Herding cats

 

I have heard a lot lately about “Being your true self” Who is that? I am not who I used to be. I am much less aggressive, I am more extroverted and I am less selfish. I still have a long way to go and in fact I am reacquiring some attributes that I previously owned. The more doubt I get out from under the more I start to get some of my mojo back.

                I was thinking about some of the times in my life where I unconsciously stepped up, in a big way. Running track for Manton against Forest Area and smoking everyone in the quarter mile. Mr. Harwick the track coach for Forest Area couldn’t believe it because I was better than his perception of me. The last football practice for Manton when Coach Lazowski had me stand on the 50 yard line and told the rest of the team “Live on Lowing” and I ran into the pack instead of running away from them. Standing in the middle of the ring after being pummeled from pillar to post by Jeff Shonavich and then I opened up and attacked his body and shut the home town crowd up.

                When Roy Jones Sr. got mad at me for missing training for three days after losing a fight because of a bad decision by an official. He told me “I am not going to fire you but I am not going to pay you any mind either. These other boys need sparring and you are going to be the meat” I did not like that but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of running me off. By the end of training that night I determined that if anyone was going to be the meat, it wasn’t going to be me. From that day on, I pushed myself past the point of normalcy. I was relentless. That is when learned what it took to be a winner.

Checking into BUD/s class 141 and the Master At Arms, Mike Bloom looked through my previous record from BUD/s Class 133 and saw all of the deficiency chits and started challenging me for even being allowed to go back into training. I just looked at him and said “I am just going to have to prove you wrong, now sign my check in sheet”. In Hell Week that second time getting into the water for surf torture and thinking “This isn’t so bad” and then 14 guys got up at once to ring the bell.

Getting off of the canvas after Tony Suggs dropped me with the first punch I hit him with and I got up and committed to going after him all out and that is what happened in a fight that people still talk about. Running full tilt up that runway in Panama carrying 110 lbs of bullets, water and radio while bullets were skipping across the ash fault in front of me. Standing up to my commanding officer, not letting him jump until he renewed his HAPS card, that was hard but I was right.              

Bill Cosby had a party record called “200 miles per hour” on the flip side he talked about how parents talk to their kids. He talks about walking into a grocery store and hearing a mother talking to her kid saying “I am going to beat you within an inch of your life' Imagine that, beating someone to death and stopping that far?” That which does not kill us only makes us stronger. Once you have experienced that thing which you fear the most and survive, anything less than that is nothing. That is who I really am and I like me.

Being congruent, walking a booby trap course, when every something starts taking you in a direction which you naturally wouldn’t go, you need to stop and look around and you will usually find the booby trap. The same thing works in life or dealing with people. When someone does something that doesn’t make sense or is different than what you are accustom to how they would normally act or talk. Something isn’t right. Some where they are compromising. People will always say “You need to compromise” Not on your values or in your beliefs. When that happens, there has been a break in their foundation. Something has changed. It might be good and you will know, when someone quits drinking of comes into a new and stronger faith but you will know too when they go the other direction.

There will be indictors, like a new association or a dramatic crisis in their life. We need to be aware and be available for them, encourage them, point out the right direction for them, give them the answers or at least investigate where they are going. That is what we do for the people we truly care about, leaders don’t just leave it to their flock to keep up and stay in line. In Luke 15:4 Christ said: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn't he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?”

                My Junior year of high-school, it was dear season and I didn’t have good enough grades to get a week off to go hunting. I was sitting in Mr. Diotte’s US History class and the snow was coming down heavy. There was about three feet of new snow. I saw a hunter come out to the woods with seven cats following him in a single file line. I was curious and amazed at why he had the cats with him and how he was able to get them to follow him in a single file line. Somebody told me that cats flush out deer but how he got them to follow him in single file still baffled me. Then someone suggested to me that following in the hunter’s footsteps might have been the easiest. That made total sense. Then while trying to build a sales team I would here other leaders describe it as “Herding cats”. It occurred to me that the only way to herd cats is, you have to lead from the front and there has to be no other option.

When the cat’s stray it’s because the path they are on is too long and they are looking for a faster way and we need to be there when they get lost or we will lose them. Sometimes you have to be uncompromising and extremely brave to in order to bring them back. I am thanking God that he made me that way.

 

 

 

 

I don’t need to lose weight this year

               

                This is one resolution I don’t need to put on my list this year. I have lost 44 lbs since this time last year. When I do my workouts in the morning it doesn’t take much effort. I no longer have that dread when I get out of bed in the morning. Part of me wants to do more but I have over done it many times and I don’t want to go backwards but I do feel a desire to take on a physical challenge or utilize my enhanced conditioning towards something meaningful.

