T NATION | 10 Rules for Success

10 Rules for Success
...in Life and in the Gym
by Joel Marion

In high school, I set a goal to excel academically. On graduation day in 2000, I stood in front of several thousand people and delivered the salutatorian address. As a ripe 19-year-old college freshman, I entered the 2001 Body-for-Life Challenge with one mindset: I was going to win the thing. In early 2002 when the winners were announced, my name was listed at the top of my category.

From there, my dreams climbed, with aspirations to write for the highest quality publications within the bodybuilding/fitness genre. Later that year, my first article, "Ripped, Rugged, and Dense" was featured on this very site. In 2003, my writing hit the newsstands, with articles appearing in various print magazines on a monthly basis.

Currently, at 23, I've trained hundreds of clients as close as my home state of New Jersey and as distant as Japan, Europe, and Australia. With over 50 published articles, my writing has reached millions of individuals literally all around the world. And you know what? I'm just getting started.

I say the above not to pat myself on the back — not at all. While I generally had the right mindset, there was (and still is) plenty of room for improvement, and I'm only where I am today because I managed to learn from experience (and at times, that took a little while). And while I've been moderately successful, had I learned these things earlier in life, I have no doubt that I'd be even further along in my career.

And this is what I want to share with you in this article: a recipe for success to achieve your life goals and gym-related goals based on some of those things that I had in place from the start, and some others that I picked up through experience (and good counsel) along the way.

"You have to think big to be big." Claude M. Bristol

Ask anyone who's reached an impressive place within their sport, career, or physique, and virtually all of them will tell you that they envisioned themselves in that exact place long before it actually came to be. Successful people chase goals that others view as unrealistic.

When I was talking about entering the BFL contest in 2001, plenty of people, including friends, responded with, "He doesn't actually think he's going to win, does he?" Well, that's exactly what I thought, and because I went in thinking big, I ended up surprising a lot of people. My writing for newsstand publications, too, was viewed as "chasing the stars" by some.

For the 150 pound hardgainer, achieving a lean, muscular physique is "unrealistic." Not too long ago, squatting over a grand and certainly benching over a grand was unrealistic. Now both have been accomplished, the former by numerous individuals.

The point is, in order to make your dreams reality, you have to learn to base your goals not on what others think is realistic for you, but rather what you know deep down you're able to do. Don't put yourself in a box; give yourself something challenging to chase after.

In order to achieve big things, you must first think big things.

"Those who do not read are no better off than those who cannot." Chinese Proverb

I hate to read. Seriously, it's torture for my ADD-ridden brain. Now, with the availability of Spike, reading has become a considerably less painful chore. But still, if a book has an audio version or a movie counterpart, you better believe that's the route I'm going.

Nevertheless, I read all the time. Why? Because reading is how you learn. Regardless of what you're interested in — building a better body, investing, becoming an expert in your particular field, etc. — you should be reading on that subject every chance you get.

Alwyn Cosgrove says that you can become a world class expert in anything you choose by studying the subject one hour a day for the next five years. Studying includes more than just reading, but reading is certainly a major component. I have about twenty books in my strength training library and I can't even begin to count the number of articles and journal papers I've read through over the last five years.

A few pointers with regards to reading:

• Be sure the source is reputable. Is the author or publication respectable?

• Be critical. Don't accept everything you read, regardless of the source, as gospel.

• Be objective. Don't just read things that support your pre-established viewpoints.

There isn't an expert out there who hasn't done a ton of reading within their particular subject area. If you want to succeed in yours, read.

"A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle." Kahlil Gibran

Despite what you've heard, knowledge isn't power. There are plenty of knowledgeable people out there without a lick of real world experience, thus rendering their knowledge virtually useless.

You can read all day about the proper mechanics of the squat only to get under the bar and look like a complete fool should you actually ever attempt the movement. Along the same lines, Pubmed is a great tool, but until you've actually worked with clientele in the real world and come to grips with the fact that life doesn't take place in a controlled laboratory environment, participating on Internet message boards will be the height of your career.

The most advantageous methods are only discovered by testing out controlled research in the real world. Experiment with the knowledge you obtain from various sources and find out what works best for you.

"Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired." Martha Graham

I remember when my good friend Eric Cressey and I were just starting out as writers in 2002. Both of us were regular forum posters here, we'd been discussing our desire of someday writing articles. Since we're both fairly accomplished authors today, I don't mind saying that while we had some solid ideas to write about in '02, putting those thoughts into article form wasn't exactly our strong point.

