When Marissa and I got married in October of 2014, we asked for dishes in our wedding registry as many couples do.
As we settled into our marriage, those dishes became the centerpiece of each of our meals: the bowls, the large dinner plates, the smaller plates and the coffee cups were present each day.
Like any marriage or long-term relationship, you go through highs and lows together. Life comes at often a frightening and unpredictable pace and you always have to ask yourself when you’re making time for one another in between work and family demands.
Then, of course, Sebastian was born roughly three years after our wedding and having a child in the mix adds another degree of joy and complexity to the family dynamics.
When the cracks started to form in our marriage, cracks were forming elsewhere too: in our dishes.
Cups that we expected to last for decades of our lives were breaking.
Dishes that we had hoped to dine on until old age were cracking down the middle.
Next thing you know, we’re down to fractions of what we had asked for when we got married, an eerie parallel to what was happening in our marriage as well.
After we got our relationship back in order, we were taking inventory of what was left of those dishes. I made the comment that it was odd how nearly every dish had been discarded and little was left, much like our marriage had once been reduced to before we sorted it all out.
Without missing a beat, Marissa said: But our china is intact, which means the bones are still good.
She was right.
No matter where you are, no matter who you are and who you’re with, you have a foundation.
You can make it a strong one or an unstable one.
If you want the foundation to last, you build it strong, structurally sound, so that it can withstand the elements around it.
Maybe those dishes we had picked out over ten years ago were part of a defective line. Maybe they all had to be recalled or discontinued because they weren’t durable enough.
If you want something to last, from your health, to the love you build with others, you make it durable, you make it withstand pressure.
And if you want to be proud of it, make sure the bones are good.
1-Think about places you sit in your home which trigger the desire to eat/snack. For me, one of the worst things to do is stay in the kitchen after I’ve eaten a meal. The longer I stay in the kitchen, the more I tend to gravitate to the fridge, the counter and the pantry looking for something else. Not because I’m hungry but because I need a better distraction and I need a change of scenery. One of my former clients found that one particular sitting area in their living room triggered the desire to eat. They changed where they sat and the trigger went away.
2-Exercise your “No” muscle. “No, thank you, I’m full.”, “No, thank you, I’ve had enough.”, “No, I’m sorry, I can’t make that event.”, “No, thank you, no more drinks for me.”, “I appreciate it but “No”, my stomach doesn’t feel right when I eat that.”, “No, I’m sorry, my schedule is too chaotic right now.”
3-Conversely, flex your “Yes” muscle. “Yes, I’ll take more vegetables.”, “Yes, I’d love to go for a walk.”, “Yes, I need to consider all of the things I’m grateful for.”, “Yes, I’d love to learn a new skill/hobby.”, “Yes, I’d like to book that therapy/self-care appointment.”
4-Comparing your caloric needs against someone else is (almost) pointless for the same reason as comparing your salary against someone else. Different people, different needs, different histories, different responses to stress, different life demands, etc. Your needs are your needs and they may not be fair but they’re still valid.
5-Feel your feelings. If you’ve used food to avoid your feelings, that may have been a useful and necessary tool in the past but at a certain point, you’ll need to acknowledge your feelings (especially the uncomfortable ones) and allow them to exist without using food/alcohol to wish them away.
6-Yes, your spouse/significant other loves you. Yes, they would do anything in the world for you. Yes, they have a list of great attributes. No, they may not be a great support for your fat loss goals. You can either help them understand your triggers and vulnerabilities to help them improve their support or you can hire someone to help you…or likely both.
7-Fat loss plateaus are to be expected but don’t make the mistake of assuming that because your diet is “mostly” healthy that it’s calorically appropriate for fat loss. You’re either eating/training to achieve an energy deficit or you’re not. That’s not a judgment. You can eat the most nutrient rich diet on the planet and too much will still be too much.
8-Have a strategy/philosophy for how you eat when life gets unpredictable. Is it a protein-centric choice? Can you moderate the amounts? How will that choice make you feel after you eat it? What is the most beneficial way to approach that meal/those food options?
9-If you struggle with binge eating, heal that first before you tackle fat loss. Yes, some degree of fat loss may occur when you reduce the frequency and size of your binges but the binge behaviors need to be the first priority of change.