                I do have my Trail Life boys. I think back on other young boys I have influenced over the years. I remember Roy Jones Jr. trying to keep up with me doing arm circles, push-ups and leg lifts. Then before you know it, he surpassed me. Then I ran into Jonathan, I used to train him and his best friend Ryan McDonald in boxing before I went to BUD/s training in class 141. I was in Panama and working out on the heavy bag in my garage and this Marine PFC stopped at my house on the way to his guard station and it was him. Then when I went to Free Fall Jump Master School in Fort Bragg North Carolina we got a four day weekend for Veteran’s day and I went to Virginia Beach and worked out with SEAL Team Eight and this tall red headed kid comes up to me and it was Shane Riley, he was a kid who hung out by the pool when I was a life guard getting ready to go to BUD/s in class 133. I trained him in boxing a few times. There were others whom I might have had influence with that make me proud seeing how they turned out.

                I can’t take much credit, I wasn’t there directing them or counseling them to get where they are today but there is one who I know for sure that I have influence in his life and that is my son Devin. There are so many examples I can think of where his character was developing. In the boxing ring at 10 years old sparring with 14 year olds and he was looking for me to intervene and I refused and told the older boy sparring with him “Go ahead and knock him out. Put him to sleep and make it easy on him.” I didn’t realize it but that older boy eased up on him and Devin stepped it up and the same time (Which is what my intent was) and the tide turned. After that Devin always assumed that it was within his power to take matters into his own hands and turn things around. As a Junior life guard he would get all excited when the instructors made the do push-ups. Now he is one of the top performers for Tesla Solar in San Diego and he calls me all of the time giving e his sales progress report.

                I had one of the pastors at the church tell me that I need to be who God wants me to be, not what anyone else wants me to be. When I become what God wants me to be, it will be enough for those that I want it to matter with. He was going over our gifts, mine were service and faith but I had taken his survey before and Teaching also came up as one of my gifts. I like teaching. I earned the designation as a Master Training Specialist in the Navy and it was awarded to me while I was going through BUD/s training in class 141. Mike Bixler had me in front of the whole class, standing on the tables in parade rest with my head against the wall. I thought I was in trouble and then he made a big speech and awarded me the certificate.

                Every time I have mentored young men, they always surpass me. It is funny how that makes me feel good.

Jesus Christ in Relation to God the Father

               

                When I first came into my walk of faith I didn’t make a distinction between the Lord God and Jesus Christ. To me they had to be one in the same, because anyone could send their lackey to deliver a message and suffer the consequences of it. Then around the ninth time of reading the bible I caught something. Jesus Christ talks of God and to God, not to himself. Then in the book of Numbers God is having a conversation with Moses and he is so upset with the Jews, he is about to turn them into a pile of smoldering ashes. Only when Moses has the courage to point out that the Egyptians are watching and if God couldn’t deliver his people to the promise land and killed them and left them in the desert, no one would ever follow him again. That is when I realized the significance of Jesus Christ.

                  Over and over again God’s people take his gifts and blessings and the turn away from him or lose faith.  Even Elijah ran away in fear of Jezebel. God couldn’t depend upon anyone. I read a story once of a veteran who had his foot blown off by a land mine during WWII who interviewed for a job and he was given a task to retrieve a rare vase. He found it and sent for it but it was broken during shipping. He pawned his watch which was given him for retirement and flew to the Middle East to buy the only other vase to replace the one which had been destroyed. When he raced to deliver it on time the people at the company who tasked him were amazed to the lengths length which this guy went to accomplish the task. In return for his efforts they made him president of the company.

                God, put this child with Marry in the line of succession of his people who had the closest relationship with him from the beginning. He was given to Marry and Joseph to raise with the fear of God and a relationship with him so close that actually communicating with him was second nature. I think of Roy Jones Jr. who had his first fight at eight years old. His hands were trained before he knew how he learned to use them. Most of us when we read the 10 commandments see them as impossible to adhere to. We fail to realize, there is no mountain for a climber.

                God had been waiting on someone whom he could depend on, without exception, to the point of death. Just like the Veteran who retrieved the vase and was trusted to run the company. Jesus, because he resisted all temptation and trusted the Lord God to take care of hum even to the point of death. He was given all of the authority of God. “For what?” You might ask. Because he died on the cross, knowing that he was taking the punishment meant for us. From the beginning God had to be stern, uncompromising. If he said it, he had to honor it. When he promised to give blessings he had to give blessings and when he promised punishment he had to give punishment. Because Jesus Christ adhered to the law, down to the letter, he earned the right to be sacrificed.

                It is like making it through Navy SEAL Hell Week gives you the right to finish the remaining 22 weeks of BUD/s training and once you finish six more months of advanced tactical training you will be awarded your Trident insignia and can deploy with a platoon and be in the line of fire.                                                                
                So because Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and took the punishment meant for us, God the Father agreed to honor Christ’s requests. So when we pray to Jesus our prayers had his endorsement on them. This is like the military chain of command. You might talk to the commanding officer about a request and he might even like your idea but you are going to have to put your request officially through your LPO, your Chief, your platoon officers, the operations Officer, the XO all before it gets to the Commanding Officer and if the commanding Officer doesn’t really want to approve your request but the rest of the chain of command approves it for you, it makes it hard for him to say “No”.

