"Find Out What You Like Doing Best and Find Someone to Pay You For It."

People will have their doubts about your dreams, hear them out. Then simply reply, “Watch me.”

As a young boy I didn’t have any dream other than to play in the NFL. It’s funny how not many people ever said that I couldn’t make that happen, which is cool. People in my life were letting me dream. My parents of course did encourage me to have a plan “B,” but there was never a conversation about realigning my goals or telling me that maybe they were too big. I look back on that and am extremely grateful. But what is ironic is that when I didn’t make it to the NFL and began to pursue my plan “B”, which was me coaching fitness and staying around sports anyway I could, some people had their doubts. It doesn’t take long to know that the life of a personal trainer isn’t a fabulous one. There is no guaranteed income, no salary, no health insurance, no 401k. Without those things, its harder for a lot of people to take a career or a “job” like this very serious from the outside. Parents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, friends, they may not understand and several in my life didn’t.

Ironically for me, I’m a knucklehead. Which isn’t my greatest trait but has created a “hard head” and one that now today I am thankful for. You see I didn’t let their words or concerns or doubts create any of those for me. My goal was to be passionate about my work, no matter the sacrifice. No matter how I had to budget, no matter the trips I missed out on, or clothes I didn’t buy. In my early and mid twenties the amount of “free” income I had was basically “zero.” Oh, and I didn’t even know what 401k or health insurance really meant and I didn’t care…I just figured I’d keep from getting seriously injured and sick as best I could and not need it. (Which, in all honesty if I was not married with children…I’d probably still feel this way, sad but true.) You get the idea, I wasn’t naive as much as I was blinded by my passion for what I wanted to do. None of those concerns were greater than me waking up each day on fire what I got to do professionally. The people I got to help, teach, lose weight, gain speed, gain muscle you name it, that fired me up. I was also learning new things each and everyday at my job and I don’t think you can say that about many out there. I started to create vision and even in times of need, where I had no clients, I pretended they were there and wrote some of my best programs for athletes that didn’t exist. And when the clients appeared the programs were ready and they helped get me to where I am today.

I share this with you today as motivation. You can do whatever you want. The world is truly yours, make something of it. It is never too late to change your story, you are the one writing it. I am involved in a few businesses now, all of which serve people, allow me to impact their lives through fitness. I couldn’t be more grateful for where I am now. But it took some hard work and blinders, thick, heavy, large blinders. Focus on your goal, be passionate about what you do, and you will never work a day in your life.

“Find out what you like doing best and find someone to pay you for it.” - Katherine Whithorn

I saw this quote this morning which is the root of this post today. I think it should be everyone's goal but somewhere along the way we are distracted by the naysayers who try to change our story.

Keep Rising,

AC