10-Some people “can” outrun the fork, however, if you’re not going to commit to training more than you currently do and the scale isn’t moving, then you either have to dial down the intake, or dial down the intensity of training to reduce your hunger signals. Chronically punishing yourself for your food choices through training can be a sign of exercise bulimia.
11-Be kind to yourself. Feeling shame over your appearance or guilt over how you eat may get you off the couch to make a change but at a certain point, you’re going to have to respect that magnificent and amazing body of yours for what it’s capable of and stop hating it to the finish line.
12-If you are not psychologically in position to lose fat, don’t despair. A weight neutral approach to your health, still counts. Just start moving and get consistent with your movement practice. When the time is right, you can focus on fat loss. You may only need to lose a fraction of your current weight to improve internal markers. Stay current on your comprehensive blood work to see what’s happening beyond the number on the scale. A drop of 5-10% of your current weight may be all that you need to see improvements in bloodwork.
I had been toying with the idea of writing this article for a few days and, I just recorded a podcast with my friend and fellow coach, Dave Whitley, on his show Advancing Man Podcast. It seemed like now was the time to write it.
I don’t really think about the term “masculinity” very much. I wasn’t raised in a home where I was encouraged to be this hyper-realized version of a man. I was raised by a mother and a father who were kind and compassionate, not afraid to be sensitive or vulnerable, who showed love openly to each other and to me and there was never a definition of: a man does THIS or a man does THAT.
I also have to acknowledge a few other things because they may play into my interpretation of “manhood” as I’ve come to understand it. I’m a white, cisgender male, raised in a mostly middle-class family in mostly middle-class neighborhoods. I understand that with those terms has come some degree of privilege that I have not always been openly aware of, yet may exist all the same.
I have two sons, one who just turned 16 and is on the autism spectrum and one who is 6 and is not on the spectrum. Should either of my sons ask me: Dad, what does it mean to be a man? I have no clear answer to give them because my definition would probably fall into traits that men or women could equally exhibit.
In my estimation:
A man should be honest, and should have integrity, and where a man is not honest or does not have integrity, he should strive to improve both.
A man has been a son to someone and he should be a caring, considerate, compassionate and thoughtful son. This man, may or may not have had kind and loving parents to model those attributes, and if he did not, he has an obligation to learn those attributes so that he can be a better partner, and, if the opportunity present itself, a better father.
A man should be accepting that he not succeed in every area of his life, as no man can be perfect. Should he recognize that he has faults, he should learn from others how to improve his areas of weakness and vulnerability, not with the aim of being perfect, but with the aim of becoming better.
A man should have the ability to improve his fitness: his physical fitness for his own personal strength, his mental and emotional fitness so that he can treat himself and others with respect and kindness, and his financial fitness so that he can provide (or contribute in providing) for those he loves and supports.
A man should learn to love and be loved. He should know how to be a friend, how to be a caretaker, and how to be a confidant.
A man should be trusted.
If a man falls short in any area of his life, he should have access to people and resources who can help him climb the next rung up. No man should ever be in a position where he is forced to stay down. A man should have space to fail, and fail by fantastic measure so that he understands the value, sacrifice and effort it takes to be and become better.
A man should know how to cry.
A man should learn how to heal.
Should a man have the opportunity and gift of being a father, that man should not only embody all of these attributes but strive to teach them. He’s allowed to make mistakes, even in front of his children, as long as he teaches and shows his children that they are allowed to make mistakes too, with the knowledge that mistakes can be fixed.
A man should be able to say: I was wrong. I’ll do better.
A man should be able to say: I’m sorry. That was my fault. I can change that.
If I come back to this at a later date, I may have more to add. Time will teach me things and give me perspectives that could improve the message.
I don’t know what it’s like to live as a gay man or a transgender man but I believe (and am open to being corrected) that many of these attributes apply to them as well.
I don’t know what it means to be a man of a different color and any societal pressures those men may live with. I only have my experience, in my own shoes, and respect for those who live differently.
I’ve learned how to be a better man through my wife, through therapy, through fatherhood and through coaching. I am still the epitome of a work in progress.
