On Success

How to NOT FAIL

I’ve learned a lot about goal setting and coaching the past 15 years.

I do not say this to boast or brag…. accomplishing everything I ever wanted has been much harder than I could have ever expected or imagined. And took way more time. And came at a cost… double what I expected.

I’ve set world records in powerlifting, started multiple businesses, won strongman shows, keynoted at conferences, completed Ironmans, built a work schedule around my lifestyle that provides maximum freedom of time.

I do what I want… when I want. I do business with people who I enjoy working with. On all fronts of life I have accomplished everything I have ever set out to have… and MORE.

My wife says to me the other morning after a conversation we had with some folks a few weeks prior. Ashley Homol says “people think everything comes so easy for you… ‘oh that’s just Zach’ but I see you in the 4 a.m. mornings and I see you in the projects that you work on for 3 months that don’t make a dollar. I see you in the failures and when all hope is lost… you keep on”

I laugh… and say “yeah, oh well.” I’ve died to that, the need for other people to see my work ethic. I don’t care much anymore about “being the hardest worker in the room” or if people think everything comes easy for me. Hell, even when my neighbors ask what I do for a living I tell them “My grandpa left me a trust fund so I just been riding that out.” When people say “must be lucky” I smile and nod. I’m no fool to the realization that there’s some “luck” involved. I just call luck blessings. In full awareness that I could not pull all this off if it wasn’t for a God who sees me and loves me.

The lesson here:

I KEEP MY ENEGRY AND FOCUS ON THE THINGS THAT MOVE THE NEEDLE! Theres no need to “prove it” to anyone. All that matters is DOING THE THING.

Glad It’s Hard

This is something I learned years and years ago… Be GLAD that it comes hard for me. It was a mindset shift. I looked around at the local gym and all my friends were getting stronger, faster… and for what seemed like less effort than I was putting in. That’s when I had to get creative with my training while doubling down on my efforts and learning the fundamentals to the elite levels. I would practice movement patterns for HOURS. While other people were just going in and lifting I was practicing how to lift BETTER. That led to squatting 705+lbs at 181 lb body weight. If it came easy… I wouldn’t have needed to practice the attention to detail that I did.

In my first business, my gym, Iron Valley Barbell. It was/is just a small hole in the wall gym. I wasn’t going to get rich off memberships, so I would need to get creative with the ways I earned income. Seminars, events, 1-1 coaching, training trainers who trained clients, merch, an online presence… etc! I’m glad getting members didn’t come easy… If it did I would not have learned all the extra “know how” and skills I needed to start and partner in the other business endeavors I am currently in.

All that has been hard for me has served me in the long run. It continues to serve me. I say all this to simply encourage you… If you are in a hard time, feeling like nothing is coming easy for you… here’s a perspective shift… You are learning the details at a level most never learn at. These details will pay off over time but only if you keep on, keeping on. Don’t want EASY now… easy now always ends up as HARD later. And HARD now becomes EASY later. The more you think about “what if” the less you do with what is now.

It will always take longer than you think. You might work for 3-6 months with no returns and have to throw it all away and pivot (I been there… more than once!) … and not just earlier in my business… even after a decade these things happen when you are pushing the needle and striving for more. That’s fine. You are not a failure UNTIL you quit for good. So do not quit… PIVOT… before you QUIT IT. There is no honor in rolling over to hardship. We must face it head on with COURAGE. And remember courage is not without FEAR. Courage is going even when there is fear. Zoom out, play the long game. You are not your losses… OR your wins! You are simply “YOU” in process, always.

Under everything I am communicating here is… you must shift the way you view your adversity. The cliché saying that says “everything is perspective” or “you are not what happens to you but how you respond” IS TRUE. These are the mental battles that we all face. Those who have the success that they want are the ones who kept going. Those who had hope didn’t throw in the towel. These are the things I am teaching in the next 7 Week Mindset Cohort called “Mental Game.” It’s when physical training meets mental preparation. This may very well be the exact thing you need for this next season of life. It doesn’t matter where you’re at or how much you’ve accomplished or how deep your current failure is. This cohort is about going to places within yourself that you’ve never been. It’s the most affordable offer I have available to date.

JOIN HERE: 7 week Mindset Cohort called “Mental Game”