“I Can’t”…

It’s amazing when we say this to ourselves… sure, there are some things we’ll never be able to do… I won’t be able to jump out a 100 story building and fly no matter how many times I say “I can do anything if I set my mind to it”, but the things we CAN do are unbelievable.I wrote earlier on my site about my story… it was the fitness side of my story, (the music side is coming very soon…), about how I started playing music and it took me to great places… I stuck with it because it was relatively easy.  Sure, I worked at it, and continue to, but I was up and running pretty quickly… The point I’m trying to make is that when I started getting into health and fitness I started things that *weren’t* easy.  Weren’t natural, and I stuck with it.It *got* easier as I got *better*.  I realized then that I don’t want to teach my children to rely on just what they’re *good* at.  Funny thing is that I haven’t worked on the parts of music that are harder for me, up until now.  It’s a discipline that I’ve actually embraced, because I saw the future clearly… either keep withering or do something about it.So it gets back to the fitness thing… the “I Can’t”.  Amazing when I hear that… when people say, “Oh yes, that P90X thing you’re doing… I can’t do that, it’s too hard.”  As a coach, and having a team of coaches, we talk about this a lot.  It takes a nut to be in the face of starting a program like P90X and only be able to do 1 pushup on day 1, (yes, that was me), and continue on!  To actually see myself getting better, when there was absolutely no evidence of it on day one…But I knew I had to keep going.  The alternative was not looking good… going down the tubes, and fast.  Sink or swim, do or die… Wow, do or die… amazing how that saying is really the truth… at least is was for me.So now when people say that P90X is too hard for them I don’t argue and tell them that it isn’t… that they too can barely do it at first and keep their spirits up.  As I said, it takes a real nut to get into that mindset.  But the truth of the matter is it’s too hard, at first.  BUT, it gets easier.  P90X is modifiable too… we are such he men thinking we need to be able to master it in one session, maybe two, and then get frustrated and mad because we can’t keep up with them… well come on!  These are elite athletes who’ve built themselves into this kind of condition.  Same thing with the Coaching business… it’s a business!  How long do you think it takes to make a business work?  People get frustrated because it doesn’t happen fast enough for them.That’s something that I find so interesting at this point… we’re coming out the other side of one of the most irresponsible periods of history, to date.  The era of over consumerism… an industry, culture, generation, (or 2), of spending, into oblivion… “Don’t worry about tomorrow, get it now…”  The whole instant gratification thing.  Again, that’s NOT what I want to teach my kids… let’s WORK for something… fitness is such a great discipline for that… it’s called “Starting something”, sticking with it and getting *better*.  And boy, when that happens, we’re changed forever.  It’s not just sweating, getting in shape, looking better… it’s learning amazing new skills and disciplines… things I take in every area and aspect of my life.  Things I wish I would have learned years ago when I was starting out in the music industry.  Things I’m taking INTO the next phase of my involvement in the music industry…So starting P90X in 2007 with just a dream of turning it around, a resolve that I had to do something and there was no turning back… that has been the epicenter.  I see so many people focused on the negative in the world… they don’t see a future that looks good to them… It’s amazing how fast that can change… it’s almost like it’s a joke how quick it can turn around… seriously… and it starts small… it starts with being fed up to be exact.  It starts with having no option but to change.  And we can… that I’m positive about.  I know too many people who’ve had it much worse then most of us… turn it around.I just read an amazing book on Abraham Lincoln… talk about a guy who had a HIDEOUS upbringing and actually most of his life… this was not a happy guy… but he kept pushing for what he knew was right… he persevered.  He beat the odds… and he knew he was probably going to go out as he did… but he couldn’t turn back… there comes a point where you can’t go back… there’s something bigger in us… and it has to be realized…I used to think that was all hocus pocus mumbo jumbo but I really believe it now.  We have one shot at this thing called life… one chance and there are lots of forces, people, conditions, hardships, etc. that will challenge us… but just finding the power of books… the right ones… can plant seeds that make us change dramatically, almost overnight.  “The Slight Edge” was one of them for me.This is not heady stuff either… very simple, practical, A,B,C kind of stuff… it just takes reading a little a day and it’s amazing.  Becoming a student… why not?  Right?  I love the “Why’s”.

1. Why?
2. Why not?
3. Why not me?
4. Why not now?

What I know now is it’s not enough to just wake up one day and say everything is going to change… there has to be a plan, there has to be help, there has to be ACTION.  Affirmations are just pipe dreams without action…Maybe at first we “Can’t” but I refuse to say that anymore… I will maybe say “I presently struggle with” but “I Can’t” has left my vocabulary.  Because I know now that I CAN.  I have and will continue to… and I’ll show others how to do it… because others before me have shown me how… that’s how it works…I’m 49 now and I can feel it.  I’m moving into a period of my life that is becoming an *elder*.  I remember the first time a good friend of mine told me that… and I bristled.  Made me feel like it was calling me an old man… the last of the screaming, crying little boy who didn’t want to grow up was faced with an incredible awakening.  An *elder* is someone who has lived and can pass things on to the next generations… it’s a responsibility.  Either that or you’re some Peter Pan in his 50s, 60s.  Hey, that works for some but as I look at my sons who are becoming teenagers now, I’m comfortable with the responsibility of being a teacher… a mentor, an elder.That doesn’t mean I don’t have fun… I mean, geez, I’m in a BAND, right?  Nothing more fun and something to keep you young than walking out on stage nightly seeing a bunch of folks reliving the good old days… and creating some new good old days for younger generations… I keep telling my mother, play music!  It’ll keep you young!So that’s my little rant tonight… I was actually just trying out some features in my new blog but figured I’d write something… so there it is… “I Can’t”.  Yes you can… Stick around, I’ll show you and help you… Jason