If my sons ask me: Dad, what does it mean to be a man? I think it means all of these things (and likely more).
I’ll tell them I’m mostly a good man, who has done mostly good things but there have been periods of my life where I wasn’t a good man and I didn’t do good things. Maybe they’ll get more detail than that or maybe they’ll accept my words and know that I can just be their father and they’ll love and respect me all the same.
I’ll have to be fair and show them a picture of my father, because he was the best at all of it: he was a great man, he was a great father, I believe he was a great brother and a great son.
But truthfully, my mother taught me plenty about being a man, because she married the one she loved the most, and if I know anything at all, he was a great husband, so anything I know about being a man that should be passed on to my sons, I learned it from both of them.
And I’d like to thank my parents for giving me the space to fail when I failed, because I learned a lot from that too.
Hours before he left this world, my Dad whispered to me: You’re my guy.
You’ll be turning sixteen this week and I am still in awe that I have a sixteen year old child.
I want to share a story with you, one that you may never come to understand.
Your teen years have been, in many ways, as unpredictable as I had always heard they would be.
Your voice is much deeper, you’re continuing to grow in height, and you still love to sing (but mostly in the car), go to the movies and collect countless toys and Legos.
With age has come a certain degree of anxiety, something that your mother and I are learning to accept and respect because, like any parents, all we want is for you to be healthy and happy.
Late last year, you were part of a photo shoot with your stepmom, Marissa, your stepbrother, Sebastian, and myself.
We had a wonderful photographer, Allison Ewing, who understood the dynamics of our family and could not have been better or more considerate in taking pictures of all of us: some with all four, some solo, and other combinations of poses as well. We wanted a variety of pictures and she gave us exactly what we asked for.
When we received the photos, we could not have been happier. We found so many incredible shots, many of which we would share with friends and family and have reprinted and enlarged so that they could be in our home and others.
You looked so handsome in those pictures and I blew up a couple of your solo shots to give to your mother because I believed she would appreciate them (and she did).
Because we were so pleased with how so many photos came out, we shared several on social media so that others could enjoy them as well. I went to post some on Instagram and had a smaller amount I could upload into one post, so I very quickly selected a combination of shots to meet the requirement and that was cross-posted onto my business page on Facebook.
Among the very kind words and engagements of our friends, someone who saw my business page made a comment that continues to stick with me.
“She” (not sure if this was a real person or an internet troll) saw that very small collection of photos and assumed that because you were not represented in all of them that we were purposefully excluding you from our family. “She” implied that we should be ashamed as parents for not having you in all of the photos.
Initially, I read the post and was taken aback. I don’t know who the person was and I may never know. I deleted the comment and then, took it one step further, and deleted the entire post.
Social media is a strange place to “live”.
I’ve elected to be a very active participant on social media and have had little to no reservation in posting pictures of my sons or my wife.
Of course, it is the internet, and everyone has the ability to comment as they please.
But what this person doesn’t know is that you are every bit a part of our lives as you would like to be. It’s true that we may see you less than we would like but I’ve never been the type of parent to force you into places you were uncomfortable being.
I understand that, along with autism, your anxiety is a very real thing and I would rather provide an atmosphere and environment where you know you are loved and welcome and that our door always remains open to you.
Jackson, you are, and have always been surrounded by love. Your mother and I have worked hard, in our own ways, to make sure of that.
That some random stranger could make a hurtful comment on social media about you is something I have trouble understanding.
Some might say: Well, maybe you shouldn’t post your private life on social media.
They might be right.
But I am proud of my sons and I am proud to be a father and I want the world to see you both grow and mature and evolve into young men and adults who will shine a light for others to see.
I know you may never read this.
I know you may never understand this.
But I love you dearly, Jackson. For you, are the boy who changed my world. And I, am a better man because of you.
As we were walking from one area to another on our photo shoot, the wind was starting to pick up and none of us had coats on. You were walking next to me and I asked: Are you cold, buddy? You said: It’s so cold and you cuddled up next to me. I didn’t know it then, but Allison snapped that scene from behind.
When I saw that particular photo in the gallery, my eyes started to well up with tears. I have a lot of pictures of you that I love, but maybe this one hits harder than most.