                Now when you have good leadership, they will either have you reword your request to make it easier for it to be approved or they will personally endorse your request. Praying to Jesus gives him the opportunity to either present your petition to the father or under circumstances where he is given the authority he can grant it himself. God the Father made it so Christ wasn’t offended by our human shortcomings. None of it was a surprise to him. He treats us like we are two year olds, who don’t understand between right and wrong and get really angry when they don’t get their way but their anger only lasts until something with enough appeal distracts them from their rage and then all is forgotten. That is his grace.  

                That is why we honor him and pray to him. He earned the right to be our advocate.

Turn the other cheek

Stand on faith!

Interview with Eli Lara talking about Trail, F3 and more

Talking about Trail Life and F3

Talking about my baptism

 

 

Talking about what the Flag means to me

 

 



My Baptism

I was baptized today. Last Thursday at New Life church they showed pictures of people getting baptized and I thought “I need to do that”. I was confirmed and baptized as Catholic Easter 1992 in Panama but that was just sprinkling and more administrative. Then I had my faith experience February 1994, that was the day I realized that God was real. I started reading my bible for the first time. I have since read the complete bible at least none times.

                Then today when I walked into Church one of the pastors, Terry Westerman was hustling around getting ready to do some baptisms after the regular service. I told him that I had never been fully baptized and he told me to run home and get my swimming trunks and a T-shirt. As I was driving home I had a talk with the Holy Spirit and committed to follow him.

                Then all during the service I was thinking about how I followed Roy Jones Sr. in boxing and my mentors in the SEAL Teams when it came to shooting and tactics. I was feeling like I was getting ready to get in the boxing ring for a fight. I thought about how when I fought Anthony Suggs Sr. and he dropped me with the first punch he hit me with, I got up and committed to go all out. He knows that I did. Then the Spirit gave me a message “You have been relying on yourself, going back and pulling from your past to solve challenges and deal with situations. Now you need to rely on me, in the word and prayer”

                It was as clear as crystal. I am totally committed to serve the Lord.

Veterans day interview

Vete

rans day interview

Let's get FAT

The silly season is almost upon us. It is getting darker earlier, people are already out doing their shopping for Thanksgiving and Christmas. People are making rash decisions and holding off on major decisions until after the holidays. It is the same thing every year. It makes me a little more understanding of Ebenezer Scrooge. However, the TrailLife Troop at Center Church is progressing. I completed the background check and Child Safety Training. We have a full slate on the commission. Once they get through the training videos and take the test we will be able to charter.

                I received an inquiry to lead a BUD/s PT with the Edinburg JROTC. I did a series of workouts with them last year, two a days for two weeks in a row. I am in a little better shape this year. This Friday after Thanksgiving I am going to go for my maximum pull-ups. I haven’t been able to do more than 42 but it has been a while and I have lost a lot of weight since I tried it last.

                I am coming up on a speech for the John Maxwell Speakers club this Tuesday and I am going to talk about PTSD. I will be proposing a method of treatment to stem the over 20 suicides a day of our veteran population. It is how we should deal with each other anyway. Figuring out what excites someone and providing opportunities in which they can participate in them. My theory is to give them so many exciting and enthusiastic situations that the traumatic and negative experiences are lest behind. I am excited to explore the possibilities.

                I have been asked to be the spokesperson for Giddy Up Energy and the other night I was watching Rodeos and realized that it is a natural marketing opportunity for sponsorship at the Mercedes Live Stock Show events. I will be tracking down whoever handles the sponsorships there this week.

                I also came across a gentleman who has run over 18 marathons. He is an assistant manager for Staples in Edinburg. He was telling me about how someone from his church is trying to start a group called the Fitness Awareness Team “FAT”. Then I told him about F3. We are going to try and figure out a regular day and time for an F3 workout and incorporate FAT. I am really concerned about the middle aged men who have let themselves slide. You know there is a problem when you see they have “the Done Lap disease”, when their belly done lapped over their belts. Our livers are our filter for impurities and when it isn’t working properly that is when bad things happen. It is a shame that so many people are cutting their life span short by eating too many doughnuts, over doing it with sugar in their diets and not exercising. When the Navy SEAL officer whom I served two platoons under got in my dish when I let my weight get out of hand, I took it to heart and even though he wasn’t the most tactful communicator I got the message.

                I will let everyone know when and where we will be have f3 workouts in the valley and you too can become FAT.

