Everyday is an Interview

I hate the phrase “Practice Makes Perfect”. If you have a “perfect” practice, the session was too comfortable. You need to make it harder.

Ideally, the practice should be harder than the game. The more challenging your practice session, the more likely you will overcome challenges.

The downside to practice makes better is that what you practice will get better. If you practice with poor technique, you will improve at the poor technique. You must practice with integrity and look to improve the proper technique and skill.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy

A wise professor once told me, if you want to look like Arnold, you have to lift the weight. You cannot just buy the weight set and let it collect dust. If you want to play like Eddie, you have to play the guitar. You just can’t buy the guitar and hang it on the wall and let it collect dust

Do you have a dream? Do you have the basics to get started? Are the basics collecting dust?

Dreaming is the first step. Doing it is going to make your dream a reality.

Keep Dreaming, but Start Doing… Now!

Just Be Better

Stay Healthy, Stay Strong.

I regularly wear my Spartan Shirts to run, work out, get things done around the house, etc. I earned them by finishing each Spartan Race I ran. Unlike some of the other races I compete in, you have to cross the finish line to get the shirt. Every once in a while, someone will ask me if I finished a Spartan race while wearing a Spartan shirt. The snarky side of me wants to say, “No, I just wear one to be a poser.” 

Why would someone wear a Spartan shirt when they have not run the race? I can’t do it. I do not want to be a poser.

I wear a Slayer concert shirt because I saw them in concert. 

I wear a Black Label Society concert shirt because I went to a bunch of their shows.

I do not wear a Rolling Stones shirt. I never went to one of their concerts. I love the band, but the ticket is too expensive.

I never saw Iron Maiden. The Number of the Beast is my favorite album of all time, but I never saw them live. I do not wear their concert shirt.

I believe that if you did not experience it (the concert, the race), don’t wear the shirt. 

Represent what you do, not what you think looks cool.

Just Be Better.

Stay Healthy, Stay Strong.

The problem human beings face is not that we aim too high and fail, it is that we aim to low and succeed – Michelangelo 

What may be perfect today needs to be average tomorrow. Aiming for perfection is only a benefit if you have extremely lofty goals that will most likely lead to failure. 

You may be perfect in what you do for a short period of time. It is something to strive for, but do not stay there and get comfortable. If you have a perfect performance, it means that you need a tougher challenge. Do not let the desire for short-term perfection get in the way of your long-term growth. If you do not have a new set of goals when you reach “perfection”, you will not continue to grow.

Just Be Better

Stay Healthy, Stay Strong.

The day went on its merry way. Last night, my wife told me that she was going to wash the bedsheets. The next morning I put the sheets in the hamper after we both got out of bed. When we returned from dinner, I looked in horror as the bed did not have clean sheets and the hamper was still full. 

In a huff, I took the laundry downstairs and started the wash. My wife said that it was a busy day and she didn’t have time to wash the sheets. It was a busy day, but I was not pleased, and I was about to blame the wrong person.

It was not her fault. It was mine. If I am going to be proactive, finish the job. Don’t put the sheets in the hamper. Put the sheets in the washer machine, load the correct soap, and push start. I know how to do this job as I do the bulk of the laundry.

I learned (or relearned) two lessons today. First, don’t be halfway proactive. Get the job done. Being proactive and waiting for someone to finish the job is being passive-aggressive. At a minimum, let those you rely upon know that you started the job. Second, don’t blame others. If something does not go your way, take responsibility and make corrections.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy.

One of my tutors is currently taking physics in College. She has worked diligently to prepare herself for this class as her previous experience in physics was poor. We started working together a few weeks before the class began. After the first test, which she did well on, the professor told the class that this was the lowest average he had ever seen and that they should be ashamed. 

Why would anyone say this, and for what purpose? Is it to make them better? If so, it doesn’t work. 

Think back to the last time someone chastised you. Did it work? Did you feel good? Was it an experience you want to share with others? The only reason to criticize others is to “verbally prove” your dominance. It is not to make people better.

If this professor were working for me, it would be a short tenure. I have no patience for academics who berate and chastise students thinking that it will lead to learning. I am not interested in putting my students in front of someone who uses students for their self-satisfaction.

If this professor led from the front, he should tell his class the truth about their performance (Honesty). He should then foster a conversation about ways that the students could improve their performance (Improvement). Then, he should foster a discussion about how he could improve his performance (Ownership). These actions are what I would expect from someone I work with or someone who wants to teach my children.

