Sometimes you need to be inspired or motivated by something other than what you tell yourself, you need someone to look up to, someone to follow, some idea or mission or poster or something! Sure you should always have a nice long list of reasons for why you are working your ass off to get in shape but sometimes your reasons just seem to fade from your head and on those days you need something else to help you remember why you are on this journey.
When I have those days I watch this video:
Giavanni Ruffin’s How Bad Do You Want It?
It is a freakin amazing video! There is a voice over done by Eric Thomas and he is giving such an inspirational message that I don’t know how anybody can listen without immediately feeling like they can do anything, they can fight, they can push hard, they can win! The message, combined with the video makes me want to get up and get my lazy butt to the gym every single time! 🙂
The back story (simplified) is this, Giavanni played one year of high school football and wanted to go professional so he went to a community college but didn’t get a lot of play so he switched schools the next year and was played on, hmm, I think it’s called First String? or Wave, or something like that…basically, he got to play more. He rocked it at school but he had some kind of legal trouble or something and it messed up his chances to go in to the NFL right after college. So, he has been working his ass off to get into the NFL and he made this video to help inspire people and to show what he is doing. Well holy crap, I don’t think anybody has ever done more in the fight for their goal. The video went viral and had so many responses he started a website and he now has a motto, it’s Take No Days Off, or TNDO. I LOVE it! He’s also got some brains goin on in that head of his cause he started a clothing line for TNDO and now he has quite the following. He does all the work himself in regards to taking the orders, getting them sorted and shipped out, he’s not just slacking now that everyone knows who he is. I totally want a shirt to wear to the gym but can’t afford to buy one yet…not that they are over priced, just that I am way poor lol 😛
He also started doing vlogs since people kept wanting updates on what is going on with him and his football, he is considered a free agent and signed oddly enough with a Canadian Football Team, *rolls eyes*, why that poor boy is coming up here to our football league I don’t understand, we don’t pay nearly as much! but hey, yah for the Hamilton team which has signed him cause they definitely got a guy who will push hard everyday and not be out worked by any other player.
So what is it about Giavanni and this video that is so inspiring? Is it the fact that a super yummy looking guy is shown in a video working out so lots of women are oggling him? (hey, don’t go rolling your eyes! ladies like eye candy just as much as men! and he is hawt! lol) Is it the message in the voice over? Is it that a normal everyday person is letting us see how badly he wants to reach his goal and is letting us in on how much he is willing to fight for it?…I think that last one might be closest.
Sure, most people have goals, they want to achieve things, but most people never let on just how badly they want to achieve those goals, and once they get them (if they get them) they act like it was a given they would get there and it’s no big deal. That’s how our society works, we’re not allowed to show how much something means to us, we’re all supposed to be super cool and slightly disdainful and bored cause we have everything. I am guilty of this. There are lots of times when I want something so badly I can barely breath because of it, the wanting takes over my every thought, my reason for doing everything, the goal is all I can think about, all I can dream about, all I care about. But do I let on how much I want it? Nope, never. In fact, the more I want something the less I talk about it. In my experience if I mention how much I want something, it’s a given I won’t get it. So now I keep my mouth shut. The added benefit to keeping my mouth shut is that if I don’t get what it is I was trying for I don’t have to deal with people constantly seeing if I am ok, I can grieve alone, in private. The downside is that people seem to think I don’t really care, don’t really have goals or plans, they think I am drifting when in reality I am fighting for what I want but silently.
But Giavanni, he made his goal as public as possible, it’s all over youtube, it’s all over his website that he started, he talks about it in documentaries he has filmed, he goes to local schools and talks to the students there to inspire them and openly talks about his story…it is like this man isn’t worried he will not succeed and have people all over the world know he didn’t make it. He is confident, he is fighting for what he wants, he won’t give up…and by him showing the world that he won’t give up on his dream, a dream that only a small percentage of people will ever achieve, it makes me think that I can reach my goal too, That is Giavanni’s magic, in his videos he talks about how you can reach your goals, not just him, he encourages his viewers to do whatever it is that they can, he reminds you it can be done. He isn’t jaded yet, he isn’t bitter, he isn’t saying that life dealt him a crap deal so he can’t get what he wants. He is saying he takes responsibility for his past actions and this is what he is doing to rectify the situation and he will get to the NFL. And ya know what? I believe him. 🙂
The Amazing Shrinking Woman 