                               

Moderation is for cowards, when in doubt overload

“Moderation is for cowards, when in doubt overload” WWII Frogman

I have recently taken on the position of Texas Regional Manager for High Sierra Chemicals. I didn’t really know a lot about surfactants/cleaners and degreasers except that the citrus based surfactants will kill insects by separating the bonds between hydrocarbons which when mixed with water will getting into their exoskeletons bursting their internal organs and gumming up their foli they use to breath and suffocate them.  Then I ran into a Food Safety Manager for one of the produce processing companies here in the valley with a masters degree in chemistry. He took me to school.

The first thing he explained to me is “There is no such thing as a Cleaner/Disinfectant” That was interesting for me to hear. High Sierra Group doesn’t claim that we have any Cleaner/Disinfectant product but we have a highly concentrated Cleaner which dilutes 40/1 with water and our quad sanitizer combined kills pathogens like Listeria. Then he explained to me that the germ killing duration of Clorox bleach is 30 to 40 seconds. All of this information was of great interest to me.

High Sierra Group has two heavy duty cleaners/degreasers, 14 Karat and Green Power. Both are highly concentrated. 14 Karat is an industrial strength cleaner/degreaser which can be used on everything and has a five minute residence time where it’s scrubbing bubbles will get up grime and forklift tire marks. Green Power works best diluted 40/1 with water and can even be used to strip floors when used at a 5/1 dilution.

High Sierra Group’s Sanitizer is Discide which is a quat sanitizer capable of killing Listeria. Listeria is an evil pathogen which is deadly and can actually get into the structure of a building and keep contaminating products stored in a facility. It is also a Non-Rinse solution.

Then High Sierra Group has the Micro-B Sealer which after cleaning the facility and letting it dry will kill pathogens like Listeria that may already be in the structure and keep any new contamination from getting into the building for one year with just one coat and up to three years when two coats are applied.

It feels really good to have confidence in a product I represent. WIth the high concentration of these products it makes the price very competitive too.

I am very excited to finally break into this community of agricultural producers. I have been looking for them ever since I got to the valley almost two years ago. They don’t go where I go, the boxing gyms, Toastmasters or any of the churches I attend but these are my kind of people. A lot of former military personnel, they like shooting and I even walked into one facility with model cars all over their walls. I loved model cars when I was a kid.

This morning I completed the Child Abuse Awareness training to the the Trail Life organization at Center Church in Pharr Texas. Trail Life is an outdoor activity for boys formed by Scout Masters who weren’t willing to compromise when the Boy Scouts caved into social pressures. I thought it was a good cause and helped them find a church in the Rio Grande Valley to sponsor a Trail Life Troop and it just so happened that the Senior Pastor at Center Church in Pharr where my wife and I attend is an outdoor enthusiast. He and a few of the other pastors brought it to the board and they agreed to sponsor a troop but they needed a volunteer to run the program. When the boxing gym I trained at every night moved I now had my evenings opened so I volunteered to fill the position.

The first night we had 26 boys show up between the ages of six and 14. It was exciting! Then the second week had 11 show up but I had things for them to do. I started off with a power test. I just had them do push-ups and did them with the boys. I got a surprise when one of the boys didn’t quit until we had done 75 push-ups and then another group of boys came in late and we did 50 more. I am glad I am in decent shape. I wouldn’t have wanted to look bad.

Then I had them doing Kim’s Game. It is a observation/memorization game where I put 10 or 11 items on a table and cover them with a handkerchief and when I remove the handkerchief I gave the boys two minutes to study the items. Then I covered them back up and removed one item. After two minutes I had them turn back around and try and figure out what items were missing. Then did it again and then is time I didn’t remove any items but rearranged two of the items and they had to figure out which ones were moved. Then we did it again with three items. I was amazed at how the boys honed in and focused during this exercise. This next Monday were will incorporate more memorization with the boys having to list the items and then drawing them and if there is time we will do a scanning exercise outside.  

The funny thing is that I never had to consider as a Navy SEAL and that is this exercise keeps the boys focused and not running around getting crazy. They learn sometime too. It is all going to build up to the first camping trip.

I also have been asked to be the spokesperson for Giddy Up Energy. I will be able to get energy drinks and power bars at no cost for the boys to sell as a fundraiser to pay for camping trips. I am starting to explore the possibility of a 5K race to generate awareness and raise money for the Trail Life Troop the first part of the year.

I am hoping my new association with a bunch of manly men in the food processing industry here in the Rio Grande Valley might turn on their children and grandchildren to the Trail Life troop at Center Church. There is also a sister organization for the girls called American Heritage Girls. There is one volunteer already for that group but we will need five more ladies to charter that group.

Trail Life interview with Eli Lara

That which trumps it all

That which trumps it all

 

For the first half of my life I had an attitude “If you are broke it isn’t my job to fix you” I needed to focus on the top of my head and the bottom of my feet, making sure I was doing what I was supposed to be doing it. Then I was in “Operation Just Cause”, we had four dead and eight wounded and at 3:00 AM the second night on that runway I took assessment of what I had just experienced. We were Navy SEALs, that wasn’t supposed to happen to us.

