Sergeant Tony's Blog

(This is part of a talk I gave today at a luncheon of local business people.)

Today I’d like to talk to you about being a failure in 2008.

How ‘bout that for a topic?

Remember that famous scene in the movie “Apollo 13”? When Ed Harris playing NASA Flight Director, Gene Kranz, said, “Failure is NOT an option!”

In one very general sense, failure is always an option, isn’t it?

If you take a driving test, failure is an option.

If you attempt to make a bridge out of balsa wood, there will most likely be failure.

If you attempt to be successful, you are also risking failure.

Success is what we all want, right?

But what if you eliminated the whole notion of failing?

What is your definition of success and of failure?

In his New York Times Bestseller, The Seat of the Soul, author Gary Zukav suggests that success and failure are but cause and effect in action; there is no success or failure from the position of truth, but only from the position of judgment.

What if we saw everything, the “success” and the “failure,” as parts of the journey of your life? What if our journey toward knowledge, growth, enlightenment, learning, and fulfillment included things that weren’t our goal, but caused us to arrive at a better goal?

If you know me at all, you know that I love the movie “Oh Brother Where Art Thou.”

There’s a scene where the three escaped convicts get on a handcranked vehicle driven by an old blind man. He was officially known as the Old Seer.

Delmar: Do ya work for the railroad, grandpa?

Seer: I work for NO MAN.

Pete: Got a name, do ya?

Seer: I have NO NAME.

Everett: Well, that right there may be the reason you’ve had difficulty finding gainful employment. Ya see, in the mart of competitive commerce …

Seer: You seek a GREAT fortune, you three who are now in chains, you will FIND the fortune … though it will not be the fortune you seek … but first … first you must travel … a long and difficult road … a road fraught with peril … you shall see things … wonderful to tell… you shall see a cow on the roof of a cotton house … and oh so many startlements … I can not tell you how long this road shall be … but fear not the obstacles in your path … for fate has vouchsafed your reward … though the road may wind … yea your hearts grow weary … still shall ye follow the road … even unto your salvation.

I love that scene.

When the Old Seer said, “… you will find the fortune, though it will not be the fortune you seek.”

“It may not be the fortune you seek.”

I started USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP, not as a means toward entrepreneurial enthusiasm, but as a means to pay my bills. After paying alimony and child support, my new teacher’s monthly salary didn’t leave me but about $600. I started BOOT CAMP to make ends meet. The first month, I cleared $35.

The first month was a “failure.”

The first month was a “failure”?

The first month wasn’t a failure.

The first month was a failing forward, a first step toward today.

As you think about 2008, how will you “fail” forward in the new year?

Here are three planning strategies for you to consider as you think about your personal and professional goals for 2008.

Strategy #1 “Northwest Airlines Strategy” — Point A to point B, to point C, to the eventual point X. Point X is the long term goal, with the short term goals being met along the way.

“Northwest Airlines Strategy”

1. Know where you are and where you want to go.

“If you don’t know where you’re going, chances are you will end up somewhere else.”
- Yogi Berra

2. Set intermediary goals that will take you to your long range goal.

Strategy #2 “Surfer Dude Strategy” — Go with the flow of your passions. Ride the wave that comes.

1. I have a passion about A.
2. I pursue A.
3. I am open to XY & Z.
4. There are no straight lines to the beach.
5. The ride will include some zigging and zagging.
6. Enjoy the ride.

Last but not least, the “Eat, Pray, Love” Strategy (A book by Elizabeth Gilbert)

In a nutshell: make a list of things you want to do over the next year and DO THEM!

It’s said that the Ancient Greeks didn’t have obituaries. They only asked one question when a man died. “Did he have passion?”

I hope that as you look forward to your new year that, above all things, you’ll live it with passion!

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CONGRATULATIONS!

These fine, fast, and fit BOOT CAMPERS finished the St. Jude Half Marathon (13.1 miles) this past Saturday morning. In no particular order here they are:

Fran Wheatley
Hank Brown 2:01
Lorrie Williams
Nina Sublette 2:39
Gary Thompson 1:58
Kelley Harwood 2:10
Mary Linder 2:01
David Caffey 2:17
Margaret Caffey
Amy James 2:31
Mary Read 2:30
Jenny Morris 1:52
Amy Moffat 2:11
Tammy Townsend 2:16
Elizabeth Nouri 2:28
Nikki McVean
Amy Paullus
Elizabeth Stacey 2:17
Rob Norcross 2:10
Holly Yarbrough 2:01
Grace Ulhorn
Hans Bjorkman 2:38
Stephanie Weatherford 2:32
Jean Johnston
Lisa Park 2:20
Kelly Erb 2:44
Paul Reed 2:15

Way to go everyone!! You guys ROCK!

Was your name on this list?

No? Well, it could have been.

We’ll start half marathon training on Saturday, January 26, 2008. More info later. Stay tuned!

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Would you like to do some volunteer work this coming Saturday morning?

I’m going to work with Larry Jenson and Ralph Braden at the Neighborhood Christian Center’s annual Christmas food basket program. We’ll be packing the baskets with groceries and foodstuffs. This year the NCC will distribute 11,000 food baskets to families who are mostly year-round clients of NCC.

If you’d like to join in, be at the old Sears warehouse, 2542 Broad Ave., at 8 AM on Saturday!

If you can’t volunteer, but you’d like to make a monetary donation, you can write a check to “Neighborhood Christian Center – Christmas Baskets,” and give it to me and I’ll pass it on!

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BOOT CAMP GIFT CERTIFICATES

I’ve got them! They make a GREAT Christmas present!

As you know, the first month of USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP is $180. Then it’s $75 per month after that. BUT a Boot Camp gift certificate that YOU purchase costs YOU only $75 to give to your friends or family members! Such a deal! This offer is only for those who are already members of USMC Fitness Boot Camp.

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WHY ARE OUTDOOR WORKOUTS GOOD FOR YOU IN THE WINTER?

Q: Tony, why must we work out outside? You’d make more money and you’d have more recruits and you’d make more money and you’d have more recruits (see a theme?) if we worked out inside! So …how ’bout it?
A: Here are the five benefits of cold weather workouts!
1. Strengthens the immune system!
2. Naturally increases the body’s production of serotonin, a natural calming chemical in your body.
3. Increased calorie burn!
4. Runny noses keep the cooties from taking up residence inside your schnozz and making you sick.
5. Bragging rights! You get to tell your sissy “indoor” friends how tough you are!
* If I moved us inside, my Marine Corps buddies, including my Marine Corps son, would abuse me, harass me, and laugh at me. Plus, in shame, I’d have to remove the “USMC” from our name and replace it with USAF. hahahaha

What should you wear? Layers. Layer your clothes so that you can adjust your body temperature as you get warmed up.

One more thing to remember about our outdoor winter workouts: hydrate! Because we’re not hot and sweaty, like in the summer, we often don’t drink enough water in the winter time. So hydrate y’all!

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And now, more Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey:

“If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is, “God is crying.” And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is, “Probably because of something you did.”"

Have a GREAT Wednesday everyone!!

Tony

Sergeant Major Tony Ludlow
USMC Fitness BOOT CAMP, Commanding
4888 Southern Cove
Memphis, TN 38117
901-644-0145

www.usmcfitnessbootcamp.com

www.shaklee.net/tonyludlow/main