Sunday, October 30, 2011

Mindset Monday 10/31/11- Fanatical Trick-Or-Treating

Fanatical Trick-Or-Treating

As a kid, few holidays were as fun as Halloween. The idea of free candy was a concept my friends and I just ate up (pun intended). Every year we would go out trick-or-treating and absolutely crush it. We would sometimes have so much candy it would last until the Easter Bunny would re-stock us.

Why were we so successful trick-or-treating?- Fanaticism. Looking back, we did a lot of things right from a mindset point of view.

*Preparation-
We knew our group we would trick or treat with weeks in advance. We would ride our bikes the day before to finalize our route. We carried extra bags and backpacks. We knew at what point we would have to stop back home and dump our load because it would be too heavy. We were detailed oriented in our action plan.

*Attitude-
We would often quiz new friends who wanted to trick or treat with us. The attitude was- if you see a sign that says take one piece of candy what do you do? The correct answer was to take everything and the bowel! (We never took the bowel, but wanted this as their answer to prove they were on the same fanatical level as us). We would also repeatedly say, “This ain’t no charity function.” In other words, this was business to us. We were out to accomplish a mission- as much candy as possible.

*Effective Use of Time-
We always left promptly at 4:07pm (a time we felt gave parents enough time to be home after picking their kids up from school. We never wasted too much time at one house, giving each home no more than 10 seconds to answer their door or we were already off to the next house. We would run back to that house after we hit the next one if they came too late, which they often did. We did not procrastinate or waste time on things that derailed us from our goals.

*Urgency
We did not stop running on that night. Our younger siblings were not allowed to come with us if we felt they couldn’t keep up. In other words, we surrounded ourselves with people who had the same goals as us and disassociated with people who would slow us down.

*Passion
We went hard, but we enjoyed the process. We laughed and had the best time just being together going as hard as we could. We got our kicks out of being Fanatical in our pursuit of our goal- free candy. We had far more fun working to get the candy than we did eating the candy. We loved what we did and we looked forward to it. Even though we knew the next day we wouldn’t feel our legs.

Happy Halloween! Get Fanatical about your goals today!

Gene Zannetti
Owner of Z-Fanatical Fitness
Z-Personal Trainer, One-on-One Consultant & Motivational Speaker
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
www.zfanatical.com

Monday, October 24, 2011

Mindset Monday 10/24/11- Your Harshest Critic, Your Best Friend- YOU

Your Harshest Critic, Your Best Friend- YOU

In another one of those strange ironies in life, your harshest critic and your best friend in this world needs to be the same person- you. If you want to be successful, you must be harder on yourself than any coach could possibly be. You need to be perfectionistic, strict, and brutally honest with yourself. You must know your weaknesses, downfalls, flaws, insecurities, and embarrassing idiosyncrasies better than anyone else. You need to know your defense mechanisms, your issues, and your go-to excuses. You must know when to call BS on yourself and your self-deceiving “rationalizations.”

Simultaneously, you must also be your own best friend. To be successful you must first unconditionally accept yourself. This is not to say that you will settle for less than your best. What it does mean is that no matter where you are at, whatever happens, you must love yourself. You need to forgive ALL of your short comings, errors, mistakes, and downfalls. Strive to improve, do not settle for less, but FORGIVE YOURSELF. You forgive yourself and other, for them, but also for yourself. When you forgive, you let things go. You let go of the weight you have been carrying. You make it easier for you to move. Even when other people come down hard on you, you must be able to let it go. if you don’t forgive your imperfections and mistakes, you will never have the strength to soar higher. You will be weighed down.

Many people are too self-conscious and unsure of themselves to be brutally honest with themselves. Almost all of us are guilty of this at times. Ignorance is bliss. We would rather preserve the illusion of things being good, as ourselves as superman. Other people are so hard and unyielding on themselves that even when they accomplish things, it is never good enough. They cannot tolerate any imperfection. They may ascend to great heights, but they are never happy. Quite the contrary, some are severely depressed.

