Evan Sanders's Blog, page 73

On Giving Up Vs. Moving Forward

 

For a few years now, I’ve been throwing out a phrase that you’ve probably heard in combination with Love & Passion. It’s “never quit.” I still mean it. Never ever quit. Never quit on yourself. Never quit on your dreams. Never quit on what truly matters to you.

Never quit and never give up pretty much mean the same thing in my mind. They both portray the exact same message and represent the same result – not stopping. They are fantastic characteristics to build into your life when you are trying to better yourself every day, and coming from someone who once – completely and fully quit on himself in college – I can say that they have driven me to greater heights than I ever imagined.

But never quit does not mean you never stop. You never regroup. You never change your path. You never reevaluate your game plan. You never leave. You never exit the stadium.

Any general who went into battle has gotten his a#* handed to him before. But that same general knew the rules of war – and retreating, regrouping, and coming back to the battlefield ready to go back at it again are definitely options in his wheelhouse. Other options – he might actually leave the battlefield altogether because he’s facing an insurmountable group of forces he didn’t anticipate on being there. Get slaughtered for ego or move into another position giving yourself a better chance of winning? Winning always comes out on top.

Never quitting is about never surrendering or being forced unwillingly to break from your vision, goals, and aspirations. 

 It’s about never abandoning yourself and living in despair because the going got tough. 

That’s what never quitting is about. You don’t give up on your vision because something isn’t currently working. But here comes the really important part – you are going to make mistakes on your path, you are going to get into things that may or may not be the best thing for you, and you are going to have to readjust along the way.

No one has ever lived this life infallibly or perfectly. It’s a day by day game of “adapt and adjust” and when you start seeing that something isn’t good for you, then you move on. You move forward. You never stop and pull of the road or start driving backwards because something didn’t work out.

Why?

Because your vision is grander than one person or one thing. The dream is all encompassing and you are searching for more than just a material possession or a person to “make you” but rather a higher state of being that will help you reach the top tiers of self fulfillment. Your true happiness lies in that route.

You cannot build your life on the criticisms or compliments of other people. If you do, you will be built and destroyed on an ever-flowing and morphing foundation. People will hate peaches because they hate peaches. People will love you for many different reasons that will be unbeknownst to you. Let the outside world look at you and judge you for who you are – but you, you have to continue on with what you believe in and live your life to the fullest – because honestly, this is the only one you have.

That involves loving…caring passionately…never quitting…integrity…all the things I talk about over and over again.

But that also involves making good decisions and leaving when you need to. You make the best decisions you can at the time you are making them and then when things change, you make those same best decisions. You look at all of the angles and where you want to head in your life, and if they don’t match up – then you move forward without any grudges or hate.

The audience will always talk about the man in the arena and you see it happen over and over again – the man in the arena becomes too concerned with what the audience is whispering about and forgets what he is in the arena for in the first place. You are there to create your dreams, fight for what you believe in, and birth of life of positivity. If I’m not doing that everyday and I’m thinking all the time about what others are saying about me, well, then I don’t deserve to be in the arena in the first place.

My ship left the harbor a long time ago.

– Evan Sanders

 

 

On Giving Up Vs. Moving Forward is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You

 

Be so good they can’t ignore you

– Steve Martin

This is probably one of my favorite quotes of all time. Stop worrying about how the system is and not being able to make your mark. You’re going to have to work your butt off for it. Be so good they can’t ignore you. See how that works.

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Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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Do Not Chase People

Do not chase people. Be you and do your own thing and work hard. The right people who belong in your life will come to you, and stay.

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Do Not Chase People is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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Remember Why You Started

 

Remember why you started – because if you don’t – you will never see the end.

You can make your life into a series of milestones. In fact, you can make your life into plans rather than dreams. The benefit of making it a plan vs. a dream is that you take the romanticized version completely out of it. Great plans – although life can completely screw them up at times – will head you in a much better direction than just wandering around hopelessly.

I’m at a pretty interesting place right now coming out of my first photo shoot and accomplishing a dream that I had been thinking about for years and years. After having accomplished that, I keep asking myself “What’s next? What else can I achieve?”

The answer is anything.

The truth is, I’m going after everything this year.

After taking a couple days off in terms of the intensity towards my routine, I have begun to appreciate the routine in itself. I’m ready to get back to planning another big goal in terms of fitness and finding out what I am capable of. Like I have said before, I am a rookie in this field. But being a rookie is one of the most enjoyable and fun times of your life. So I am going to enjoy this as much as I can.

I can’t believe I start professional life coaching school in March. That is right around the corner! Besides being excited about the coaching experience and being able to go out there and help people, I am very thrilled about how much I know they are going to work on me as a person and develop me as a whole individual. It really should be an experience of a lifetime.

