By: Ryan Burke

I’m learning and growing. I’ve learned many lessons through mentorship, hardships, and victories!

Here are a few to noteworthy lessons:

Enjoy the process. I have one life and don’t know when it will end. Why get so pre-occupied thinking about future goals and achievements? All I have are the moments that comprise my day. In fact, when I take a step back, these moments are pretty awesome. I’m learning to enjoy life one day at a time.

Don’t accept a false narrative. This is a key leadership and communication principle. There’s two parts to this. 1.) I can’t accept the false narratives that I tell myself and 2.) I can’t accept a false narrative from people I care about. We will blog in more detail about this, but false narratives take us further from reality and closer to misery.

Ask the right questions. This is another key communication principle that applies in many areas. In the context of my personal development, I must ask myself the right questions through inventory taking. It’s easy to avoid inventory taking because I don’t want to deal with potentially unpleasant answers. But what’s the alternative? Suppression and avoiding reality? How happy does that really make me?

Push the envelope. I got significantly stronger and faster in 2017. These results came after I realized that I simply wasn’t training hard enough. I sought accountability and focused on consistency. Additionally, a “one rep at a time” mentality made a huge difference in my motivation and progress.

I’m my biggest opponent. Negative self-talk, disorganization, and unrealistic expectations are all roadblocks that derail me. It’s crazy that I create this negativity in my life! It’s also liberating to know that I can reverse these issues. If I wasn’t my biggest opponent, I’d truly be a victim to uncontrollable circumstances. I’m in control of my mentality and am personally responsible for my happiness.

Yoga is the bomb! I was the ANTI yogi in 2016. I used to think it was a waste of time. Turns out developing a yoga practice has been a high-leverage activity me. It’s truly regenerating and energizes me for my busy and active lifestyle.

Have an ownership mentality. I must take full ownership over anything I’m responsible for. This means business endeavors, personal training clients, personal fitness, homeownership, the list goes on! There are two key elements to having an ownership mentality: 1.) Understand rationale. Why am I doing what I’m doing? This is a simple question that should always have a clear, succinct answer. 2.) Know the details. There’s no upside in partially learning something that you’re responsible for. At best, you can get away with being average, and at worst, your credibility can be damaged. Another note about ownership mentality… Laziness is the only reason for not understanding rationale and knowing the details. I have no interest in letting laziness affect my life.

There were many highlights in 2017, but there was one really, really big one……