6 Degrees Of Me

Life is really funny.  It has a way of acting as a mirror for what is going on inside of you, a way of reflecting who you are as a person in every aspect of your life.  Take your crazy friend for instance.  Yes, you have a crazy friend — or multiple crazy friends — we all do.  Why is it that bad things keep happening to that person? Why is it that the world is constantly imploding around that person? And just when you think things will pick up for them or they’ve grown a bit and moved forward in their life, the “same old same” rears its ugly head?

It’s the mirror at work.  The internal universe reflecting externally.  The self loathing and constant abuse that your crazy friend lives with day in and day out also manifests itself in their external life.

The flip side is also true.  My girlfriend will sometimes bring up our relationship and how she’s so glad we found each other. She claims that I changed her — that she was immature, spiteful, and malicious before she met me and that meeting me and being around me changed her.  Untrue (except for the immature, spiteful and malicious part … the fact is that she changed — she changed on the inside and the new reflection shows her to not possess any of those characteristics.  I don’t know that spiteful person. I never did.  In fact I wouldn’t have ever shown up in her life if she hadn’t changed first.

The mirror traverses relationships and can be applied to other areas of your life.  For example, diet and health.  Let’s talk about my diet and health.  I exercise regularly, eat a sensible diet, and generally take fantastic care of myself.  If you were to look at my self image mirror you would see just that — healthy, fit, and somewhat vain stud, who likes the way he looks and feels and strives to maintain it.

So if you’re looking to lose substantial weight or even just get lean and fit the key isn’t to exercise and eat a sensible diet.  That’s really the aftereffect of the mirror.  The real key is who you are inside. I’m a lean healthy person inside.  That’s how I’ve always seen myself since I was a little kid.  The exercise and diets are really just biproducts of my internal vision.

How do you see yourself?  Are you as happy as you want to be? Are you as successful at work or your business as you feel you should be? Are you content with the way you treat your wife, girlfriend, kids,friends,etc?  Even more telling — are you happy with the way the treat you? If not it may be time to pull out the Windex and buff up that mirror.

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Should one do something because they truly love it or because it does or has the potential to make them a lot of money?  This is something that I have been and I think many folks grapple with back and forth.

There are a few different schools of thought.  Some will say that you do yourself a disservice if you pursue money in lieu of focusing on providing value.  Others say, that it’s more important to make money because that is what ultimately decides a lot of what you can and cannot provide for yourself and your family.

I remember when I first got out of college.  Those first couple of years are pretty eye opening.  While you’re in school you have this overarching idea that you can do everything and be everything; you kind of can while you’re in school.

Then you get out.  You think you’re the hottest thing on the block and no one can tell you shit.  I remember having a conversation with one of my friend’s fathers.  He was a few years from retiring from corporate law and I asked him what was more important - money or doing what you love.  His response

Al — I absolutely hate my job.  But it pays well… it gave me a comfortable living and gives my kids the ability to do and be whoever they want.  I can worry about doing what i “like” when I’m retired and the kids are graduated from college

That was an interesting self sacrificing way of dealing a part of your life that you’re not that fond of. Another one of my friends is in the most simplest terms working in a lab actively searching for a cure for cancer.  He has a job that doesn’t pay that well and has a wife and kid. But he loves what he does.

Does that make him selfish? Should he be more focused on providing for his family than performing a service to humanity or working in an area that is highly self fulfilling?

Personally I think both avenues are correct.  I think it’s great to make millions of dollars. Like my father always said, an athlete “deserves” to make a boatload of money if someone is willing to pay him that much.  I also believe that it’s good to work at a job that you love even if it doesn’t pay you a good deal of money.

The real key to making this seemingly impossible conditional statement plausible is how you the individual resonates with the choice.  There is no right answer. There is only the right answer for you.  With every choice in life there is going to be some sort of sacrifice but if the intended result is one that you truly believe in then you must stick to your guns and live with your decision.

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The Giants won the Super Bowl last year.

David Tyrizzle is a winner

We got lucky — we didn’t get lucky. Who cares. At this point Manning can do no wrong in my eyes. I just handed him a get out of jail free pass for this entire season. Every time I see Michael Strahan my eyes well up with the joy of a proud parent watching his kid walk for the first time

G.

Men.

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I was searching for a name on google images and funnily enough a picture with one of my posts popped up as the first result.  I clicked on the pic and started reading the post and almost crapped myself.  I honestly can’t believe I was the one that wrote the post.  Man was I an awesome writer in a previous life…

take a trip back in time with me

side note: I’m watching the US Open right now. As an ex tennis player I absolutely can’t stand the way Andy Roddick plays.  Great personality, self effacing, blah blah blah but Christ how can you be a the 5th best player on the PLANET and not be able to hit a backhand or volley to save your drunken uncle Larry’s prostate?

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