In The Company of Iron–Passion

Chase your passion, not your pension.–Dennis Waitley

Like I have written many times, I owe my life to my passion for Iron.  Poets have tried to capture it.  Songwriters try to connect with it.  Motivational Speakers try to generate it.  But Passion is not something that can be manufactured.  Years ago, when I was asked to take a vacation from school (read as academic suspension), I was only qualified to do two things:  lift weights and dig ditches.  Since I had no love for the shovel and an unquenchable thirst for the Iron, I pursued the former but did the later.  Being the stubborn, independent, hard headed type, I was blessed with a shield from all the negativity that this decision generated.  ”They” did not understand and well meaning or not, “they” were not helping with their guidance. I did not have dreams.  I had my destiny.  I was going to be the greatest lifter in history.  I was going to be a world famous personal trainer to the stars.  I was going to be everything “they” said I wasn’t.  In the meantime, there were bills to pay, so I dug ditches, flipped burgers, unloaded trucks, all to support my pursuit of my dream.

Well, twenty years later, I am not the greatest lifter in history.  Ed Coan, Paul Anderson, Shane Hamman, John Davis, and countless others are champions I still strive to be.  BUT I have won more trophies and honors than I feel I deserve.  I am not a world famous trainer, unless you count my Facebook friends (BTW please like this post and forward it on, thanks dear friend of mine.), by any stretch of the word BUT I have a loyal core clientele that supports me and keeps the gym open.  So on goals one and two, mark that down in the not gonna happen column.  You might say that I am being a quitter to which I will say I am being a realist.  You just aren’t following the whole story.  Greatest lifter in history, no.  Greatest lifter I could be, yes.  I have been a champion for many years.  Multiple marks in the record books.  Top 100 rankings in all three lifts.  Weightlifting, powerlifting, strongman, and Highland Games all in the same year.  Not lifting as much as the others but lifted on the platform as much as I ever thought I could.  World Famous trainer, never gonna happen.  The type of training I love is not conducive to the masses.  As surprised as I was, not everyone wants to be a champion athlete.  Not everyone loves to push themselves to the brink and past.  Pity.  I will never understand them.  I will always look with a condescending eye at them.  But I accept them.  What I will not accept is advocating a training style or system just to make a buck.  I can’t put my name on something unless I am proud of it.  Unfortunately, I am the voice telling you what you need not what you want to hear.  Remember the old saying, if you want to make a living, sell what people need.  If you want to be rich, sell them what they want.  Well, it is true.  Fine by me.

Now that third one, as much if not more so is due to passion.  The line I heard more than once was, “You can’t make a living lifting weights.”  Well, I seem to have so far.  I have made a living.  Found the love of my life and bonded with my children through this passion.  ”You should put that effort to good use.”  I would say that all the rewards it brought me, my effort was put to good use.  ”You are so smart.  Why don’t you get a job where you use your mind instead of your muscle?”  Yeah, but that isn’t what I want.  I wanted to do this.  For every comment parents, grandparents, employers, friends said trying to help or for malicious reasons, it just spurred me on further.  It just made me want to try harder.  Passion makes you believe even in the face of failure, discouragement, and isolation.  You know the answer even when life makes you question it.

But passion has another enemy, an even conniving and maleficent enemy, success.  You see it all the time.  Super Bowl champions that don’t win half as many games the next year.  Golfers struggle and improve every year until they win a major then fall off into obscurity.  In powerlifting, there is a drop off after you hit a big squat.  For me it was a 600 bench. I hit 600 in a bench only competition but it was over a year before I could put it in a 3 lift meet.  But instead of saying, I’ve done it once.  I can just lift 585 and be happy, I kept after it.  I had a great total at 2110.  Big time number, international elite, and not one person close to me but did I back off?  Nope.  I trained and trained and despite the fact I was only able to muster 2116, I know it was worth it.

Read the poem If by Rudyard Kipling.  It is instructions to a boy on how to be a man.  Kipling says that triumph and disaster are two impostors and should be dealt with just the same.  Be warned success will kill your passion faster than failure if you let it.

