Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - Motivation Monday: Advice I'd Give to My Younger Self

Episode Date: April 1, 2019

This episode is part of a weekly series that I have dubbed “Motivation Monday.” (Yes, I know, very creative of me. What can I say, I’m a genius…) Seriously though, the idea here is simple: Every Monday morning, I’m going to post a short and punchy episode that I hope gets you fired up to tackle the workouts, work, and everything else that you have planned for the week ahead. As we all know, it’s one thing to know what you want to do, but it’s something else altogether to actually make yourself do it, and I hope that this series gives you a jolt of inspiration, energy, and encouragement to get at it. So, if you like what you hear, then make sure to check back every Monday morning for the latest and greatest installment. Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

Hey, this is Mike from Muscle for Life and welcome to another episode of my podcast. This episode is part of a weekly series that I have dubbed Motivation Monday. Yes, I know. So creative of me. What can I say? I'm just a genius. Seriously, though, the idea here is simple. Every Monday morning, I am going to post a short and punchy episode that I hope gets you fired up to tackle the

workouts, work, and everything else that you have planned for the week ahead. Because it's one thing to know what you want to do, but it's something else altogether to actually make yourself do it. And I hope that this series gives you a jolt of energy and encouragement to go ahead and do all those things that you want to do. So if you like what you hear, then make sure to check back every Monday morning for the latest and greatest installment. This is where I would normally plug a sponsor to pay the bills, but I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead, I'm just going to quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my newest book,

the little black book of workout motivation. Now, this book was fun to write because it really is my personal and 100% practical and hands-on blueprint for transformation both inside and outside of the gym. And I promise you that it will provide you with new and valuable knowledge and skills that you will use for the rest of your life. In short, I wrote this book to help you fix the things that are most holding you back from doing and achieving the things you care most about. So if you want to learn how to overcome the mental blocks that are making you unmotivated, unhappy, and unhealthy, then the little black book of workout motivation is for you. And you can find it on all major online retailers like audible, Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, and Google play. And I should also mention that you can get the audio book 100% free when you sign up for an audible account, which I highly recommend that you do. If you're not currently listening to audiobooks. I love

them myself because they let me make the time that I spend commuting, prepping food, walking my dog, and so forth more valuable and productive. So if you want to take Audible up on this offer and get my audiobook for free, simply go to www.workoutmotivationbook.com slash audiobook. Click the sign up today and save button, create your account, and voila, you get to listen to my little black book for free. All righty, that is enough shameless plugging for now at least. Let's get to the show. Hey, Mike Matthews here and welcome to another episode of the Muscle for Life podcast. This is a Motivational Monday episode, and that means we are starting with a quote. So this one comes from Shirley Chisholm, and she said, services the rent we pay for the privilege

of living on this earth. Now, I am 34 years old, so I'm not sure I am quote unquote old enough to do something like this justice just yet, but I definitely know a lot more now than I did in my teens and twenties. And I definitely have experienced some stinging slings and arrows and learned from some major missteps and mistakes. And I'm okay with that. I actually wouldn't have it any other way. You see, there's a concept in Japanese culture called wabi-sabi, and it represents the beauty of the fleeting, changeable, and imperfect nature of the world around us. And it tells us to not just seek and accept perfection, but learn to appreciate things that are imperfect and incomplete. This, for example, is why the Japanese place value on irregular and cracked kitchenware and why they often fix broken objects with gold. The defects are seen as unique additions to the

objects. They're seen as indispensable parts of the object's histories, and they add to their complexity and beauty. To the Japanese, these are the things that most resemble the natural world. And I like to think of myself and my life in the same light. To echo Hemingway, no matter what we do in our lives, the world will always find ways to break us. But that doesn't mean that we can't fix what's broken and create a beautiful life. And that's why I don't care about trying to be perfect so much as trying to be alive, because I think that's what it's really about. So here are the 24 pieces of advice that I'd give to my younger self, and these are in no particular order. Write more books. This is the

nucleus of your brand. Don't invest more time or money into something that is clearly not working. Change direction instead and move on. Celebrate the milestones and victories, including the smaller ones. Your team will appreciate it. Study your failures more closely. Dig for the key takeaways. Try not to spread yourself so thin. Moving faster on fewer projects is a smarter way to work. I've definitely learned that one. Except you can't help everybody and especially those who do not want to be helped. Be nicer. Being quote unquote right is not enough. Spend more time with your baby son. He's pretty awesome. Consider your wife's advice more. She's sharp. Don't let people lie to you because it harms them even more than you. Read

more. There is so much to learn. Stop looking at porn. Life is just better without it. Talk things over with people you trust. You do not always know best. Always try to deal with what is not what you wish were. The moment you stop running away from the truth, you wake up. Take a vacation now and then. You've earned it, man. Do not try to fix broken people. Only they can fix themselves. Be more thankful and express it. Have more sex. It's not just fun, but it is also the easiest way to improve your marriage. And there's actually research on that. Science says, fuck, don't fight.

Refuse to associate with hypocrites, parasites, and liars. Do not become emotionally entangled with these people or let them bargain with you. Just leave. Don't be generous to a fault because there is a word for that, sucker. Before doing anything significant, consider all the alternatives you can think of. Your first few ideas are rarely going to be your best. Spend more time formally outlining your goals and plans because you will get to where you want to go faster. Moralize less. It is obnoxious and selfish.

And last, have fun. Have as much fucking fun as you can because no amount of money or quote unquote success is as satisfying. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the

podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback, so please do reach out. Alright, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode, then you are going to love my newest book, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. You should definitely check it out because this book is my personal and 100% practical and hands-on blueprint for transformation, both inside and outside of the gym. I promise that this book will provide you with new and valuable knowledge and skills that you will use for the rest of your life. In short, I wrote this book to help you fix the things that are most holding you back from doing and achieving the things that you care the most about. So if you want to learn how to better overcome the mental blocks that are making you unmotivated, unhappy, and unhealthy, then the little black book of workout motivation is for you. is for you. And you can find it on all major online retailers like Audible, Amazon, iTunes,

Kobo, and Google Play. Now, I should also mention that there's an audio book as well, one that I recorded myself. So if you like listening to me talk about this kind of stuff on the podcast, then you'll definitely like listening to the audio book. And you can actually get that audio book 100% free when you go to www.workoutmotivationbook.com slash audio book and sign up for an Audible account. Now, I myself love audio books and highly recommend them to everyone because they let you take downtime that you spend commuting, prepping food, walking dogs, stuff like that into something more valuable and productive. So if you want to take Audible up on this offer and get my audio book for free, simply go to www.workoutmotivationbook.com slash audiobook. Click on the little sign up today and save button, create your Audible account, and voila, you get to listen to my little black book for free.