Set The Example

As I read in my book "Go Pro" by Eric Worre, and I came to the part "...people could sense my change of focus and my commitment to excellence and they wanted to be a part of it.  Think about a time in your life when you were around a person committed to excellence.....How did it make you feel?"  I realized that I have, indeed, encountered times in my life where either I was the example, or someone else was the example, of the very concept being written about in this part of the book.

In the latter half of 2010, I was able to lose a lot of weight.  I was committed, dedicated, determined and doing it.  The more and more repetition of visits to the spin class and gym, the more I craved it and the more results I saw.  People were starting to notice.  They wanted to know what I was doing!

In the wonderful world of Beachbody I have often heard the phrase "Be a product of the product!", and that is so very true and so very important.  So why do I bring that up now, after my first paragraph?  Because they really go hand-in-hand.

When you are "a product" of "the product", you are a living, breathing example of something.  In 2010, my something was diet and exercise.  Now, in 2013, my product is a combination of diet, exercise, Beachbody products & programs, and positivity.

This morning as I drove my daughters to their band camp, I noticed the lady I encountered yesterday at the end of my walk, walking.  Instead of going her normal route, which is much more longer and spaced out than mine, I noticed that she turned the corner....going the direction of my ritual route.  As I came back from dropping the girls off, I noticed she was still walking my normal route, not her own.  I pulled my truck into my driveway and started out on my usual route.

On my second lap around (a quarter mile each), I noticed that she had come over to the same side of the road as I was on, and that she was steadily catching up with me.  It made me smile.  She obviously wanted to walk with me, and it made me happy to know that.

When you are doing the right thing, making a positive example of yourself, it has a positive effect on others.  They want to know what you're doing, why you're doing it, and what your successes are.  When others see you succeeding, they want to be successful like you.  When you make progress and make accomplishments, they covet them for themselves.  Not all coveting is bad, especially when it inspires you to change your life in a positive way, toward a healthier and better future.

The best thing we can be, in whatever venture we pursue, is a "product of the product"...be the example of success, be the example that someone else will want to be. 

You do not have to remain in the same "four walls" that you've spent so much time in, that it feels like a prison.  Break out and step outside the comfort zone.  Invest time in being more positive, getting healthier, and being successful.  People WILL notice and they will want to know what you are doing.  When your "sun" shines, people want to know what is making such a positive change in your life!   You will not only make a difference in someone else's life, but your own.

Be a product of the product.... Set the example.

Ever-Changing Society

I never really "digested" how society has changed since I was a child.  I was born in the late 1960's, but most of my childhood was spent in the 1970's.  The 1970's were, in my opinion, a care-less decade.  I remember playing outside from sunrise to sunset, and running all over my neighborhood.  The phone was attached to the wall, not my hip or in my pocket.  Parents opened their doors and hollered the names of their kids, calling them home.  There were no water bottles, we drank from cups in the kitchen or hoses attached to the house.  The library was a common place to go, and there were always so many interesting books to read and things to discover.  Television for my family, still was the basic three networks and PBS.  You looked forward to your favorite show each week, and there were no previews to be found, except for the tantalizing commercials about the next episode.

The 1980's brought an introduction to the computer, but there was no internet in the early 1980's.  The new, popular thing was MTv and music videos, and that meant having a cable subscription.  My parents didn't really invest in cable back then...but what I remember of it, was about 10 channels.  I remember there still being a time when you could go directly out of high-school, into a forever job that promised retirement and benefits.  Sexual promiscuity was something that wasn't talked about, but it was happening.  AIDS didn't come out until this decade, and then all of a sudden fear steps in and makes everyone more aware of what they're doing.  We go from expressing our selves in outrageous and flamboyant ways, to a gradual change toward accountability.  Gone, by the end of this decade, is the care-less times.

I don't recall seeing "mobile" phones (cell phone's in their infancy) until the early 1990's.  My first experience with the internet is in the mid 1990's, about 1996-7.  Everything is becoming convenient.  There is still some of the same taboos...you didn't talk about homosexuality and bi-racial couples were still hard to find.  I don't remember much of the first half of the 1990's, I was too busy working 2-3 dead-end jobs.  I was living everyday at work, basically.  The latter half of the 1990's, for me, was a time of financial struggle.  I would not "wake-up" to the consequences of my actions....my lack of pursuing a college-education, until the next decade.

Everything is different when you are a military family.  He got back in the military in 2001, so 2000-2009 is basically a little different than what it might have been, had we remained a civilian family.  At the point of his re-entry, the military still has a lot of benefits for the soldiers, a lot of reasons for people to choose this as a career.  Military families live in a community where there are a lot of new cars and houses bought.  There is a steady and set income, plus some benefits, and we don't have to "hurt" financially- as families who rely on a non-secure job.  The internet brings more and more progress daily, and there are all kinds of things to discover.  Satellite companies compete with cable companies, and in the beginning...offer 100's of channels, forcing cable companies to catch up or be left behind.  Cell phones, in my opinion, are starting to be more convenient and popular than "land-lines".  Gay couples and bi-racial couples are everywhere.  Even though gas prices are outrageous since the start of the conflicts with the middle-east, people are living life to the fullest, enjoying all of the bounty of continuously progressive technology.

2010- today....
"In" is what was taboo before, and "out" is many of the standards of modesty that we've already been seeing deteriorate as it is. Every "minority" is finding its voice and making themselves heard.  Jobs are not so easy to get, and the "prerequisites" are becoming more demanding.  You can't just go into a "forever job" anymore, especially not just out of high school.   You need college.  The military is being stripped of its benefits, leaving it not so pleasant a job prospect.  Insurance companies, I think, are one of the biggest winners of this decade...as you are forced to have insurance, or you pay the price.  On top of that, they don't judge you solely on your past driving history...they get you if your credit score is not high enough.  The same will happen with the mandatory health-insurance, as well.  Today's society is not what it used to be.  Opportunity is going from wide-open, to a very limited doorway.

To read a potential scenerio in the book "Go Pro" by Eric Worre...about how jobs are headed to performance based pay, and away from set salaries...that's scary.  I can honestly see how that can happen.  Not having read any of this book before, or having heard of this possibility, I would have never thought of it.  I would have continued, clueless, and eventually find myself commenting on "how hard things are today" in the near future.

  Wake Up!!!!!! 

 It's time to wake up and smell the coffee.  If you had to work a job that was based on performance and your base salary was decreased, with the promise of additional pay for your performance....could you make it?  Could you still pay your bills?  It's definitely something to think about.

Once upon a time people sat at a desk and made their salary based on the hourly wage or the set yearly income.  Is our society coming to a time where we are paid for what we accomplish, rather than our time?  Once they start doing that, the expectations for our accomplishments will steadily increase....and the hourly wage (or set salary) will decrease, or become non-existent. 

What kind of world will we wake up in, "tomorrow"?