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by Vince Palko
My linebacker coach in college was an interesting character. He lived with passion everyday. I’ll never forget one three-a-day pre-practice session in August when he actually stopped a meeting for about ten minutes and opened up all the windows. He sat back in his chair with a big cookie eatin’ grin on his face and said, “You know you guys have been working pretty damn hard and sometimes you need to STOP and smell the roses. That’s why we are going to do something a bit different this morning. Look at that pink sunrise, smell that fresh air, and listen to those sprinklers. It doesn’t get any better than this.” The road to success is paved with hard work. No doubt. But sometimes you need a break. I’ve been hammerin' away pretty hard this past year. So a vacation to a remote location in South Carolina was much needed. When visiting with my friend Jim before I left he asked, "Will you unplug– totally?" I said, "Didn't plan to but sounds like a great idea." A pretty challenging task for the average work-a-holic– myself included. It was not easy but it was done. No TV No laptop No cell phone No electronic nut-en! (Hence the reason for zero Visual Success emails last week) And it was the best time I ever had. Here's a sketch I drew while on the plane ride to the destination. I had one goal: relax with my family and friends for a week straight and think about no projects. I drew this rough sketch to help me stay focused on the task at hand. It's a picture of my family and I having a ball on the beach together.
You might ask, why a picture of having a good time on vacation, Vinnie? Doesn't everyone enjoy a good vacation? For some that are super focused (of which category I put myself into) it’s hard to take the blinders off. It’s hard unless you set a goal to do so. For me this was a mental reminder to have a blast and think about projects the following week. Side note: Notice the computer poppin' "Z"s while I was away. Now vacation for me doesn’t mean taking a break from exercising. No, for me it's essential to fully relax. Putting in 40 minutes to an hour in the morning gives me a sense of accomplishment and the rest of the day to have fun with the family. So the next vacation you get, I'd highly suggest unplugging and unwinding. You'll find yourself more relaxed, recharged, and refocused to run up success mountain even harder than before. Mix in a lil' Combat Conditioning on the beach at the crack of dawn and look out! You'll feel the blood pumping in the warm morning sun forming sparkles of sweat all over your body. Take the rest of the day off and soak up the rays and be with your family then you'll be vibrating higher than anyone else on the beach. To your super charged health! Vinnie Ps. The program Matt and I created called MFGTSP can Pps. Beach time is also great to visualize "experientially" your retirement. What do I mean by that? It's the perfect time to look into the future at what your retirement could be. You have the sounds of the waves crashing into shore and the sea gulls squawking above you. You have the sea smell ripe in your mind. The teal blue color of the waves firmly plant into your mind. Touch the sand on your bare feet. All you need do is replay these images, sounds, smells and feelings over and over until you get what you want.
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