"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity" 

                                                                          - Seneca

It is the fall of 1980; my high school football team is preparing to take on one of our arch-rivals.  Both teams are 6-0 and whoever wins the game is in the driver's seat for the conference championship - and we've got them at our home stadium.  

It's minutes before kickoff and my teammates and I are high up above the playing field in an area of the stadium called the team room. 

It is a small, dark and cramped room where all 45 of my teammates and I are quietly making our final mental preparations for the big game. 

It is so quiet you can hear a pin drop as players are either silently sitting or pensively pacing back and forth to insure, they have the mental edge - you can cut the tension with a knife.

Suddenly, our head coach enters the room and gives the most amazing pre-game speech ever delivered.  The room explodes in enthusias...

"Gritty people train at the edge of their comfort zone. They zero in on one narrow aspect of their performance and set a stretch goal to improve it." 

                                                                                      - Angela Duckworth

Comfort Zones.  How many times have you heard you need to get out of your comfort zone(s) to achieve the results you desire? 

Authors, coaches and teachers have told us for decades that in order to really realize our dreams, we need to go beyond our comfort zones.

I totally agree. 

In fact, when I think of my own life and when I experienced my greatest results and feelings of satisfaction, it was always preceded with moving out of one of my comfort zones in some way, shape or form.

I also think that comfort zones get a bad rap. 

When I want to relax after a hard day's work and maybe curl up with a good book, flip on ESPN's Sports Center, or connect with a friend/family member, I am in my comfort zone. 

The...

"People don’t buy because what you do is awesome. People buy because it makes them feel awesome."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        – Tara Gentile 

In 1995, I left my position as a corporate sales manager of a Fortune 100 company to follow my dream of owning a professional martial arts studio.  It was both the most exhilarating and terrifying time of my life. 

When I left, I took my decade of experience and success in a large corporate environment with me.  However, I soon learned that the world of entrepreneurship and small business was much different from my corporate experience in one key area - guarantee of compensation.  

In the corporate world, although my compensation was ultimately predicated on my performance, if I occasionally had a bad sales call or mish...

“Perfectionism is focused on ‘doing the thing right’, how things APPEAR, and if OTHERS think it’s done right.  Excellence is about ‘doing the right thing’. It is focused on the REASON for a task, and the RESULTS for it to be a success.”

                                                                                                          - Marc Winn

Question:  "What's our goal?"

Answer:  "Black Belt Excellence, sir!"

For the past two decades, I have ended every martial arts class I have taught; whether it was with a group of White Belt kids or a class of seasoned adult Black Belt instructors with the question and subsequent response above. 

"What's our goal?......"Black Belt Excellence, sir!"   

On numerous occasions, I have explained to students the meaning and importance of this question and refrain. 

Although we may seek perfection in our professions, our relationships, our school studies and our martial arts training, it is really the quest for excellenc...

"The biggest lesson I've learned is that hurt people hurt people, and kindness is just as contagious.  So, if you can focus your efforts on engineering kindness, it will prevail."

                                                                                  - Whitney Wolfe Herd

During our current times, each of us has a heightened awareness of being contagious and possibly passing on or receiving a virus from someone else.

However, it came into my awareness that “being contagious” is not always a bad thing.

Let me explain.

One of the things I am most proud of in my martial arts career is the process by which each of the students in our organization must undergo to earn their Black Belts.

In addition to 3 to 3.5 five years of dedicated training, in the final four (4) months leading up to their Black Belt Test, students must move through some very intense training. 

For instance, each student must perform a myriad of physical requirements, which includes logg...

“The problem is not the problem. The problem is the incredible amount of overthinking you’re doing with the problem. Let it go and be free.”

                                                                                                      - Marcandangel

 One of my favorite movies is The Last Samurai.  

In it, Civil War Captain Nathan Algren, played by Tom Cruise, finds himself as a war prisoner of the last of the mighty Samurai leaders, Katsumoto. 

Held captive for several months, Algren is assimilated into the customs, traditions and martial arts training of the warrior clan, all the while also facing and eventually overcoming his own personal demons.  

During one poignant scene, Algren finds himself is a sparring match with an experienced Samurai swordsman.  Time and again, he is sent sprawling to the ground and each time his anger and frustrations grows. 

Finally, his new friend and Katsumoto's son, Nobutada approaches him and speaks these words of wisdom.

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see" 

                                                                                          - Henry David Thoreau

It feels to me that we are currently living in a very reactive world. 

In our technological age, information comes to us at warp speed and it seems that many times our reactions, both verbally and physically, happen so fast that we are not even conscious of how we are responding. 

One may look no further than our current political environment to see this each and every day.  Regardless of what side of the spectrum you find yourself on, reaction, often of the inflamed sort, seems to be the order of the day. 

I believe most of you would agree that we are a much better representation of our best selves when we refrain from unconscious reaction and move into mindful creation. 

What this means to me is before we speak or take action regarding any situation that causes us to feel anger, fear or ...

"The more disciplined I become, the freer I am to have the life I want.  If I conduct myself in a disciplined and organized way, I have much more free time."                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   – Steve Chandler

Discipline and Freedom.  At first glance, these concepts seem like diametrically opposed ways of being.  

When one thinks of discipline, images of austere rules, rigid schedules and harsh punishment might come to mind.  Conversely, the idea of freedom can evoke images of complete lack of responsibility and the ability to do as one pleases without any consequences imposed by authority.  

From the time we are children to well into our advanced stages of adulthood, there is an internal yea...

"Move the body and the mind and spirit will follow.  Most of us have it the other way around.  I know I did for years.  I thought I always had to have it right in my mind and spirit before I DO anything adventurous .... like go for a long run, or create a successful career ... But the body can go first.  Like Emerson says, 'do the thing and you shall have the power'."                                

                                                                                                         - Steve Chandler

“I just don't feel like it.” 

“I'm too tired right now.” 

“I will do it when I am more inspired.”

How many times in your life have you not taken action because of thoughts about your "feelings" like the ones above? 

Please don't misunderstand me.  As a student of Spiritual Psychology, I understand the importance of getting in touch with our feelings; to truly embrace the emotions such as anger, resentment and fear that we have repressed from our past ...

“People who want what’s best for you, want to see you at your best.”

                                                                                          - Oprah Winfrey

I was recently watching an inspirational video on YouTube featuring Oprah Winfrey delivering a commencement speech to an auditorium of graduating college students (yes, I think Oprah is the bomb 😊). 

During her impassioned address, she imparted upon the graduates the words shared above,

“People who want what’s best for you, want to see you at your best.” 

Hearing these words caused me to pause, reflect upon and appreciate all of the amazing people I have had in my life who supported and encouraged me. 

These include my parents, my family, my martial arts instructors, my students, my bosses, my coaches, my friends, and yes, my former spouse. 

Each one of them has brought a specific gift to me to encourage me to be my best by claiming the best that they see in me. 

During almost every k...