3 THINGS I'VE LEARNED ABOUT LIFE — C.E.O- Chasing Every Opportunity

So I recently turned the big 24! To me this means I’m another year wiser and qualified to give out life advice to pretty much anyone.

In all seriousness, it has been a crazy year. I moved halfway across the nation with no job lined up. I moved into my very first apartment on my own. I set up electricity and wifi for the first time ever (harder than I thought). I have also learned some lessons about life that have Rocked. My. World.

We’re all going to die

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Starting right off on a positive note for you optimists out there. WE WILL ALL DIE. Doesn’t matter who you are (Ricky Bobby). Doesn’t matter our financial status, religion, ethnicity, color, sexual orientation, WE ALL DIE. So why the F**K are there so many scared people in the world? SO many people scared to take a leap, scared to truly pursue what they love. We all live on borrowed time and some individuals are willing to just sit in comfort. I’m tired of reading about people’s unhappiness in this life. Make a freaking change. Tired of your job? Quit. Not happy in a relationship? End it. Tired of living in the same town? Move.

Look…. I know that all sounds hardcore… in fairness I just drank like 3 monsters and binge watched Gary V YouTube videos (pretty intense) so I’m sorry if all of what I just said sounds harsh. Here’s the analogy behind why I say these things. I imagine myself at 80 years old. My body has deteriorated, my looks have faded, and oftentimes I find myself reminiscing on the past. The absolute last things I want to be thinking is I wish I would have, could have, should have. This waking dream that I have is why the time is now, it’s why we must act in the present without the fear of failure.

“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.” Marcus Aurelius, badass general, not a great relationship with son.

Those who work their ass off will succeed

To those that watch my Instagram stories (if you don’t I hate you and your dead to me, but I left some extra pesto sammies in the fridge (boom office reference)), I have crazy hours that I work. It certainly isn’t ideal, but I know it’s needed to succeed. When I moved here, I didn’t have a job lined up, I decided I didn’t want to be a “model waiter” so I showed up at Orangetheory and basically begged to be a trainer there.

When I was hired on, I was told I would get maybe 6-10 classes a week. By week 3 I was coaching 20 to 25 a week and by month 3 I became head coach of the Orangetheory Fitness in Chelsea Manhattan. I don’t type these things to brag. I put them out there because I worked my ass off. Anyone who needed a sub I was there. Anytime I could get in the higher ups space and understand what they wanted for the company going forward I was there. There is not and will not be a point where Im satisfied with my current position. That’s how I’m wired and how I think more people should be wired if success and ambition is their goal. There’s too many people my age who get their bachelor’s degree and are shocked to not have a 6-figure job first year out of school. that’s what college is for right? Doesn’t that piece of paper mean that we, as humans, are more capable than others to learn and complete a task? I have nothing against those who want to further their education, in some cases its necessary and can lead to success. My issue is that since we were kids we were told “grow up, go to college, get an education, and everything will fall into place.” However, that isn’t the reality. The reality is that a vast majority of students that graduate are in debt once they complete school (71% in 2012).

Also with courses being challenging it is getting more and more difficult for students to work while going to school. Here’s my problem with this, when will student aged people learn how to work their face off. It’s hard to understand the value of hard work in life today, we literally have the world at our fingertips which has certainly watered down work ethic and putting pride into what we contribute to this world. Here’s my advice for anyone chasing success. Work hard, stay humble, and never be complacent.

“If you aren’t willing to work for it, don’t complain about not having it.” Toby Mckeekan (Toby Mac) singer, songwriter, has excellent hat fashion.

Don’t let others opinion define you

I went to a casting for a personal trainer on a video series recently. For those that don’t know what a casting is, it’s basically 20-30 people WHO ARE BASICALLY YOUR TWINS in a room all fighting for the same job. Kind of surreal honestly. ANYWAYS, we all had like 3-4 minutes to demonstrate some workout movements and sound knowledgeable. I’m basically thinking I’ve got this in the bag. Not to toot my own horn but I’ve done group fitness for a while and have confidence in my abilities. So, I get started and this guy who basically judges the trainers keeps interrupting me and telling me what improvements I should make. At the end, he literally lays out 3 points that will make me a much better trainer than I am currently. Mind you, this guy visually looks like he does little to none group fitness, he’s simply a talent scout. This really stuck with me for the better part of the day. Like it hurt to think I wasn’t good at my craft. Then I got to the question why. Why on earth should I let some guy who doesn’t even know me affect me in this way. Once I got to the root of the issue I realized how silly it all was. Then I realized that most of my teenage years I has spent THE EXACT SAME WAY. Constantly seeking approval of others, constantly trying to be unique as long as everyone else was ok with it. WHY!? Why are some of us wired to make feeling accepted our number 1 priority, even at the risk of sacrificing our individuality. We are all put on this earth with talents, UNIQUE talents that we alone possess. People’s opinions will constantly change, they are fickle and often have nothing to do with us personally. So FUGETABOUTIT (Italian accent spoken with perfection) and live OUR life to our OWN accord.

“The greatest prison people live in, is the fear of what other people think.”- David Icke, English writer, public speaker, 10/10 doesn’t care what others think.