Why should you even bother?

Know that idea you have for that thing you want to do?

Some of your nearest and dearest have been telling you to get to it for years.

There are other well intending people who have been less encouraging.

Then there’s that voice inside your head that says

“There’s nothing new about your idea and other people have already done it way better than you will”

Yeah… that voice.

To that voice and to the well intending people who have been less encouraging I have this to say;

Cheeseburgers!!!

I’m sorry vegans.  Please don’t feel upset or alienated.  Just making a point.

For those of you who have never had a cheeseburger, here is what Wikipedia has to say:

A hamburger (or cheeseburger when served with a slice of cheese) is a sandwich consisting of one or more cooked patties of ground meat, usually beef, placed inside a sliced bread roll or bun. Hamburgers may be cooked in a variety of ways, including pan-frying, barbecuing, and flame-broiling. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, bacon, onion, pickles, and condiments such as mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, relish, and chiles.[1]It's reported that Americans consume nearly 50 billion burgers per year.

Billions…  Not a type-o.

There are Wendy’s people and there are Burger King people…

White Castle and Crystal…

Your mom’s burger and the one that The Barefoot Contessa makes where she sneaks a big knob of butter in the middle. (makes a ball, sticks her thumb in, makes a hole, inserts butter, closes hole, grills without pressing down, calls an ambulance for her delighted guests)

You’re welcome…

A cheeseburger is a thing. You know one when you see one and if you’re a carnivore you most likely have a strong opinion about where to get the best.

The burger was invented in 1900 at Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut.  (yes… this fact is debated but let’s go with it for now)

Clearly it was a hit and most likely you’ve never had a Louis Lunch Burger (I have and it was amazing)

Most likely you've never had a Louis' Lunch burger but you have had a burger.

If you are reading this in the USA, you've most likely had countless burgers from a wide range of places.

You’ve known that joy because people didn’t look at Louis' Lunch and say there’s no point in me making burgers because they already did it.

Someone walked in a said this is good but what if we did this to it.

I’m so glad they did!

The world is ready for your burger and by burger I mean your book, business, poem, service, song, painting, workshop and idea.

The part of you that says “Why bother” must realize that yes we have eaten burgers, but we haven’t eaten YOUR burger.

What do Michael Jordan and Mother Theresa have in common?   They both used coaching as a way to be the best at what they were compelled to accomplish.

Email ThatLifeNow@gmail.com or call 978-994-0431 to get started in life coaching with Jim Trick.

How to lose a bunch of weight & make a bunch of money! Part 1

A schmear, by yiddish definition, is a little bit of something tasty applied to something big and tasty.  (a bagel with a schmear of cream cheese for example)

When you ask for a schmear of chopped liver on a pastrami sandwich at the 2nd Ave deli, they will translate that into about a quarter lb of some of the best stuff on earth on a sandwich the size of your head.

You won't lose weight, but you may die with a smile on your face.

I’ve digressed before I’ve even begun…

Ok, here we go...

Imagine if I called you on Thursday morning and left a voicemail saying “Meet me in New York City on Monday” and then offered no further information.

Driving to Manhattan and wandering the streets in the hope that we would just find each other?

You wouldn’t even get in the car for that prospect.

The unanswered questions regarding time, location,  and the reason for the meeting, really matter.

The absence of information not only creates a vacuum but feels pretty frustrating.

If I want to meet you in New York, I promise to get specific.

See where I’m going?

Oh the things you want to accomplish, acquire and change…

Oh the frustration of longing, wishing and hoping…

I get it…

Seriously…

The first step to getting what you want is about getting specific.

Telling yourself that you want to lose a “bunch” of weight is likesaying “meet me in New York on Saturday”.

How many lbs do you want to lose in the next two weeks?

How many dollars do you want to be earning weekly in the next six months?

Why do you want to lose the weight?

What do you want the money for????

What will it be like if you don’t reach your goal?

What food must you eliminate to reach your goal and is it really worth it to you?

What one thing could you do in the next hour to get you closer to what you want?

Determining the details of what you actually want, why you want in and when, is a great place to start.

What do Michael Jordan and Mother Theresa have in common?   They both used coaching as a way to be the best at what they were compelled to accomplish.

 Email ThatLifeNow@gmail.com or call 978-994-0431 to get started in life coaching with Jim Trick.

Were you ever wounded?

I wasn’t a stupid kid.

Well, that may depend on who you ask or who you are comparing me to.

What’s more, after I unload this on you, there’s a good chance you will take issue with my first point.

For those of you who don’t know, I spent most of my life morbidly obese.

The first time I lost a bunch of weight, it was because I elected to have surgery.

Between gastric bypass and regaining most of the weight back, I had a year or so of skinny.

(Yes, you can easily re-gain weight after gastric bypass.  Some of you know that all too well.)

So, I was in my skinny year and, for the first time ever, I could do what skinny people do.

Sit in booths…

Buy clothes at normal stores…

Pee standing up…

You know, the stuff all you fit-for-life types do without thinking about it.

It was bliss!

One afternoon, while chatting on the phone, I rested my head on my free hand and felt a lump in my cheek.

It wasn’t a pimple, a bug bite or anything else identifiable.

It was a lump and I was concerned.

My Dr. didn’t know what it was and he was concerned too.

The specialist he sent me to was also concerned and requested a CAT scan.

Can you even imagine???

The thought that kept going through my mind was, I finally got my life back and now I have cancer.

When I arrived at the hospital for my scan, my sister in law’s sister, Jean, who I thought sold real estate, greeted me.

On my back, in a tube, amidst lights and noise…

My heart pounded and, with every worried thought spinning in my head, suddenly the machine stopped.

Through the intercom I heard Jean ask, “Jimmy, can you hear me?”.

“Yes Jean, I can… What’s up?”

“Jimmy, did you ever get shot in the face with a BB gun?”

“STEVE FOURNIER!” I replied…

“What?” she asked.

“Never mind. Yes, I was once shot with a BB gun, but it bounced off…”

“That’s what you think,” she exclaimed with a chuckle.

Before paintball, laser tag and common sense, I was a teenager.

This where I sound like the old man, lamenting: “When I was your age…” things were different.

We didn’t have your fancy paintball nonsense. We had BB guns, bottle rockets and the woods near Dave McCormick’s house.

I think I had safety glasses, but that didn’t protect my face and when Danny Cruise and I realized we were out of ammo, we made a run for it.

Fournier hid behind a tree and yelled, “Sneak attack!” Like a slow motion war movie scene, where a guy gets shot and falls to the ground, I was a man down.

I graduated from dear old Haverhill High with a welt on the left side of my face. When the swelling went down, I was so chubby I couldn’t tell that the BB was still inside.

As I write to you, I am 45, which makes the BB twenty-seven years old.

No, I didn’t have it removed…

Why?

I kept the BB to remind me of the fact that, sometimes in life we think something that wounded us years ago bounced off, only to find we were carrying it around the whole time.

No friends, you are not alone.

Are you ready to try life coaching on for size?  Email ThatLifeNow@gmail.com today! If this post was helpful like it, share it, subscribe and live it.  Follow Jim Trick on twitter @JimTrick