Near or far, I will always be by your side, my sweet sixteen.
A couple of years ago, I was reading a post from a fellow coach (whose name eludes me at the moment) and they were talking about how to address and compliment their fat loss clients.
There was a leaning towards the belief that they would no longer congratulate their clients for fat loss success.
I’ve tried my best to understand and appreciate where that belief comes from.
Here are some factors to note:
Not everyone loses fat in “healthy” ways (they could be struggling with disordered eating behaviors)
Not everyone loses fat intentionally (they could be ill)
Not everyone who loses fat is comfortable being recognized or congratulated for doing so.
Some people may comment: “You look great!” when they see that someone has lost weight which can imply that they didn’t look great when they weighed more.
Sometimes fat loss occurs because someone has been shamed into it
Over the years, I’ve tried to accept and understand my own place in this conversation. I’ve always been a fat loss coach and I know more about fat loss now than I did sixteen years ago when I first got certified.
Perhaps it’s that increased knowledge that allows me to step back and ask: Am I making this client better or worse by helping them lose fat?
In consideration of that, there are changes I’ve been leaning towards over the last few years:
I’ll no longer tell a client they “look great” when they’re successful with fat loss. I may tell them they look strong or they look happy or they look confident (or all three) because I want them to feel and embody those attributes regardless of what the scale says.
I’ll no longer post before and after transformation pictures. I’ve not done this often in my career but I would rather acknowledge someone’s efforts with the recognition that they’ve lost “X” amount without a concentrated focus on their actual physique. If a client of mine would like to post before and afters on their own, I’m perfectly okay with that because it’s a decision they’re comfortable with respective of their place in the conversation and how they want the world to see their efforts.
I’ll never assume a person in a large(r) body is coming to me for fat loss. Some clients come to me having already worked through disordered eating practices. Many of them need to focus on how their body can get stronger before ever considering being in a smaller body. This is one of the many positives of strength training: focus on what your body is capable of now rather than resenting it for what it’s not.
I’ll continue to be mindful of what demographic digests my content. I essentially have two different types of fat loss clients who come to work with me. The type that has no history of disordered eating behaviors and the type who does have that history. Different tools and approaches have different outcomes and assumed risks depending on that individual. I’ll remain mindful and upfront that if I think an approach has a greater risk of lapse or relapse that my audience is aware of it.
I will never stop educating myself on more tools and perspectives. I’ll never know as much as I want to know to service all of my clients in the most comprehensive and effective way. Learning what I can not just as it pertains to larger or smaller bodies but BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ individuals also provides me more depth, insight and nuance to how I can help beyond what I know about nutrition.
Ultimately, it’s an open door conversation that the client takes the lead on. I can’t be the best coach I can be without knowing how they want me to approach dialogue about their bodies.
I do feel that much like you would applaud someone who has put forth diligent effort on a work project, when someone elects to put the work into themselves, some degree of recognition may be what helps them keep going.
I congratulate momentum.
I congratulate small wins.
I congratulate non-scale victories.
I congratulate mindfulness and awareness.
We’re all finding ways to improve who we are and what we are and our place in this world.
The conversations we have about our bodies are personal, sensitive, and always changing.
A special thank you to all of my clients who give me the space to grow as their coach.
It was a week where a holiday (New Year’s Day) was on a Monday which left us with 4 days of the work week left (not including a short shift we have on Saturdays).
Each day, I would tell myself what needed to be done and I normally am pretty good at being productive.
But what I found was that I was wasting a lot of time.
I’d get on Facebook or Instagram or YouTube and just vanish down the vortex and lose track of time.
I know I have a tendency to do this but sometimes it’s difficult to catch myself.
As I looked towards this week, I brought back a tip I had used in the past to remind myself that other tasks take priority over social media scrolling.
So, I blocked off the time in each day where I knew I’d be on our training floor, as I knew that certain tasks couldn’t be accomplished during that time.
I forecasted ahead which days I would be exercising and blocked off an hour for those days.
Then, I picked the days and times that would be used exclusively for studying (I’m taking an exam in the Spring that I need to be ready for).
I know that each day has the potential to throw me a curveball, but just like setting a doctor’s appointment in the future, if the activity is blocked off, I know what I’m responsible for doing during that time.