It’s time I ramp up my focus in other areas as well – studying for both life coaching and personal training. These are both professions that I want to combine and if I work hard enough I know that I can relay my passion for helping others successfully.

2015 has been incredible so far.

Can’t wait to see what else it has in store for me.

– Evan Sanders

Remember Why You Started is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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Mediocrity Is The Enemy

Mediocrity is the enemy.

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Mediocrity Is The Enemy is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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Today I Will Do

Today I will do what others won’t.

So tomorrow I can do what others can’t.

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Today I Will Do is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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Can’t Hold Us | This Is The Heist

You Can’t Hold Us. We’re Moving. We’re Finally Grabbing What Is Ours. This Is The Heist.

There are these defining moments where you see things as they are instead of how you want them to be. You hear things as they were instead of whatever you interpreted. These are moments of truth. They don’t just come to people who are completely wrapped up in themselves, obsessed with others, or deliriously delusional about how the world is.

No, these moments come to those who are open to all things – good and bad. To those who understand that the world functions not in black and white, but in the endless amount of colors in between the extremes. There is so much to experience, so much to learn, and so much to feel…if you think you understand it all that is the exact moment when you are actually wrong.

There’s so much we don’t understand about this world and how it works. Even the answers we do have are only a glimpse into what is actually occurring. Your feelings and emotions, while troubling at times, are often surface indicators of things that are actually going on deeper inside of you. You’re an onion at it’s finest – an almost endlessly peeling onion that can show you time after time again just how far you really can dig.

 

We see the world through masks and glasses. It’s unavoidable actually. But our job, at least for those who search for deeper meaning in this life is to take the masks off and remove the glasses. First, we must see ourselves in the mirror as we actually are. Then, and this is the ultimate type of courage and vulnerability, we must show others our true selves – as we are and as we are not.

When you get to that place – removing everything that is shading you and others from the reality of yourself, then you really start to light up inside. That moment, as tough as it can be, is magic. It’s magic It’s as pure magic as it gets. The world then becomes yours because you are not trying to batter your way against waves. Instead, you are moving with the current of your true self and the universe will literally just get out of your way.

Mind. Body. Soul.

When all three of those are in a strong connection there’s no telling what you are capable of. It’s when they are out of whack where things get incredibly messy. You tear yourself apart. You tear relationships apart. You destroy your dreams day by day and literally repel good people from coming into your life. I’m not just blowing smoke here – this stuff happens.

How do we get to this place?

Honesty. Really damn honest eyes. Those eyes can’t be anyone else’s but your own.

Get to that place. Get to the place where you can see yourself and others as perfectly imperfect. Seriously flawed and beautiful at the same time. Then, things will really start to change.

– Evan Sanders

Can’t Hold Us | This Is The Heist is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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Let’s Burn The Ships Again

In the 1500’s Hernando Cortez was the captain of eleven ships with more than 500 soldiers headed for Mexico to conquer the Aztecs and bring back gold and treasures. As you can well imagine, after his ships arrived in Mexico, the sailors and soldiers were not in the best of shape. Some of them fell ill on the journey, some had lost their motivation, and their quarters were not exactly shipshape. Several of Cortez’s crewmates wondered what would happen to them in this strange new land. If they faced challenges or resistance, how would the crew return home? The crew asked Cortez what the plan would be to get back home. The captain had the perfect response: He burned the ships

There was no going back

The only direction to go was forward

The old way of doing things were about to be rethought.

In fact, there were no more “old way of doing things”; a new way had to be defined.

(I have no idea what book I originally pulled this from and my internet search for it has failed significantly – if you can help me properly site this I would be grateful!)

 

When you land on the shore, and there is still work to be done, you have to burn the ships.

There is a great amount of work to be done this year. Part of me can’t believe it’s February already. The other part is still smiling wide about accomplishing a major goal last Saturday. However, I know that I have to keep moving forward and that I can’t fall back on yesterdays accomplishments. I know that that moment, while forever captured in photography, has passed and that I am going to have to make new moments that are just as great.

That’s in the pipeline.

Now, I must travel across unexplored land, taking my journey from the ocean to the mountains and vast plains. I have absolutely no idea what is going to come my way but I have plans on what I am looking for. Sometimes we find those things, but a great deal of the time we are significantly surprised by what we didn’t know was coming. I am ready for that – good and bad combined.

My thirst for adventure has increased 100 fold ever since I landed here. My excitement and love for what I am doing has also grown significantly. The interesting thing is that fear is becoming less and less of a factor in my day to day decisions and I am moving forward quickly and with purpose in everything that I am doing. I am planning more. I am creating action plans…attacking them with vigor…and then seeing how they work – making adjustments as needed.

