A Modern Spartan understands to get what he wants out of life he must do whatever it takes. He refuses to be a victim of circumstance or bend to the wind. He continually strengthens his iron will and resolve because he knows his ability to make himself do what he should do, when he should do it, is the key to his success in life and conquering his enemies.

Spartisicpline is a modern take on discipline.

That really hits the nail on the head – discipline is your ability to make yourself do what you should do when you should do it, whether you like it not.

It is the key to your success.

So why is discipline so important?

Self discipline is a master key to riches. Riches not only financially but in a building a better body. Whether it’s training yourself or applying discipline to work to increase your income levels or other important areas of life, discipline is a critical success factor in getting ahead.

Everything in life has a cost – NOTHING is free.

That cost is not necessarily a monetary cost, it could be cost in terms of energy, time, effort etc.

For example, a free workout program may not have a monetary cost but it involves the cost of your time and effort.

Everything in life has some type of cost associated with it – that doesn’t mean it’s bad, it simply means there is A  COST.

Discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs tons.

Let’s take an example.

Let’s say that you’ve always wanted to do something – maybe you’ve always wanted to travel to Yellowstone National Park.

Now lets pretend that you’ve gone through your whole life and you’re physically unable now to make that kind of trip. At that point the regret you feel would probably outweigh that the effort it would have taken to go when you were able. Having the discipline to get things done pays dividends in the long run because of the long term cost of not doing something.

Guy who are going to be successful in building a Spartan Body are willing to take the time to do what is necessary.

They’ve decided that it is more important to be disciplined and make the sacrifices necessary, for example to give up that food that’s bad for them, to make sure they work out or to get the rest they need. It doesn’t mean it’s bad to want the stuff that’s bad for us, that’s just how it is.

You have to have the discipline to say no.

And remember there there is no quick fix. There is no magic pill.

People try to sell that kind of stuff all the time because we often want to take the easy way out to get in shape.

None of those things work. You know that this isn’t easy. The key to doing this is knowing what to do and when to do it. This applies to all areas of life – not just to building a Spartan body.

Everything is hard before it gets easy.

Whenever you start something new – it is just natural that it will be hard (i.e. new job, learning to play an instrument, speaking a foreign language, learning to dance, learning a new game, etc.) When people first start going to the gym it can be hard. You’re not sure how to do some exercises, maybe you are uncomfortable around a bunch of new people. You feel awkward. After a few weeks, it begins to get easier on you and it becomes hard if you don’t work out. You miss not doing it. They key is to stick with it. There’s another benefit of practicing self discipline – it releases endorphins that make us happy.

I’m going to give you three disciplines you can start using today to start making big improvements in your life.

The first one is daily goal setting.
This is where you get yourself into the habit of setting 1-3 goals for the day and then working to achieve them. They don’t have to be huge. They can be as simple as making that dentist appointment you’ve been putting off, or getting that book that you’ve been meaning to buy, or accomplishing a home project, etc. Besides helping you get organized, setting goals and achieving them can be very satisfying. Little goals lead to bigger goals, so start off small, get good at it and get more adventurous as you go along.

The second discipline is daily time management and planning.
If you are not working from a plan you are simply responding to and reacting to the world around you. This is no way to live. You should push your will on the world versus the other way around. Try making a list for the day either the morning of or, better yet, the night before of some of the important tasks you are going to accomplish for the day. Don’t get caught up in the technical details. Do it on a piece of paper at first then evolve to putting them in a calendar. Maybe start with the top 3 things. That discipline will not only help increase organization skills but will lead to an increase in income and give you more free time.

The discipline of courage.
We need to force ourselves to do what we need to do on a regular basis. Fear of failure or loss is one of the biggest roadblocks to our success. Many times people don’t want to take any risks because they’re afraid of failure or of others making fun of us because we might be wrong. You can overcome this fear by having the courage to take action because Action cures Fear. Have you ever been afraid of something and then after you do it say to yourself “Now that wasn’t too bad”? Most of the time things aren’t as bad as we think they’re going to be. As you continue to do this, you’ll find your courage building and people around you will notice the difference.

When you combine these three disciplines, you will set yourself apart, continue to build your successes including your physique and increase your free time.

This will help you in other areas of your life too.

And remember – no matter how disciplined you are today no matter what you do, never retreat, never surrender and keep moving forward!

The epitome of a healthy constitution and fortitude.

Forged from the fires of his purpose-driven Spartan training.

