No Easy Wins

In this life you are not going to find too many easy wins. I know that some people make winning look easy and some people even make losing look easy for that matter. But it is important that win, lose or draw; that you face every obstacle, trial, test or circumstance with the same determination that no matter what the outcome, I’m going to give it my all. I know that people don’t like to struggle and like to take the road of least resistance but I have found that nothing worth having comes easy. Dick Bass stated that “Men are made strong  not by winning easy battles, but by losing hard-fought ones.” People don’t like to lose but I am persuaded that if I do have to lose at something, I’m going down swinging. This type of attitude will get you through the harsh reality that you will not win at everything that you do. Have you ever found yourself in a fight that you knew you couldn’t win but you didn’t want to go down without fighting back? Sometimes we may feel like we are going down for the count but it is important to remember that even though the battle is a hard one to overcome, don’t allow the enemy, circumstance or situation get an easy win. If you have to go down, at least go down swinging, kicking and screaming. At least let the enemy know that he was in a battle. You have to learn how to have victory in the face of defeat. Winning may not come easy but don’t let losing come easy either.

Not too many like winning the hard way. Easy wins are the preferred method chosen by some. But no athlete worth his weight wants to win a competition where the opponent just lays down and quits. Having an adversary or opponent that challenges you brings out the best in you. When you compete against someone who you feel is on the same level as you are, has similar strengths and weaknesses, you consider this a good fight. I can remember when I use to compete is sport karate, there were several guys from rival dojangs (Korean for training studios) that I would routinely come up against at tournaments. I always enjoyed fighting against these guys because it brought out the best in me. It made me compete on a greater level than I ever would competing against a weaker competitor. Even if I won, I knew that it was not an easy win. I had to earn the right to be called champion. In your life, no matter what you find yourself coming up against, you have to earn the right to be called a champion. Don’t look for the easy wins. You will never know how good you are until you go up against an equally suited opponent. Easy wins are not an option. Yes you may get a trophy but deep down inside you know that you really didn’t earn it and it doesn’t mean as much. But the greater the opponent, the greater the reward. I’d rather lose hard than to win easy. Always remember that it may not be easy but it is worth it!

No easy wins! The prize that you want, the success that you need to achieve, the victory that is in your hands will cost you something. but no matter the cost; No price is too great for this prize! You may feel outmatched, outclassed, outwitted, outgunned, outnumbered or even outsourced. Your situation may be poised to take you out at the opening bell. the odds may be stacked against you and it may look like defeat for you is just assured as victory for them; but once you settle in your mind that it’s not over unless you win, fight with everything you’ve got. For what you want to accomplish with your life, you may have to cry, but let it motivate you to push forward. You may have to walk alone, but let it motivate you to just keep walking past everyone else who decided to quit. Let the notion of failure propel you onward pass the possibility of you going down. Let it be the adrenaline you need to not give up but to keep pressing towards the prize of the high calling. The deck may be against you, people may leave you and victory may seem out of reach, but keep going until you win! It may not be an easy win but a win is a win! The race is not given to the swift nor to the strong but to the one who endures until the end!  – No Easy wins!

