Author: Martin Rooney

I am writing you one last time from Oregon before I board my redeye flight for home.

After a week in Eugene getting to watch the US Olympic Trials and tour the University of Oregon with legendary strength coach Jim Radcliffe, there was one last highlight to end the trip – my daughter Sofia competed at the Nike High School Track and Field National Championships at Hayward Field.

Since today was officially her last high school meet and her final competition with me as her coach, running at the most legendary track complex in the world made my day a little less bittersweet.

Because we came out early to watch the Olympic Trials on Saturday and Sunday, we had a few days “to kill” before nationals. I viewed those days as some of my last chances to inspire her before she heads off to Notre dame in August.

Being a high-energy coach, I wanted to be the one to fire her up for her last high school race.  Being her inspiration is something I am inspired to be.

You can imagine my surprise when she got inspired by someone else.

As we toured Track Town, I thought there might be an opportunity for a big coaching moment.  Maybe walking in a town with a long history of legendary track performances would prompt me to say something that would inspire her for years to come.

As I kept waiting for my inspiration, she actually got hers from another person. 

And his name was Steve Prefontaine.

“Pre” as he was known, was a runner at the University of Oregon in the early 1970s. Pre won six NCAA titles and was so good at one point, that he held fifteen different American records in every distance from 2,000 to 10,000 meters.  Unfortunately, before the world would ever get to see just how great he could be, Pre tragically died in 1975 at the age of 24.

If you have even been to Eugene, you know his image is everywhere. While I was looking for opportunities to inspire my daughter, I should have seen the “signs” where she was getting her inspiration.

First, at the Olympic Trials, she got shirt with Pre on the front.  The second sign was when she asked me to take her picture with the Pre photo in front of the famous Eugene Running Company.  Following that, when she heard about Pre’s Trail from a coach at the Trials, she asked if we could go and shortly afterward we found ourselves walking the scenic four-mile loop created in Pre’s honor.  

Her moment greatest inspiration from Pre, however, came from where I expected it least.

If you are familiar with Pre’s story, you know he was killed in a tragic car accident after a track meet.  The place where this accident occurred is now a memorial known as Pre’s Rock.  When Sofia found out about this, she asked if we could visit.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to take her there, but at the assurance of people in Eugene, we went.

The memorial was completely covered with track spikes, singlets, medals, and even letters from people who have been inspired by Pre. As my daughter and I walked up and had the memorial to ourselves, she took her time examining everything.  I didn’t search for some motivating words or tell a story – I just let her be.

As we drove away in silence, I was left with more questions than answers about inspiration.

I knew Pre inspired my daughter, but what was it about him?  

And why are so many people still so inspired 45 years later? 

That night, I turned to the place where I find a lot of my own inspiration – books.  As luck would have it, I found the book Pre: The Story of America’s Greatest Running Legend in a used bookstore.  As I read late into the night, I slowly figured out some secrets of inspiration and I have Pre to thank for them.  

You might be surprised to know Pre never won an Olympic or World Championship medal. As I read on about his life, I realized the inspiration he provides isn’t about a medal or title.  He isn’t still inspiring people today because of what he did when he lived.  

Why he continues to inspire people today is because of the way he lived!

Pre was famous for the fearless way he would start and attempt to finish every race in the lead.  He always let his competition know that he was running only for the win.  This “go all out” attitude was one of the most attractive things about him and people loved to watch him run. His “all or none” racing attitude inspired others, and not only was he an outspoken champion for the rights of amateur athletes, but he was outspoken as a confident competitor too. 

Here are five of Pre’s quotes that inspire me:

“Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it.”

“I’m going to work so that it’s a pure guts race at the end, and if it is, I am the only one who can win it.”

“A lot of people run a race to see who is the fastest. I run to see who has the most guts.”

“It’s not who’s the best – it’s who can take the most pain.”

“To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.”

When I talk about inspiration, I don’t mean “rah-rah” or a rousing pep talk. Funny that most people think being inspiring is connected to yelling out a speech when things count the most. As you will read below, being inspirational is something different and takes longer than a five-minute halftime speech. 

To me, inspiration is more about getting your people to do what they need to do when they know they need to do it.  

Do you want to be more inspiring as a leader, coach, parent or teacher?  The ability to inspire is an important skill for leaders and coaches trying to build a winning team.

Even though Pre was known to have one of the highest recorded VO2max scores of all time, I believe you can be an inspiration regardless of whether or not you have natural gifts.  Everyone can improve their ability to lead and inspire.  To help, here are 10 lessons I learned from the life of Pre that you can use to be more inspirational:

10 Ways To Inspire More People

1.  Be what you want to inspire.

The way to inspire is leading by example. Leaders lead from the front, not pushing from the back.

2.  Be enthusiastic. 

If you want to be an inspirational leader, remember two words:  passion persuades.

3.  Be optimistic. 

When facing a challenge, think about the many possibilities for victory versus how few.

4.  Be aware of others’ potential. 

Believing in someone may be all it takes for a leader to spark greatness.

5.  Be authentic. 

Let people know the best and hardest thing you can be is you.

6.  Be the best you can be. 

When you chase your goals with all you’ve got, it will inspire others to make a run for it too.

7.  Be positive.

Since a leader knows few things grow in a negative environment, don’t go there.

8.  Be on purpose.

Helping others find the “reason” why they want to do something is easier when they know yours.

9.  Be clear where you’re going. 

It’s hard to inspire people to follow you when you don’t know where you’re going.

10.  Be caring. 

Letting someone know they matter can be the leadership skill that matters most.  

Are there any areas of the list above in which you could improve?

Are you inspiring the people around you as much as you would like?

Are you living in an inspirational way so people will talk about you 45 years from now?

If you would like to improve your engagement, commitment and culture, then I have something that should inspire you.  My new book, High Ten: An Inspiring Story About Building Great Team Culture is something I am proud to have as part of my legacy.  Using the same easy-to-read parable style format from the prequel Coach to Coach, High Ten is a leadership book and will increase your ability to inspire your people.  

When I started writing, I wanted to create a guidebook for culture that would still be valuable 45 years from now.  As the reviews from the book are starting to come in, I know I hit the mark.

Since people who ordered are already receiving their copies of High Ten, I want to remind you this is the LAST WEEK FOR MY SPECIAL OFFER.

If you have been waiting to take advantage, let this inspire you not to Miss Out! 

Here’s The Link To My $500 Special Offer

Throwing you a big High Ten,

Martin 

I am writing to you today from Eugene, Oregon – the place also affectionately known as Track Town, USA.

For the last few days, I got to check off a “bucket list” item – I attended the US Track and Field Olympic Trials.  What made me cherish the event even more was I had the pleasure of watching it with my oldest daughter, Sofia.

Back in March, when Sofia officially got accepted to the University of Notre Dame, her mother and I decided to do something special for her.  As her special gift, we got her tickets to the Olympic Trials.  Although she was ecstatic when she found out she was going to see one of our country’s most important track meets, there was more to the story.

I had a secret agenda.

You might think this “graduation” gift was nothing more than the plane flight or the tickets to the venue. After the days she and I spent in the new Hayward Field at the University of Oregon, however, I know this gift graduated her to something different – and much longer lasting than a handful of hours in the seats of a stadium or plane.

I’ll be bold enough to say the gift she received is one every coach or parent should seek to deliver to their athletes or children.  This gift is your responsibility as a parent and coach, yet unfortunately it often goes not given.  And to be clear, this gift has nothing to do with spending money or material things.

Not sure what this gift could be?  

Well, to explain the gift, I will use one of the most famous moments in track and field history that happened on May 6, 1954. If you know the date, that was the legendary day in England when Roger Bannister broke the mythical four-minute mile barrier.  If you know the story, at that time it was accepted that breaking four-minutes was physically impossible and if anyone ever did achieve it, they would surely die afterward.

You may have also heard that 46 days after Bannister ran 3:59.4 another man named John Landy broke that record.  A year later, three runners performed the feat in the same race!  As time went on more people began running sub-four-minutes, and now almost 70 years later with the record at an amazing 3:43.13, there have been over 1,400 people who have done it including a 16 year-old has done it, and a 41 year-old too.  Although running an average of 15 miles per hour for four laps seems incredible, now it is not uncommon for high schoolers to do it year after year.

Now back to the gift.