I actually ran across a couple of rough drafts of some of our initial articles the other week while sorting through some old floppy disks. Man, it's hard to believe we actually wrote that stuff. Before finally having something halfway decent to send off to an editor, it'd be a month or two of throwing rough drafts back and forth to each other (and at least two or three other people) and revising, revising, revising. Now articles are written in a few days, we revise as we compose, and editors are pleased to receive submissions from us because they know they're not going to have to do much to the piece before running it.

Whatever your passion, you should be working at it on a daily basis. Very few people are naturally great at whatever it is they do, and even with natural ability, full potential can never be developed without intense work ethic to cultivate it. The more you do, whatever it is you're looking to master, the closer to mastery you'll be.

In the gym, this means repeatedly getting under the bar and working toward new goals. In life, the "bar" may be different, but the process is the same.

"It's best to be the least talented person in the room. It's reciprocal." Wieden & Kennedy

It's nice to be top dog of the group, but unless you've already reached the elite level, being top dog isn't going to make you better, stronger, or smarter. For example, if you have aspirations to achieve a high level of skill within a particular sport, dominating substantially lesser skilled athletes, while having its perks, will do nothing to improve your game.

If you truly want to be the best you can be, find someone much more skilled than you to kick your butt on a daily basis. You may drop a set of tennis six games to love, get hammered on the basketball court 11 to 3, or hear the words "checkmate" only five moves into a game of chess, but I guarantee you that after a month you'll be a better player.

Relating things back to the gym, if your goal to squat 600 pounds, train with people who've already been there, done that. These are the individuals who will push you to the next level. Befriend them. Learn from them.

Additionally, be careful to surround yourself with other ambitious, goal-oriented people. Individuals with a drive to excel will help propel you in the direction of your goals while those content with mediocrity will only hold you down. More often than not, those we associate with are a reflection of ourselves. Choose wisely.

"Fall seven times; stand up eight." Japanese Proverb

Everyone falls. Setbacks are a fact of life. What makes one great is the ability to get back up over and over and over again.

About halfway through my 12-week run in the BFL Challenge, I did something stupid. I was performing a heavy set of calf raises in the leg press machine, and for some reason I dislodged the handles as I pushed the weight up, as if I were going to perform leg presses. At the end of a very tiring set, squeezing out one last intense rep, I quickly let the weight drop... only the guards weren't there to catch it.

Hundreds of pounds came crashing down on nothing but my toes, leaving all ten of them severely sprained. I woke up the next morning barely able to walk. The timing for something like this to happen couldn't have been worse. I'd been making really, really solid progress over the first seven weeks and was genuinely confident that I had a shot to win this thing.

So what did I do? Give up and figure I'll try again another year? Hell no. I took the next week off from leg training (despite the fact that simply being on my feet hurt like hell) and then fought through some very painful heavy squats and deads for several weeks to follow. In the end, I managed to add just over another inch to my thighs, and you know the rest of the story.

Throughout my writing career, I've had plenty of articles and inquiries rejected; virtually every writer has! Abe Lincoln ran for multiple offices — and lost — about a quadrillion times before eventually winning. And then he lost some more: for Senate in 1855, for Vice President in 1856, for Senate again in 1858. In 1860 he was elected President and is known today as one of the most accomplished, memorable individuals ever to lead this country.

Want another example? Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team for God's sake!

Talk to anyone, and I mean anyone, who you believe has achieved even the slightest degree of success. Each will be able to share with you the countless setbacks they experienced before things finally fell into place.

The number one quality all successful people have in common is perseverance. Ruthless determination is what distinguishes extraordinary from just plain old ordinary. On the path to your dreams, there will always be bumps, obstacles, and roadblocks. Just remember, falling only equals failure if you stay down.

"If you don't control your mind, someone else will." John Allston

Imagine where you'd be growth-wise if all you did was go to the gym and crank out three sets of 8-12 per muscle group like just about every bodybuilding mag out there tells you to. And do you think anyone possessing an elite level squat got there by adding ten pounds to the bar every week (i.e. progressive overload)? No. Atypical results are achieved through the use of atypical methods.

The most successful people in both life and the gym have been known to ruffle feathers, stir the pot, and go against the grain. That's not to say that your views must always be antagonistic, or that they can't or shouldn't be influenced by what others have said, done, or written. As mentioned earlier, there's much to be learned from the work of others.