Then, I can give myself a breathing window, if I need it. If I find myself drawn to hop on social media, I just have to remind myself, THIS is when I train, THIS is when I study. Social media can wait, it just won’t be done during those times.
I know that my schedule looks different than yours but I also know that what we don’t prioritize for ourselves will get prioritized by someone else. I can’t control everything but I can control some things.
So, follow my lead if you need it, schedule your workouts, schedule your self-care times, schedule your reading/studying, schedule your pedicure/manicure, get it in stone.
It’s not a fool proof plan to keep you from backing out, but it’s better than leaving your day to chance.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been in heavy marketing mode for “Fat Loss Simplified”, and the group began on January 1.
I’ll spend the next 8 weeks providing as much information and value as I can to those members in efforts to help them unlock, crack or “hack” their individual codes to fat loss.
One thing I’ve been consistent about is that there is nothing sexy about the work that needs to be done.
It’s difficult. Especially if you want it to work.
Think of it like relationship/marriage counseling. You know something is amiss and now it’s up to you to fix it. You don’t just show up and expect everything to be fine. The challenge, of course, is that the relationship is the one you have with yourself (well, mostly).
So, I’m going to go against the grain of what you’ll see a lot of posts claiming to offer. You know, that “new year, new you” crowd.
Because it might be a new year, but if you’re not careful the same old you is going to stampede and stumble all the way across it.
Hi, I’m Jason, professional stumbler. I’ll be your guide on this trip. Strap in.
I’m going to side step the food challenges, detoxes, kickstarts, and resets and just ask you a question: Are you happy?
I don’t care what you weigh.
I don’t care what you eat.
I don’t care if you plunge in cold baths, or you drink lemon water with cayenne pepper to flush out your toxins from the last 30 days of diet debauchery.
Are you happy?
Do you get to the end of your day and pause to think: I feel really fulfilled right now. My life isn’t perfect but I’m grateful, I’m happy, I’m content, I’m GOOD.
Because if you’re not saying that, then what are you doing to change that?
Exceptions to be given to those of you who are taking care of someone who may not be in this world much longer, or maybe you’re grieving the recent loss of a loved one, or maybe you just lost your job or a long term relationship just ended.
Those traumatic experiences aside: are you happy?
What I’m not insinuating is an aloof, oblivious take on life. I’m not asking you to do somersaults and cartwheels through every occasion (it would be entertaining, though).
You can be both happy with life and itching to improve it.
You can be happy with life and striving for better within that life.
You can be happy with life and still hold yourself accountable towards protecting and maintaining that feeling.
Happiness isn’t about capturing perfection.
It’s about the comfort in knowing that you have gifts which surround you of love, and health, and friendship and opportunity. Some people have little of those privileges.
My hope for you, is that in 2024 you acknowledge, accept and embrace happiness in your life.
I hope it sets a fire under you in the mornings to make you ache for more and to take those closest to you on that journey with you.
Hardships will come, struggle is inevitable, and some days you’ll have to work at it more than others.
I believe, those are the situations that make you appreciate happiness more.
So, thank you, to all of you readers who were along for the ride in 2023. Let’s see what 2024 has to offer.
Earlier this year, I was inspired to create a group coaching program. I took that inspiration from a course I was taking on social media content and saw the way that a short-term group could have themed modules on different aspects of a given topic.
I spoke to a friend and fellow coach about his group coaching program knowing that he had been running one successfully for a few years now and it helped me shape my thoughts about how to make one of my own.
I ran a soft launch from mid-October to mid-December this year and I was very pleased with how it turned out. I knew that in consideration of U.S. holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas, fat loss success could be challenging during this time of year.
I took two approaches to that:
1-If the tools provided in the group could help people lose fat during this time of year then they could work at any time of the year.
2-Even if someone weren’t in place to put the tools in motion during this time, they could revisit the modules at a later date when life wasn’t so stressful.
The soft launch gave me the feedback I needed to make the launch official for January 1, 2024. Coincidentally, that falls on a Monday which makes me laugh a bit because “everyone wants to change on Monday” and “everyone wants to change in January”.