Fanaticism is about having your cake and eating it to. We want to be highly successful and happy at the same time. After all, why do you strive for success, money, and glory? Probably because at some level you think it will bring you happiness or contentment.

It is interesting how highly successful people can balance critique and forgiveness. Forgiveness without critique breeds oblivious meandering. Critique without forgiveness may bring some success, but is a recipe for depression. Mastery follows those who have the self-control to be both.

Amateur golfers make a bad shot and then berate themselves to no end. They let the last shot affect the present shot, and thus are more likely to screw up again, as they often do. Professional golfers make a mistake, learn the lesson, forgive themselves, and hit the next shot with a clear mind. You cannot allow an opponent to beat you twice. Amateurs will, professionals won’t. Who are you trying to emulate?

Have the courage and self-discipline to be your own harshest critic and best friend. Get Fanatical!


Gene Zannetti
Owner of Z-Fanatical Fitness
Z-Personal Trainer, One-on-One Consultant & Motivational Speaker
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
www.zfanatical.com

Monday, October 17, 2011

Mindset Monday 10/17/11- It's what you do AND how you do it

It’s what you do and how you do it.

Most people know the common saying it’s not what you do, it’s how you do it. This is half true. It also matters what you do. You need both. Wise action without swagger is half-hearted and lifeless. Swagger without wise action is careless and foolish.

Anything worth doing, is worth doing well.

It does not make any sense to take actions that are not based on some rationality, logic, or reputable information. Whatever you are striving to do, it makes sense to ask someone who has been there already for advice. Seek the advice of the greats, not just people around you, like friends or family, who may or may not know what it takes. There are successful people out there you can tap for information and if you want to be successful, it is your job, repeat YOUR JOB to find them. You must always put the responsibility on yourself, because you are the only one you can control.

What you do should not be based on pure intuition, superstition, or random guessing. These will not bring you success. What will bring you success is having a systematic approach to goal attainment and problem solving. What you do should be evidence based, meaning that the information is coming from either research studies (scholarly articles, not some random poll in a vogue magazine), logic, and experts opinion. You can trust the opinions of others if they are experts in their field. Just make sure you find out who the real experts are, not just people who say they are. Look for their productions, achievements, and knowledge. Do not let an emotional, ego driven pitch lead you to follow them. True, you can learn from everyone, but why not learn from the best?

You should be referring to research and experts constantly in your life. Get the best information and apply it. I do not want to say it will save you time and energy because the reality is, you will need to put in a lot of time and energy. What this will do is ensure your great time and energy will produce the maximum output. You will be economical and efficient and thus get more from your great efforts. It doesn’t mean you will cut corners or go easy.

Determine from an evidence-based model (research, experts opinion, and logic) then formulate a CONCRETE and SPECIFIC Action Plan to follow every day.

Once this Action Plan is in place, it now matters HOW YOU DO IT. Do it with confidence and swagger. Expect to get the best results. Be mindful that you may need to modify your action plan from time to time. But, whenever you do take the action, it is better to dive in 100% with full confidence and no hesitation, than to proceed tentatively and with reserve.

Fanaticism is about WHAT YOU DO and HOW YOU DO IT. Live Hard, Get Fanatical!



Gene Zannetti
Owner of Z-Fanatical Fitness
Z-Personal Trainer, One-on-One Consultant & Motivational Speaker
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
www.zfanatical.com

Monday, October 10, 2011

Mindset Monday 10/10/11- Covering All Bases as a Coach

The coach who knows how to tap into his teams potential can and will beat the coach who does not know how to maximize what they have. Talent will take you so far. If you are not the most talented, don’t worry. Most people do not take the great advice I offer now.

The Good Coach (or the intelligent athlete) would cover all bases and control everything within their power. Don’t rely on intuition but on experts and research. An evidence-based approach should be taken toward sports. Apply these lessons, if you are not a coach, to different advisers you could have as an athlete.