I thought back on the Vietnam veterans who trained us, we were told that we needed to have the element of surprise, cover and concealment and superior firepower or we shouldn’t engage the enemy. Here we were, on a lighted runway and they knew we were coming. All we had was superior firepower.

I no longer could allow others around me not to be correct with their choices because they directly affected my mortality. After that, I challenged every decision my superior’s made. They didn’t like it. They kept pushing me out until my last six months in the Navy I stood gate guard duty.

When I got out of the Navy I worked for a former IBM executive who used to preach “You need to find their buying rules” I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. If I hear a buying sign I will jump right on it. He explained that “Buying Rules” were a person’s inner decision making process that dictates everything they do and all of the decisions that they make. I began a quest for that Holy Grail.

I read all of the books that I could get my hands on pertaining to sales “How to Win Friends and Influence People”, “The Magic of Thinking Big”, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”, Personality Profiles” and many more, three and four times each. I went to seminars by Tom Hopkins and Tony Robbins. I have broken boards and walked on fire. In one of Suzy Orman’s books she scratched the surface when she wrote that our earliest money memories effect how we handle money the rest of our lives. John Avanzini wrote two books “War on Debt, Breaking the Power of Debt” and “RapidDebt Reduction Strategies” The first book was thicker and all about tapping into the supernatural through prayer and commitment to get out of debt and “RapidDebt Reduction Strategies” was very thin talking about the specific strategies to manage and pay off debt.

There is amazing power in the supernatural power of God and Jesus Christ. Once someone experiences a supernatural answer to prayer and makes that connection to the Holy Spirit, it doesn’t matter how they were raised, what their NLP or temperament was, they will change. When they truly love the Lord if what they used to believe or were conditioned to think takes a back seat to scriptures. They will learn to call upon the Lord to make their choice and if it doesn’t line up, if it isn’t congruent they will shuck it off. They will not compromise.

Because God’s word is Love they will learn to be compassionate, even when they are standing on their principles. They will soften their rhetoric but without compromising. Not math nor science can cause them to abandon the will of the Lord.

It doesn’t matter where they have come from or what they have done. Once that relationship what the Holy Spirit is fused they don’t carry shame or regret, anger or hurt. They are even immune to fear. This is when all of those analytical strategies come into play, instead of trying to figure out how they work and what makes them tick, we have to focus on how we come across and what comes out of our mouths.

Instead of trying to appeal to everyone we only concern ourselves in attracting each other. Instead of looking for their hot buttons we present to them how God has affected us in our lives and caused us to change and saved us.

As Clear as Cristal

As Clear as Cristal

                I witnessed something yesterday that has my attention. I have known about my wife’s desire to help young women. I got a glimpse of this the spring semester the last school year when she had the opportunity to teach leadership to four classes at a middle school here in the Rio Grande Valley. She took all of the stand out leaders. The good ones, on the honor roll and heading to college and those who lead in the other direction, disrupting the class and skipping school and put them all together.

                She developed her curriculum and challenged them with assignments in their presentation skills and collaborative projects. She was highly stimulated every day when she came home. They challenged her but she dealt with it. Then the very last class, one of her most challenging students gave his speech about baseball and credited one of the other students in the class for helping him to be better. This one boy who didn’t have the outward appearance of a leader actually captured the essence of the John Maxwell style of leadership which is to push other people up.

                Now when my wife told me that there was a young girl whose mother had died and she was being put out of the place where she was living, I had an idea of what to expect because my mom used to take in kids whose parents would put them out. My wife rearranged the extra bedroom and tidied up the house but she had a vibrant energy about her anticipating this new member of our house hold. When the girl came over with her boyfriend I could feel her uncertainty, she was lost but Janice was so ready to help her, she was sitting on the edge of her seat. She asked the girl about her family situation and she said that her mother recently died and that her father let her alone. She had an aunt in mid-valley but wasn’t willing to take her into her home.

                Then her boyfriend announced that even though they were thankful for the offer of support to house his girlfriend, they had it covered. Janice questioned whether that would be a good idea and she showed the girl the extra bedroom and asked her what she wanted to do but she really didn’t have an answer. She is in a place where her life is being tossed around by her circumstances. Her boyfriend is a faithful young man but they are playing with fire living under the same roof. Janice is going to keep the invitation open for her to come back but I could see the distinct contrast of her excitement and enthusiasm to help this girl and the letdown after they didn’t take her up on it. I know I have to do whatever it takes for her to be in that place where she can help all of the young girls she can.

                It is like other women I know like her friend Luisa so committed to help dogs or others who foster cats. There is a drive and commitment deep inside of her to create an atmosphere of comfort and safety but unlike someone fostering pets she wants to give them life skills to help them break the cycle in their lives but also their linage. I have dropped all of my ambitions of achievement other than to support her and to ignite in men, young and old to be bold and realize that they have strength enough to make a way in this world. I am learning, myself that with the Lord’s help they can have even more power. There is more to being a man than the physical but it doesn’t make sense to let your body get run down any earlier than it should. If I can get young men to understand that they can be strong physically and in character that they can have an impact on the world that they can’t imagine.