During these Olympic Trials, my daughter got to see the breaking of a World Record by one of her favorite athletes.  As a bonus to seeing something that has never happened in human history, she also got to witness the current world best performances in the same events in which she competes.

Why was I so excited to have her see those records fall? Because I believe one moment can change a mindset, and one change in mindset can change everything. The gift she received had nothing to do with sitting in the stadium; it was about the effect from what she witnessed in the stadium.  The gift wasn’t about watching the changing of a record; it was about the changing of her mindset from watching!

Let’s return to Sir Roger Bannister to explain.

For 2,000 years men and women had been running the distance of a mile.  Over those two millennia, no one could ever do it in under four-minutes.  Then after Sir Roger’s famous run in 1954, something “remarkably” changed and people began to beat the mark.

Did humans physiologically somehow make a leap?  No.

Could it all be explained with better training, nutrition and equipment?  Perhaps those played a part, but I think it had more to do with a better attitude.

It’s not that people changed their physicality – it’s because they changed their mentality!

And that change was a result of Sir Roger’s famous run on the Iffley Road track.  What was the gift future runners received from Roger Bannister when he broke that record? 

The gift was a radical shift in mindset – Every runner alive changed their belief about the obstacle!   Runners around the world immediately moved from doubtful to certain it could be done. That certainty helped their minds change overnight.

Those athletes went from Impossible to I’m Possible!

When people saw the four-minute mile was possible, their attitude changed. With a new attitude, they changed their actions. And with those new actions, they changed their results!

So why was I so happy to make the sacrifice and take the trip to Oregon?  Because I was hoping my daughter would experience something that would make a radical shift in her mindset.  And as my daughter watched World and American records fall, I know the change took place.  After discussing the meet with her, I know her attitude toward track is different – what she limited herself by believing what was possible has changed.  

The gift of possibility is one we should all share. 

Unfortunately, I often see parents and coaches more focused on what is not possible for an athlete or child.  As a parent, leader or coach, it is not your job to create limits, it is to stretch them!  You are not there to spend time coming up with all the reasons why something can’t be done – you are there to create or find solutions how something can!  Before you can help someone change his or her view on the impossible, it helps to get good at it yourself.  Here are 10 questions to ask yourself that may help you break your next record:

What is your current ”four-minute mile?”

What is the obstacle that is currently holding you back?

What is a goal you have a hard time imagining you can reach?

What could be possible if you had a higher level of “certainty?”

Which is your biggest limitation – physical or mental?

What would be your next step if you knew you could not fail?

When would be the best time to take that step?

Who could you meet that might help to change your mindset?

Where could you go that would help you to stretch your limits?

What could you read to give you more tools to succeed?

If you read the final three questions, you’ll see making a breakthrough may have to do with the places you go, the people you meet and the books you read.  After all, changes in mindset are easier to produce and more permanent when you invest your time around great people or into something awe-inspiring.

Of those three, I think the easiest way to change your mindset is to read great books.

If one of the obstacles holding you back has to do with the current culture of your business, family or team, I have another gift to help you overcome it.  My new book, High Ten: An Inspiring Story About Building Great Team Culture contains all the tools I know to improve your leadership skills and shift your mindset to overcome your “impossible’s” of culture.

And if you enjoy my emails, I promise this easy-to-read story is my best yet!

Since people who ordered are already receiving their copies of High Ten, this is the last week for my special offer.

If you have been waiting to take advantage, Don’t Miss Out! 

Here’s The Link To My $500 Special Offer

Throwing you a big High Five,

Martin

Until the beginning of the pandemic a year and a half ago, I used to go on what I considered great adventures. As an admitted sufferer of Wanderlust, I regularly found myself someplace in the world doing something interesting.

Wherever I went, I would push myself to try novel and uncomfortable things.  In the days following the activity, I would then try to condense what I learned into some big ideas or a list of lessons for you.  Then I would spend time crafting what you know as my signature style of email.  The purpose of sharing those lessons was to at best inspire you to go out somewhere in the world and have your own adventures, or at worst, give you some ways to help improve some area of your life.

I’m happy to report, I finally have a new adventure to write about.  

I went to Tennessee to clear my head. If you can believe it, the way I tried to “quiet” my mind was to do some chainsaw carving. Although the idea of chainsaws might conjure up thoughts of summertime horror movies or lumberjacks, I got to try something you might not expect.  I spent three full-days learning about the art of chainsaw carving from a master craftsman. But this man was also a master teacher – he didn’t instruct by demonstration – his teaching technique was to immediately get your hands dirty with gasoline, oil and sawdust.

As impressed as I was with this style, I was even more impressed by the finished product we created in the photos to follow.  By investing my own sweat equity into the bear, I realized something you have a hand (or saw!) in creating will only be more valuable and personal to you.

Owning the bear is one thing.  Being involved in the manufacture of that bear is more powerful. After reflecting on the three days, I realized the same power holds true for your business, family and team.  In order for any of those to be more valuable to you, they require your participation.

During my time in Tennessee, I discovered many similarities between carving out a bear and carving out the culture of your family, team or business.  After seeing the pictures below, if you think carving out a bear is difficult, I can assure you carving out the culture for your organization is even harder.

Chainsaw carving may be as foreign to you as working on your culture.  To help, I created a list of ten steps you will need to follow to make your culture into a work of art.

10 Steps to Carve Your Dream Culture

1. “See” The Bear

The first step in my carving experience was spending time imaging the bear I wanted to create. The carver told me I had to see the bear hiding in the wood. Designing your culture requires the same initial work, and that effort is something leaders often miss.  If you skip this step and start working or playing before your culture is properly defined, don’t be surprised when you don’t finish with what you really wanted.

ACTION ITEM:  Spend time writing out the details of the culture you would like for your organization.

2.  Ready Your Tools

There wouldn’t have been any carving without the right tools. For carving a bear, you need different stuff.  Before we started, we had big and small chainsaws, sanders, paint, sealants, and a blowtorch at the ready.  Once all the tools were there, then we could begin.

In terms of culture, you have to have your tools ready too.  Once you have defined the culture you want, tools like your company or team vision, values, and mission are essential.  If these aren’t in place before you begin, your culture will always be challenged because they were missing.

ACTION ITEM:  Create your vision for your company, team or family that will drive your culture.

3.  Remove The “Isn’t”

Once we started actually carving, the coolest advice I got from the master carver was to simply remove everything that was “not the bear.”

When you know the culture you want, it helps define both what you want and what you don’t want or won’t allow in your culture.  So, while you are building the culture you want, you should also be removing the people and behaviors you don’t.

ACTION ITEM:  Create a list of all the things your culture won’t stand for or tolerate.

4.   Big Cuts First 

You may have heard you have to take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves.  Although that can be true, whether it’s carving a bear or building a team culture, it is important to start with the “big things” first.

Big cuts can be removing the people you don’t want or stopping the behaviors you won’t tolerate.  Either way, for your culture to start taking shape, there are big pieces that will need to go.

ACTION ITEM:  Remove some of the people or things that don’t fit with the culture you want to create.

5. Cool Things Down

Sometimes have to be patient.  When the chainsaw overheats, you have to let it rest and start again. Building a culture can cause some things to overheat too.  

Just like pressing too hard with a chainsaw can stop the blade, you can’t push too hard too fast for culture too. Don’t forget it’s a process that takes time. Cultural change or removing some people may be the right idea, but there will be periods where you have to let the engine cool down.

ACTION ITEM:  Schedule in a period of review and evaluation to make sure the cultural changes you want are taking hold.

6.  Sharpen Your Blades

During the carving, there were periods when we had to stop cutting and sharpen the blade.  This action may have seemed to cost time, but cutting with a dull blade only takes longer and leads to a sloppy job.

Even as you start to work on your family, team or business, you need to remember to continue to develop yourself as a leader too.  If you don’t keep improving yourself it will be difficult to improve the people around you. 

ACTION ITEM:  Pick some areas of personal weakness and address them.

7.  Take Time To Refuel

Sometimes the saw shut down.  Not because the saw was broken, but because it ran out of fuel.  Once we put the gas back in and primed the pump, the saw got right back to work.

Using this analogy, you have to take time to fuel back up too.  As the leader of your culture, it’s often easy to overwork yourself until you run out of gas.  The key is being aware and taking the appropriate recovery time to insure you’re never running on empty.

ACTION ITEM:  Make sure to schedule in both recovery and recreation into your life.  

