Living in the moment?

[Dusty Hanshaw]

I just wanted to share some advice that I was given a few days ago from a friend that I have the utmost respect for. He was a VERY good bodybuilder in his day and is now a VERY successful business man. The advice was simple but hit me very hard. He suggested that I work on "being present". All successful people are very good at setting and achieving goals but the problem is that we also tend to live our lives unsatisfied. We are always reaching for new heights and spend very little, if any time recognizing what we have already accomplished. The reason that I decided to post this here is because I know that I can't be the only BBer on this board who is guilty of this.
After talking with my friend I reviewed the past four years of my BBing life and realized that not once have I taken a moment to enjoy the success that I have ALREADY accomplished as a BBer. On the contrary I have spent hours upon hours thinking of where I want to be and how long it will take me to get there. I am a little over twelve months out from my next show and already have plans for 2009. Do you see what I'm getting at? I haven't even reached my current goal and I am already looking past it to the next one.
In closing I challenge everyone who reads this to spend a few minutes looking at all that you have accomplished in both life and BBing and try to give yourself credit for what has already been done before moving on to the next goal. Live in the moment because who knows, tomorrow may never come...

 

[bulldog21]

Very true Dusty..........I often find myself focusing on getting to point B and miss the enjoyment of the journey to it.......

 

[Dad]

Nice post, Dusty.

Certainly something we all lose sight of at one point or another.

 

[BigWilly]

Awesome post brother

BW

 

[grumpy69]

Thanks

Thanks for posting that bro, we all need to be reminded this sometimes or life will become stressful and not enjoyable.

 

[JuiceRoad.com]

some touching words

 

[Kaiser]

Yes, very true. It's actually part of the psych of success. I am always business before anything else, and I do recognize what I have done with my life and business as I am self made. It's a necessary part of growth. You are allowing yourself the rewarding thoughts of accomplishment which of course frees up some of the negatives of trying to take yourself to greater heights. Negativity also plays a role in business when you have the personality type that sits back and wishes they had the business achievements of someone else. Sort of an overbearing covet if you may. These same people get jealous of someone's achievements. They spend a lot of time on the negative side instead of looking at it in a positive sense saying "How do I get myself there" they tend to say "He doesn't deserve this, because of this". Point is, take the success of others and let it fuel your fire. Also let the success that you already have achieved help you get to new levels. There is a balance however as Thomas Crown put it: "Gloating is usually a waste of time".

 

[oldfella]

Great post Dusty! It is a reality that has to sink in sooner or later. Sooner is better! I often do sit back and reflect on where I have been and where I am. I do not spend enough time acknowledging my own achievements! As Kaiser said, it's not gloating but realizing that sometimes we have achieved much in a short time. But we are often too busy to see this. We get consumed by tomorrow and forget about today. Your friend is a wise person. Thanks Dusty for sharing this!

 

[HUTCH]

Good Post Dusty

All Im thinking about is my next meal, so thats good right!?

 

[Rob Roy]

It's funny that you posted this cause I just had this talk with one of my figure girls earlier today. She's 5 weeks out and was talking about the show and how badly she wanted it to be here now. So, I asked her "how often do you get people staring at you now compared to 10 weeks ago?" She said every step that she takes, somebody is looking at her. She was flattered by that. Enjoy the ride!

 

[rl3355]

great post...

thanks for sharing...words ring true to me.

 

[JETHRO TULL]

Dusty did you do the Emerald last year?

If you are the guy I am thinking of, you looked terrific out there. Good looking guy with a terrific physique. You also seem intelligent as is evidenced by this post.

Keep up the good work, man!

You should post some pictures.

 

[thebrick]

So true...

And it has the wonderful effect of slowing your life down. It gives us the opportunity to savour the quiet details and richness that surrounds all of us. Life is short, I don't want to rush through it.

 

[balplayer]

the idea and thinking you have proposed here is the absolute best thing a person can do to start enjoying life "right now". most who compete plan and like being regimented and are very goal oriented. all those things are fine and show good character. but if you dont stop once and awhile and smell the roses, then whats it all for. and if you concentrate on how hard things are, and how long its going to take to get there, then you are following the wrong path. yes some things do take time, but it should be a pleasure to get there. thats when you know your on the best path for yourself. reflection is very important when you want to move forward. because what you reflect upon shows you a pattern that either your happy with or your not.

goals in bodybuilding seem to never end, and thats fine. but its always nice to set one certain goal that you know you can realistically achieve and keep going until its met. sort of like wanting to win a state show. so much more realistic than saying you want to win the usa, which is not a easy or even worthwhile goal considering how much you will lose in getting their with both your heatlh and relationships along the way.
most guys who are smart and realize whats truely important in life stop competing and move on to new chapters in life. the fortunate ones have met their goals early in life and are ready to move on into new things. those are the guys we should lern from. because bodybuilding should just be a smalll chapter of your early life, and then its time to move onto adulthood and start building real things other than just a selfish goal with your body.