Fast forward a few weeks, the class took their second test. The class did better, and my tutor did very well. Her performance reflected her hard work. The professor’s responded, “The second test is harder than the first test, and these grades are too good. The class must have cheated.” And all this time, I thought it was his yelling that improved the students’ performance. Regardless, he accused his class of cheating without tangible proof, just numbers with a small sample size based on a few years of experience. Blaming his charges using causation when the numbers barely imply correlation  

This professor should no longer be in the classroom. His students need to report him. People need to complain to his supervisor. His supervisor needs to get into the classroom and determine why there is a disconnect (Hint: poor teaching methods with a need to prove one’s worth at the expense of the students. Dominance over others, even at the collegiate level, does not make for good teaching). Unfortunately, most college administrators do not go into the classroom and do not help their teachers teach. The University needs to remove this professor. The parents and their students pay too much money for an awful teacher. The students are not growing, and their relationship with the subject is in jeopardy.

How is this acceptable?

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy.

On days that I work late, I work out in the campus gym. I prefer my home gym because I can work out alone. Regardless of the venue, a good workout is a good workout.

I do not like working out in a public gym for many reasons. Some of my “favorite reasons are listed below:

• Most people do not follow good gym etiquette. 
• I do not like listening to other people’s music. 
• I do not like people who are unfocused during a workout. 
• I do not like people who use a machine as a seat. 
• I do not like talking to others while I workout. 
  • If I am working out hard, I will not be able to carry on a conversation. If I am between sets, I am focusing on the success of the next set. Working out is not my social time. Don’t talk to me.

What is worse than people trying to socialize with me or forcing me to listen to their music is the person talking on the phone. This person drives me nuts. 

When I walked into the campus gym today, there were three people in the gym. The moderator was disinterested, a kid working out on a squat rack and a colleague on the leg curl machine. My colleague was practically yelling into her phone, which was on speaker, having a conversation while she sat there on the machine. I was startled by how loud she was. Keep in mind that I wear headphones when working out in a public gym, so no one gets the idea that I am interested in talking to them. I could hear her through my headphones. The weights on her machine did not move for the duration of her conversation, which when it ended, she got up and left.

The gym is not a Starbucks. It is not a bar. It is not a place to have a phone conversation. Come in, work hard, and be a role model for others. Do not come in and waste your time talking on the phone. Do not hog a machine that you are not utilizing because it is comfortable for your conversation. Basic gym etiquette states when you are in the gym, workout. When you are done, go home.

Just Be Better

Be Strong, Be Healthy.

Every so often, I learn a lesson that demonstrates that I need to grow as a person. This morning was a perfect example.

I was pulling into work when an SUV was at an intersection letting someone out. There are rules about dropping off and picking up students, and parents ignore them regularly. It is frustrating because people do not follow the rules, people do not enforce the rules, and when this rule is violated, people can get hurt. I have seen a few instances where people almost got into accidents because parents drop their students off where it is convenient for them to do so. 

Instead of keeping this to myself, I shook my head in disapproval. A moment later, I saw that the student getting out of the car was on crutches, and one of his feet was in a cast. He was being dropped off at a point closer to his first class. 

I judged without context and I did not represent myself well.

Just be Better

Bee Healthy, Be Strong.  

I am a firm believer that you should keep your politics out of your areas of growth.

In my dojang (Taekwondo gym), we have a GroupMe account to communicate with each other. When the mask mandates changed in New Jersey, our master instructor informed us that we no longer have to wear masks at training. I was excited because it is difficult to train hard when your airflow is restricted.

Everyone was excited. No one said a negative word about it in person or on our GroupMe account. A few days later, a member of the dojang took it upon himself to post disparaging remarks about a national doctor, calling him a fraud and the mask mandate overblown. His comments had nothing to do with protocols in our dojang. It was not respectful of anyone in the dojang or the progress with their trianing. It was a post meant to spread his message. I am OK with him spreading his message, but I will not allow him to do it in our training area. Later in the day, he stated that he posted his because he wanted to calm everyone’s fears. What fears? No one mentioned concerns to me or any of the other leaders in the dojang. If anything, he was creating the “fears” through his messaging. I have no use for people who spread their message by creating fear in others.

I was angry and upset. I needed to calm down and contemplate what I was going to say. Later that night, I posted the following, “Moving forward, we should use this discourse to discuss Taekwondo, our master instructor, and our training.” Seconds later, the author of the original post removed himself from the GroupMe account. He has not shown up to train since then. Good riddance. To me, his politics were more important than our training. As a practitioner, as a student, and as a trainer, this is unforgivable. 

There is a time and a place for politics. It is not when I am working out and not when I am training others.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy.

If you are not making things better, what type of life are you leading?

Never settle for the way things are. If you reached a goal, make a new goal. If you made your quota, strive to surpass it. If you bought your dream house, make it better. Just because something is in good condition does not mean you should not make it better. Don’t get trapped into thinking things are perfect. Perfection is short-lived. Always strive to improve. Never settle.

Just Be Better

Stay Strong, Stay Healthy.