Recipe For Success

I want to let you in on a little secret. Although this ‘secret’ is actually nothing new, it is something that I believe many of us may let go in one ear and out the other or may not have given much thought to. Today and together, Faithful Reader, I invite you to relax while you grab a pen and paper and learn the ingredients to compose your own recipe for success.


During a meeting I had last week with the one and only Dr. Darian Parker after having the fantastic opportunity to connect with fitness professional James Wong (who owns Studio 222 here in Las Vegas) an interesting topic of conversation came up: The lost art of writing down your goals. Before you roll your eyes and throw down your pen and paper, I want for you to just hang tight and give this lost art a second thought as I believe what I have to tell you will forever change your perspective on life as you know it.

As I was saying… During my conversation with Darian, he mentioned how a while ago he happened to take some time out to jot down a list of goals he wanted to accomplish in his lifetime. Recently he revisited that list and realized that out of all the ideas, goals and aspirations he had recorded that day, all but 3 had come true already. Now don’t get me wrong. Darian isn’t someone who sat around waiting for these things to happen. Just writing stuff down doesn’t guarantee a person success overnight, or ever, for that matter. But still… why is it that we are taught and told in life to do something so simple as to list our goals and why should we spend the time to write down such ‘nonsense’?

Like Darian, I, too, make a list back when I was in college taking a course in Business Management. One of my many assignments was to make a list of everything big or small that I wanted to accomplish in my lifetime. The catch was there were no limitations or boundaries as to what we could or couldn’t write, and we were encouraged to write everything from the most simple to the most outrageous and seemingly impossible aspirations. We were not to take anyone or anything else into consideration and we were to imagine what our ideal and perfect life would look like if it were up to us to decide our fate. I remember at the time I felt kind of silly even though I knew the assignment was going to be kept confidential between my professor and I admit to slight embarrassment in handing-in such an assignment as much of my list consisted of things that seemed truly unrealistic in the sense that I was maybe dreaming ‘too big’. Would my professor think I sound selfish or conceited in what I had wrote? I took a deep sign, turned it in anyways and hid the list so no one else would see it. At the time, I didn’t quite understand why exactly I felt a wave of embarrassment hit me while writing that assignment, but looking back and analyzing the situation, I now understand I was completely pushed outside my comfort zone as for the first time in my life, I was forced to strip myself down and be completely honest with myself without having the thought of how my actions would affect the people and things around me first. As I said, I hid the list… but I kept it. A few months later after graduation and after returning home after completing my externship at the Professional Fitness Institute where I earned my credential of becoming a certified personal trainer through the NSCA, I took out and revisited my list and had an ‘aha’ moment that changed me forever. I looked at my list wide-eyed, and slowly reached for a pen by my side without looking away from the piece of paper in my other hand and felt an empowering gratification as I crossed of #’s 1.) Graduate from college, 2.) Become an NSCA-Certified Personal Trainer, and 5.) Travel as much of the world as I can in my lifetime. Now, I know #5 couldn’t technically be checked off my list (yet…), but wasn’t coming to Las Vegas was a fantastic start to my lifelong travel goals?! Still looking over and reviewing my list, I began asking myself over and over again, “Why? Why can’t I do the other things on this list?”. “What is stopping me or holding me back?”. It was right then and there that I realized the only thing holding me back from having the life I saw as ‘ideal’ was ME.

Interestingly enough, curiosity got the best of me and I decided to research and see if there was any science to back up not just ‘goal-setting’ but actually writing down goals as it had literally transformed my life. I was so determined that I think I would have honestly made my own studies had I found none! Fortunately for you, Faithful Reader, I don’t have to give you the play-by-play on my own test participants as I found a terrific study that did the job perfectly…

During the year of 1953, a study was conducted at Yale University in regards to written goals that would span the course of 20 years. The entire graduating class of that same year was asked to report whether or not they had distinct, written goals for life after graduation. A measly 3% cited they had, indeed, made a list of future goals and aspirations versus the other 97% who hadn’t. Twenty years later, a follow-up study was made with the same students in regards to how much monetary success they had in their lives after all those years. Not surprisingly the 3% who cited to have written down their goals were, indeed, more successful than the other counterparts who hadn’t written down anything. But get this… (Warning! Stay seated and be prepared as this next part may make your jaw drop to the floor…) That same 3% of students were not only slightly more successful in their endeavors than the other 97%, but they were actually making more money than that other 97% COMBINED! Unbelievable you say? Believe it!

