness, namely P90X. P90X has given me and thousands of other people the education, tools, and blueprint to build the best, most healthy body we could ever dream of, and we did this because we made the decision to do so and to not let anything get in our way of reaching our goal. I challenge all of you to BECOME. Thanks for reading, everyone, and please contact me (via my coach website by clicking on the title of this blog or the link below my signature) with your dreams, whatever they may be, because I honestly will do whatever I can to support you and I am here to tell you that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE.

-Mike Nickles
www.premierhealthsource.com