8.  Sweat Small Stuff

Once the design was done and the big cuts had been made, we started to use the smaller saw and carve in the finer details.  Once you’ve made the big cuts, your culture’s also going to require more attention to detail.

Your fine-tuning tools in culture are things like appreciation, communication, and training.

ACTION ITEM:  Make sure you are regularly meeting with your people to go over their progress.

9.  Lock It In 

Once we completed the bear, we began the sealing process to not only maintain what we created, but also to protect it too. Once you have things where you want them culturally, you will also have to seal things in place.  If you’re happy where your organization is, you have to lock it in. 

On the bear, we used a glossy sealant.  For your culture, one great way to gloss things up is with recognition. 

ACTION ITEM:  Create opportunities and celebratory events for people who have been the best supporters of your culture.

10.  Appreciate Your Mistakes

During the process of carving the bear, we made some mistakes.  But the master carver reminded me mistakes only give your bear more character.  The small errors make your project more unique.

The only reason I am able to write this analogy between carving and culture is because of all the mistakes I’ve made.  And I know I will still make more.  As long as you recognize them and learn from them, you will be happier you made them.

ACTION ITEM:  Periodically take time to review the current state of your culture and tune it up according to mistakes you’ve recognized.

If you liked these cultural lessons and would like to learn everything I know about how to create a great team culture, I have great news!

My new book, High Ten: An Inspiring Story About Building Great Team Culture releases next week!

I consider this book my best yet and essential reading for leaders, coaches, parents and teammates. 

Because it is an easy-to-read story, I know you are going to enjoy learning from all the stories inside.

Since there are only a few days left in the pre-sale, here is a SPECIAL OFFER worth over $500!

Link to the High Ten Special Bonus Offer:

Thank you for your help and I can’t wait to hear what you think of the new book.  

Throwing you a big High Ten!

Martin 

After over a year of no travel or presenting as well as the daily challenges and obstacles facing my TFW network, you should understand why I am excited for things to return back to a sense of “normalcy.”

As masks are being lifted and shots are being administered, I’m not sure where you stand on the COVID-19 vaccine. The purpose of this email is not to challenge your opinion there, but I believe there is another vaccine on which we can agree. This vaccine is less painful than a syringe in the shoulder, but you will feel the kick in the pants you need to strengthen your family, business and team.

I know because this vaccine did that for me.

I wish I could tell you differently, but when the pandemic began, I wasn’t just scared, I was terrified.  As I mentioned, my speaking and travel ended, and fitness businesses were shut down all over the world.  If you know anything about me or my career, that meant my ability to generate income for my family was extremely challenged – and totally out of my control.  My career and business were taken away and I constantly stressed whether everything I had built over the last 20 years would disappear into thin air.

I spent nights so worried I had difficulty sleeping.

I was anxious and fearful about how I would take care of my family.

I spent months focused on all the negative outcomes that could happen.

But then something amazing happened instead.

They didn’t!

Now don’t get me wrong, some of the things I was worried about happened, but definitely not as bad as I feared.  And now as I look back on that horrible time when some things got weaker, I also saw others got stronger.

My TFW organization became more efficient and unified.

My relationships with my family improved.

My skills increased and I developed new opportunities to help people.

Now as we emerge from the quarantines and lockdowns, I know why those positive things happened.   Unfortunately it took a pandemic for me to learn what protected TFW and my family against huge challenges:

My company and my family had been vaccinated before the troubles began.

You have probably learned a thing or two about vaccines in the last 16 months.  Regardless of whether you understand the exact science how vaccines work, you should now understand why a vaccine is such a powerful medicine.  Most medicines can only be used to treat or cure a disease, but what makes a vaccine a more powerful medicine is that it can prevent a disease from happening.

To help explain where I’m going with this analogy, I want you to imagine that like your body – your business, family and team are also organisms that require constant nurturing and maintenance.  Understanding this, you should recognize these teams can also develop “health” problems if they are not properly vaccinated against potential threats. 

So what is the powerful vaccine that can prevent challenges that can threaten the health of your business, family and team?

That vaccine is Culture.

Culture was the vaccine that kept my TFW affiliates going while the rest of the world was shutting down.  This was the vaccine that protected my family from destructing from within.  Culture was the medicine that personally allowed me to push forward when it would have been easier just to lay back.

During the pandemic, one of the things that seemed to scare people about the COVID-19 vaccines being developed was a lack of understanding behind the science that created them.  This lack of clarity caused confusion and that confusion caused division.  Well, if you thought it was tough to understand mRNA, I’m telling you it is difficult to understand the culture of your business, team or family too.

That confusion and lack of education is why I wrote my new book.  High Ten uses an easy-to-read and storybook-style to guide you how to improve the culture of your business, family and team.  I will be bold enough to say that this roadmap for culture will “vaccinate” you and your teams against the future challenges you will face.

And believe me, this isn’t the last of your challenges.

I won’t deny it – the pandemic was a huge challenge.  Probably the biggest many people have  ever faced thus far in their lifetimes; but this will not be the last one.  Unfortunately, that’s how life works.  There will be future “variants” of challenges for your family and business.  I’m not going to tell you that you’ll never face another challenge, but I am saying with the right culture in place, you and your business can be better protected against them.

And how you take this vaccine?  All you have to do is read the book.

Although that might sound painful if you are not an avid reader, I promise the stories within the story will keep you engaged and entertained.  High Ten will offer the culture “check-up” you need by assessing your “vitals” of culture and act as a “booster” for when your next challenge arises.

So how does having the right culture in place work as a vaccine for your business or team?

In the book, I detail many of the potential health threats your business, family or team may experience.  Here is a checklist of 10 cultural health risks to see if you currently have any in place:

Negativity

Ambiguity

Neglect

Low Standards

Gossip

Selfishness

Cliques

Turnover

Unfriendly Competition

Low Accountability

If you are experiencing these “health risks,” it’s time to do something about it.  If you don’t address the health of your culture, things will only get worse.  You need to vaccinate to have the healthy culture you want.  Here is a checklist of 10 signs to see if you are experiencing a healthy culture:

Trust

Communication

Collaboration

Ownership

Consistency 

Appreciation

Respect 

Punctuality 

Feedback

Support

Simply put, having the right culture in place strengthens the immune system of your business and team.  Being vaccinated with the culture you want keeps the wrong people away that you don’t.  And the final outcome is improved health and morale.

Just like our current demand for COVID-19 vaccines globally, I wasn’t aware of how bad the world needed information on culture until the pandemic happened.   But unlike the current vaccines in use to battle the COVID-19 virus,  my vaccine delivered in High Ten took a lot longer to develop.  Instead of less than a year, I spent two decades building successful businesses and team culture before I was able to crystalize the ideas into the format you will find in the book.

As bad as it was, the pandemic taught me the most important thing to write about next.

I could have gotten bitter.  But I decided to make my writing better.

I could have played the victim, but I chose to be a victor.

I didn’t stop.  I kept moving forward and High Ten is my next swing at the plate.  That is in my nature because of my family and business culture.  High Ten is that book that will show you how to do it too.  Would you like to read the book and vaccinate against the cultural challenges that can harm your business or team?

Great news!  I have created a special pre-sale offer for you to give you even more special bonuses to improve your culture and help your business and teams succeed.  Since High Ten is also a great gift for your team members and friends, I have created a special pre-sale offer that is a WIN-WIN-WIN.

Here are the details of the limited-time offer:

SPECIAL BONUS LINK HERE:

Don’t miss out, this special will only be available until the launch date of July 7th!!

Thank you for your help and I can’t wait to hear what you think of the book!

Throwing you a big High Ten,

Martin

I admit it.

Ever since I entered the “workforce” 25 years ago, when people asked me what I did for a living, I never answered I was a writer.

When I landed in other countries and wrote my occupation on immigration documents, I never penned the word “author.”

If I met a new person, I wouldn’t introduce myself as a professional scribe, and if I presented to groups and businesses around the world, I always forgot to mention I had written a dozen books.

Why did I always leave that part about myself out?

Because that wasn’t how I saw myself; that wasn’t my identity.

And now looking back on my life, I was suffering from an Identity Crisis.

When I thought about myself, I liked to imagine an athlete more than a wordsmith.  But as I got older and my performance numbers started to decline, I began to identify with my role in the “fitness business” as the head coach of my company, Training For Warriors.  I would sometimes mention I was a speaker too.  But after all the handshakes, introductions, and presentations, I never talked about the thousands of hours I spent writing and editing.