                There is a pattern for the type of men who become Navy SEALs, Army Special Forces, Rangers and Force recon Marines. They usually come from broken homes, they get involved in individual sports like wrestling, boxing and martial arts. They gravitate towards those men who are the image they see in the media of muscular tough guys. Those who make it have a coach or a mentor who they actually hold in higher respect than the instructors in training who are always trying to trip them up and intimidate them. It might be a coach or a teacher. They are teachable and because their desire to be recognized as the kind of man who is respected. They will do whatever it takes to live up to that image.

                I hope to be that kind of a man that the young men I influence wouldn’t just leave their children to fend for themselves. I know that the Lord put me with this special woman to make a difference with these kids. I am grateful beyond words to be with her.

               

 

Let it all Hang out

Let it all hang out

               

                After the Les Brown event in the Pharr Event Center I felt something. I am going to give credit to the Lord, Ona Brown, Terrance Leftridge and Chis’Mere Mallard. Something about the way Ona puts together her father’s message caused my breakthrough. I started thinking about all of the times in the boxing ring, SEAL Training, being shot at in Panama, in sales and when had success in business. Every single time I threw caution to the wind and let it all hang out. Many times, looking back I didn’t use the perfect technique or strategy but I overwhelmed the situation with intensity.  

                In every case I spent a period of time learning or being taught my skill, I would attempt to be as perfect as I could and I would fail. I would get tired of failing and then I would pour my all into it with the most aggressive intensity I had in me and with the skills I had developed it would prevail. It might not have been the prettiest but it would be effective. In many cases I would just overwhelm them.

                As I am writing this I am imagining Anthony Suggs Sr. reading this and laughing. Volume and intensity can be very effective. Even God can’t steer a parked car but you would be amazed at how good he is at maneuvering when you stand on the gas.

                In sales I have said things to people that should have blown them out but they ended up doing business with me and from that point on we were always on the same page. It was the Navy SEAL way of laying out what was to be expected. It is different than “The proper expectations”. That would mean giving them a chance to make a choice. The choice sometimes is “Are you in or are you out?” It doesn’t work for everyone but you will know in about a second if it does or not.

                I remember when coach John Hunter the Navy Boxing coach, when I walked up to him asking “Can I work out?” I meant “Could I hit the heavy bag” and he said “Who do you want to spar?” I got excited and said “Can I use your gloves?” I went six rounds with Sean Fletcher, Renaldo and Thorton and I held my own pretty good. Their light weight has recently got out of the Navy and I filled his slot. What is it they say “Luck is when opportunity and preparedness meet”? I am thinking about Les Brown’s story of how he got on the radio.

                When I fought Anthony Suggs Sr., right after he won the number one slot in the 1988 Olympic Trials, knocking out Kennedy McKinney, the first punch he hit me with sent me to my knees. I got back up and I had no other choice but to throw caution to the wind and give Tony everything I had and that is what he got! Tony, I hope you appreciate it?!

                When I got into sales, one of my first jobs as venture capital broker the manager gave me a stack of leads and a script and said “There is a desk and a phone” I looked at that phone like it was a warm cow pie. I didn’t want to touch it but I thought “They can’t shoot me through the phone” I started smiling and dialing. All I got paid was a $10.00 an hour draw on commission for the first three months but then I talked to a guy who followed the script. He had $30,000 in CDs that he wasn’t happy with the returns, I asked him if he and his wife made joint investment decisions and he said “No!” That didn’t bother me, I didn’t talk to my wife either. I wasn’t closing my own deals, Joel Topia the manager did the follow up call. Joel had a voice and tone like Carlton the doorman. The next day he came by my desk and dropped the client’s folder on it and said “He is not interested” I thought there might have been a personality conflict so I called the guy back.

                I asked “Did you have a problem with Joel?” He said “No” I asked him “What Happened?” He said “My wife said I can’t” I said “Didn’t you tell me that you make all of the investment decisions?” and he said “Yes” and replied “You lied to me!” That got his attention and everyone in the office. I quoted him verbatim what he said to me and he agreed that he did say those things and then I said “What you need to do is move your zipper around to the front and do this deal” He didn’t like that. Everyone in the office was shocked. I told them “What? He lied to me. I am going to call him every day until he either changes his number or commits” and I did.

After about two weeks he put his wife on the phone and she explained to me that those CDs were hers that her mother left her. I said “Oh I understand, this is venture capital, it is not for the faint of heart. This is for a player, someone who is looking to beef up their portfolio and they have enough where with all that if they lose $10,000 it’s like sticking their finger in a glass of water and taking it out but if this does as well as we think it is going to do it can mean the difference of whether they are driving a motor or a motor coach in their retirement. I tell you what, if you know someone like that and they participate I will let you in for half a unit” She referred me to her boss, he invested $30,000 and she did $5,000. That is when I learned to go for the referrals. I closed 60% of all of the referrals given to me.