His idealized, ripped muscular physique, relentless stamina, and high energy levels broadcast to all who meet him: Here is a man who does not settle. He does whatever is necessary.

This stems from an earlier episode where we talked about ‘being’ versus ‘doing’ versus ‘having’.

When you get to the place where you have that ripped, Spartan body, almost everyone who comes in contact with you will notice it and many will comment on it. It is impossible for people not to notice. And when people start noticing you they may likely reach out to you for help because they associate someone in really good shape with someone that knows what they’re doing. This puts you in a position to help people.

Strength exudes confidence.

So how do we increase our strength? Strength is typically produced from some type of stress, stress to our bodies in, for example, a good workout. Stress is any event that produces a change in our state whether it be physical or non physical.

A example of a non physical strength can be a decision you have to make – a move, a new job, asking that girl out, etc.

We get stronger when we stress ourselves.

A good example of physical stress is when you do a weight training exercise such as a bench press. When you first start out you lift a lighter amount but as you train more and more you add more weight which causes a stress on your body. This added stress causes the muscle fibers to tear and then regrow back even stronger. This is how our muscles get bigger and we increase our strength.

Now too much stress can be a bad thing.

You have to balance yourself with the right amount and kind of stress. You can overstress yourself both with working out too much or by placing too many stresses on your body (e.g. worrying, etc.) On the opposite end of the scale, doing something one time isn’t enough stress and doesn’t make for a growth opportunity, You have to do it more often so your body adapts and ultimately learns from it. Thats why new things are hard because your body wants to resist the stress being put on it – but it will grow as a result..

Lets take a real life example. Some people stress about speaking in front of crowds.

Other people are really good at it. If you talk to the people who are good at it you’ll likely find that they’ve had a lot of practice. It’s gotten easier and easier for them. What more than likely started as a stressful situation turned into a situation where they got stronger and more confident as a result.

Let’s talk some more about Confidence.

Confidence is the belief in yourself that you can handle anything that comes your way.

No one is born with confidence.

It’s not a trait or a gift or a magic potion or a pill. Its just like a muscle in that it builds up over time when you use it. It may not be as easy to see as a muscle, but it will be noticeable to others around you. You grow your confidence when have successes over and over again.

Here are three strategies that I’ve developed to help build and increase confidence in yourself.

#1 – Keep a log. Confidence comes from the experience of success, both big and small. One thing I found very helpful is to keep all my victories, big and small, in a log that I can refer back to. All of these are experiences and examples of success are important. Your job is to remind yourself of past successes because we have a tendency to forget them as time goes by. That’s where the log comes in. I call mine my “Awesome Log” and I write in it every successful experience that happens to me. You don’t have to look at it often. Use it for times when you are down and it will help you feel better.

#2 – Think Positive. Our minds are like banks – you make deposits and withdrawals of all the time. Sometimes we put some positive thoughts in our ‘account’ and sometimes we put in some negatives in our account. The teller is a neutral party – they don’t care what you put in or take out – they don’t judge you. If you load up your mind with negative thoughts, the teller will continue to accept you negative thoughts if you want to give them to him. But doing so can become a bad cycle. You have to get out of the habit of focusing on the negative. You should just put in and take out positive thoughts. Throw away the negative things. Negative things are no more likely to happen then positive things. There’s a 50-50 chance either way. Our natural thought is to think that negative stuff is more likely to happen. You need reverse that trend and continue depositing positive thoughts. That will build your confidence.

#3 – Change your attitude by changing your actions. To think confidently start acting confident – be a front seater. Don’t sit in the back when you attend some event like a meeting or church or school or whatever. Make eye contact with everyone you talk to. There is nothing good about failure to make eye contact with those we interact with, When you don’t do that it’s like telling that other person that I feel weak and inferior next to you. Making eye contact will not only increase your confidence but it will help others feel you are confident too. It will show you are open and authentic. Speak up at meetings – don’t let the meeting end by thinking to yourself I wish I had said something, or maybe next time I will speak up. And finally Smile Big – its been proven over and over again that this helps you act more confidently.

So I hope these tips help you but remember – no matter how confident you are today no matter what you do, never retreat, never surrender and keep moving forward!

No retreat, no surrender.

He relentlessly plows through the inevitable frustrations, mistakes and obstacles guaranteed to appear in life without wincing.

He drives & competes to best himself daily.

He is not paralyzed by fear.

Instead he embraces it, and channels the fear energy into a deeper strength by taking action immediately. He knows any hesitation and the battle is lost.