Why did I always leave that part about myself out?

Because I didn’t value my hours writing as much as the ones spent training, coaching and presenting.  I was yet to “earn” that identity.

I blame my identity crisis partly on maintaining high standards.  I have often heard the line “fake it until you make it.”  But I guess for me, I considered myself a fake until I had made it first. Before I believed I had earned a title, I demanded I reach a high level in that craft. 

For instance, when I studied judo, I avoided calling myself a “judoka” until I achieved my black belt.

I didn’t label myself as a business owner until I had owned a successful one for years.

I never imagined myself as a professional speaker until I had given 100 paid speeches.

I couldn’t identify with the title “coach” until my athletes and teams had won championships and medals.

I denied myself permission to identify with those things until I felt I deserved it. 

But now I think differently and have some advice if you are suffering from your own identity crisis right now– you become the things you work towards long before you recognize it to be true.  Giving yourself that permission of identity will only accelerate your skills and passion faster.

How do I know this?

When I got signed to write my twelfth book, High Ten, I gave myself permission to finally think I was a writer.  And that took my writing to the next level.  Sounds silly right?  Well, you will be surprised how little you give yourself credit for what you have become.  Especially when you start at the bottom.

Perhaps it’s hard for you to admit you’re something when you are reminded of your humble beginnings.  I know that was true for me.  My writing started just like yours probably did.  I learned my ABC’s.  I learned to spell.  Then began a sentence here, and an essay there.  School turned those essays into a report here or  a project there.  I was corrected and shown all my errors with the dreaded red pen.  

Those are the usual ways we start in school.  We do our best to understand grammar and punctuation and then attempt to write something entertaining enough about a topic we care little about to get a good grade.

That was the origin story of my writing life too.

But 20 years ago, something changed – I received my first payment to scribble down some words.  Then I began to receive stipends for monthly columns in magazines like Gracie Magazine and Fight!, and became the head blogger for Q&A’s on websites like Elite Fitness Systems and Men’s Health.  I felt the responsibility and power of helping other people with my writing.  This pushed me to improve my writing and learn how to organize my thoughts in ways that could both educate and entertain.

As I was learning and improving my craft, those Q&A’s turned into articles.  And those articles became chapters.  Those chapters were compiled into manuals.  And finally those manuals gave me the confidence to write a book. 

In 2002 I wrote my first book, Train to Win, and 2004 I wrote the original Training For Warriors book.  After the success of those two self-published books, things got more serious.  A major publisher, Harper Collins, sought me out and signed me without an agent.  When I asked a lawyer friend whether I should sign the contract, he laughed and said, “They are going to give you money to write a book and you aren’t even a writer?  Sign it!” 

So I signed and Training For Warriors was released.  That book went on to be wildly successful and 11 books later, I have sold over 200,000 copies of my books in 6 different languages.  (Important note:  Most authors never sell 1000 copies of a book in a lifetime.

Over that time, I have traveled around the world writing about my adventures.  I have sat and written where JK Rowling penned her original Harry Potter book.  I have visited Ernest Hemingway’s house in Key West and toured where he wrote in Paris.  I read dozens of books about writing from Stephen King’s, On Writing to the classic, The Elements of Style by William Strunk.  I have gone to the book releases of authors I enjoy to ask a question or two about their process.  I have spent time wondering how I can use less commas, incorporate more semi-colons and whether I can write something good enough to warrant an ellipsis.  

I didn’t write those things above to impress you, but to impress upon you that until this year of quarantine, I still didn’t think I was a writer!

But now I understand the reasons why it was ok to give myself permission.  I hope this idea will allow you to give yourself permission for whatever you want to become too.

I didn’t write because I had to.  I wrote because I wanted to!  I wrote not for want of money or notoriety.  I wrote because I couldn’t stop from doing it. I wrote for the same reason why I am sitting at my computer and writing to you now: I enjoy it.  And I learned the biggest lesson: people who believe they are something spend their time doing that something.  In my case, writers write.

I understand you may not be interested in writing.  And the point of this email was not to get you interested in my passion.  It was to explain my identity crisis to help you solve yours.  Here are 5 questions that will help.  If you can find the intersection of these five questions, you just might end your own identity crisis and discover how you should be spending your life.  And when you discover your new identity, it will stimulate you to become even greater too.

5 Questions To Solve Your “Identity Crisis”

1.  What is a hobby or pastime that you can’t stop yourself from doing?

2.  What is that thing that you just have to do even if time is limited?

3.  What is that career you would do even if you didn’t get paid money to perform it? 

4.  What is your identity associated with that career that you may be ignoring?

5.  What is a title or label you not giving yourself permission to either attempt or become?

Once I accepted I was a writer, I was driven to write something even better than my previous books.  I wanted to improve my skill with words to unravel a great story and teach at the same time.  After I decided to write the sequel to Coach to Coach, I planned and prepared to push like the greats I have read about.  I got my work space ready.  But then I remembered, people who believe they are something spend their time doing that something.  In my case, writers write.

So I got to work.  I dug in writing for 6-8 hours a day for months and then spent another month more of editing.  I suffered.  I sacrificed.  And because I wasn’t unsure of my identity as a writer – I loved every minute of it!  And now I couldn’t be more proud to share what I consider my best writing yet with you.  High Ten is my greatest work yet.

But only you can decide if that is true.

And you can only make that decision if you have read the book.

Since High Ten would also make a great gift for team members and friends, I created a special page that explains everything about the new book and all the bonuses..  This special will only be available until the launch date of July 7th.

Link to the High Ten Special Bonus Offer:

Thank you for your help and I can’t wait to hear what you think of the new book.  

Throwing you a big High Ten!

Martin 

If you have followed my writings, you know much of the inspiration comes from what I learn during my travels and adventures. And probably just like you, since the Covid-19 pandemic began, I haven’t traveled much.  I write today to remind you that even though you might not have been to many “dream destinations” lately, that is no excuse to stop dreaming big.
In fact, if you follow the lessons I have for you, the big dreams you create could still make 2020 one of your best years yet.

And how do I know?  Because in the case of my oldest daughter, it worked for her.
Now before I share my 5-Step Blueprint how to make your dreams come true, don’t think I am going to sugar-coat anything.  Dreaming big is harder than it seems, especially because the last half year hasn’t been easy for anyone. In addition to negatively impacting people’s health, jobs and security, these last seven months have also stolen big dreams.

And the reason for this theft is simple: When you are focused on current circumstances that put you in a state of anxiety, it is easy to lose sight of your big dreams for the future. That is why my goal today is to push you to spend some time focusing on where you want to go instead of just right where you are.

When we originally went into quarantine, I wasn’t just worried about where I was going, I was also concerned about how this dream-stealing experience might affect the future of my children. If you are a parent or work with kids, know their perception is their reality.  Maybe their career isn’t in jeopardy and they don’t understand politics, but when you are a kid watching the world face the unknown while being bombarded with a constant stream of fear and negativity, it would be easy to have let the last seven months steal away your big dreams too.

During this time I have watched kids give up their big dreams of sports and stop training.  I have seen kids alter their big dreams about college and retreat into their rooms and onto their phones.  In particular, I was most concerned my oldest daughter Sofia might do the same things since she missed a critical period of time that was essential to a big dream she had held for so long.

But amid it all, she surprised and inspired me with a positive attitude.  Even though she could have let the lack of a facility or equipment stop her, she impressed me with her work ethic. After thousands of pushups, goblet squats with household items and track workouts on the street, she enlightened me to never let your current circumstances define your future possibilities.

You might think she kept persisting because of ability or habit.  Maybe you imagine she was driven by her dad.  But I know the truth:  she kept going due to the simple fact she kept on dreaming big.

When her junior school year, her track season and prom were cancelled, she kept on dreaming big.

When her senior year started online and she went months without seeing her friends, she kept on dreaming big.

When colleges didn’t have answers what would happen and admission was looking bleak, she kept on dreaming big.

Her big dream led her to only work harder.

Her big dream wouldn’t let her give up.

Her big dream helped her find a way.

And that is why even amid the chaos, she considers 2020 one of her best years yet.  I couldn’t be more proud to announce that everything she did was not in vain.  Sofia has just realized her biggest dream: he has officially committed to run track next year at her dream school, the University of Notre Dame.