The company changed projects and things slowed down and I started looking and I answered an ad for a debt management consultant. It was group interview and they were combining a mortgage refinance with debt management and consumer credit counseling strategies and because of all of the books I had been reading for my own personal finances I could understand what they were doing. They promised a $50.00 bonus for every signed loan application and check for an appraisal that I turned in and I needed $600.00 to pay my rent. My first commitment was from this attorney who was very arrogant. He gave me the run around I went to his house and he wanted me to give him all of the terms and interest rate. He was about 6’ 6” tall and I just looked at him and told him as directly as I could “I can’t give you the answers without pulling your credit, getting an appraisal and going over your financials to see if you qualify” He went inside and after a couple of minutes handed me his last three years tax returns, bank statements and all of his bills. I told him I need a check for $350.00. He got the check book and wrote me out a check.

He didn’t commit to the financing but because I had gotten him to commit as far as giving me what I was asking for, I was fearless. I turned in twelve applications that month, paid my rent and ten of those loans funded. I made $7,500.00 in commission that month and they made me the manager. You’ve got to be Hungry! Every single time I have had a breakthrough was right at the point where I had to push back and when I did the door opened.

Terrance Leftridge told me that I needed to have Chis’Mere Mallard mentor me. Chis’Mere, I am ready!

For his Glory

For his Glory

This morning at the men’s bible study they were teaching on Job. I have read the story of Job at least seven times and today, it finally made sense to me. All of the calamity he had to go through was for God’s glory. By Job staying faithful to God and by God’s restoring everything back to him in abundance as an example of how we, by staying faithful to the Lord, he can restore our lives.

As the lesson was being taught I was doing an assessment of my body. Yesterday after the John Maxwell simulcast I wasn’t feeling good. So I went for a run and workout. I ran three miles to a gym that has mostly baseball couching and they do boxing aerobics. The classes didn’t start until 6:00 PM but I didn’t need an instructor. I did 12 rounds of jumping rope, shadow boxing and hitting the heavy bad and ran three miles back home. I felt cleansed after the workout and this morning I ran three miles with the dog and did my usual BUD/s work out and three sets of 20 pull-ups.

They had coffee and donuts but I don’t ever eat the donuts, I found that sugar causes me joint pain

because of the inflammation and I don’t like joint pain. That is probably why I wasn’t feeling good

after the John Maxwell event. I ate cheese cake and my am a little lactose intolerant. I love cheese

cake but I probably shouldn’t be eating it.

As I was taking assessment of myself and hearing the lesson it occurred to me that when the Lord restored Job, it wasn’t anything to do with Job except that he stayed loyal to God. Satan fell for the bait.  I looked at all of the guys in the bible study who could demonstrate an incredible testimony to the Lord. I am so thankful for how he restored my body. This whole F3 workout group is all about helping guys to be restored. I never put the two together until this morning.

There is so much that can bring glory to the Lord, all we have to do is give him the Glory.

No Excuses

I am renewed

This is amazing! When my teammate and friend Al Clark Died of a heart attack I got a call from Van Hall my assistant officer in charge of the two platoons Al and I deployed with at SEAL Team Four. I asked what happened to Al and Van said “He broke his leg, they medically retired him and he stopped being active, he got big and his heart couldn’t take it” Then he asked me “How are you doing?” I told him all I was doing was walking and I weighed 238 lbs. He got in my dish and gave me a good scolding. Long story short, I am down to 170 lbs, I just ran two and a half miles at sub seven minute pace, no tense muscles or cramps. I never thought I would be able to run like this again.

I ran six miles on Thursday and Friday and I was amazed that I didn’t get the lactic acid build up I normally had experienced. When people asked me how I lost so much weight I would jokingly say “I gave up my assigned seat at Golden Corral” I told my wife “You know that documentary ‘Super Size it’? I did that with Golden Corral” I have been undoing the effects of pour eating habits since 2011. The combination of consistent exercising and changing my eating habits. Drinking no sodas, mostly water except once week of less Arnold Palmer lemonade and Iced Tea. My wife cooks healthy meals and we don’t overeat. I take the dog out every morning for between 20 and 30 minutes. Walking until today and we ran about two and a half miles. I do abs on Monday and Fridays, push-ups on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturdays I do a Navy SEAL Stretch PT. Then I go to the boxing gym and put in 16 to 20 rounds of jumping rope, shadow boxing and hitting the heavybag. I sprint between every other light pole a mile going and returning from the gym.

