On Failure and Frustration

Yesterday I posted while sitting in a hallway waiting for my best friend Frank to finish the competitor’s meeting at his bodybuilding competition. It was a long day from there and despite being in the best shape of his life, Frank took 3rd overall in his 1st pro bodybuilding competition. 

Bodybuilding is tough as the judging is highly subjective and unlike other sports, it’s not clear who the winner will be and it’s often less clear why a particular person won at all. The judges’ score sheets are not made available, so it’s impossible to tell what they were thinking or why they liked some competitors and not others. Frankly I find the entire process very frustrating, but it is what it is. 

Frank was in the best shape ever, better than the night he won his pro card a year ago. I thought at worst he was a 2nd place finisher and made a strong case for 1st, but I was wrong. Personally, the fact that he was in the best shape of his life was a major victory. Most guys miss it by a mile or don’t care enough to see it through to the end. 

I admire Frank’s passion and his will power. I could never eat the way he does or drag myself into the gym at 5am to run on a treadmill. I don’t have the passion or will power for either. I do love lifting weights and I love lifting with Frank, the gym is truly a refuge and sanctuary. 

I’ve spent the day thinking about Frank’s finish and the nature of failure (although I don’t consider his 3rd place finish a failure at all) and I’ve realized that every one fails, a lot. Somehow we focus on people after they are successful, forgetting all the times they failed. This is true of sports stars, business people, government officials and just about everyone. Perhaps failure is nature’s way of weeding out week people, making sure it’s not too crowded at the top. It’s interesting to see what drives someone to keep trying at all costs and others to give up quickly, sometimes before they even get started. 

I could likely write all night about this, but it’s late and I’m tired. Watching Frank was an emotional roller coaster and it really took a toll. Thankfully I know he will regroup and plan a path forward, the best always do. 

Competiton Time

I’m sitting on the floor in the hallway at E. Ridge High School while my best friend Frank is in his competitor’s meeting. Today is the Natural Northeast bodybuilding show that he has been preparing for the past year. I’ m sitting here in the hallway with all the other folks who have come to support the competitors.

Frank has worked really hard all year and it shows. Today he looks even better than he did a year ago when he won his pro card at this same competiton. Although I go to the gym with Frank, there is so much more that goes into this than weights. He’s done countless hours of cardio and maintained a strict diet designed to fuel his growth and development. Watching his passion and drive to live healthy and be in the best possible shape is a lot of fun.

Today will be a long day mostly filled with sitting around waiting for things to happen. At the moment there’s no way to predict the outcome of this competiton, in fact we aren’t even sure if there are any other competitors in e pro division.

These competitions provide a strange irony for all the hard work as competitors are going to be judged by a dozen people and their particular biases and whims. I would consider Frank to be victorious even before setting foot on the stage as he is sitting here in better shape than last year, and most likely in best shape of his life. Those are the factors he can control. Everything else is up to others and factors beyond his control.

The Power of 1 Interaction

Late last night before bed I was reading the news and came across an interesting little piece about the new Dodge Viper. It was a short article with a couple awesome pictures about how Dodge is bringing the car back after a 2 year hibernation. 

I decided to post the link and a little comment on Google +. My comment was something to the effect that although the Viper is really cool (and I’d love to own one) it seems like a misdirection of resources for a company that filed bankruptcy and still seems to be on shaky legs. 

This morning I awoke to see that Chris Brogan, and fairly famous guy in internet and social media circles had left a comment about my post. To be honest I was shocked as I wouldn’t really expect anyone to comment on it. He wrote a couple sentences basically saying that the fancy cars help sell the less fancy cars, and saying that he owns a camero.

I’ve had a few comments and interactions on Facebook, Twitter and Google + from “famous” people but it never amazes me. It really highlights how incredible social media is. In real life I’d never talk to or interact with someone like Chris Brogan, but in the social media universe I guess my post caught his interest enough to leave a quick comment. 

More to the point, it’s interesting how I feel after interacting with people on social media (or live in person). Usually I feel a connection and that connection leads me to read more about that person or what they are saying. I may follow them on other social channels or go to their website or blog. 

The lesson here is that making a connection is powerful. I’m not a psychologist and I don’t really understand it, but I have felt it not only with famous people, but with anyone with whom I interact. We have been gaining followers on our workingmenshealthandfitness.com website and Facebook page and I’ve begun to feel a connection to those folks who interact with us, learning a little about them and feeling common interest around fitness and healthy living. 

I know lots of folks say social media is a waste of time or a silly hobby, but for making connections it’s really neither. It would be cool to be able to meet everyone in person and shake hands and have a drink, but this is the next best thing and it seems to be expanding every day. 

Businesses or people who overlook the power of 1 social interaction (or many) are really missing the chance to interact with customers and interested people like no other time in history. 

Spring is really here now

I’m standing at an indoor dome watching lacrosse practice, the sure sign of spring. Thankfully we are inside where it’s warm and dry!

Just as much as flowers and birds and buds on the trees, spring sports signal the end of winter and the coming of summer.

107 Days

It was announced today that we have to work 107 days to pay our taxes this year. Every year this number is announced and it always shocks me. 

There are a lot of good things about taxes – schools, police and fire protection, nice roads, etc, but it’s beyond my comprehension where all the tax money really goes. When you consider all the taxes we pay from federal and state to taxes on cell phone bills and electric bills and so on, it’s a miracle we have anything left to spend at all. 

The federal budget is trillions of dollars – what does a ‘trillion dollars’ even look like? The federal government has trillions of dollars to allocate to various things but there are still people starving a couple miles from my house. 

Everyone likes to rant about the budget (and deficit) and that’s not really my intent here. My intent is simply pointing out that I can’t comprehend the staggering amount of money various government agencies have their hands on. It seems like a lot of it is used well – I like it when I call 911 and someone shows up to help. I like driving on paved roads and I think my kids are getting a decent education, but as for the rest of it – who knows?