How did she make her biggest dream a reality? I have the simple blueprint for you:

5 Step Blueprint To Make Your Big Dream Come True

1. Invest In “Dream Time”

Before you can have a dream come true, you first have to have a dream.  And the only way to develop a dream is to invest some time in dreaming. Dreaming about what you want doesn’t just take discipline. It takes more courage than you might think too.

Action Item: Take some time to write down the dreams you would like to happen in your life.  And make sure those dreams are big!

2.  Commit To Your “Dream Board”

After you have your list of big dreams, I challenge you to commit to a few of them.  One way that Sofia committed to her big dream was by creating her Notre Dame “Dream Board.”  By making her big dream public and that big dream the first thing she saw every day when she woke, her big dream always stayed at the top of her mind.

Action Item:  Make your “Dream Board.” It could be a list placed on the mirror or kept in your wallet.  It could be photos and images that represent your big dream.  Do this in a way you are constantly reminded of what you want to happen.

3.  Make Your Big Dream “Smaller”

Once you have selected your big dream, in order to achieve it, you are going to have to make it smaller.  I don’t mean for you to make the big dream into something less; I am asking you to break your big dream down into the smaller pieces that need to occur to make the big dream happen. In Sofia’s case, it helped us set goals for workouts and grades as well as goals for her nutrition and sleep.

Action Item:  Take a look at your big dream and decide what are the smaller goals that need to happen to make the dream possible.  Discover the “hurdles” in between you and the dream and address the nearest one.

4.  Take A “Dream Catcher’s” Appropriate Action

With the small pieces of the big dream in place, you just need to take small daily actions.  Ask yourself the simple “dream catcher” question: “Is what I am about to do getting me closer to achieving this goal?”  If the answer is “yes,” do it.  If the answer is “no,” get yourself back on track.  The small goals were a great gift for Sofia during this time of uncertainty.  When others were paralyzed by doubt, she just took another small step forward each day.

Action Item:  Write down your big dream “to-do” list every day.  And then do what is necessary to get the items on that list done.

5.  Make “Don’t Stop Believin’” Your Mantra

If you have done steps 1-4 of this blueprint, the only thing that can stop you from your dreams will be giving up on them.  To get what you want, you are going to need to stay consistent and stay the course.  I’ll admit there were points I wasn’t sure if Sofia’s big dream was going to happen, but she proved me wrong because she wouldn’t believe it wasn’t possible.

Action Item:  Don’t quit!  And if you ever lose some consistency, put on the song by the band Journey and review steps 2-4.

When Sofia found out about Notre Dame, we all huddled up as a family and cried.  It was an amazing moment I wish for every family at this tough time.

You might think it is safer now to give up on big dreams.  My purpose was to remind you that without a big dream, great moments rarely happen.

Dream big and you just might surprise yourself.

Yours In Strength,

Martin

P.S.  Would you like to know more of the coaching “secrets” I used with Sofia to make her big dream happen?

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Check out this link for FREE access to my sold-out NEVER BEFORE SEEN speech on “How to Motivate Anyone.”

https://coachinggreatness.com/motivation/

If you are like me, after over 100 days of quarantine, you may have started getting used to staying at home.

After over 20 weeks of rarely leaving my house, I was getting comfortable in my new homebound routine.

Because I was getting cozy staying in one place, you can imagine I was both hesitant and resistant when I was asked to travel across the country to help a friend in need.

Now looking back, if I hadn’t gone, I would never have learned the coaching lessons how to have a Championship Performance.  And if I stayed in, I also couldn’t share those 10 important lessons with you.

So who was this friend that got me to cross the country for Las Vegas?

His name is Jim Miller and if you don’t know anything about him, you should.  He is one of the most decorated UFC fighters ever.  This past weekend he tied the all-time record for the most UFC fights ever (35) and with his victory he also moved into 3rd all-time for most wins in UFC history. And that masterful victory also earned him his 13th award-of-the-night honor which is one of the highest totals ever too.

And can you believe I almost didn’t go to help?

Jim isn’t “some athlete” that I used to coach.  Jim and I have been training together for 15 years and I consider him more of a brother and family member than a training partner.  When he got short notice for this fight and called to see if I could help him all week before the fight, I was worried my wife wasn’t going to go for it.  But because Jim has been around our family for so long, my wife said I had to do it!  Due to getting used to staying home, unless I was convinced by my wife to go, I’m not sure if I would have accepted this coaching challenge.

I was nervous about my first trip back on a plane, but everyone in masks and sanitizing everything made me feel a little better. Once I landed in Vegas, I saw the UFC was going above and beyond to make sure to keep everyone safe and not spread the virus. From the airport, I had my own private driver and was driven to a hotel that had been completely taken over by the UFC.  Before I could even enter, I had my temperature checked and my first of several Corona tests of the week (not fun by the way).  Once I was cleared, I was able to room with Jim and as long as none of us tested positive throughout the week, he would be cleared to fight.  We stayed on lockdown just eating and training in the hotel for the days before the fight.

As you can imagine, this was a unique fight week experience. During final preparations for the fight (which included Jim cutting 15 pounds), we had plenty of time to talk.  In fact, aside from doctors and daily temperature checks, we didn’t really talk to anyone else. One night we had a conversation about who we thought were the greatest fighters.  There was an interesting thing I noticed about each one of the fighters we both listed: They All Had Losses!  Now this may not sound profound, but it helped me to remind Jim of an important concept:

It is not the best fighter that always wins. The fighter that always wins is the one that fights the best when it counts the most!

And that breakthrough let me know my my job as a coach that week.  I realized what I was there for: to keep Jim relaxed, calm and focused to be able to perform at his best.  To carry out this job description I employed the following Success Formula you can use to put in a Championship Performance in anything you do:

CP = p – i

A coach’s ultimate goal is to help someone get their Championship Performance (CP) to match their potential (p). And how do you get someone or yourself closer to doing this?  According to the formula above, you just have to eliminate or reduce the interference (i) that someone is experiencing.

So, in order to help Jim perform at his maximal potential, my job was to figure out ways to get rid of interference like unnecessary thoughts or stresses while also removing obstacles and barriers that could hold him back.  After he submitted his opponent in under 3 minutes without even allowing him to ever throw a punch or kick, I realized he achieved a championship performance that matched his potential.

On the long trip home the next morning after the fight, I detailed out the following 10-Step plan how we did it.  If you want to reduce the interference holding someone back from their greatest performances, these 10 lessons that are guaranteed to make you a better coach.

For the following 10 steps, I suggest you get out paper and pen and rate yourself how you are doing.  Give yourself a score from 1-10 depending on how well you perform each step and then add them up to see how well you score against the possible total of 100.

10 Coaching Steps To Remove “Interference” 

1.  Have A Plan 

In order to reach a goal, you need a plan in place to get there.  If you want to help someone lose weight, make more money, have better relationships or win a fight, make sure you have a plan.  Any thing else is just “guessing.”

2.  Get The Tools

Once you have your plan, make sure you have all the tools necessary to execute that plan.  In Jim’s case, there were bags of training gear, specific equipment, and food needed for the week.  Whatever your plan calls for, make sure you have what you need to perform.

3.  Make It Safe 

Safety is one of our greatest needs.  Without feeling safe, it is difficult to think of much else.  Be sure to create a safe and comfortable environment for the person you are trying to help.  Safety removes interference and helps greatness emerge.

4.  Care About Someone

One of the best things you can do for someone is care about them.  Be “there” and be present and show them you are on their side.  People always do better on a journey when they know they are not alone.

5.  Coach The Individual

The way you coach one person may not work for another.  Meet them where they are and find what works best for them.  When you are talking their “language” that is the best way to avoid interfering miscommunication.

6.  No Stones Unturned

To have the big performance happen, you have to do the “little things.”  Be thorough as a coach so your people don’t have to worry about the details.  A tiny pebble in the shoe you overlooked can stop the whole race.

7.  Ask Helpful Questions

A coach should be as helpful as possible.  The best way to know is to ask a person what, where and when they need help.  Don’t ask the questions and you may not get the answers how to help make a championship performance happen.

8.  Measure To Manage 

During the week, we weighed Jim every few hours for 5 days.  Although it may sound excessive, the measures were the only way to know how to manage the weight cut.  The same principle holds true for your money, relationships and goals.  Taking stock of where you currently are will tell you what you need to do to get where you want to go.

