Alex Shalman.comPractical Personal Development

This guest post is written by Peter Normandia.

A little over 4 years ago I was introduced to a life changing art form. I had just graduated film school in NY, and had been training boxing and Muay Thai for a few summers while I worked at my parent’s Day Camp in NJ. I was in a serious relationship on my way to getting engaged and in need of some financial stability.

The film thing looked like it was going to take a long time, and I could not exactly leave my future wife to try and hack it out in L.A. So instead, I jumped into the hot mortgage game chasing the almighty dollar. I got married, bought a house,and went to work each day dreaming to make enough money to live out my dream of film making.

Looking back on this, I realize why they say you grow wiser with age. Back then, I was chasing the dollar to live up to the lifestyle of my peers. I was trying to do ‘what I thought I was supposed to‘. However, by doing so, I was slowly digging a hole inside of me. For instance, I used to run into family or old friends and cringe when they asked what I was doing.

“Mortgages.”

“What happened to the movies?”

“Oh, I’m still doing that a little on the side. I’m writing a script.”

Truth was, I had been writing this script (or actually 3 different ones) for a long time. Something was missing in them though. They were intelligent, well thought out, and skillfully written. However, they just were not great and great was what they had to be.

This was the whirlwind of events going on in my life when I first really got into the life changing martial art called Gracie Jiu Jitsu. I had started soon after graduating film school and am still training & teaching today. I have learned so much about life, that if not for this experience, I’m not sure who I would be today.

The best thing Jiu Jitsu taught me, besides how to choke people , is you must put in the work in order to be successful. Success is not something born within you. Success is a mind set that you must attain.

In Jiu Jitsu, just like life, the key to success is persistence. Whether you get tapped out in 2 seconds, or submitted 20 times, the only people not advancing are the ones who are not there training. Everyone there is gaining experience, learning lessons, and progressing at their own pace. The only way to fail at Jiu Jitsu is to give up & stop coming.

That’s why it had such a big effect on my life. Jiu Jitsu allowed me to see the keys to success and the path to failure. It allowed me to believe that with enough persistence, you truly can achieve anything you want to. The lessons were not just for the mat, but for my entire life as well. All of a sudden I realized, if I wanted to do creative things like film & video, then I had to actually be DOING those things.

Dreaming of them, talking about them, or even procrastinating by researching all about them, did nothing for me. If I had a goal, I had to be working a little towards it each day.

This may seem simple, and actually it quite is, however, many people including the younger ‘me’, think that luck, connections, or money is going to get them where they want to be. This may work for some, but it is so rare, that to count on it would be foolish. Instead, just like in Jiu Jitsu, you must learn to count on the one thing you know you can…

Your Passion.

Be persistent towards your goals. Make them a priority. Since Jiu Jitsu, I have quit the mortgage industry altogether, started a creative web/video business called Reimagine, started my blog, and have made 4 commercials for TV. I’m involved with multiple videos on the web, for promotion, and for personal stuff.

Each day I am still struggling to make ends meet. Yet each day, I am smiling bigger than I ever have. My reward is not tangible. It is hidden deep within my soul. It is a strength I have that I am doing what I want to do. I am hacking out my own path, because that is what I want my life to be. It may be very hard right now, but in the end, it will all be worth it.

Just like when I got my purple belt in Jiu Jitsu, someday I will look back at all of the sweat and tears with great admiration. I will tell people proudly about my life because it is my life. I did not take what was given to me. I went out and got what I wanted by adding to other people’s lives through living out my personal passion.

If not for Jiu Jitsu, I’m not sure this realization would have come to me. I’m not sure I would have understood just how important persistence is. Whatever your dreams are, it is important to your own mental & physical health that you do what you can to chase them. I feel a 1,000x times stronger since I gave up doing mortgages. It’s not that there was anything wrong with it, it’s just that it was not for me. Mentally, it was taxing on my brain. It weighed me down, whether I knew it then or not.

However, when I started to chase my dreams again, it was like an energy source erupted within me. I was motivated, excited, and working harder than ever before. Just like in Jiu Jitsu, I realize that as long as I keep on trying, it does not matter if I fail or succeed. It only matters that I keep on trying.

Now that I have shared my story, it is time to hear from you. What is your dream, and what are you going to do TODAY to help make it real?

I’ll go first. My dream is to make a movie. Today, I am going to learn a little more about editing by cutting together my first National TV Commercial.

Your turn ….

Author’s Bio: This article gives you a good taste of what Peter Normandia is all about. Visit his self-improvement blog, Yin Vs Yang for more excellent articles.

Image Credit: ReimageIt

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