What it does mean, however, is that you should never take anything you hear or read at face value and should always take the time to think critically and draw your own conclusions. Remember, thinking for yourself is a quality of those who lead.

"I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow." Woodrow Wilson

Innovation in one field of study is often the result of borrowing ideas and/or integrating principles from some other related (or even unrelated) field. Within business, marketing strategies in one field may be successfully used in a completely unrelated field.

Bodybuilders, powerlifters, Olympic lifters, and strongmen can all learn from one another. Hell, we're now even utilizing sprinter-type training for the fastest fat loss — quite a ways away from the once thought optimal "fat burning zone."

I attribute much of my success, both with my clients and as an author, to the fact that although my writing is geared toward the aesthetic-minded individual, I'm constantly borrowing ideas from other genres of training to ensure that said individuals are getting the most out of the time they're putting in. Anything training or nutrition related that I can use to accelerate results, I'll use.

Many people will quickly throw out an idea before really looking into how they can use it with their clients or athletes. This close-minded type of thinking is self-limiting. The key is to learn when and how to implement certain techniques, not to disregard them completely. Sure, there are those techniques that are completely useless, but amongst educated peoples, such practices are few and far between.

In life, we can learn from other cultures, people, fields of study, genres of training, and history. True innovators and successful individuals know that two educated minds are always better than one; three or four, even better. Exhaust your resources.

"If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Be successful anyway." Kent M. Keith, The Paradoxical Commandments

Success breeds jealousy. No matter who you are or what you do, if you're successful, you'll have your group of naysayers. If you're in the public eye, it'll be even worse, and if your field is in any way Internet related, watch out!

You'll find that people who haven't so much as exchanged two sentences of conversation with you will absolutely hate you. Sounds crazy, but it's true. They'll talk about you behind your back, on other message boards, and a select few will actually "speak" to you directly, but still of course behind the comfort of their computers.

My advice to you: ignore them. Don't make the same mistake I did early on and take the time to respond to these individuals. They want you to react and feed off your reaction. Don't. When they're ignored, they have nothing. When you react, very little good ever comes of it.

In life, you can expect the positive events and success you experience to bring forth jealousy and negativity from others. Don't be surprised, because it will happen. Instead, let the haters hate and continue to do your thing. In the end, you'll be the one moving forward while the attitude of these individuals will do nothing but limit where and just how far they're able to go.

"What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself." Abraham Lincoln

Nothing wastes talent like pride. When it comes to success and achieving potential, ability is secondary to attitude. Being rather young and still a bit immature when starting my writing career, I handled quite a few situations poorly. Since then, I've grown up and have learned a thing or two. Here are a few.

• Success doesn't mean always being right. Instead, successful people are those who are able to realize when they're wrong.

• Be confident, not cocky. Confidence is a desirable trait; arrogance is not.

• Be professional. While someone may slight you, there's no need to slight them in return. Initially they look like a jerk, and when you reciprocate, you join them.

• Operate with class. What really makes an impression on others is the ability to respond with class when personally attacked. Doing so leaves the other person with very little to say and at the same time does wonders for your own credibility and respectability.

• Put value before pride. Friendships and relationships are too valuable to be ruined by the petty things that often bring about their demise. When you realize what's truly important, you won't let this happen, and if necessary, you'll be the one to initiate making things right.

• Never ever think you've made it. The minute you think you know all there is to know is the minute you suck. Be knowledge hungry, continually seek to better yourself, and realize there's always room for improvement.

In a world in which most are satisfied with just "getting by," as a T-Nation reader, you're already atypical. Continue on that path, use the above ten rules as a guide, and stop at nothing to achieve your life and gym-related goals.

And while this article was certainly written to encourage you, it's just as much of a reminder and means of accountability for me. Go get 'em.

Joel Marion, NSCA-CPT and 2001 Body-for-Life Grand Champion, graduated Magna Cum Laude from The College of New Jersey with Bachelor of Science degrees in both Exercise Science and Health/Physical Education. Having traveled up from 173 pounds to a lean 252 since his birth into bodybuilding less than five years ago, the practical insights and scientific knowledge Joel offers in his writing have helped trainees literally all over the world in quest to the acquisition of their goals. He may be contacted at MaximizeYourEfforts@hotmail.com.

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