Who Cares?
Words of Wisdom w/ Gerald
Article Two: Who Cares?
It's official - Amanda and I have made the complete transition to working solely at RPG! As you can imagine this stirs up a mixed bucket of thoughts. As of late, I've had the opportunity to reflect upon this more and more, as well as think about moving on from the past four years of managing a fitness center, Rochester Gym. Thoughts of doubt and risk, questions of will it pay off, and with a lot of people depending on us, there is one thing that allows me to sleep at night - Care. The level of care that you invest into something will directly affect the outcome of that scenario. If you wholeheartedly believe in something, you are placing yourself in a position to be successful. I'm trusting that life really boils down to this as Amanda, the team, and myself move forward at RPG. Luckily for all of us, careers and work aren't the only thing you can care about; we will touch on this in a minute.

When you care about something passionately, the impact of those efforts will never go unnoticed, and will always provide a positive payoff. The first step is to figure out what you even care about at all. Dave Tate, owner of Elitefts, posed this question on RPG's first trip to Westside Barbell and the S4 Compound; What are your top four priorities in life? (Article link below). His aim for Elitefts is to cater to people who place training in their top four. This list could include family, friends, career, faith, school, significant others, health, training, etc. - So what are yours??? What do you care about???
Is it training? Is it powerlifting, a specific sport, weight loss, general strength, etc.? How do you prove that this is a top four priority in your life? I think it starts with discipline. Follow your training program or plan, fuel your body correctly (this may or may not be an area of focus for me), ask your mentors about technique(s), get real rest, and take care of your body on the off days. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to caring about training. We can take this a step further, do you care enough to drive an hour to the right gym to use better equipment and/or be surrounded by a better training group? Are you willing to drive 4 hours to learn from your lifting idols? Would you be willing to move across the country to be in the right training environment or to attend the right college? These are just ideas to consider when you say you care about training as a top priority in your life.

Maybe your work or career is on the top of your priority list. Do you wake up happy to drive into work every day? Let's say you have a job on an automotive line making a small part for a vehicle. Do you have the foresight and care to think about the bigger picture? Do you think about the happy families that will be driving that vehicle, and that will benefit from your small contribution and benefit from the part that you're installing today? I'd imagine with that level of care, the quality of work and attention to detail would rise. When quality and production is improved, raises, more hours, and promotions follow. A little bit of care goes a long ways; you get the line of thinking!
To hit on one more priority, maybe your relationship with a significant other or friend is of top importance in your life. Do you have your friends back when they really need you? Do they show you the same commitment and trust in return? Does your significant other light up when they see you? Do you share a mutual respect and care for that someone in easy times and rough? Again, just things to consider!
So we have narrowed it down to what the heck do we even care about. The second step is the hard part; do something about it! What kind of effort do you need to put in? What kind of planning is entailed? Are you up for the challenge, responsibilities, and commitment to do what it takes to truly care about something? Are you going to do all of the necessary things to make the most of what you placed top on your priority list? Most of all, are you going to do the stuff that you don't enjoy doing, but know is important? To reiterate, if you're an athlete, we're talking about the boring mobility drills, eating the correct foods, getting enough rest when everyone else is out partying late, and the list can go on. My hope is that this will get you all thinking about two things; what do you truly care about? And are you doing the correct things to prove that you care about it? Nobody likes a poser, so don't be a zombie, don't just go through the motions, and chase what you truly care about!
Remember, not everyone will care about the same things you care about, but....who cares! Happy training RPG!
Elitefts Article Link:
Relentless Detroit Link: