I just got back from Chicago where I was traveling for business.  Its nice to get out of the everyday routine every once in awhile. I have also found that doing new things is  great for creativity.  During my trip I got to meet a local gym owner who has grown his business from 0 to $500,000 a year in 5 years.  He gave us a talk about his background and if you thought you had it bad, this guy takes the cake.

The business man told of how he graduated high school at 6′2″ and weighted a whooping 105 lbs.  I am not even kidding.  He said the first time that he worked out, he tried to bench press the bar and almost strangled himself if not for 4 girls who came and lifted the bar off of him.  He didn’t say this, but at 105 I can guarantee you this guy got picked on mercilessly.

I was fascinated while he told his story.  Today, he weights 230 lbs, and he still doesn’t really look ‘jacked.’  He said he decided he would learn everything he could about the human body so he could build himself.  He WON my respect for one main reason: he has a tremendous amount of heart.

Its easy to listen to the story of the victim in your head and feel sorry for yourself.  Its easy to think you’ve got it so bad and if only this or if only that.  Its easy to quit and it easy to settle for less.

The business man doesn’t have that attitude.  He looks at it like “here’s where we are, here’s what we’ve got to do to get from point A to point B.”  Success can be simple if you allow it.  He grew his business just like he grew his body, and now he is an example for others.

Another great example of this is football player Wes Welker.  In high school, Wes Welker was the best player in the entire state of Oklahoma.  Despite winning all sorts of awards, he was plan B for Texas Tech after another player backed out of his scholarship.

Welker had a great college career and won awards, but wasn’t drafted by the NFL.  It would have been easy to listen to the scouts and teams who were saying “you are too small.”  He could have played it safe and used his degree to get a safe job and be ordinary…but he didn’t.  He even got cut his first year after making the roster.

In 2007, Welker led the NFL in receptions and set a franchise record.

Fuck the guys who get handouts. Fuck the guys who are born with it and that have a silver spoon in their mouth.

Don’t just ’settle’ for a shitty job in a shitty town just because its safe.  I have news for you.  One day you are going to die and it’s not going to matter then that you played it safe and lived a boring, mediocre life.  Why settle, when all you have to do is keep going? Live your dream, be happy now.

You can be-do-and have anything you want, you just have to decide and DO IT.  The problem most people have is that they grossly underestimate their ability to get it done…so they never try.

Have heart.

Never give up.