Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. ‘ Mark Twain

You wake up in the morning, get ready for work, wake up the kids, get them dressed and drop them off to school. While on your way to work, you get stuck in traffic while chowing down on your breakfast. When you walk into your office 15 minutes late, you have ten calls on hold for you, and six memos from the other side of the building. By the time lunch rolls around, you’ve already written three reports on stuff you don’t even really care about, but you know you have two more to write so you skip lunch and keep working until 2 pm. Then you finally walk out into the hallway, when your boss comes up to you with a crisis situation that you need to handle right away. You get back on the phone and make some calls, which seem to last three hours each. When you’ve finally clocked out, you sit once again in traffic and wonder what the hell you’re doing with your life.

Luckily, this life does not describe me. Here is my life right now:

Wake up naturally at 7:30 AM. Drink my chai while checking my email. After chai, I brush my teeth and do whatever else I need to do in the bathroom, and then go downstairs for an intense workout. At around 8:45, I drop my father off at the bus stop, then come home and work on ShahTraining.com for about an hour. This consists of just posting my workouts on respective forums, answering a few questions on those forums, and coming up with a few future topics.

After this, I take a long shower and develop my to-do list. Sometimes I may get hungry at this time and I’ll stop for nice meal. Then it’s off to hitting my to-do list, which usually consists of chores and errands dictated by my parents. Sometimes I need to go out and buy some new training equipment, go to the grocery store, purchase some protein powder, or just spoil myself with a professional shave. I’m talking about my beard, of course.

At approximately 1:30, my friends will drop by for their workout. It takes about an hour to train them, and then it’s back to what I have to do. I’m usually done with my chores at 3 pm. I take a quick moment to apply to one job, and then tidy up my room. I may take a quick 30 to 45 minutes nap if necessary. At approximately 4 pm, I’m officially done with everything I need to do for the day. I usually devote the rest of the day to Shah Training, helping my mom out, and playing with my sister.

What is Ambition?

I hope to continue with this type of lifestyle. This “Type” of lifestyle is actually just doing what I love doing. I love fitness, I love helping my family, and I love Shah Training. I am essentially doing the best I can do in my current position, attempting to move forwards in my life. The majority of the people on this planet stay in the same place ‘ physically, financially, socially, mentally, and spiritually ‘ for years on end, not realizing that they are stuck in an endless loop of boredom and unhappiness.

Last night my father took us all out to dinner in celebration of the new car he had just bought me. At the end of the dinner, he told me that I should get my masters in international business and become a professor. I was quite shocked to hear him say that. Then he said, “Because of you particular nature, you’re very laid back, which really isn’t good if you want get into the business field. But if you become a professor, then you can earn a good income, and will not have to do much work.” I was pretty angry when he said that. But I didn’t say anything.

A laid back person does not mean that he’s not ambitious. Accordingly, someone who runs from one place to another, performing a dozen tasks at once is not ambitious. Both types of personalities have the potential to be ambitious.

Ambition is simply a desire to achieve a particular end. The problem is that most people do not have an end in site. There is a big difference between having a goal and having an end. Yes it’s true I want to lose 10 lbs, but really, where do you want to “end up” with your fitness goals? Well, honestly, and as impossible as it may seem, I want to look like this guy.

Make a Plan, Stay Hungry, and defeat Nay Sayers

I look nothing like this guy. But that does not matter. That is my end. I will need to lose more than 10 pounds to achieve that end, but in the process of achieving this end, I will have learnt so much about my body, my nutrition, and my training.

This end should seem impossible. But when I thought of this end, I was able to develop a simple five-point plan in achieving it:

Phase One: Get Rid of Back Fat
Phase Two: Develop visible V-taper
Phase Three: Reduce final body fat to show off visible six-pack
Phase Four: Bring up arms to compliment rest of the body
Phase Five: Shape up chest

There you go. This is a step-by-step set of goals that will help me achieve that final “end.”

Habit number 2 in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is Begin with the End in Mind. Everything that you do in your training program or daily life should be conducive to that final end goal that you have set for yourself. But this will only work if this final end goal is near impossible. A near impossible goal is what will keep you hungry.

And so, from a career perspective, my goal is to open up gyms in India with the Shah Training brand, not to become some lazy professor who makes a fat paycheck. Sorry Dad, not happening.

That statement should in no way be interpreted as being disrespectful to my father. In fact my dad is one who has supported me in many of my endeavors. But sometimes even our loved ones fail to recognize our own potential and offer solutions to our supposed drawbacks.

My point here is that you should never settle for less. Don’t listen to others if what the say is meant to hold you back. Don’t listen to others if what they say is meant to drown you in worry. Yes, I know the market is bad. I know that it will take a long time to achieve my goals. I know that I am nowhere physically near where I need to be. But does that really matter? At the end of the day, no it does not. I will never know failure if I do not try.

About the Author

This article was written by Parth Shah of the Fitness Spotlight Blogger Community. His full website can been seen at Shah Training.

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