Dealing with Fear like a Black Belt

I am completing a challenge week called Hell Week from the book named the same.

One of the many challenges during hell week is to name your fears and call them into the ‘ring’ with you. You do this by listing them. Actually writing them down and then facing them.

I wrote this in my journal today or yesterday (it all blends together during hell week). I want to share.

“Today is the day you jump into and speak your fears. Today is the day you get in the ring with your fears. When you are in the ring with them, you can actually fight them. Most fears are actually legimate concerns but thye grow and fester because we don’t deal with them or address them. Fear is just another feeling – another thing.

Tony Robbins calls emotions ‘action signals’. He suggests that we ask, ‘what is this fear signaling to me?’ What is it trying to tell me?

Should I change my perception or should I change my procedures?

So I spoke them – I wrote them down. I am not magically free of them. I think that might be too easy but just by writing them down they felt smaller and I felt more empowered to face them head on.

I even found myself doing this while I was in the shower this morning at 5am (another challenge of hell week is bed by 10 and up by 5am). I started to get that feeling you get when you get in your head and just start repeating the same problem over and over again. It sounds like this.

I could do this, but then that would happen, and then that person might not like that and then this would happen and then….

And it goes on, and on, and on and…you get it.

So I stopped and spoke the fear – I did it out loud.

I am actually afraid of ‘this person not liking a decision I believe is best for everyone involved.’

Much more manageable now. It made me feel better instantly. I realized I have no control over other people and I have to do what I believe is best.

I had lots of fears to write down

Fear of committing to this. Fear of this person taking something from me. Fear of not being who I know I can be. Fear of losing money. Fear of not making enough money. Fear this person will leave me or that staff member will quit or people not liking me or not accepting me.

Here was a good one though – I fear I will not live up to being a ‘great person’ like Steven Furtick or Tony Robbins.  (two amazing men I admire)

As soon as I wrote it, I wrote next to it. You won’t be – you will be SAM WEGERT.

A fear can be so unfounded and it can be so irrational and like the example above – just kind of silly.

One of my mentors and friends gave me this perspective today around 430am (another challenge of hell week is a 41 hour stint with no sleep).

I offer you a great analogy for how fear acts. It is sneaky. It is very sneaky. My suggestion – call it out. Don’t resist it, no, no – it won’t go away. Call it out and address it head on. You know what to say to it once you get it written on the white board. Trust me – trust you – there is a piece of you that knows exactly what to say when that fear comes spilling out to paper. Ah, at least now you know what it is.

According to the Bureau of Standards, “A dense fog covering seven city blocks, to a depth of 100 feet, is composed of something less than one glass of water.” So, if all the fog covering seven city blocks, 100 feet deep, were collected and held in a single drinking glass, it would not even fill it. And this could be compared to our worries. If we can see into the future and if we could see our problems in their true light, they wouldn’t tend to blind us to the world, to living itself, but instead could be relegated to their true size and place. And if all the things most people worry about were reduced to their true size, you could probably put them all into a drinking glass, too.

 

Things that never happen: 40 percent. That is, 40 percent of the things you worry about will never occur anyway.

Things over and past that can’t be changed by all the worry in the world: 30 percent.

Needless worries about our health: 12 percent.

Petty, miscellaneous worries: 10 percent.

Real, legitimate worries: 8 percent. Only 8 percent of your worries are worth concerning yourself about. Ninety-two percent are pure fog with no substance at all.

Crazy, right?

Alright, now go crush some fears like a black belt.

To black belt and beyond,

Mr. Sam Wegert

5 reasons to stretch for 5 minutes

Face it! 5 minutes is easy to find if you are committed. If you could lower your stress, dismiss toxic acid from your body, build your family bond even stronger, and dramatically reduce the resistance in your body would you find those 5 minutes.

We think you should. Mr. Robert Turner is a 4th degree black belt, world champion martial artist and program director at our school in Charlottesville, VA. Him and I will share why we think you should stretch for 5 minutes every day.

Serving you through martial arts,

Sam Wegert

 

Are you courageous?

A letter I just received from godaddy.com. It is worth reading.

I am so thankful that I have so many people in my life that demonstrate this. This paragraph sums them up ever so well.

“One of the clearest lessons we’ve learned is that the one word to describe you best is ‘courageous.’ You go after what you really love, you chart your own course, and you create something (often from nothing) that usually makes the world a better place. Whether it’s a neighborhood pizza shop, an organization to help those in need, or a company poised to launch a new industry, you believe where others don’t. You have the guts to strike out on your own to make your dreams — however bold or humble — a reality. That’s courage, and it’s worth every ounce of support we can give.”

Here is to being courageous! Back to work-let’s make a difference.

To Black Belt and beyond.

My first Harlem Shake…ever.

What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?

The quality on this video isn’t very good but it was only captured once so I decided to share.

When was the last time you created a magic moment?

At the end of your life you won’t remember everything. What you will remember are magic moments.

About a week ago, I went with a friend to visit the grandmother of my best friend. She is 94 years old. We brought her flowers for no reason and just wanted to make her day and break the monotony of life in a nursing home. We asked about her life, husband, kids, etc. She talked to us for hours about the moments of her life. She smiled as she recounted specific times when she met her husband at the movie theater or when her grandson jumped over her head and freaked her out. For hours, she recounted the moments.

In the busyness of your life, when was the last time you stopped to create a magic moment consciously?

Join me in being a magic moments magician. Here are 10 ways you can create a moment that will not forgotten easily.

1. Sip a cup of tea as you take a stroll as someone encouraged me to do today.

2. Stop by a park on your way to work or on your way home and just listen

3. Open up a new browser tab and send someone an email or facebook message that you haven’t heard from in a year

4. Call someone you love and say these words, “I don’t have much time. I’m right in the middle of something but I just wanted to call you and tell you I love you. That’s all! I love you. Goodbye.”

5. Go through the drive through and pay for the person behind you in addition to yourself

6. Go through a toll booth and pay for someone behind you. Drive away slowly and you will receive looks of gratitude for this one. 🙂

7. Go look at some old pictures of yourself and reminisce even if just for a minute about all that you have learned and how far you have come in your life.

8. Send a text message to someone with these words, “I’m proud and blessed to know you. Thank you for being in my life.”

9. Go to flowers.com or amazon.com and ship something to someone randomly for no reason other than you just decided it would be cool. This is one of my favorite and I can do it in less than 2 minutes if I know their address. Credit card on file-add the address-ship. Done!

10. Model something that someone does in the video above.

Remember, at the end of your life you will remember magic moments and that is all. Create some today!