9.  Open To Change

The masks, Corona-virus tests and competing in front of no fans was all new.  It was all change.  But instead of resisting change, we embraced it.  This lead to less pressure and keep Jim calm.  There will be new ways to do things on your journey.  Be an agent of change and you will get there faster and better.

10.  Celebrate Their Successes    

When Jim won, I let out a big yell in the quiet arena.  This yell wasn’t because I was excited about me; it was because I was excited for him.  Make sure when they reach a moment of greatness, you are pointing your enthusiasm in the right direction.

You may have noticed each lesson seems like common sense, but if you didn’t score perfect tens, you may be reminded common sense isn’t always so common!  These lessons reminded me I always used the basics to help my athletes be their best.

Want to get even closer to reaching your potential as a coach and receive even more great ideas about coaching?

Check out my new book Coach to Coach.  Right now, it is only 12 dollars on Amazon for a limited time.  At almost 50% off, it is a great time to get one for you and one for a friend you coach!  There is now an audio and Kindle version too.

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When Jim got his hand raised and I videoed from behind to capture the moment and cheer, I knew I was a 10 on number 10.  When you are a coach who goes 10 for all 10 and keep people feeling safe by caring and helping, you build the most important coaching necessity if you want to succeed: Trust.  When you have trust, a team can do anything.

And the world needs more trust right now.

So, as always, the world needs great coaches.

Yours In Strength,

Martin

P.S.  Maybe one helpful thing to change is your reading habits.  Have you read a book in a while?  Are you intimidated by reading? Well over the last few weeks I have had dozens of people tell me Coach to Coach was the first book they have read in a long time…and loved it!

Coach to Coach is an easy read with powerful messages you need right now.

GET YOUR COPY OF COACH TO COACH HERE

Over the last five months, you may have wondered how “essential” your work is to the world at this tough time.  While I went back and forth questioning my own value to others, I thought back on a another job I once held that challenged whether what I did really mattered.

In the summer after my junior year of high school, I got a job through a friend’s dad at the Revlon factory as a “picker.”

My job was to grab an order sheet and a box and then search throughout the warehouse to “pick” each item from the shelves until the box was filled with the complete order.

A little less glamorous than my dreams of someday traveling the world, filling boxes inside that dimly lit warehouse of lipstick and mascara was the first time I was introduced to the tedium (and sore feet!) that came with repetitive work. It was also the first time I ever had to actually “punch a clock” (I actually had a card with my name on it and punched when I entered and left the warehouse at the end of my shift.)
During those two and a half months, I met some interesting characters. Since I was so young compared to all the other workers, many of them felt compelled to share lot of lessons of the world. You might think I learned about leadership from the manager who was always walking the floor making sure we were doing our jobs.  Maybe you thought I was inspired for my future career as a physical therapist by the person who taught us how to ergonomically lift and carry heavy boxes.  You could even think I was inspired by the Revlon family to see from the bottom up how to build a global empire.  But I actually learned the biggest lesson from a guy on the lowest rung of the company.

And strangely enough, this lesson was not about the exchange of money for time or how to build and brand an iconic company.  The lesson taught me about myself.

At lunch one day, this charismatic guy commented on how he admired how hard I was working and said he would “show me the ropes” how to do the job “right.” After our daily lunch together talking either sports or life, we grabbed our order sheets and trekked into the middle of the labyrinthian warehouse.  As we stood in front of multileveled rows filled with endless products, he stopped and delivered the lesson.

To my surprise, instead of talking, this guy climbed up onto the second level of palettes, moved some boxes out of the way, got behind them and went to sleep! He proudly demonstrated how well he could hide behind the boxes and informed me how he would only come out for lunch and then “hide and sleep” again until he punched out at the end of the day (always a few minutes over too!) Then he told me if I was “smart,” I would go find a good spot and do the same.

Since he became aware that no one ever monitored how many orders anyone was filling, this guy figured out as long as they didn’t see you not working, you could get paid to do nothing.  He actually purposefully expended effort to figure out how not to expend effort.

He used creative thinking to shut off his brain instead of use it! What a waste, right?

But looking back, his lesson wasn’t a waste for me.  That was the day I realized I never worked hard because someone was watching: I always worked hard because something deep inside of me always drove me to do my best.

I didn’t get good grades because my parents told me to. I got them because I demanded them of myself.

I didn’t work out hard because a coach made me do it. I trained because I wanted to see what I was capable of.

I didn’t read books because my teachers made me. I read because I was curious about what I didn’t yet know.

I didn’t need a motivating boss to make me do it right. I did things right because I couldn’t stand to do them wrong.

Rooney Rule: Don’t go “halfway” in anything you do. Your “whole heart” always beats your “half ass.”

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not saying coaches, parents, teachers, and bosses aren’t important. They are essential and necessary to help you discover who you are and help you create some external goals. I am just trying to remind you that none of those goals will get accomplished until you add your own internal drive.

So maybe that’s the biggest question I can ask you:  What drives you?

That day I learned I am a “worker” not a “shirker.” And after almost a half century on this rock, hard work hasn’t let me down yet. I may not be the smartest or the fastest, but my consistent hard work over time has always led to accomplishment.

Each day you have a choice: You Can Work or You Can Shirk.

During the quarantine months, have you had your foot on the gas or have you pushed the emergency brake?

Instead of finding a hiding spot that day in the factory, I decided to see how many orders I could fill each day if I really did my best. Not only did it keep me focused, but when I did collect my paycheck I was proud I had earned it.

Being essential is not about the job you have. It is about the lessons you learn, knowledge that you gave your best and doing your best to use your effort to serve others.

It is not if you have the “best” job.  If you approach and carry out each job and each task like it is the best one in the world, someday it will be. You can’t climb a ladder if you are unwilling to take any steps. And the goal of climbing is to see the view of what’s next, not to go to sleep.

Before quarantine, so many people would fantasize and tell me they wished they could sit at home while other people did the work. This experience has hopefully taught them and you that a life without work was the wrong dream come true.

Work delivers value.

Work challenges you to be a better version of yourself.

Work can serve others.

Work gives you direction.

Work offers a sense of pride.

The next big question I have for you?  How does your work do the 5 things above for you? 
I have said this quarantine experience has been a great revealer. It has revealed your fears and doubts, but it has also revealed your character and work ethic. And most of all it has revealed the fact that all of those come from within.

Like me, it may be easy to discount your value or feel less “essential.”  If you have had any of those feelings, here is a classic poem used by Benjamin Franklin in his famous Poor Richard’s Almanac:

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost;

For want of the shoe, the horse was lost;

For want of the horse, the rider was lost;

For want of the rider, the battle was lost;

For want of the battle, the kingdom was lost;

And all from the want of a horseshoe nail.

Just a reminder, no matter what it is you are doing now.  It is essential.  You just have to understand your reason why.  At Revlon, I found the purpose in my work: I made people feel better about themselves.  Some person somewhere would receive the package I would pick and pack.  Those products could help their esteem and confidence.  How could I not rush to get the order and the job done right?

So, now the final big question:  What is the purpose of your work?

Now with us in our homes, there are less people watching over you than ever.  I know it can seem more difficult than ever to be productive, but once you know what drives you and the purpose behind your effort, I promise it will be easier.  And once you have the answers, the only decision is to either do the work or shirk.

I hope these questions inspired you to shift your focus from what’s going on outside to what is happening within.

Yours in Strength,

Martin

P.S.  Here is a final tip from Ben Franklin, “Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”  If you want to do your job better as a coach, teacher, boss, or parent to others, I think I wrote something worth reading so you can do a job worth writing about!

At only 12 dollars on Amazon right now you don’t want to miss out!

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I promise the messages inside this easy-to-read parable will be worth much more than that!

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If you have followed me lately, you may know that I have become a proud parent of a piglet. She is an American Mini Pig named Miss Zuri after the U.S. state in which she was born.

When we first got her and I started sharing her training videos, the most common question I received was, “How big will she get?”

And my answer has always been the same, “It depends.”

Being a parent for the last 17 years of four daughters has taught me a lot.  But when I came home from the hospital with each one of them, I didn’t get a book or an instruction manual.  So a lot of what we did was “trial and error,” “do your best,” and “figure it out.”  Especially when it came to nutrition.

In the case of Zuri, however, I actually came home with two very helpful and practical books compliments of the American Mini Pig Association that gave me plenty of directions and a number of warnings.

In particular, a lot of those directions and warnings were all about food.