This type of living did not come naturally, in fact, I can say that it was a pure side effect of crossing the finish line with something that I had wanted for such a long time. When you cross that line, you begin to understand that whatever it is that you are working on only needs time and a well thought out plan to achieve it.

We are all capable of great things.

I wanted to take a quick second to let you know that I am reintroducing my Video Blog back into The Better Man Project because I can take some time to focus on something else besides fitness for a while. I love the talking aspect of video blogging and hope that you will enjoy the content that I am going to be putting out there. I recorded roughly 15 blogs yesterday and am pretty excited about putting them together for you to see. They will be of course posted here and on YouTube itself.

Never rest on yesterday’s achievements.

The minute you start building your foundation on things that you have accomplished instead of who you are…well…that’s when things are going to get very shaky. Maybe in the short term they are going to be ok, but once you start getting into the Dog Days of summer, you are going to fall apart at the seams.

It’s much more important to know who you and and why you are that way than to base your entire life off the criticisms or compliments of others. Why? Because life has a pretty interesting way of taking everything you have and tearing it apart when it feels like it. If you know who you are and how you got there, well, you can build it all back and then some.

You can’t do that if you are hollow inside.

Know who you are. Know why you are that way. Know what you are up to in this world. Be willing to stand up for what you believe in. If you can do that, well, things are going to work out pretty well for you in the long run.

Burn the ships

– Evan Sanders

Let’s Burn The Ships Again is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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If We Magnified Our Successes

If we magnified our successes as much as we magnify our disappointments we’d all be much happier.

– Abraham Lincoln

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If We Magnified Our Successes is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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Call Me Crazy. Well, Maybe Just A Bit

Call me crazy.

Do I think I can make a difference in the world? Yes. Do I think I can help change parts of it? Yes again. Am I crazy enough to do it? Well, if crazy is the word, then yes.

But I would rather be a bit crazy than boring. I’d rather be slightly off my rocker than emotionally flatlined in the middle swimming in a land of mediocrity. I get ahead of myself, I laugh, I joke, I say stupid things, I make boneheads mistake, I embarrass myself, I in fact humiliate myself on many occasions and perform a slew of other activities that lead to the lightheartedness of my life. And yet, from all of this, I have learned something that will never escape be.

Do not fear looking bad…and don’t always try to look good.

When you fall into those traps, you constrain yourself significantly. You land yourself right back in the middle because you’re afraid of taking a risk – and what comes along with that risk is what other people will think of you. Yes, you may lose a romantic prospect, an acquaintance, a friend, or any other type of scenario [just insert here] but that’s ok. It’s ok because you are going through this life with speed, energy, and passion and you are bound to do some things that piss people off along the way. It may not even be because of you in the first place. Someone once told me a quote, and I’m paraphrasing here…that you could be the juiciest ripest peach in the world and there will still be someone out there that hates peaches.

This is pretty spot on and if you realize that this is just a fundamental reality – you won’t be as bothered when it happens.

But oh my do you have to learn. You have to suffer through those feelings of loss before you can truly appreciate the balance of things. And this is what the balance of things will teach you – that what goes up must come down, the sun will rise and the sun will set, people will come and people will go, you will love and at times you will hurt deeply…and to be frank, every other positive has a negative that you will experience. This is just the way of it all. Don’t make it wrong – just understand that it’s part of life.

When you begin a journey towards a dream, not many other people are going to be able to see what you see.

Maybe that’s the way it is with dreams. Maybe naturally those who seek out their dreams live in a world that is opaque to others. Your vision may be clear as day, but when you try to have someone else “see” what you can see, that’s when things can get a little bit rocky. That’s when negativity can be brought in or someone else’s doubt because they cannot achieve what you dream of. So when telling people your grand vision or dream, you have to be incredibly careful about who you invite into that conversation. Dreams are hard enough as it is to keep growing in your mind…and if you allow others to bring in doubt, you might find yourself in just as much doubt and disbelief one day.

 

 

 

This journey of mine has brought me more happiness, strength, and courage than I ever had before. It has sent me through some of the darkest times of my life with a lantern in hand (a light I never had before) and even though I trembled during acts of this grand play I always came out into the light. Those times are scary. In fact, those times can be completely terrifying. But I am more of a man today because I had the courage to face those fears directly instead of continuing to run from them.

You can change your life if you want to.

It’s going to take time. But in reality, once you commit to a life of change and betterment, the journey never ends. The journey will only end until the day you give up or the day you peace out from this place. You won’t give up though – that decision can’t possibly match up with the type of person that would commit themselves to adapting and adjusting for the years to come. So ride it out all the way to the end. Discover yourself and what you have to bring into this world. You may be incredibly surprised by what you find.

Call me crazy…but it’s the way I’ve chosen to live.

– Evan Sanders

Call Me Crazy. Well, Maybe Just A Bit is a post from: Inspirational Stories About Life

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