The good coach should be like a business owner with several key advisers. The President has a Cabinet of trusted counselors. So too should be the good coach. This day and age, with all the research available, there is no reason for a coach to assume they know everything. The coach’s advisers should be just as, if not smarter than him in their specific fields. In other words, they are highly specialized. The coach should therefore respect their expertise and take all of this into account. This will maximize the potential of a team. I think of a college wrestling team like American who made sure the team was eating enough calories and resting appropriately as part of a physically demanding wrestling training schedule.

The good coach would have the following people as trusted advisers: (1) An Exercise Physiologist or expert in the field (2) Sport Psychologist or expert in the field (3) Nutritionist/Dietician or expert in the field (4) Strength/Conditioning Coach or an expert in the field (5) Athletic Trainer or Doctor or an expert in the field.

Exercise Physiologist and Sport Psychologists would be more overall advisers seeing to it that goals of all the advisers are moving together and not in conflict ie. balancing nutrition while cutting weight; getting stronger but resting before competitions. Tapering, scheduling, practices, intensities, team and individual goals, athlete’s personal problems are not all solved and handled intuitively. There should be sound philosophy behind all decisions the coach makes. In this, the coach can and should plan with the experts.

The Athletic Trainer would have an important role in physical wellness and injury prevention giving the strength coach ideas for weaknesses among athletes.

Strength coaches and nutritionists would be the most specialized in that one specific area however they would need to be working specifically for the sports physical needs. A general exercise and eating plan should not be applied.

The coach should welcome input from all of his advisers.

Whatever you are striving for, take an evidence-based approach. There is research and experts out there. Do not try to do it all on your own. When you do your homework, you save an incredible amount of time and energy. You can then trust your approach and focus on your Fanatical attitude.

Gene Zannetti
Owner of Z-Fanatical Fitness
Z-Personal Trainer, One-on-One Consultant & Motivational Speaker
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
www.zfanatical.com

Monday, October 3, 2011

Mindset Monday 10/3/11- Laser Focus. GRIT. Fanaticism

One of the key ingredients of highly successful people is a personality quality called GRIT.
The great Young Lee, world class financial advisor and mentor, pointed out an excellent 20 minute video clip from TED.com which I highly recommend:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaeFnxSfSC4

Grit is synonymous with Fanaticism. The single minded pursuit of a clear target. Laser focus. The ability to set a goal, have a daily action plan, doggedly persist through tough times to see your goal all the way through. Never becoming derailed. Even despite frequent failure, opposition, and criticism.

There are many gritty people I can think of. Among these are high profile wrestlers like Dan Gable, the Brands Brothers, Brent Metcalf, Matt McDonough, many other wrestlers with that Iowa attitude. Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln (Because I am familiar with some of their life stories). Young Lee who is an example of doing all of the little things right all the time. You do not ascend to the top of any field without this quality.

Most high achievers share this quality even though I only named a few. I was watching a documentary the other night on Lil Wayne and his friends described him as having a tireless work ethic. He is always making music or thinking about music. Even after everyone else in his camp is tired, he is still going. Keep in mind, he probably could afford to let up a little, young mulah baby!, but he does not think about money as his ends but rather making music. Money is a byproduct of his passion to make music, his grit. This is true of all successful people.

Ordinary people fail or get criticized so they make the decision to quit or change paths. Ordinary people do a lot of things and master none. In America, we prize well roundedness which is being good at a lot of different things, a renaissance man of sorts. In China, well educated means you are an expert in one field. It is great to be well rounded, just keep your eyes on the prize.

Most of the people in your life will not have the courage, energy, passion, and tenacity to stand up to criticism, persist through failure, or hone in on one goal. To be the best you need Laser Focus. Grit. Fanaticism.9 out of 10 people won’t do it. You need to be the 1 in 10. Get Fanatical.

Gene Zannetti
Owner of Z-Fanatical Fitness
Z-Personal Trainer, One-on-One Consultant & Motivational Speaker
(908) 337-6143
genezannetti@gmail.com
www.zfanatical.com