Eric Smith

Spring forward or Fall back

What are you waiting for? What are you reaching for in life? This is the time for you to step out on nothing but a wing and a prayer and go forward and not look back. This is your place in history, this is your opportunity to discover your hidden country and cross into your promised land. So what is holding you back? You have got to make up in your mind today that you are going to spring forward with your ideas and creativity or risk going back to what you were yesterday. It has been said that you can’t drive forward looking back, but I want to add that you can drive forward looking backwards, however, you will end up in a ditch or a wreck. You do not want your life to be one of regret or filled with wrecks so the only option that you have is to spring forward and spring into action. Springing forward requires movement and momentum. It requires you to change what you were doing. change what you have been, change the direction you were going in and chose to count it all a loss. When you are willing to count everything as loss then you can receive the true riches that await you. In order to Spring Forward, you have to learn to Forget. Some people let their past stagnate them and keep them from moving. But you have to change your focus.  Your past does not disqualify you from starting over and moving forward. Start today! If your past could not disqualify you from starting, what makes you think that it can disqualify you from finishing your race. Each of us has a race that we have to complete and you cannot let our past stop you. Now don’t get  wrong, we don’t rejoice in failure or make light of it but also we are not to be paralyzed by it. You have to learn how to forget somethings; no rather Forget All, so that you can move on with your life. You have to forget yesterdays mistakes and yesterdays victories because they don’t matter in today’s ballgame. You have to live a life on the run! Run so that you may obtain your prize. It may be beyond your grasp unless you reach for it or stretch for it. What you are reaching for is only beyond your grasp if you don’t reach or spring forward. If you can’t forget your past, can you press forward anyhow? If the answer is yes, if you can press forward then you can forget because both of those actions require movement. You only reach for something when you are close to it., but to get close you have to chase after it. The thing that you want in life may not even be close but you have to reach for it and sometimes to get a good reach you have to stretch or spring forward.  Stretching may produce pressure but it can be the thing that puts you over the finish line before others. If you have ever seen a track race in your life, you will notice that the runners do not cross the finish line standing straight up. In order to win the prize, in order to reach their goal, in order to cross over the barrier that signals your arrival; you have to reach forward. You can play it safe if you want to but playing it safe won’t always get you the prize. You can cross the finish line and still lose. It is important that you race to win not to just finish. Your message has to be heard, your voice has to be heard. You have got to learn to lean in and look up! Lean into what you want and look up to give thanks for making it. Sometimes life wont let you cross the line with your feet so you have to cross with your head. Whether you lead or nurture, you have to take action and lean forward. whether you guide or encourage, spring forward. Whether you direct or open up opportunities, reach forward and don’t look back. Don’t be afraid to take the risk but be very afraid of stagnation. Stagnation will stifle who you really are and stunt your growth into what you should be. There is victory in and through your struggles. Struggle for equality, struggle for opportunity, struggle for acceptance, and struggle for more from life.  Get your focus back and spring forward. As we set our clocks ahead over this past weekend it reminded me that I had to lose something to gain something. I lost an hour of sleep but I gained additional sunlight that shortened my dark times. Whatever you want to do in life successfully will cost you something and it may not seem like the ideal thing to do, but you must give it up so that you can have it all. Don’t let the unknown of the future trap you in the past. Don’t fall back into the same routines that 2012 brought you. Don’t allow your past to dictate your future. If not now, ask yourself when? Springing Forward is putting a pep in your step and a song in your heart and an idea in your mind and a stretch in your hand. If you can’t reach your destiny with your feet, reach with your hand. If you can’t cross the finish line by reaching with your hand, stretch forth with your head. Life’s’ victories do not always come to those who are the smartest, the cutest, or the wealthiest. But to everyone who will dare to step out on faith and keep on walking, sooner or later victory shall be theirs. Spring Forward my friend and have massive success!

Eric Smith

You are tougher than you think you are

Can you have success without a struggle? Can you truly have success without sacrificing something? Through all that you have gone through, who pulled you through it, you made it? Who gets the credit for you being here today? Sometimes we can feel so overwhelmed with everything that we have to go through. It may even seem like you are the only one that is facing something  huge in your life. Some people call it  going through a trial of faith while others see it as being in over your head with no way out. There may even be times when you are tempted to just throw in the towel and  ask why me? But I would say why not you? You may even let the thought creep into your mind that says is this the lot of my life? Is this all that there is for me? Am I meant to be like this for the rest of my life, go through this situation for the rest of my life, live like this for the rest of my life? When will the struggle be over and when can I find relief? These may be some of the questions that come to you when it seems like all hell is breaking loose in your life and no help seems to be on the way. But I want to encourage you today by saying you are tougher than you think you are and your best days and your blessed days are yet to come!

Notice I did not say your good days are coming.You see, some people only feel good on good days and the rest of their life they are down in the dumps. Some people only praise good times and then when the party is over, or the fantasy is over so to speak, they revert back to the low self-esteem, low-motivated no hope person that existed on the other side of the situation they are currently facing. But I have some good news for you today, your situation may not change and things might not get better but get worse; there may be no rescue plan set in motion to bring you out of what you find yourself in. But there is hope, there is an answer to your questions and as soon as you are ready to leave your pity party behind, there is a praise party that is awaiting you. Go get yourself some candles, find that CD that makes you feel like you are walking on water, turn it up, find you a noise maker and go to dancing all over your house. Celebrate that fact that you are still alive today, with breath in your body and in your right mind. I guarantee that you will find the praise party a much better place to be in than the pity party. It may sound crazy to do but what have you got to lose?

Robert Shuller stated that “tough times don’t last but tough people do“. If you can name your problem you can name your possibility! Your life can be a portrait of a survivor but you’ve got to put your problems in the proper perspective. You are a winner. you are a survivor and a thriver. Sure you have problems and they may be the worst thing that you have ever faced but I guarantee they could have been worse. No matter how bad your situation may be right no, it could have been worse so you need to thank God right in the middle of what you are facing that you are still here. No matter how life knocks you  down, and it will, you’ve got to look up to the hills from whence cometh your help and acknowledge that your help and your strength to over come, comes from the Lord! Everybody has problems and no life is problem-free but you must understand that tough times don’t last but tough people do. You can tack a licking and keep on ticking. You can face the tragedies in your life with the confidence that you are not alone and you were built to last.

You may have felt like giving up when you stumbled in life and made a mistake or you may have felt like wanted to die because you could not see any way out of your situation. All your friends may have  turned and walked away from you and you may have lost all that you worked your whole life to build; your career – gone, your family – gone, your money – gone. But you are still here! Don’t ever discount that my friend. You are still here in spite of what tried to take you out.  You may have lost a limb but you survived. You may have lost family members and friends along the way but you made it. It may have been on a wing and prayer but you did it. It may have been hard and the task may have felt daunting but you made it to fight and win another day because you are tougher than you think you are.

Eric Smith