What's up people!

As I head into The Speed Project this week, my focus is keeping a positive mindset through adversity.

Last week I went into detail on my hamstring strain. After following my recovery plan, I'm making progress with the injury. This week I was able to jog in the 8-minute pace range. 

I'm still nowhere close to the shape I want to be in for this race but that's ok. I'll be ok if I end up not being able to run.

I'm making strides and controlling what I can control. That's all I can do.

Let's get into this week's content!

Wellness Tip

Perspective 

Injuries are not only physical adversity but they challenge you mentally as well.

Whether it's an injury or something else I'm struggling with, I always go back to perspective. By putting myself in other people's shoes, it helps me realize how grateful I am for what I do have. 

Implementation: 

1. Morning 5-minute journal session 

• Journals with prompts can help you get started
• One of my favorite prompts is "I am grateful for..."
• This helps encourage the perspective shift 
• It reminds me of how far I've come and how my situation compares to those less fortunate than me
• Although I'm injured and can't do my normal routine, I can still do a lot more than some others

2. Evening open-book journal session

• Removing the prompts allows you to just flow and write about what's on your mind
• I just reflect on my day and what I've accomplished
• It helps me understand that there is so much more I can do, even when I'm banged up
• The act of reflecting helps me keep a positive perspective on life

You can look around and tell people who are grateful vs those who are fearful. The difference is the framework they are operating on. To me, gratitude is the greatest drug. It is the underlying framework that drives my positive perspective.

Mindset Framework

Gary Keller's The One Thing

Gary Keller talks about building one skill set at a time before adding something else in. 

This is a good illustration of my journey over the past 10+ years. 

It started with playing football where I developed my soft skills:

• motivating my teammates as a leader
• working together with my team to win games
• effectively communicating on and off the field
• being resilient in dealing with injuries and losses

Then I moved on to a sales role in a corporation where I learned:

• getting comfortable hearing "no"
• how to overcome the fear of rejection from cold calling
• how to manage my time and be accountable to a boss
• dealing with failure by only converting 1 out of every 10 sales

Losing that job forced me into entrepreneurship and to develop a new skill set:

• finding my voice
• talking to the camera and getting over that fear
• consistently posting content that doesn't perform well
• not worrying about the number of views and focusing on my process

This has all led me to where I am today and continuing to work on new skills such as:

• finding new innovative ideas for content
• not beating myself up when something doesn't go my way
• reviewing what is working / what is not and doubling down on the good
• spending time on quality vs focusing only on getting as many reps as possible

Another great example of this is The Rock.

Check out his career progression:

College football player -> NFL Player -> WWE Wrestler -> A-List Actor -> Business Owner 

But remember...

1. It's not going to happen overnight

It took The Rock 30 years to go from college football player to business owner. I started playing football over 10 years ago, and I am still in the very early stages of my journey. Most people don't play the game long enough to see the results. 

2. Each step of the journey is not independent

You can take skills from one experience and apply them to the next. I still use the resiliency I learned playing football when I have setbacks in business. I use the leadership skills when working with my media team. 

People would reject me over and over on sales calls. This helped prepare me for the months of not getting any traction on my social media. I built the skill set. Then would just apply those skills to new activities. 

3. Show yourself grace

Not every step in the journey is going to be a highlight reel. There will be times when something you start doesn't work out. I've launched a podcast in the past and decided to end it. Now, I'm trying to relaunch it with a new approach. It might not work again and I can live with that.

Best Content I Saw this Week

My buddy Brian Mazza recently got a procedure done to get two new adductors.

While it's very different from my strained hamstring, I resonate with him on the rehab front.

Recovery is tough. Especially when you aren't able to do what you want to be doing.

He is 3 weeks into his recovery and I love seeing his progress! 

It's inspiring, so go check it out!

Keep crushin it,

Matt