So, I wanted to pull back the curtain on what you can expect from the group for those who have an interest in joining.
Each week, we have a Zoom call running roughly an hour in length covering a new module. If members can’t make the call, they will be recorded and uploaded to watch later on. All members have lifetime access to the private Facebook group so they can get the content as needed.
There are weekly check-ins where I can monitor and provide feedback based on the member’s goals and the group is there to provide support and encouragement along the way.
The modules break down like this:
Week One: Mindset
Week Two: Tracking Options
Week Three: Macros & Deficits
Week Four: Exercise
Week Five: Support Systems & Food Environment
Week Six: Stress Management & Sleep Hygiene
Week Seven: Supplements, Hydration, & WWJD (What Would Jason Do?)
One thing I have to impress is that it does require work. Yes, you can probably just “show up” for the calls and find value in the program but if you want to not only change but have those changes stick, then the course requires you to put in work.
Fat Loss Simplified is not a fat loss challenge and it’s not a contest. There is no first or second place prize. One of the best things that happened in the soft launch was that none of the members discussed their fat loss progress with each other. I saw this as a benefit because it allowed each member to succeed on their own merit without comparing against someone else.
The regular price for the program is $159/mo for two months. I’m running a promotion through the end of 2023 where you can join for $129/mo for two months. My vision is to run this program approximately four times each year so if you don’t make it in for the January-February group, you can join in the April-May group when it launches.
Fat Loss Simplified was a way for me to distill and condense 16 years of coaching into an 8-week course that gives you every tool I believe someone will need to approach fat loss with the best strategies for success without having all of the noise that contributes to topic.
I’m very proud of the finished product and I’m very grateful to the members who were part of the soft launch who helped me flesh the details out.
If you’re interested in joining, sign up before the end of the year to lock in the best price.
I’m not sure what it is but it seems that every year since 2020 has its own elements of being completely surreal. 2023 was no exception just in its own unique ways.
This year, family health took priority over a lot of other things. Both my mother and my wife had circumstances come up which took a great deal of time, attention, travel, prayers and well-wishes, and a total of four surgeries between them.
This required me to be away from work more than I’m used to but it’s great credit to my staff, Coaches David and Nick, for holding the studio down in my absence. It also is credit to a very patient and understanding community who knew that family comes first when it comes to what life throws our way.
Also, in some bittersweet news, Big Rocks Nutrition folded officially this year. Those who followed the work I was doing with that business under the caring eye of Dr. Spencer Nadolsky may know that his Sequence platform was acquired by Weight Watchers earlier this year and that required that we shut down the doors to BRN. It was an absolutely awesome experience and I can’t thank Dr. Spencer enough for the opportunity. He was a great guy to work for and the team of coaches that I got to work side by side with are the cream of the crop. A big loving shout out to Coaches Rachel, Michelle, Alja, Jenny and Sarah and of course, our man behind the scenes, Dan. Much love to you all. I know that Spencer will do great things with WW.
As I pull together my annual list of things you may have missed, here are the Top 5 articles of the year on this blog:
I was a featured guest on the Good Vibes Wellness Podcast with host extraordinaire, JD Roberto. You can check that episode out HERE.
This was also a year where I tried to focus more on my continuing education. I picked up two more certifications, both of which through Girls Gone Strong and now hold those certificates as a Menopause Coaching Specialist and Women’s Coaching Specialist. I can’t speak highly enough of this organization.
In addition, I picked up continuing ed in Dr. Jake Linardon’s Binge Eating Essentials For Health Professionals and I worked with Brianna Johnston through her Grow & Scale course for Instagram content and services.
As a result of the latter, I began pushing my online services more this year than in previous years. It allows me to work with people who aren’t geographically close to RevFit and it helps me broaden my own experience as an online coach. That work then led to the release of “Fat Loss Simplified”, an 8-week online group coaching program. I’ll be speaking more about that in next week’s post.
Since there was so much happening with family, continuing education and work, I made a conscious effort to slow down my own book buying because I couldn’t catch up on all the books in my office I still had left to read. I finally conquered that mountain this year. I officially have no more room for books in my office and the picture you see below is nearly all of the 1200+ books I’ve acquired and read/listened to over the last 15 years.
