Ep. #137: Motivation Monday: The Power of a Game Worth Playing

[00:00:00] 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 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 of those things that you want to do. So if you like what you [00:01:00] hear, then make sure to check back every Monday morning for the latest and greatest installment.

Let’s start this week’s episode with a quote. This one comes from Aristotle and it is, We are what we repeatedly do. Greatness, then, is not an act, but a habit. Something important is missing from many people’s lives. Something that explains why they’re so stressed, anxious, and depressed. Something that they try to brush aside with entertaining distractions, grandiosity, and things to do, see, and wear.

A gnawing undercurrent that leaves them feeling empty, adrift, and defeated. What is it, you’re wondering? It’s purpose. Values. Standards against which they can measure their lives. In short, it’s a game worth playing. This is what people aren’t getting from their jobs. their friends, families, governments, or, [00:02:00] more importantly, from themselves.

And without it, without a game worth playing, nothing else really matters. Life just becomes a sea of random events. Transcripts that only serve to further alienate us from who we really are and who we really want to be. And so it goes for most people. Their lives just happen to them, accidentally rather than intentionally, without rhyme or reason, direction or meaning.

It doesn’t have to be like this though. Sure, fate has dealt us a hand. But, we all get to choose how we play it. And this is one of the reasons why I love fitness. I think that it’s a game worth playing. It has purpose, order, significance. It’s an outlet for integrity, for intention, and excellence. It fosters community, commitment, and a clear focus on worthwhile results.

The type of results that you can’t buy, borrow, steal, or inherit. The type of [00:03:00] results that symbolize discipline. Patience, work ethic, self respect, and passion. The type of results that speak louder than any words or posturing ever can. I think the fitness game goes even a bit deeper as well. I think that it’s a metagame, so to speak, because if you have what it takes to conquer your psychology and physiology, then you might just have what it takes to reach out into the world and conquer a whole lot more as well.

In short. The better you get at the fitness game, the better prepared you’re going to be for every other game that you could want to play. And if you want an archetypal example of this, a story that exemplifies it, let’s talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger. Born in Austria in 1947 to an alcoholic ex Nazi who beat him as a child, forced him to do sit ups for breakfast, and ridiculed his boyhood dreams of becoming a bodybuilder.

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Arnold’s rise to fame and fortune was a master [00:04:00] class in self determination. As a kid, Arnie was determined to leave Austria and make something more of his life, and he found inspiration in the most unlikely of places, and that was a magazine article on the iconic bodybuilder turned movie star, Reg Park.

It was at that moment that Arnold saw the whole plan. He envisioned himself becoming the most muscular man in the world, and then making blockbuster movies and million dollar paydays. That’s exactly what he would do, he told himself. And he immediately began training his body. His friends were amused.

Come on, they would say, you’re dreaming. Give it up. His father was harsher. He told Arnold that his fantasies were an embarrassment, and arranged for him to be shipped off to the military at 18, where there would be no time or equipment for bodybuilding. Or so he thought. Arnold refused to be denied his destiny, and he resolved to do whatever it would take to make it a reality.

After long, grueling days [00:05:00] of running, crawling, marching, shooting, and just general soldiering, when everyone else was literally collapsing from Arnold worked out, sometimes for hours, using chairs, benches, bars, and whatever else was at hand to do dips, rows, and other exercises. As usual, Arnold’s peers lampooned his antics.

He was a useless fool living in a dream world, they told him, but he wasn’t phased. He was determined to break through, no matter what it takes. His singular focus in life became Reaching that goal, that vision he had of being a world champion. Arnold’s first chance to make a splash in the bodybuilding scene came when he was invited to compete in the Junior Mr.

Europe competition in Stuttgart, Germany. There was a problem though. It would require that he abandon basic training and face severe consequences upon his return. Night after night, Arnold turned it over in his mind. Was he really ready to go to jail to compete in a [00:06:00] bodybuilding show? Was all this really just a crazy fantasy?

No, he told himself, Reg Park did it, and he can do it too. Again, he saw himself standing on the stage, triumphant, just like his idol, and he knew he had to go. He snuck out of the base, he stowed away on a freight train and rode for 26 hours, borrowed another competitor’s trunks, because he didn’t own any, shuffled onto stage, and awkwardly presented his physique to the judges and crowd.

And he won first place. As you can imagine, this was a watershed moment for Arnold. It meant that it wasn’t just a dream. He had something to show for all of his work. Maybe he was unique. Maybe he really could do it. But, there was reality. He also was still enlisted in the Austrian army, and after unsuccessfully trying to sneak back into his barracks, he was castigated by his superiors and thrown into solitary confinement.