 

[Dusty Hanshaw]

If you are the guy I am thinking of, you looked terrific out there. Good looking guy with a terrific physique. You also seem intelligent as is evidenced by this post.

Keep up the good work, man!

You should post some pictures.

Sadly that was me. Thanks for the compliments but to say the least the Emerald was a learning experience for sure. I made some HUGE mistakes over the last three days. I followed some advice that I knew I shouldn't have and though it may sound like a trite statement I ended up holding the pacific ocean under my skin. In the end it was good for me because I learned and will never make the same mistake again. I'll post some pics when I get closer to my next show. Right now I'm growing into my frame and am very pleased with the changes.

 

[Dusty Hanshaw]

the idea and thinking you have proposed here is the absolute best thing a person can do to start enjoying life "right now". most who compete plan and like being regimented and are very goal oriented. all those things are fine and show good character. but if you dont stop once and awhile and smell the roses, then whats it all for. and if you concentrate on how hard things are, and how long its going to take to get there, then you are following the wrong path. yes some things do take time, but it should be a pleasure to get there. thats when you know your on the best path for yourself. reflection is very important when you want to move forward. because what you reflect upon shows you a pattern that either your happy with or your not.

goals in bodybuilding seem to never end, and thats fine. but its always nice to set one certain goal that you know you can realistically achieve and keep going until its met. sort of like wanting to win a state show. so much more realistic than saying you want to win the usa, which is not a easy or even worthwhile goal considering how much you will lose in getting their with both your heatlh and relationships along the way.
most guys who are smart and realize whats truely important in life stop competing and move on to new chapters in life. the fortunate ones have met their goals early in life and are ready to move on into new things. those are the guys we should lern from. because bodybuilding should just be a smalll chapter of your early life, and then its time to move onto adulthood and start building real things other than just a selfish goal with your body.

Balplayer-
I agree with some of what you have said in this post but to be honest some of it puzzles me. If I didn't know better I would think that you believe that BBing is a phase that people go through and that they should eventually grow out of it. I have to disagree there because I think that the true problem that some athletes have is not that they bodybuild but rather that they don't have balance in there lives. Bodybuilding can have a great affect on a persons life as long as they don't let it consume them. I don't care if you are 22 and fresh out of college or are 45 a father, husband, and business owner bodybuilding can enrich a persons life. If you can be an individual first and a bodybuilder second than in my oppinion you should only stop if the fire within burns out. JMO

 

[BigWilly]

yes some things do take time, but it should be a pleasure to get there. thats when you know your on the best path for yourself.

Wouldn't life be grand if this were true? Truth is most of the big accomplishments in life take hard work, pain, suffering, etc. Pleasurable? I think not. Trick is to stop and enjoy life outside of the struggles in the meantime too! Like Dusty said, balance.

most guys who are smart and realize whats truely important in life stop competing and move on to new chapters in life. the fortunate ones have met their goals early in life and are ready to move on into new things. those are the guys we should lern from. because bodybuilding should just be a smalll chapter of your early life, and then its time to move onto adulthood and start building real things other than just a selfish goal with your body.

I think I see what you're saying, but I would change it to say something more like "most guys who are smart choose to have a balanced lifestyle and only move on from bodybuilding if they no longer have the desire to compete".

Overall I think you are looking at bodybuilding with a narrow-minded approach. If that is how you view it, than so be it...that's you.

Although I do agree that a lot of guys aren't living the bbing lifestyle in the most healthy manor, physically OR mentally.


BW

 

[Vander_V]

Dusty with age you find wisdom, your getting old my brotha thats all that means

 

[JETHRO TULL]

WELL, I KEPT ON LOOKING AT YOUR AVATAR AND THOUGHT I'VE SEEN THAT GUY BEFORE.

Sadly that was me. Thanks for the compliments but to say the least the Emerald was a learning experience for sure. I made some HUGE mistakes over the last three days. I followed some advice that I knew I shouldn't have and though it may sound like a trite statement I ended up holding the pacific ocean under my skin. In the end it was good for me because I learned and will never make the same mistake again. I'll post some pics when I get closer to my next show. Right now I'm growing into my frame and am very pleased with the changes.

NOW IT ALL CLICKS. VANDER IS A FRIEND OF YOURS...HE WANTED TO KNOW IF I HAD ANY PICTURES OF HIS FRIEND DUSTY WHO DID THE SHOW. I WAS SUCH A RETARD THAT I DIDN'T GET THEM TO HIM IN TIME.

I THOUGHT YOU LOOKED GREAT...YOU'VE GOT A VERY COMPLETE PHYSIQUE AND COULD BE IN G.Q. MAGAZINE. JUST A VERY POLISHED APPEARANCE.

GOOD LUCK AT YOUR CONTEST!