Growing at the Speed of Failure
Testing Limits
Think Like Brian Eno: Unleash Your Creative Genius to Solve Any Problem
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno, also known as Brian Eno is in my opinion one of our times creative genius. Though he is a world-renowned musician, music producer and multimedia artist (Generative Music Project), most people alive today between the ages of 20 and 65 have heard his little jingle when starting up Windows 95.
He understands how to get creative juices flowing, to think outside the box and spur amazing talent out of artists such as David Bowie, David Byrne, Sonic Youth, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, U2 and Coldplay.
Recently, Eno scored (more…)
Bringing Back the Cowboy Spirit
Remember the movies that featured the cowboy-type loner-hero? Actors like John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone, Arnold “I’m a cop you idiot!” Schwarzenegger and Keanu Reeves became the center of block-buster franchises from their portrayal of larger than life characters.
They cowboy, the vigilante, the mercenary, the law man, the man against the machine – all on a quest for justice; rarely for their own vindication or aggrandizement. They fought for a cause bigger than themselves. (more…)
Leave Your Blood on the Stage: Tackle Your Fear of Public Speaking Like a Pro
A few months ago I decided to tackle my fear of speaking in public head-on. Who did I go to? Bo Eason; former Safety of the Huston Oilers. To tackle a problem as big as I had, I needed to go to someone with the right type of experience. Isn’t an NFL Safety who you would go to for coaching on stage fright?
Well, after his career in the NFL, Bo developed a successful career of writing and acting. He spent years writing his life out in stage play format. How did he do it? With dedication and discipline. The same discipline he used to catch 1,000 footballs every day – day after day for 20 years. He’s caught millions of footballs. That is intense!
As Bo tells it, he would head down to a local coffee shop and write out his story for 3 hours a day, every day, for over a year. His acting coach Larry Moss saw (more…)
Why 6 Billion Superhumans Can Be Wrong & 7 Steps to Uncover Your Superpower (part 2)
(continued from Jan. 7, 2011) Your interests should inspire you, get your gears working, get you to produce energy – not consume it as you would in a job or task you don’t enjoy.
3. Experimentation. Going back to what Allan Bacon recommends we do is to “try a lot of things, try everything!” If you thought something was cool when you were a kid, don’t think that now that years have passed that the opportunity has too. What are the most crazy things you wanted to be when you were a kid? Fireman, Police Officer, Race Car Driver, Cowboy or Cow Girl, Jet Pilot, Astronaut, Rock Star, Wonder Woman… (more…)
Why 6 Billion Superhumans Can Be Wrong & 7 Steps to Uncover Your Superpower (part 1)
We all are amazing. We just don’t know it. Somewhere along the line, we missed our calling. Somebody forgot to show us how to find out what we are uniquely qualified to do, what our skill set is, our true strengths and our weaknesses.
We are all born superhuman; unfortunately we have skills inside us that lie dormant, covered by years of neglect or ignorance to knowing what we are capable of. Like a pauper living unaware of their royal bloodline or the inheritance that goes unclaimed.
Why is it that 1 -5% of us on earth become (more…)
Reset & Redesign: Return to Your First Love & Get Paid To Dream (part 2)
Redesign Your Life (continued from Dec. 30th 2010)
We are all passionate about something. We just need to make an intentional decision to follow our dreams—to take a step out and allow ourselves to be vulnerable. The first steps of risk-taking will most likely be frustrating and discouraging, but the prize comes only to those who persevere.
The reason you’re reading this article is because you realize you are different from the complacent masses. You want the freedom of living without always having a cloud of debt hanging over your head. You want to be able to live life on your terms. (more…)
Tim Ferriss “Geek to Freak” Starts Next Week
In honor of the timely release of the forthcoming book The 4-Hour Body, by author, speaker & lifehacker Tim Ferriss; I’m going to have another go at his experiment he publicly posted in 2007 titled “From Geek to Freak: How I Gained 34 lbs. of Muscle in 4 Weeks.”
Though Tim was formerly a wrestler and a solid mesomorph body type, he had stepped away from his strenuous workout plans to slim down while training to compete in a tango competition in Argentina. From that training, he had dwindled down to 146 Lbs.
