Growing up I would hear, “If I knew then what I know now…” from those who were older than me from time to time. I’m not sure if they just couldn’t put it into words or if they were thinking about something too inappropriate to tell a kid. But they wouldn’t give me any advice following that phrase. It was because of this that I made a vow to myself to never be like that. A vow to always help those who could utilize my personal experience. The following lessons have helped me develop my heart, mind, and soul to continually become the best version of myself.

Faith is the most powerful creative force available in the Universe. Whether you are a member of Christianity or not, the definition of faith found in Hebrews 11:1 is especially profound: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Faith, to me is having the confidence and assurance that something, some vision, some event will come to pass. We see this in champion fighters who confidently predict which round that they will knock out their upcoming opponent. We can see an individual’s faith in those final moments of a basketball, hockey, or soccer game when they take a last-second shot for the win. Faith is like a muscle—it grows with use. Hard work and that sense of knowing fuse together to create faith. True faith produces action—it isn’t mere belief, it is an understanding that if you do your part and give your all that miracles will happen.

Motivation ignites action, and if I only had one source of motivation available to me, then I would pick love every time. Love in the English language is fairly limited. In other languages, there are three or more words that represent different types of love. You could say that you love pizza and you love your wife in the same sentence but the type of love is obviously different. I’ve harnessed my love for my family, lovers, and even my future unborn children to drive me to take action on a daily basis. This still takes effort because I have to focus on it, meditate on it, instead of letting useless thoughts occupy my mind. Let love fuel you into fulfilling your purpose.

Growing up I would often hear “You can do anything that you set your mind to.” As a kid that was a very vague statement. However, through the experiences of life, I now understand its full meaning. Jerry Rice said it best: “Today I will do what others won’t so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.” Malcolm Gladwell came up with a now controversial 10,000-hour rule that claimed that those who have spent 10,000 hours of deliberate practice (progressively increasing one’s skills) were the best in their field. The road to greatness is a mountain path and competition is fiercest along the path not at the top of the mountain. Driven by faith, motivated by love, and unwavering in your mind you can have, do, and be anything you want in life.

Abraham Lincoln is easily remembered as one of the greatest US presidents yet he had experienced failure after failure along with his life’s journey. He was defeated for the legislature, had a nervous breakdown, defeated for Speaker, defeated for nomination for Congress, was elected to Congress then lost renomination, defeated for Senate, defeated for nomination for Vice-President, defeated for Senate again…and then elected President. He knew that if he kept pushing forward that despite his failures he could achieve his dreams. Regarding this Lincoln said, “You can have anything you want if you want it badly enough. You can be anything you want to be, do anything you set out to accomplish if you hold to that desire with singleness of purpose.” What do you want to achieve? It is yours for the taking if you are willing to go the distance.

The shift in my thinking that has happened since I was that kid hearing, “If I knew then what I know now…” to the present day, is that we are all pretty much the same. Our intellect is not much different. Our genetics are not that much different. The greatest determining factor for our success and failure in life is how we choose to spend our time. Our greatest asset that we have and we get a fresh, new twenty-four hours every day. When I started my online personal trainer business, I made very little money and struggled immensely. Now, a little over a year later, my fitness business accounts for the majority of my income, I have more freedom than I thought possible, and I get to help people live happier healthier lives. If I had quit when times got tough then I wouldn’t have been able to help the wonderful people that I call my clients or experience the incredible life that I live today. Have faith in your ability to succeed, motivated by love and persevere with daily action and you will make your dreams your reality.

http://philreynoldsfitness.com/

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