How to Transform Your Body Forever

December 7, 2020 by Roger Lawson II Leave a Comment

Change is easy.

Effortless, even.

If you do nothing, change happens.

If you do something, happens.

When it comes to our bodies though, we work so incredibly hard for change.

Something that comes so easily to nature, we moonwalk over hot coals to try and get a piece of.

The irony being that it’s this very effort that keeps our bodies and minds exactly the same.

Let me change up my supplement routine…

Let me cut out carbs and boost my protein intake…

Let me try this new cool workout program…

We bounce around from one shiny object to the next, thinking this one will be the key that finally unlocks the door to the results we’ve been looking for, but it never is.

People don’t want change.

People don’t want to keep buying diet books filled with goofy contradictory information.

People don’t want to look in the mirror and feel unsatisfied by what they see.

People don’t want to settle for losing 5lbs and then gaining it right back forever and ever until they die.

Change is cosmetic, surface level & short-lived. Change is re-arranging furniture on the Titanic.

People want transformation.

The Truth About Transformation

Are you ready for the secret?

Transformation becomes possible only when your back is against the wall and you no longer have a choice.

Transformation becomes possible when you’re so sick and tired of being where you’re at that remaining there for a second longer isn’t acceptable to you.

Transformation becomes possible when the pain and suffering of holding on to where you are outweighs the temporary discomfort of looking at where you are right now and viscerally understanding what’s keeping you there.

Here are some questions that can be helpful on your journey, because questions help create a path towards truth, not more and more answers.

Where do I genuinely want to go?

What do I not yet understand?

What is this action that I just took a reaction to?

What beliefs & barriers am I engaging in/with that are blocking my path?

You’re made for so much more than to spend your short, magnificent life chasing change like a dog chases its tail.

How the Scale Ruins You

November 24, 2020 by Roger Lawson II Leave a Comment

Come to the scale full, or leave empty.

Stepping on the scale when you’re trying to lose weight is like playing an emotional game of Russian Roulette with your blubber.

If the number on the scale goes down, you’re excited. And not just regular excited, but Rick-James-Fuck-Yo-Couch excited.

This “victory” is typically followed by some kind of celebration, sometimes in food form.

If the number on the scale goes up, you’re crushed. And not just regular crushed, but Crawling-In-My-Skin-These-Wounds-They-Will-Not-Heal crushed.

Why is this? Let’s explore.

If you look at the clock and it says a certain time, do you feel a stirring in your loins? Unless it’s 4:20 on 4/20, probably not.

Then why do you react to the number on the scale any differently?

Because you’re trying to GET something from the scale.

There’s nothing right or wrong about this fact. Nothing good or bad. The problem only arises when you’re determined to get something from it that it can’t provide.

Here’s what you can get from a scale: how much you weigh on Earth at the moment.

Here’s what you can’t get from a scale: acceptance, pride, victory, worth, whether or not you’re a “good” or “bad” person, judgement, love, compassion. Anything.

If you go to McDonald’s looking for the most delicious fast food fry known to mankind, you’re in luck.

If you go to McDonald’s looking for a filet mignon and Don Perignon, you’re screwed.

Trying to get anything other than what you weigh from the scale is the equivalent of trying to get water from a stone, or driving with your butthole. Go for if you want, but be ready to suffer.

Don’t take my word on any of this. Truth check it against your own life experience.

If you allow the scale to determine how to feel good about yourself, you better be ready to allow it to make you feel bad about yourself too. You can’t get the titty without the nipple, son!

Here’s a fun game to try: put a scale somewhere you’ll see it multiple times per day, then step on it every time you see it. With this much exposure, you’ll either cling deeper to playing the scale-meaning game, or you’ll realize how goofy of a game you’re playing and you naturally stop.

If these words have inspired any change in your behavior and you naturally drop the need to attach meaning to the number on the scale, cool.

If you’re a big fan of having your emotions played with, cool. By all means keep playing the scale game.

A tool should always benefit its master. The moment that it doesn’t, the tool is no longer serving its purpose, and the master instead becomes a slave.

Come to the scale full, or leave empty.

How a 90 Year-Old Sushi Chef Can Make You Sexy

August 24, 2016 by Roger Lawson II Leave a Comment

Meet Jiro Ono, the greatest sushi chef alive – and arguably the greatest to have ever lived.

Jiro first began apprenticing in a sushi restaurant at 9 years old.

At age 90, Jiro has had the same job for the past 81 years.

The documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi tells Jiro’s journey to becoming a master of his craft who continues to push the boundaries of what is possible, and in doing so highlights universal principles that you can begin applying today on your own quest for a better life (and a kick-ass body to go along with it).

“Once you decide on your occupation, you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work.” – Jiro Ono

In this case, what is your occupation?

It’s you.

It’s your body, how it looks and how you feel inside of it.

It’s your strength and how you choose to display it as you go through life.

It’s your mindset and how you mold it to respond to the challenges you face.

You are a tightly woven bundle of habits and predictabilities, steps and actions that have landed you exactly where you are at this very moment.

To get where you want to go, somewhere different than where you are right now, you’ll need to develop new, more gangster habits that starting steering the sexy ship that is your life towards these uncharted waters.

To do that, falling in love with every step of the process is key.

The ups and downs, the boredom and un-sexy routine, the soaring successes and the ball – or whatever you’ve got in those jeans – smashing defeats.

You will miss workouts.

You will screw up your eating plan.

Your fat loss or muscle gain progress will stall.