I love the process of reading, to actually hold a book in my hands and go cover to cover, even though I rarely take notes or highlight key passages. I’m just along for the ride and I’ve been that way since I was a kid. Now that all of the books have been read, I can start to buy new ones again and filter out/donate the ones I won’t read a second time.
As I’ve done in previous years, here’s every book I consumed in 2023.
1-The Artist’s Way by Jane Cameron
2-Transforming #1 by Ron Smothermon
3-Corporate Rock Sucks by Jim Ruland
4-In My Own Words by Mother Theresa
5-The Laws Of Thermodynamics by Atkins
6-Stone Of Tears by Terry Goodkind
7-Blood Of The Fold by Terry Goodkind
8-Temple Of The Winds by Terry Goodkind
9-Mark Fisher’s Book Of Fitness Business Secrets by Mark Fisher
10-Soul Of The Fire by Terry Goodkind
11-Faith Of The Fallen by Terry Goodkind
12-A Slow Fire Burning by Paula Hawkins
13-The Gloaming by Melanie Finn
14-The Shredded Chef by Michael Matthews
15-The Power Of Positive Fitness by John M. Rowley
16-Not On Our Watch by Don Cheadle and John Pendergrast
17-Resistance, Rebellion and Death by Albert Camus
18-Some New Kind Of Kick by Kid Congo Powers
19-Healthy For Life by Dr. Roy Strand
20-There Was A Light by Rich Tupica
21-The Listening Party Volume 2 by Tim Burgess
22-Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg
23-Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
24-In The Garden Of Beasts by Erik Larson
25-You Just Need To Lose Weight by Aubrey Gordon
26-Dawn by Octavia E. Butler
27-Adulthood Rites by Octavia E. Butler
28-Imago by Octavia E. Butler
29-The Producer by Dunstan Prial
30-Faust’s Gold by Steven Ungerleider
31-Anything You Want by Derek Sivers
32-Whatcha Gonna Do With That Duck? by Seth Godin
33-Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
34-Zen and the Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig
35-The Book Of Stretching by Bob Doto
36-A Very Irregular Head by Rob Chapman
37-The Protein Book by Lyle McDonald
38-Punk Paradox by Greg Graffin
39-Bourdain: The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever
40-Slayer: 66 2/3 by DX Ferris
41-Death March by Edward Yourdon
42-The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien
43-The Vagina Bible by Jen Gunter, MD
44-Just As I Am by Cicely Tyson
45-Natural Solutions For Digestive Health by Jillian Teta and Jeannette Bessinger
46-The Strongest Shall Survive by Bill Starr
47-The Ruined Map by Kobo Abe
48-Life and Death On The New York Dance Floor by Tim Lawrence
49-The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
50-Rational Recovery by Jack Trimpey
51-Menopause Coaching Specialist Certfication Textbook by Girls Gone Strong
52-Kaboom by Matt Gallagher
53-Dead People Don’t Lose Weight by Michael Cruickshank
54-Portfolio Life by Daniel Corbett
55-Woe Is I by Patricia T. O’Conner
56-It Came From Memphis by Robert Gordon
57-The Body In Action by Sarah Key
58-The Afghan Campaign by Steven Pressfield
59-Consolations by David Whyte
60-Anatomy Of A Breakthrough by Adam Alter
61-Immune by Philipp Dettmer
62-How To Write, Speak And Think More Effectively by Rudolf Flesch
63-Why Calories Count by Marion Nestle
64-Drift by Meredith Paige Nejame
65-The Diabetic Muscle & Fitness Guide by Phil Graham
66-Rememberings by Sinead O’Connor
67-GGS-1 Plus by Girls Gone Strong
68-Sweet Soul Music by Peter Guralnick
69-GGS-1 Coaching by Girls Gone Strong
70-Rich As F*ck by Amanda Frances
71-The Menopause Manifesto by Dr. Jen Gunter
72-You Are A Badass At Making Money by Jen Sincero
73-Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
74-Think Like A Monk by Jay Shetty
75-Twenty Thousand Roads by David N. Meyer
76-No Excuses by Brian Tracy
77-The Gap And The Gain by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
78-Deskbound by Kelly Starrett
79-Success Is A Choice by John C. Maxwell
80-Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish
81-The Woman In Me by Britney Spears
82-Everything Fat Loss by Ben Carpenter
83-A Lapsed Anarchist’s Approach to Managing Ourselves by Ari Weinzweig
84-Men In My Town by Keith Smith
85-Chop Wood Carry Water by Joshua Medcalf