Funny how parents don’t ask “how big will he or she get?” when they bring their baby home from the hospital for the first time.  I am pretty sure I was never asked that one once for any of my daughters.  I believe if parents always worried about this idea as much as I have as a pig owner, kids would surely be healthier as they grow up.

I don’t write this to be offensive.  But I do write this to be provocative.  When it comes to health and fitness, nutrition tends to be a very emotional and charged topic.  In our current days of polarization about many topics, in addition to political and economic views, I have also seen people line up on different sides of the nutrition battlefield:

Keto vs. Paleo

Carnivore vs. Vegan

Intermittent Fasting vs. Frequent Feeding

Counting Calories vs. Calories Don’t Count

Low Carb vs. High Fat

Low Fat vs. High Carb

Gluten-free vs. Sugar-free

Organic vs. GMO

Blood Type vs. Body Type

Detox vs DNA

Have you heard of any of these confusing diet plans or terms?  I am not here to argue for those or whether nutrition can influence your immunity and overall health.  To argue whether eating healthy is important or say diet change is impossible because its too confusing is a sure sign a person just doesn’t want to change.  But I get that change is hard.  And when a simple topic is made complex, it can be confusing.  I wrote this to be a helpful and practical guide and try to remove much of the anecdotal ideas about nutrition that seem to paralyze people from doing what they know they should be doing for themselves and for their children.

Zuri the pig has actually re-taught me a number of important nutrition concepts that I believe most people either forgot or conveniently avoid.  And if you are missing them, you and the people you feed are headed for trouble.

The biggest fear that was put into me was that I had to learn how to properly feed Zuri or it would be very dangerous to her health.  Due to this awareness, I am staying vigilant about the nutrition habits we develop with her because I do not want to be responsible for negatively influencing or shortening her life.  The books made it cut and dry and I simply decided to listen.

Amazing I know, but I am recommending Zuri as a nutritional example.  I am asking you to see if you can apply the list below and “eat like a pig.”  Usually “eating like a pig” has a negative connotation, but in the case of the 10 ideas below, you might just find they can positively change your life.  Although you shouldn’t find them hard to understand, you might notice that they are personally hard to do:

How To Eat Like A Pig

1.  Calorie Control

Pigs are missing a receptor in their brain that tells them they are satiated.  When I tell people this, many make a joke and say, “I think I am missing that too!” I get the joke, but unfortunately if you eat too much uncontrollably, it isn’t that funny.

Zuri’s meals are first and foremost all portioned according to calories.  When I know how much she has taken in a day, then I can be sure we don’t exceed the numbers by not watching.

Do calories count?  Absolutely.

Do you need to count calories? No, but they do add up!

Is it less enjoyable to eat less?  Only if you have conditioned yourself otherwise.

Eat Like A Pig Action Item:  Find out how many calories you need a day (here is a link to help) and don’t exceed the calories you expend. And if you want to lose some weight, take in a little less calories than you expend.  And always think about the calorie content of the foods you are selecting.  Some are way more densely packed than others.

2.  Choose Healthy Sources

When people think pigs, they think words like “dirty” and “mud.”  Pigs don’t eat mud and they are actually very clean.  But what is even cleaner, if you look at where a pig’s calories should come from, is their diet.

A pig and a human are very similar in terms of what they “should” eat vs. what they “could” eat.  We are both omnivores, but unfortunately, rarely do we eat the right things in the right order from the obvious list below.  Pigs start with the most from the top and less as you work your way down:

Vegetables

Fruits

Nuts

Seeds

Whole Grains

Eggs 

Eat Like A Pig Action Item:  Get a lot of fresh produce in your diet.  If you aren’t eating vegetables and fruits during the day, it is time to add them.  Add variety and eating a lot of colors.  Excluding some good lean meats or fish (which pigs don’t eat but you can for great sources of protein), if it isn’t on the list, don’t bring it in the house.  If it is there (like you may find in your pantry or fridge according to #3 below) you will eat it.

3.  Avoid Processed Foods

The books are clear: pigs will become unhealthy due to eating processed foods they were not designed to eat.  If much of your diet comes from a box or can labeled with an ingredients list you can’t either recognize and pronounce, you weren’t designed to eat it either. A processed food is easily found in the middle of your super market with a cartoon character saying the benefits of “low fat.”  It is also easily found in most people’s homes.

Eat Like A Pig Action Item:  I know it may be tough to avoid, but keep processed foods to either a minimum or to be used as a real special treat.  Ask yourself why you are eating the processed foods you currently eat.  If it is due to convenience or just bad habits, time for a change.  See #3 above and get back to that list.

4.  Decrease Salt

Salt is actually #1 on the toxic list that I was given when we got Zuri.  Since pigs can’t sweat, we have to be very careful with the salt content.  Even though you can sweat, that doesn’t mean too much salt can’t be harmful.

High blood pressure (hypertension) has been linked to salt in the diet.  Globally, poor nutrition has been linked to mortality in over 11 million people around the world.  And a part of the study cited too much salt as a culprit.

Eat Like A Pig Action Item:  As per #2 choose fresh foods which are usually low in sodium.  Then if you do have processed foods in #3, read the labels to monitor how much salt is added.  If you need extra flavor, choose spices or seasonings that don’t include salt.  And if salt or in #4, sugar is just a bad habit, spend 6-8 weeks breaking the cycle.

5.  Decrease Sugar

In addition to salt, another warning about feeding pigs is to avoid sugar.  Sugar adds to the overall calorie count (see #1) and can also lead to obesity and dental issues in pigs.  The same is true for humans too.  The World Health Organization recommendation is less than 10% of your total calories from additional sugar.  So, in combination with #1 about and #7 below, you can learn if you are taking in too much of the white stuff.

Eat Like A Pig Action Item:  If your food comes with labels, read them.  If sugar is one of the top 2-3 ingredients in your foods, either cut them out or cut them down significantly.  All sugar doesn’t come in the same packaging.  So, you should get yours from fruit vs. a donut so you at least get good nutrients, fiber and vitamins with your sugar.  That’s why fruit is better than a candy bar.

6.  Drink Water

One place we don’t want Zuri adding even more calories to her diet is by drinking them.  Although she loves an occasional taste of coconut water, her hydration comes from high quality H2O.

Take a look at how many calories (and in particular sugars) are in the liquids that you drink a day.  And that includes the creamer in your coffee, your morning orange juice, lunch smoothie or post workout sports drink. I am not saying skip liquids, just make them mostly water. Dehydration is more dangerous than hunger.  You or Zuri can’t go long without water as food.  So I always make sure Zuri has fresh water to drink.

Eat Like A Pig Action Item: Make water the most plentiful liquid you drink per day.  Start with 6-8 glasses and some water before and waking up from bed would be a great start and end to the day.

7.  Measure To Manage

After a few weeks of having Zuri, we had our first veterinarian visit to establish communication and perform a “physical.”  This included the doctor weighing her in and a long discussion about her nutrition to make sure we were getting it right.  We were also given a body composition chart to help us maintain a healthy and lean weight.

Weighing yourself and checking your body fat shouldn’t be seen as “scary.”  It should be viewed as a data point to help direct your behavior.  Without the right information, everything when it comes to nutrition is just “guessing.”  And guessing doesn’t usually lead to consistent results.

Eat Like A Pig Action Item:  Make sure you are taking some important measurements. As per #1 above, calculate the number of calories you should ingest a day. Weighing in bi-weekly and getting a monthly body fat check could also help too.  You could even check some girth measurements.  The more information you have, the more positive change you can document.

8.   Keep A Food Journal

When I started feeding Zuri, I created a journal and wrote down everything she ate through the day.  Not only did this help get the calories right, but it also showed me if we were feeding her from good sources and variety too.

Pigs root and graze. So do people. As a result of grazing and paying little attention to the actual total amount of food intake, most people under-estimate and under-report their calories. By keeping a food journal you can take control.  Just by reporting you are more conscious and being more conscious can help you take in less of what you don’t want and more of what you do.

Eat Like A Pig Action Item: Keep a journal or log on an app documenting the foods and amounts that you eat per day.  Look back each week to understand your current habits, preferences and limitations. Then using in combination with #7 above, make the appropriate changes to match your health goals.