When you love the process, it becomes easier to reframe the inevitable obstacles you’ll encounter as valuable feedback that will eventually lead you to the outcome you desire instead of packing up and going home at the first sign of things not going as planned.

Mistakes and setbacks are like diamonds covered in elephant shit: with enough willingness to push past the stinky exterior and clean it up a bit, you’ll be rewarded for it.

Whatever happens, you will survive it. And you will learn to thrive because of it.

I’m not saying this as some woo woo The Secret-esque declaration, but because I’ve seen it work.

Full immersion is the way to go when trying to achieve anything, and you get to decide what that looks like for your life and where you are now.

Think of it like a pool.

Do you learn to swim by dipping your toe into the water?

How about going in halfway – you know, to that point where the frigid water paralyzes your genitals and makes rethink your entire life?

Nope.

You get all the way the in and find something that you enjoy about the coldness, if nothing more than that you were able to make it through that initial wave of suck without dying.

Half-assing guarantees mediocre and disappointing results.

Full-assing is scary before you make the commitment, but that’s where the most rewarding growth waits.

When in doubt, go full ass.

Jiro Approved Action Step

Commit fully to your exercise plan.

How many days will you exercise?

What time will you do it and where?

Commit fully to eating in a way that supports your body and your goals, whatever they are.

What are the foods you’re going to eat? Do you have them on hand?

What time are you going to eat your meals?

Be specific and write your answers down.

When things do eventually go off plan, instead of letting your emotions take over and lead you down a rabbit hole of negative self-talk, ask yourself the following questions:

What lessons can I take away from this event?

What actions can I take in the future so that when faced with a similar situation, I can create a better outcome for myself?

Again, be specific. Write your answers down.

Find ways to enjoy the challenges you’ll encounter, what they bring out of you and what you learn about yourself from facing them head-on.

Look for opportunities to enjoy your successes and how amazing it feels to be making progress towards a goal.

There is beauty to be found in the chaos, and freedom to be found in the madness.

Fake It Till You Make It

June 15, 2016 by Roger Lawson II Leave a Comment

This is bullshit advice.

Writers write.

If you are writing, then you are a writer.

Exercisers exercise.

If you are exercising, then you are someone who exercises.

There is no separating the “doing” from the “being”.

Saying that you’re faking it is a complete lie and robs you of your power.

Give yourself some credit, make improvements when you can, and get after it.

The Myth of Special

June 12, 2016 by Roger Lawson II Leave a Comment

To save you the mental gymnastics of having to imagine a 21 year old Rog wearing a traffic vest doing who knows what, here’s a little gem from The Vault of Adorability & Delight (ok, fine – it’s just my iPhoto collection).

At the time, I weighed 165 pounds soaking wet with a hearty meal in my belly. I was new to exercise and one factor that propelled me forward was the desire to look mad sexy.

Despite my neophyte status, do you know what that didn’t stop be from doing?

Jumping to a new exercise plan every two weeks (I’m being generous with past Rog here), thinking that I needed an advanced program that Arnold Schwarzenegger, Stephen Hawkings and the entire team at NASA designed just for me.

Spending $200+ a month on supplements like fat burners, meal replacement powders and superfoods and pills I couldn’t pronounce the name of if you held a rocket launcher to my face.

Scouring magazines, message boards and obscure Geocities websites for any zany and exciting nuggets that I could add to my battle plan. To say I was deep in the information creep is an understatement.

Looking back, it’s no wonder that I spent a long time frustratedly spinning my wheels while the results I was looking for evaded me like Neo did bullets in The Matrix.

I thought I was a special, precious and unique snowflake.

I thought I could shortcut the process by adding more complexity into the mix. If less was good, a boat-load of more was way better in my mind.

Real foods? Nah, son, gimme that stuff where the ingredient list sounds like I’m trying to cast a magical incantation on my entire family.

If you see a little bit of yourself in my experiences, you’re not alone. I deal with people on a weekly basis who are struggling with their own unique variation of the same common pitfall.

The more that I interact with and learn from high level performers, the more I see that one of the most important factors in their success is that not only have they mastered the basics that give them a strong foundation to build upon, but they execute them consistantly on an extremely high level.

So, what are those basics when it comes to taking control of your health while building the body you want?

Commit to showing up and persisting despite any setbacks you make. Without this, there will never be lasting success.
Eat mainly whole foods that you like, but don’t lose your mind if you eat something that’s off your plan. You stressing about it will do more damage than the food ever will.
Lift heavy things with your body. Lift light things with your body. Do this at least 2 times a week and work towards increasing the challenge as you become stronger.
Go to sleep. Minimum of 6 hours. 8 hours is even better. Recovery is sexy as hell, necessary and you’re less likely to do goofy things and put a lot of dumb stuff in your mouth.
Drink water. If it’s good enough for most of the Earth, it’s good enough for you.
Take your self-care seriously. Be kind to yourself and decrease your stress levels wherever possible.

Move daily in a way that you enjoy. Wanna know a Rog fact? I LOVE me some Zumba. There, I said it.
Go outside and let the glorious Sun snuggle the shit outta you for at least 20 minutes.
Have that GOOD sex life. Even if you’re single, you can still get your solo freak on.
Surround yourself people that make you laugh until you literally feel like you’re gonna die the true death as well as with people that make you think and call you out on your nonsense.
Sing loudly and horribly to your favorite song at least once a day.

There is one mantra that I want you to walk away with and start applying today: when it comes to building the body you want, you are not special.

The sooner you let this sink into your DNA, the faster you can begin focusing all your efforts on taking the actions that will bring you the biggest return on your investment and letting every other distraction fall to the wayside.