When Results Seem to Slow or Persist, Here is how I stay Motivated

In short, one of the best ways I stay motivated is I have to remember who I was and then remind myself of who I am now. One of my biggest role models, David Goggins, calls this act 'Pulling out of the cookie jar'. In other words, pulling out memories of your past that dissatisfied you, memories that gave you the initial chip on your shoulder. These things could be small and insignificant, or even years of bullying. Whatever it is, that is the chip on your shoulder. For me, it started with comments like,

"Dylan! Do the Truffle Shuffle"

"Whats up Fat A**?"

"Dylan! You have a dad bod!"

Once I began to lose weight and change who I was these turned into even more hurtful remarks such as,

"Try hard"

"Fake A** Bodybuilder"

I've never opened up about the significance of this next story to anyone but close friends but, I remember a specific memory of a vacation with some friends. These are still some of my best friends to this day and I love them all to death... If any of you are reading this, no hard feelings! Around this time, I had started to change myself, get in shape, and become the man I wanted to be. On this vacation, I insisted on trying to work out every day I was there. My friends made fun of me and the fact that I wanted to bring a Jump Rope along with me relentlessly. Granted, at this time I was far from the most humble kid in the world. However, one morning I hid behind a boat to workout away from everyone, when I lifted my head. I saw everyone standing there laughing and recording me. That one hurt me. I thought that once I became a better person, people would cease making fun of me. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. I was embarrassed and began to question myself. "Is this really worth it?" I thought. "Just go back to who you were before because it's so much easier" as I tried to rationalize to myself why I should quit.

Then you have to remember who you are now, and who you want to be in 10 years, 20 years, 30 years. Not who you were yesterday. You SHOULD be disgusted by the person you were as little as 6 months ago. Acknowledging that you had a lack of work ethic, lack of discipline, lack of kindness and maturity shows that you are improving. There isn't a week that goes by where I don't think about that moment. That moment I decided that I REFUSE to be the Dylan that everyone knew before. Because for the first time, I was in love with my life. I was obsessed with the grind and the constant pursuit of getting better. I was obsessed with getting healthier, this became being obsessed with my schooling and career, and then becoming a better Christian, person, son, sibling, boyfriend, and friend. Work every day to prove the people that doubted you that they were dead wrong about you. There are so many days that you may not want to work out or accomplish the tasks at hand

You must do it anyway. Every single day of your life is a fight to become better than the last. As cliche as YOLO sounds, you really do only live one time. So live it right, make memories, work hard, get healthy. Put down the X-box, iPhone, and Don't sleep in. Because those seconds are precious

To those reading this, think about anyone who has ever made fun of you, judged you, said you were not good enough. Put them in the back of your mind and go tackle the day. Go prove them wrong, because fighting back with words only goes so far. Fighting back with actions is torture. Your success will be their torture.

Don't ever forget about these moments in your life. Engrave them in your mind and don't stop getting better.