I am sprinting faster than I did in high school! I can do more pull-ups than I could when I was a Navy SEAL! I have lost 78 lbs in the last year and a half. I recently learned about F3 and I am very excited about it but I am not receiving the same enthusiasm from church leaders I am promoting the program with. I am not saying it was easy but once I went through therapy with Mary Thomas Miller from Innovative Therapy, three times a week for six weeks, my shoulder pain diminished enough to where I could go all out on the heavybag with my jab and left hook and with the increased activity I dropped even more weight and increased my stamina.

I am appealing to my brothers in Christ, I want to see you live and have a better quality of life. I want you to experience what I have experienced with my body healing and being rejuvenated. Before you dig you heals in, is sugar and cream in your coffee, donuts, soda and buffet eating worth the pain and lack of mobility in your body? I am trying to say it nice but Van Hall didn’t hold back when he counseled me about my health. He got in my dish! Sometime you have to love people more than you like them. Let me ask you, when you die of cancer, will your family be able to keep the house you live in? If not will they move in with your family or you wive’s? If you really don’t want to change your eating habits and start exercising, do you have enough life insurance to keep them in the same life style they are used to now? If you are not going to take care of your body, you might want to start on this plan?

Don’t give me any excuses!

It is all in your perspective

It is all in your perspective

                Today was the Toastmasters Area Humorous Speech Contest. We had four awesome speeches. My wife Janice Wright was the Chair Person for the meeting. She was so thorough and meticulous getting everything together, including food. I don’t mean just snacks. We had gourmet coffee, freshly brewed, a fruit tray, vegetable tray and she made quiche and breakfast egg tortilla cups. We had enough Toastmasters to fill the judging roles, timer, sergeant at arms and Toastmaster. There were only three guests. The winner brought two of them.

                I have been a Toastmaster since 1994, president of four clubs and there is one thing I always heard and put into practice, if you have a hard time finding someone to fill the Toastmaster or functionaries’ roles, you can’t get a speaker or Table Topics Master, invite more guests. That is always the solution.

                The first club I became president of, I went to a regular weekly meeting and I was the only one there. I learned then about a progressive strategy incorporating growth with the leadership. As a new member the best thing to do is always invite friends, family and fellow employees to your meetings. It is a great way to promote yourself and your message, other than just at Toastmasters. Then you should start off as Vice President of Membership. Then Vice President of Public Relations starting off by having your members get you in with their companies to promote the member of your Toastmasters group who work there as presenters or to start a chapter on site at the business. Then the next progressive step is to then run for president but you need to have someone committed as your Vice President of Education. Then the next progressive step is to then be the Vice President of Education.    

                This way you will have a foundation of support for achieving Distinguished Club and other recognition for your club or as a speaking contestant.

Preparing for the transition

Preparing for the transition

Today the Fight House boxing gym was closed because the trainers are focusing on getting their pro fighters ready for their upcoming bouts. I don’t want to lose ground in my conditioning so I went on a six mile run. Tomorrow morning I will I will run three miles to the Edinburg Municipal Park and do my complete BUD/s workout. If nobody else shows up, it on takes me about 28 minutes and then I will run another three miles back home. If I get some participation it will take around 45 minutes.

Saturday I will be a functionary for the South Texas Toastmasters Humorous Speech Contest, 10:00 AM (But you better get there early, at least 15 minutes) at the Texas A&M Recruitment Office at 5277 North 23rd Street McAllen, TX 78504. There are going to be some very entertaining speeches I you can attend. Toastmasters is known as a speaker’s club but there is more to it than that. There is a leadership development process involved. It is amazing how it works. When there isn’t strong leadership, it never fails, attendance at meetings drops off and it becomes very hard to maintain the levels the clubs might be used to like distinguished club status. It is amazing how people start getting it together when their status is in jeopardy.

I am that way with my fitness and conditioning, this whole situation with The Fight House Boxing gym closing October 1st has me scrambling to adjust and figure out how to supplement the activity I was getting at the boxing gym. I enjoy boxing so much because I don’t have to think about the workout. I am focusing on mastering the technique. The workout is a byproduct of working on the skill.

In Toastmasters the leadership is a byproduct of effective communication. When the members start getting more confident in their presentations they start inviting their friends and coworkers to the meeting to hear they speak. Two things happen. Either they have the club member give a speech for their office or organization or they join too and start working on their public speaking skills.

The techniques utilized in the manual are applicable to a lot of practical applications, like sales. I was a Navy SEAL, when I was getting out of the Navy every time I wrote a resume it came out looking like the only job I was qualified for was something carrying a gun. I really didn’t want to do that anymore. Because of Toastmasters I was very comfortable presenting in front of people and I was able to transition into sales.

I am trying to figure out how I can utilize these public speaking and leadership skills to influence some Christian men to start working out with me and get an F3 workout group going in the Rio Grande Valley. Tomorrow morning I will be at the Edinburg Municipal Park, under the first pavilion wearing a black T-shirt with a white F3 on the front if you want to participate.