9.  Be More Active 

Pigs may be notorious for being lazy, it is not the case. We get Zuri outside a lot during the day to “train” and she really enjoys it.   I have even made sure she sprints each day just to get her used to moving.  Exercise and nutrition are closely linked to optimal health in both pigs and humans.  Not only does regular exercise strengthen muscles, bones and the cardiovascular system, but it also expends additional calories as well.  So, if you want to eat a little more, burn a little more with training. Although this should not be the reason you exercise, regular training does allow you to enjoy more of the good foods you love.

Eat Like A Pig Action Item:  Get some form of regular exercise 4 times a week that you enjoy.  Walking or biking would be a start.  Athletic activities or lifting weights would be great to add too.  And just like Zuri has made me more active, find a workout partner with similar goals who can inspire you too!

10.  Monitor Your Sleep

Most people agree that a baby needs their sleep.  I’m not sure why people ever think that changes for adults.  In the case of Zuri being a piglet, we make sure she gets to bed on time and the right amount each night.  In addition to a consistent schedule, her bedroom is blacked out, the area is kept quiet and she has a soft blanket and good comfortable surface.

Sleep deprivation in people can lead to overeating.  Part of the deprivation can be from not setting up either a good sleep routine or healthy sleep environment.  Take a look at your current habits and pay particular attention to caffeine or alcohol consumption too.  Too much too late in the day of either can have disastrous results for your sleep.

Eat Like A Pig Action Item:  Get to bed at the same time each night.  Turn off the tech and commit to getting 8 quality hours of sleep.  And if think it is tough to get here’s a quick hack: find out when you have to get up and then get in your bed with the lights out and phone off 8 hours before that!

Nutrition can often be REACTIVE. But to follow a healthy diet, your nutrition should be PROACTIVE. By applying the list above and taking some of the Eat Like A Pig Action Items, you add the important concept of “proactivity” to your food.

Don’t buy an unhealthily food because it is “on sale,” more convenient, or you’re just hungry.  And more importantly, don’t wait to finally address your nutrition only when a health problem has been identified.  Reactivity can lead to obesity, medications and a shorter lifespan in pigs.  Unfortunately the same again is true for people.

Your diet is just a result of a series of your current habits.  Just like I learned with Zuri, the first thing you should do with your nutrition is get the habits right from the start.  And if after reading this you have realized you started them off wrong, it is never too late to change.

Habits are simply a combination of CONSISTENCY and DISCIPLINE.  Eating is not a diet.  Eating is a habit. And your habits add up to form your lifestyle.  And that lifestyle will determine your health.  Pigs and kids shouldn’t be put in charge to develop great habits on their own.  That is what we are there for as parents.  And if we love them, feeding them right is a great way to show it.

So, parents need to change their nutrition habits first.

I often hear parents complain about their child’s phone usage and video games. I haven’t heard any of them complain about their kids eating too much vegetables.  Both of those are examples of habits the parent helped to create.

But having been a parent for 17 years, I get it: it’s easy to take the quick way out.  I have taken that route too.  The pig is so cute, it’s easy to keep feeding her or give in with treats.  I have found myself tempted over and over, but I am more concerned about her health and longevity than I am about being the nice human who hands out unhealthy snacks to get her off my back.  Overfeeding our pets is not cute.  It is not the way that you show you care. It is abuse. The same is true for our children.

Do you want to be liked or have healthier kids?

Do you want longevity or less hassle?

Your nutrition will simply be a function of the priority you place on it.

Before you come up with all the reasons why you can’t do the list of 10 above, think about the ways you can.  And before you get angry or tell me it can’t be that easy, give it a try for a month or two and see.

I just did a month of eating like a pig and it’s making me healthier.

I have learned one way to a pig’s heart is with food.  This can be the true in your house too.  Family dinners are an amazing place to communicate and build bonds. Just make sure you are doing it right so you take care of those hearts you care so much about.

Yours in Strength,

Martin

P.S. If you would like to follow Zuri’s adventures and surely get a smile, check out her Instagram page at @zuri_the_pig 

Hog Heaven: an extremely satisfying state or situation.

If you know about me, I am allergic to dogs. Unfortunately, I passed on that allergy to one of my daughters. As a result, I have never been able to have a puppy, or really know all the amazing bonding and experiences that come with owning a dog.

After years of lobbying unsuccessfully, I am proud to introduce the newest member of the Rooney Family, Miss Zuri, an American mini-pig.

Zuri was born 11 weeks ago in Missouri (hence the name which our 7-year-old, Sasha thought up!) Before we got her, my wife did a tremendous amount of research into breeders, the requirements to care for a pig and even got a “pig certification.” Then when we selected the breeder, we had reserved a pig from a litter. My kids have watched videos of her growing up and last week, we drove on a family adventure through 4 U.S. States and almost 1500 miles round-trip to finally pick her up.

It was love at first sight. Because Zuri snuggled my oldest daughter Sofia’s neck immediately, the breeder actually cried she was so happy to see the pig going to a caring family.

At this tough time of stress and anxiety, she has really brought this family some much needed joy. Zuri is happy at our house and loves to cuddle. In particular, since I have been essentially house-bound for the last 17 weeks, she has reminded me of my love for coaching.  While I am getting notorious for sneaking her broccoli, carrots and butternut squash during our training sessions, she has been sneaking me a number of coaching lessons in return.

“WHEN PIG’S FLY”

Now having been “coaching” Zuri for a little over a week, she continues to impress me and is performing skills I would have not previously thought possible.

That brings me to the statement above. “When pigs fly” has been a sarcastic remark used since the 1600’s to describe what someone believes to be impossible or an event that will never happen.

As a coach, this should not be a phrase you use with your students, athletes, co-workers or family. As I describe in my newest book, Coach to Coach, a great coach should be an eternal and serial optimist searching for what can happen, not highlighting what can’t.  You will see in the following video, then the coach’s job is to keep believing in them until their student does too.

You probably noticed two things from the video: Zuri’s wagging tail and my enthusiasm for her training.  In both cases, you should learn that high energy will always help get results.  Sorry for the excitement, but a good coach should always try to encourage. After all, what gets rewarded gets repeated.

When training commenced with Zuri, we had to start at the beginning.  Although I have trained Olympic medalists, UFC champs and NFL stars, Zuri has reminded me of the pleasure of starting with a clean slate.  Coaching Zuri has been a real treat. Here are 10 universal coaching lessons from the week regardless if you are training pigs or people:

10 Universal Coaching Lessons From A Pig

1.  A good coach makes the basics FUN.
2.  When starting with new learners you have to MEET and MATCH the athlete where they are in terms of skill and ability.
3.  A good coach should be PATIENT and take the necessary time to get things right until they can’t get it wrong.

4.  You have to instill a LOVE for the sport, and not use any aspect of it as punishment.

5.  A good coach will know if he or she did their job because they keep coming back wanting to “PLAY” some more.

6.  Coaching is built on TRUST.

You have to develop trust before any successful training can happen. Too many people skip this important step. Make the investment in your relationships and think of the long term.

7.  Once you have trust, RESULTS come with REPS.

Delayed gratification is the grandmother of getting reps done. Then those reps become the mother of a skill. So, want to help someone get ahead of the competition? Get them interested in putting in work over time.

8.  When you get the POSITIVE RESULT you want REWARD it.

All too often we listen to the negative thoughts instead of filling our minds and the hearts of others with positive messages. Instead of always saying “no” find the reasons for a big “YES!” When you see something you like, let them know about it with a “GOOD JOB!”

9.  Be their greatest CHEERLEADER.

Everyone needs some fans cheering them on. Performance will improve when you have people on your side who want you to succeed. A good cheerleader never gives up hope or faith.

10.  Never let them forget how much you CARE.

The world can be a scary place sometimes. No one needs to worry alone. Whether it is a pig’s version of a high five, a note, text or card, showing you care leads back to #1 above and results in a virtuous coaching cycle of goodness.

I challenge you to use these 10 lessons today with your family, friends, and community. (Kisses on the nose only to be used when appropriate and accepted…)

Want some other great coaching lessons?

Check out my latest book, Coach to Coach.  Thousands around the world have already enjoyed it.  Even Zuri likes it!

Now at only 12 dollars on Amazon, if you read it already, it can make a great gift!

LINK TO GET YOUR SPECIAL PRICE
My biggest Coaching Lesson from Zuri: Effort, Encouragement and Enthusiasm will always produce Accomplishment.

I hope she has put a smile on your face and keep a lookout on my social media for more great tricks and videos.

Yours in Strength,

Martin

P.S. Don’t miss out on a special sale on my Coaching Greatness online programs!

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