I think in life, we all invest so much time into wondering how our actions will affect the other people and things in our lives that we sometimes forget how healthy it is to ask ourselves what it is WE want in life. Our goals don’t always have to be extreme as some of us may only opt for a small change in life. On the other hand, some of us may be suppressing goals that would drastically change our lives for the better. Maybe we are unhappy with a certain aspect of our lives, but we haven’t taken the time to explore the ways we could improve the current situation. Speaking from experience, when seeing goals written down in front of you, they don’t seem as far-fetched as they might as mere thoughts. Let’s compare it to going to the grocery store. When you have a premade list of clear and concise choices of what you plan on purchasing, you don’t fall of track as easily and most of the time you leave with just the items you have on your list, whereas we all know that going into the grocery store without a list usually throws us off track and we end up purchasing not only what we need, but what we may not have needed as well. Writing down your goals is no different. By having them written in front of you, they are able to be a constant reminder of what needs done and which direction to keep heading in order to stay on your chosen path. And not only that, but the more you are reminded that these things are going to happen, the more the mind and psyche actually start to believe that not only are these aspirations going to happen, but that they already have. It’s just like anything else in life. When you tell yourself or have someone tell you something enough, you are able to accept it as real and you have faith that it is in existence. Having a plan in print is our means of a recipe for success. Many of the things in life we consider to be ‘far-fetched’ are actually not as out-of-reach as we propose.

Since that fateful day in business 101, I have actually accomplished almost every goal on my list and actually sat down last month to make a new list with more out of control and crazy dreams and aspirations that I plan on accomplishing in this lifetime. Nothing is impossible, and this is something else we need to tell ourselves more often. Our mind knows only what we tell it and when we fill ourselves with positivity and new perspectives, our attitudes change as well and therefore our reality as we know it changes. Give it a try if you don’t believe me and see if it can’t improve your life for the better. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain in the few minutes it takes to jot down some things that you have always wanted to do in your life. And after you write them down, feel free to email me some feedback on how it has affected you or let me know some of your own goals as I would love to hear from you (EPfitness7@gmail.com). Expand your horizons and know that life isn’t going to happen unless you make the first initiative. Doors are opening around us all the time, but until we convince ourselves of their existence, we will continue to walk right by them and never through them. Open your eyes and your mind to what is already right in front of you. It could make all the difference in not only finding and doing the things that you love, but also, it could mean all the difference in finding eternal happiness as well.

Our dreams and goals for Connect To Fitness are no different. We are making incredible strides right now in helping others find job placement and employment and we have made some awesome connections that have helped others make some checkmarks off their own written lists. We pride ourselves in always thinking big and in following through with our endeavors, no matter how ‘big’ or ‘unrealistic’ they may seem. And want to know the irony? We are constantly making lists of what we need and want to do with the organization in order to make it a success for everyone involved including You, Faithful Reader. This upcoming Sunday, June 28th from 7:30-9:30pm, we are having our monthly event at Lulu Lemon Athletica in the Fashion Show Mall on Las Vegas Boulevard and we would love it if you could come and see for yourself what we are all about and see if you can’t make a connection (or 4!) that might help you get to where you need to be. We have some spectacular things planned including free refreshments, some great prize giveaways and, of course, some surprises brought to you by Lulu Lemon. But most importantly, you will be provided with the inspiration of other professionals and aspiring professionals in the area who are driven for success in themselves and in others. Contact Dr. Darian Parker via Facebook or at DarianParker@gmail.com to RSVP. We would be absolutely delighted to see you there and having the event at Lulu Lemon is going to be an awesome spectacle that you will want to take advantage of as they have some truly remarkable things planned for the event. What do you have to lose? Just show up, even for a little while, and see if we can’t turn you into believers if you aren’t already. We are determined to help those around us and I, for one, know that I would love to meet those of you who follow me each week and who are constantly inspiring me with your stories, comments, and your own aspirations in life. Come join in the fun and connect with other like-minded people who strive for excellence as you do!

Each of us has our own individual recipe for success. Although the ingredients may differ from person to person, the result will always be the same if we put the work in to support our ideas, aspirations and goals. Start writing your own recipe and happiness and success will be greeting you from around every corner and from behind every door.

Your perception is your reality. Until next week, Faithful Reader…

“Sometimes I go about pitying myself,
And all the while I am being carried across the sky
By beautiful clouds.” –Ojibway Indian Poem

"If you hear a voice within you say ‘you cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." –Vincent Van Gogh

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." –Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.