After cooling down, though, the [00:07:00] officers wanted to know if it was true. Did he actually go through all of that and then win the show? Indeed, he did, and it was all thanks to the rigors of basic training, he said, playing up to his seniors. As men who value discipline above all, they accepted this invitation to share in the victory, and even started holding Arnold up as a model recruit.

From here, Arnold continued to build his physique while completing his stint in the army and ultimately worked his way to the highest pedestal in professional bodybuilding. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth.

If you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it [00:08:00] on social media, definitely tag me so I can say, Thank you. Thank you. You can find me on Instagram at Muscle4LifeFitness, Twitter at Muscle4Life, and Facebook at Muscle4LifeFitness.

Becoming the best bodybuilder in the world was only a stepping stone in his journey though. The next domain to conquer was the silver screen and so he went west, only to be met with scorn. The awkward accent, the bulging muscles, the weird name. None of it worked, he was told. Be realistic. It’s not going anywhere.

As usual, Arnold paid them no mind and just got to work. He landed his first acting gig in 1970 to play, as fate would have it, Hercules in a low budget comedy called Hercules in New York, and then burst into the limelight in the 1982 box office hit, Conan the Barbarian. This was the breakthrough that he needed, and from here his popularity and success [00:09:00] snowballed thanks to his performances in now iconic films like Total Recall, Predator, Terminator, and Terminator 2.

To date, Arnold’s films have grossed over a billion dollars, making him one of the most successful action movie stars of all time. We don’t have to go into all the details, but his run for the California governorship was just more of the same. No way, no how, impossible, wins handily. Not bad for a starry eyed Austrian kid whom nobody believed would or even should amount to anything, right?

That was Arnold. Let’s talk about you. What game do you most want to play? Who do you most want to become? Most people sell themselves short when they reflect on these types of questions. The second they try to visualize what they might be or do, they have to contend with all the things they believe are wrong with them and all the reasons why they should just downsize their dreams.

For many, [00:10:00] the desolate reality of who they currently are swallows any thoughts of who they could be, and so they skid through life in a state of quiet desperation, ignoring the music that remains trapped inside them. Moreover, even if you’re willing to see yourself not as you are, but as you want to be, how do you translate that optimistic abstraction into something concrete and practical?

How do you develop the courage of your convictions? Transcribed consider this. What do you think might happen in your life if, starting tomorrow, today even, you began doing all of the things that you know you should do and stopped doing all of the things that you know you shouldn’t? How do you think your life might change?

How do you think you might change? Now imagine if you were to live like that for the next 10 years. What do you think you might accomplish? How do you To what heights might you be able to [00:11:00] rise? The truth of the matter is, none of us can really answer these questions accurately, because none of us really know what we are truly capable of.

For my part, when I self published a little book called Bigger, Leaner, Stronger in 2012, I had no idea that it would or even could go on to sell over 400, 000 copies and counting, making it the number one bestselling self published fitness book of all time. And then that I would go on to assemble a team of people capable of building a multimillion dollar conglomerate of products and services, including traditional and digital publishing supplements, personal coaching software, and more.

All I knew is. Writing that first book felt like something I should do, and so I did it. And then each successive development in my career has been guided by that same philosophy and intuition. I spend as much time as I can doing the things that I [00:12:00] feel I should be doing, and as little time as possible doing the things that I feel I shouldn’t be doing.

And I really do think that there’s no telling where this journey will ultimately take me. So that’s me again. What about you? What if you were to start your journey today? Now, who might you become? What might you do? Hey, there it is Mike again. And I just wanted to say that I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful.

Now, if you’d like to read about all this stuff as well, then head over to muscle for life. com. That’s muscle F O R life. and legionathletics. com l e g i o n athletics. com because I’ve published over a million words of free articles on the blogs on those websites on all types of things related to building muscle, losing fat, and getting healthy.

New articles go up every week on both sites as well, so if you like [00:13:00] what you read, then definitely hop on my mailing list and you will be notified When new stuff goes live, my email subscribers also get exclusive deals on my products and services and other goodies. So there’s that too. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I will see you in the next one.

Oh, and before you leave, let me quickly tell you about one other product of mine that I think you might like specifically my workout app stacked. It has tens of thousands of users and close to 400 reviews on the apple store with a. Four star average, and it helps you get more out of your training in several ways.

It helps you quickly and easily plan out your workout routines. It gives you quick access to useful tools like plate math and one rep max calculation. It allows you to visually track your progression in your workouts, as well as your body measurements and much, much more. More. It’s free to download too, so if you want to check it out, then head over to [00:14:00] www.

getstackedapp. com or just hit the iOS app store and search for stacked workout and you will find it.