He recognizes that common men will criticize, him point out his failures and project their fears onto him; but he has chosen to be unmoved by this.

Hesitation, fear, indecision.

They’re all things even the strongest of us face at one time or another.

You can probably think about examples in your own life of where you were afraid. Maybe it was a fear of heights, or snakes or maybe even of taking action on something. Fear holds a lot of guys back not just in training but it ALL areas of life.

The first mistake we make is WE DON’T SEE IT FOR WHAT IT IS!

Fear doesn’t always have to be something really big and scary that we are terrified of. It can simply be the fear of making a mistake and that’s sometimes harder for us to recognize.

Let’s look as a few examples.

Some guys will spend hours and hours researching exercise routines in the hope of seeking perfection instead of spending the time actually getting out there and doing a workout.

Maybe they research how many reps to do – 6 or 10 per set.

They’ll read, study, watch videos, search the internet, etc. all in a quest to find the “right” answer.

They spend an inordinate amount of time studying it because they are afraid to take a risk.

Well, you know what? It’s not that big of a deal and there isn’t a big enough difference between the two to really matter.

So you know what’s worse?

Their inaction – doing nothing.

You have to recognize that fear exists and work to meet it head on.

Fear, and the behavior it sometimes causes, can be related to a bicycle.

What happens to a bicycle when you stop moving? It falls over.

The same happens in with life.

Sometimes it’s better to make a wrong decision (and keep moving forward) than to make no decision (standing still.)

A motionless bicycle doesn’t take you anywhere.

So take action.

Don’t fall into the analysis paralysis trap! Keep the momentum up so you keep moving forward!

Another problem some guys have is that they want a guarantee for things they spend their time on.

Whether it’s a relationship or a project at work. They feel like if they’re going to invest in something, they want a guarantee that its going to work out 100% of the time in their favor.

They even rationalize in their mind that they’ll put themselves into something full force but only if the have some type of up-front guarantee (i.e. raise, promotion, recognition) for what happens at the end of the effort.

Well there are no guarantees in life and this type of attitude keeps you from moving forward.

The sooner you can accept that it’s okay to not have guarantees, the better off you’re going to be.

Where does the fear come from?

Fear comes from deep down in our subconscious.

It’s like a little voice inside our head saying ‘I can’t handle an outcome that’s different from what I’m hoping for.’ Like asking a girl out or asking your boss for a raise. What if they say ‘no’. You need to stop, turn the table around and say to yourself – if they say ‘no’ – is it the end of the world? Probably not. But you can learn from it and you can handle it.

Another good cure for fear is to ask yourself what the worse case scenario is.

Pretend you want to ask this girl out that you’ve been noticing for a while but you’re afraid.

What’s the worse that can happen? She’ll throw her drink in your face?

Doubtful, but probably the worse case in this situation.

Now think about how that worse case scenario would impact your life on a scale of 1-10, a “1” being I’ll forget all about it in a 5 minutes, a “10” meaning I’ll still be upset 20 years from now. If she throws her drink in your face it’s probably about a 2 on that scale right? Doesn’t seem as scary anymore does it?

A buddy of mine once took a public speaking class and he told me that part of the course dealt with fear and worrying. As part of the course, he had to read a book called “How to stop worrying and start living”. The premise of the book was that we worry about a lot of things in life and most (approx 95%) never actually happen.

The other 5% might happen but at the end of the day there isn’t a whole lot we can can do about it. The point is that we create most of the fear ourselves. We are at times our own worse enemy.

Don’t believe me? Try this exercise.

The next time you’re worried about something write down on a piece of paper all the things you think might actually happen, then put it in an envelop and forward date it a month or so and put it away for safe keeping. (Don’t forget where you put it though.) When that date comes open it up and read what you wrote down. I’ll be willing to bet that 9 times out of 10 you’ll chuckle to yourself and say ‘What was I so worried about?”. If you do this little exercise a few times you will start to see a pattern that may help you stop the unnecessary worrying and related fear.

Apply this all back to working out. Don’t be afraid to try new things with your workout. Try it for a couple of weeks and if it doesn’t do anything – worse case you may have lost some time but you’re still going to make some forward progress (e.g. going to gym and working out). Again – back to that scale of 1-10 – maybe its a 1 or a 2, but again its not a big deal. What did you really lose? Not much I’m sure.

Worry is interest you pay on a debt you don’t owe.

So remember – no matter what you are afraid of in life, never retreat, never surrender and keep moving forward!