So after returning to the US, he studied muscular hypertrophy and set out to gain as much muscle mass as possible in 30 days.
4 thirty-minute workouts and 30 days later, he had gained a total of 34 LBS OF MUSCLE.
After reading that, I thought to myself, “hmm… that’s pretty cool; what if I could do at least 25% of that? That would be worth it. So I did and set out for 30 days of kicking my own butt physically. I’ve never done anything like it before. (more…)
It’s What’s On the Inside That Counts
I was Shocked After My First Interview with Dr. Emmett Blahnik from Matthew Peters on Vimeo.
[VIDEO 23min 30sec]
When I started my weight training program, I decided to meet up with Dr. Blahnik. I was having some neck and lower back pain and I wanted to get it checked out before stressing my body with heavy weights. What I found was shocking. The X-Rays told it all. What he showed me had me put off starting my geek to freak program for 3 weeks! I could actually see where the pain was emanating from. Dr. Blahnik is a very talented & knowledgeable Chiropractor. He’s done wonders for not only myself, but for my wife and son as well.
It was much easier to start making diet & lifestyle changes when we started to understand the reasons why they were so important.
I have been to a couple chiropractors in the past, but only at the onset of pain. They would “crack my back” and I’d be okay again for a little while. I’d get the xeroxed exercise sheet for me to follow at home and never do the exercises.
What Dr. Blahnik does differently is he combines the chiropractic visits with before and after adjustment therapies. I go in, do a few exercises, get adjusted, then do more exercises. The whole process takes about 30 minutes to complete. When I started, I went in 3 times a week. Now I go in two times a week. I’m feeling better, with less pain and less symptoms of different illnesses that I was experiencing prior to my chiro therapy. I feel better physically than I have in years and am on no medications. The video is a candid look at my spin health and a basic explanation as to why it is so important to have your spine free of “subluxations.”
You can find out more about Dr. Emmett Blahnik Here. He is an amazing athlete as well:Completed Three Ironman triathlons, U.S. National Greco Roman Wrestling Team, Wisconsin Golden Gloves runner-up, National Rugby Team and a marathon runner.
Raise My Standards By Developing a “Code”
We all see things from time to time that stir us. Things that reveal a deeper side of life. They call to honor, and service. I’ve always looked up to those individuals who live by a higher standard and daily challenge themselves to live by a code and to live by integrity, no matter what the cost.
The firemen I saw this day were some of those brave individuals. There are much easier jobs out there. I saw those men the next day at the firehouse’s safety day. They are every day folks that when the call comes for help, they step up and become a hero. We brought our kids to that firehouse the next day. I teach my son though he looks at Batman and Superman as “heroes” I told him it is firemen, policemen, men and women of the armed forces & medics, regular people that choose to do what is right, what is many times in the best interest of others. Those are true heroes. Heroes often go the way of danger and personal harm for others. To be a hero is to be selfless at times. A hero is content with being vulnerable, to save the life of another. Anyone can be a hero. It is a decision that each of us can make every day.
4-Wheel Over Your Fear
This creek bed had never been crossed before. It had remained un-mowed and untouched until this day. This video is of my third crossing. The first time I thought of it I walked up to the ravine and checked it out and measured the risk. I was willing to take a risk if I wasn’t “risky” about it. There is a difference. I decided to go for it and I almost went over the handlebars the first time. I got such a rush out of it that I did it again – this time I almost fell off the side when I hit the rock at the bottom.
Okay – so this may not be super-cross or monster trucking over an RV, but this was crossing over a pre-conceived limitation I placed on myself. I was mr. safety. What do I mean? I mean for the longest time I had placed a fence around me that separated what was “safe” to do and what is “not safe.” so many times I have limited my experience in life because I thought something may be risky or dangerous in my mind. The fact was that I didn’t have all of the facts. The truth was that I was just scared to try something new that I may risk getting hurt either physically or emotionally.
Those boundaries began to be tested a few weeks ago and have launched me on to a new path or expanding my life experiences. The fact is that I was probably living about 10% of what life has to offer through experiences.
This ATV video is just one case.