So, how can I give you that fire in your belly and unquenchable thirst in your soul?  Simple answer is I can’t BUT I can tell you what I have seen and done to grow and protect mine.  Right or wrong according to them, here’s what I have learned In The Company of Iron:

1. Selfishness is a virtue.  Ayn Rand wrote pages on this concept.   Being true to yourself is a selfish act.  Putting your passion first before convention is a selfish act.  Doing and teaching your training, music, art, writing, or whatever in the way you think is right even in the face of the popular is a selfish act.  Express your passion as it is.  Don’t conform for the sake of popularity.  Trends and fashion change.  Your passion will always be with you.
2. The reality habit is vital to living your passion.  Many of us see the world as we wish to.  Very few of us see what it really is. I am as much, or more so, the dreamer as anyone.  I dream of a world that is perfect to me.  However, we do not live in a perfect world.  Other people do not believe as you do.  Nature does not follow your rules but her own.  The laws of reality still apply and govern you regardless of how much you desire or pray or wish that wasn’t true.  To best bring your passion to fruition, you had better see what really is.
3. Objectivism is a philosophy worth cultivating.  I could write a whole post on the folly of perspectivism. (hmm…light bulb!)  To be objective first means to pull your emotions out of it.  Our hearts can warp our perspective as fast as anything.  To be effective, you must see situations, people, and yourself objectively.  You have to get past the statement, “…but that is not what I want.”  Second, to be objective, you must not be stuck by your preconceptions.  Scientifically speaking, a bumble bee should not be able to fly.  If you never saw one and were presented with the scientific evidence, you would believe that whole heartedly and argue vociferously against its flight.  Yet, if you grew up watching bumble bees, you would dismiss that evidence in a heart beat.  Consider the arguement both for and against God.  In truth, there is no scientific, objective, proof of God’s existence.  And the atheist will argue violently that you are a fool for believing.  To those that believe, it is unquestioned and truly faith.  They don’t need to see proof of God, they know he exists.  That is Faith.  Now, before you smash your computer screen, I am not weighing in one way or another.  I believe that there has to be a creator, intelligent design is plausible to me, but there is no proof so i could be wrong.  It is the same in your decisions.  When you are drowning, you don’t stop and pray.  You may pray but I’d bet money you are swimming as hard as you can at the same time.  Don’t let your preconceptions prevent you from taking proper action.  Your perspective is not necessarily correct.  Essential elements may not be visible from where you are looking.
4. Persistence and determination are the only way to real success.  Just because you are being objective and real, doesn’t mean you live only by logic.  We are talking about passion.  I am persistently bringing up the story of Thomas Edison and the light bulb.  Legend has it, he failed 10,000 times before he succeeded.  Go figure.  Objectively, he perhaps was not.  He could have invented so much if he wasn’t on that kick for ten years.  On the other hand, he was not operating based on preconceived notions that it was impossible.  For me, that is exactly how I became a champion.  I persisted to do the work, day after day, microcycle after microcycle, mesocycle after mesocycle, (you like the tech terms, dontcha?) until one day I looked up to find myself at the top.  I was determined to make my passion my reality.
5. Sacrifice is essential.  There is a price to be paid.  At the gym a few years back, a young Joe college told me, “I’d give ten years to bench that much.”  I looked him straight in the eye and told him, “I did.”  Despite the embroidered promises made by the silver tongued charlatans that dominate the weight-loss, muscle gain, fitness industry, it doesn’t come without paying the price.  No pill, gadget, cream, shake, or surgery will give it to you.  You gotta move the weights, run those miles, and punch that time card or it ain’t gonna happen.  Try getting that paycheck without doing your job if you don’t believe me.
6. Faith is stronger than science.  I know I wrote earlier about objectivity and not giving in to our preconceived notions but you have no evidence you will ever succeed.  Even the Declaration of Independence contains the line, “PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS” as if the Founding Fathers wanted you to understand that there are no guarantees.  You may fail.  No, you will fail.  Repeatedly.  Too many times to count.  But, you may, in the end, persevere through determination, guided by a realistic and objective perspective, take the correct action and reach that mountain top.
7. Finally, GET YOUR ASS MOVING!!! RIGHT NOW.  DON’T WAIT.  START RUNNING TOWARD THAT DREAM.  A bad plan today beats the perfect plan tomorrow!

That’s my take on it.  Woefully inadequate despite the number of words.

If you need me, I’ll be around.