You may have noticed in the Spartan Body Blueprint that I speak about a concept I call The Spartan Trifection. The Trifection is the application of training your Mind, Body and Soul to getting in ripped, warrior-like shape. Cuz you need all 3 to make it work.

Today we’re focusing on the Soul component.

To really drive this home, I’ve developed The Modern Spartan Ethos which contains 7 traits.

The second trait is 100% Purpose Driven.

Now I have to tell you that the second trait is very often skipped by guys because they often just want to jump right into action without planning. This ultimately comes back to bite them hard later. Seems some guys just don’t like to plan.

Bummer.

Successful guys, Spartan Guys, are purpose driven.

They think about what they want to accomplish and they set goals and align their life to meet those goals.

They don’t wander through life aimlessly, wasting away.

They create a mission and a purpose and they seek to fulfill it by whatever means necessary.

Their purpose is larger than themselves; for a Spartan knows only then can he achieve greatness.

Having a defined Purpose is really powerful stuff for the times when things are going well and more importantly for those times when things get bumpy.

We all know life isn’t perfect and having a defined Purpose in life makes it a lot easier to get back in the grove and continue where we left off when those imperfect times come. This is true for when we’re working out or for any journey of growth – whether its with our bodies, our relationships or our careers. There are always going to be ups and downs – that’s just the way it is. Life’s not a straight line – the reality is that it zigzags all over the place, and our

Purpose is what pulls you through those zigzags and helps get you to your destination. It acts like a guardrail on the road of life.

When you embark on the journey such as changing your physique as we’re doing in the Spartan Body Blueprint, its a good idea to ask yourself… why you want to do this?

When you’re trying to change we need to go a little deeper, especially if you’re trying to build strength, to determine the purpose for our training.

Maybe you’re trying to set a good example for your family, be a good role model for your kids, inspire your coworkers to get in shape, or just get strong because others look up and depend on you (i.e. fireman, police officers).

Maybe you want to get in shape and stay in shape because you now have a family and want to live a healthier, longer life. Whatever the reason, it will help you if you have a purpose in the back of your mind to guide you. It will help you pull through when you’re tired or not in the mood to workout.

Having a purpose and a goal is always a good thing for important aspects of of our lives.

Let’s take a real life example about goals and purpose and see how they apply.

When you are going on a flight somewhere, do you just show up at the airport and ask the agent at the counter for a ticket?

Ummm – no.

You tell them where you want to go, when you want to return and you need to know the purpose for your trip.

The trip is the goal (i.e. destination) and the purpose of the trip (i.e. business, pleasure) impacts where you go, how you get there, what you bring, where you stay, and what you do when you get there.

If the purpose is vacation, you’re probably going to bring fun stuff along, pack more casual clothes, download some movies for the plane, get hotel reservations in advance, rent a car and check out some restaurants online ahead of time and maybe book some excursions.

If the purpose is business you’ll be packing different clothes, bringing work documents and probably won’t be going on any excursions.

In either case, both types of trips have a goal and a purpose.

It’s the same way in the Modern Spartan Ethos.

Your goal might be to build a ripped Spartan Physique but wouldn’t it be helpful to know why you want to do all this work?

Do you want to show confidence and attract a mate? Maybe you have a class reunion coming up and you want to look your best. If so your goal is to get into great shape and your Purpose is so you can look your best can and put forth the best version of yourself to those around you.

The same principle applies in the business world.

Do you think people who run Google just show up for work each day and plod along?

No, they take time to plan, to develop a core Purpose and a Mission and they work towards it each and every day.

This helps guide business decisions; helps them when they hit bumps in the road and it makes the people that work in those organizations know what it is their working towards each day.

Occasionally they reevaluate what it is they want to get done or ‘be when they grow up’ but successful organizations always have a Core Purpose and set Goals.

Setting Goals and a defining a Purpose helps ensure that you keep moving forward especially when times get tough.

We can zoom out and do the same thing from your life’s standpoint.

This is the kind of thing that you’ll want to think about every once in a while. This kind of heavy strategic thinking is best done occasionally.

One way to help define your life’s purpose is to think about what excites you.

Maybe you enjoy driving, or playing music or working with kids.

Ask yourself – when am I the most happy?

In the past 6 months when was I the happiest… & why?

Examine yourself internally and try to discover your passions.

When you find something that’s made you happy in your life, ask yourself what you’re doing when that happens. If you get that way when you train that’s great but it’s probably not the purpose of your life. But maybe that purpose will lead you to ending up helping others.