86-Stay Fanatic, Vol. 3 by Henry Rollins
87-A Good Man Is Hard To Find & Other Stories by Flannery O’Connor
88-Awakening The Heroes Within by Carol S. Pearson
89-The Last Diet by Shahroo Izadi
90-The Teachings Of Buddha
91-Imperium by Ryszard Kapuscinski
92-Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment by Daniel Kahneman, Oliveier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein
93-The Power Of A Note by Sheena Leedham
94-Bonsai by Alejandro Zambra
95-33 1/3: The Geto Boys by Rolf Potts
96-33 1/3: Uptown Saturday Night by Patrick Rivers and Will Fulton
97-33 1/3: Homogenic by Emily Mackay
98-33 1/3: In On The Kill Taker by Joe Gross
99-33 1/3: Transformer by Ezra Furman
100-Jeff Buckley: In His Own Voice by Mary Guibert & David Browne
101-Maldoror by Comte De Lautreamont
102-Mystery Train by Griel Marcus
103-Grit by Angela Duckworth
104-Start With Why by Simon Sinek
105-Making It Home by Teresa Strasser
106-Long Road by Steven Hyden
107-If Not Dieting, Then What? by Dr. Rick Kausman
108-(R)evolution by Gary Numan
109-Bunnyman by Will Sergeant
110-Constructive Living by David K. Reynolds
111-Getting Better Bite By Bite by Ulrike Schmidt, Janet Treasure, & June Alexander
Every day, (literally) EVERY day, I receive an email (often multiple), or a Facebook/Instagram message from someone reaching out to help me build my business.
What they typically offer (or say they offer) is based on speed and reach.
They want to send me 10-20 new leads every month, or blast emails out to hundreds of thousands of potential clients or help me grow my Instagram account by 5-10k followers as long as I’m willing to pay whatever the service costs.
Every day I receive these messages, there is that little twinge in me, to maybe, just maybe, take them up on it. Because what they’re selling is hope and potential.
The problem is, I’m coming up on 15 years of business and I’ve been advertising my services for free on social media for about 7 years now.
I don’t want 10-20 new leads every month of people who may never sign up and know nothing about us.
I’d much rather have 1-3 new leads who were referred in to us by currently happy clients.
I don’t want hundreds of thousands of people to get an email blast about us. I want the people who have some connection to us to read our updates, or catch up on this blog or stay in the loop with the success of our clients.
I don’t want speed. I want effectiveness.
If you’re trying to lose fat, every day you are bombarded with jaw-dropping transformations, slick new supplements, the diet du jour that your neighbor Karen is currently doing or whatever bullshit Joe Rogan peddles on his podcast.
Which means that no matter how good things are going for you, every time you hop on social media there is inevitably someone who is getting to their goal faster and you’re inclined to think: Maybe I’m doing the wrong thing and I should do what they’re doing.
And this is part of what keeps people stuck.
They hop and hop and hop from one thing to the next without fully being invested in any of them.
They’ll dip their toe into the pool of “hope and promise” without diving all the way in.
To be fair, not every option out there is worth working through and certainly, in my case, not every salesperson soliciting their service to me can provide me with the success I want.
With fat loss, if you want lasting success, you need to not only work but be patient and continue to tweak and refine, tweak and refine.
With owning a business, if you want lasting success, you need to not only work but be patient and continue to tweak and refine…
The best marketers know how to find your pain points to get you to “Buy Now” and you know just as well as I do that just because someone found your area of vulnerability doesn’t mean they can provide you a solution.
Be fully invested in yourself and to lovingly steal the words of one of our coaches here at the Rev, Nick Morton: “You have to be willing to bet on yourself.”
Because maybe what you need less of is what worked for someone else and what you need more of is the confidence and belief that you have all the tools you need, you just need to use them.
Jason Leenaarts 