One of my clients was so inspired by the difference I made in his life and the life of others that he decided to get certified as a trainer so he could help others get in shape.

The faster you get started the faster you are going to get to the core of what your purpose is. Not only are you going to be more effective, but your energy level is going to go through the roof because you’re going to want to jump up each day and get your day started. You can take it well beyond your fitness training and you can apply it to the rest of your life.

One good suggestion might be to keep a journal and jot down some notes about what you’re thinking about when you’re happy.

You should come back to it quarterly and review it. You might start seeing a pattern that’ll help you determine your life’s Purpose.

I can tell you that when you do figure it out you will a much better man because of it.

But no matter what you do remember, never retreat, never surrender and keep moving forward!

Integrity means being honest and having strong moral principles.

Spartegrity is very similar.

A modern Spartan is 100% honest with HIMSELF and his shortcomings because he truly desires growth and improvement.

He knows his personal worth as a human being is unshakable and completely independent of his current physical stature, financial earnings, girlfriend /wife status or anything else in his life.  Only through this separation of his personal worth from everything else is he able to receive guidance on how to grow.

So why do I think this is so important?

Well if you lack Spartegrity, you can’t be honest with yourself and if you can’t be honest it’s going to be really hard to improve your body for the better.

Let’s take a real life example.

Let’s say you have an ailment but you’re nervous about going to the doctor.

Maybe you don’t want to hear what he has to say.  Will you need surgery or maybe some scary series of tests to find out what’s going on?  Finally one day you work up the courage to go see the doctor, but when you get there you don’t tell him exactly what’s going on because you’re afraid.  Do you think the doctor is going to truly be able to help you?  Of course not! He needs you to tell him the truth, so he gets the full picture of your health.  Only then can he make a proper diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment.

It’s no different with your own life.  If you can’t be honest about your shortcomings it’s impossible to improve them.

Why can’t some guys be honest with themselves?

There is a reason and the good news is that with my help you can root it out.

The reason we’re not honest with ourselves is because we sometimes fail to separate our personal worth as a human being from our physical status (i.e. the shape we’re in, how good looking we are, etc.)

After all, the media bombards us with a self worth linked to our physical state.  I’m here to tell you that your physical status has no bearing on your value as a person.  Just because you may be out of shape doesn’t mean you’re less of a person.  But because some guys link their self worth to their physical state they don’t get the advice they need because admitting they’re out of shape means, in their mind, they’re less of a person.  It’s too much for them to handle.  The rejection of one causes them to reject the other.  Some guys will even shut down because they have to admit to themselves they are out of shape.  It’s crazy but it happens and if that describes you, you need to break the link.  Maybe you are out of shape but it has no bearing on what kind of person you are.   Once you break this link you will start to make progress.

I can give you a real personal example from my life.

A while ago I decided to learn to dance by taking some dancing lessons.

Now I have to tell you I have no sense of rhythm and I’m not musically inclined either so this was really tough for me.  Think Tin-Man on the dance floor.

When I see other guys who are better dancers than me it would be easy to tie my sense of self worth to my dancing ability because I feel I have two left feet.  But just because I was awful at dancing didn’t mean that I was an awful person.

I was able to distance the two, accept the coaching that I received and ultimately improve my dancing ability.  Now I get compliments everytime I go out and ladies line up for a dance. Not too shabby.

As soon as you can distance your self-worth from any of your shortcomings you are going to make leaps and bounds with anything new that you starting.

The same thing happens with income.

Guys often tie their sense of self worth to the amount of money they make and how it compares to those around them.

They have their value linked to income so when they see someone making more than them, they feel that the other person is more worthwhile than they are.

The same even goes with physical appearance of another guy.

Maybe it’s the guy that you see at the gym that’s ripped.  If the guy is in good shape, maybe there is stuff you can learn from him and if you break the chain of self worth from your own physical shape, you might find that you can be open to any advice he may offer resulting in progress.

It’s the same with fitness.  As soon as you break the link between your self-worth and your physical condition, you can open yourself up to ask for help.

When you are able to do that you will start to see progress, the progress that A Spartan Body Blueprint will give you.

I’ve given these examples in hope that one of these will resonate with you.  Remember be honest with yourself and don’t connect your self-worth to you physical state.

You’ll begin to feel better about yourself and move down the path of real progress – the progress of a sleek, ripped Spartan like physique as taught in A Spartan Rises.

And remember, never retreat never surrender and keep moving forward