“Only those that can see the invisible, can do the impossible.” -Albert Einstein

Hello all, I know it’s been a while, so much to write so little time so I decided to make time today.  I love this quote for so many reasons but to me the one the supersedes them all is that it gives rise to the power of self realization.  Up to this point I have written a lot about living life to the fullest, leading a bigger, more  inspired life but I am not always sure we have the faith or the belief in ourselves that we have the power to do it.

I have read, as we all have, to the point that it has become cliché, that we need to “do what you love and the money will follow” and “find your passion.”   I began to dwell on this so much that it really began to wear on me.  To be frank, it made me nuts.  Why can’t I find my passion? What the hell am I good at?  I started to ask myself some tough questions.  Am I living my life’s purpose? Am I being all I can be and doing all I can to be that person.  What does that even look like and how would I have to show up in life to fulfill that wish?  Then, deeper questions arose.  Am I running my life?  Or am I running from life?

You don’t get in life what you want, you get in life what you are.  I wanted so badly to be a Wall St. trader.  I would comb the NY Times job ads (Yes, the printed newspaper!) with my buddy Mike back in the mid 80’s and dream about what it would be like to be a part of the world of high finance.  I succeeded.  With the help of a network of friends and steadfast determination, I created a career that spanned a quarter of a century of some of the most tumultuous times in financial markets.  I got to travel the world and see and do things a kid from Cranston, Rhode Island would have thought impossible.  I wouldn’t have traded this experience for anything in the world because the greatest thing that came of coming to NYC was finding my wife of 21 years.  It was life’s plan that put me here and it has been a dream come true.  But as time passed, as I said earlier,  I began to reflect, as I often do.  I became more aware of the second half of that earlier statement, you get in life what you are.

My parents were both in the field of psychology.  My mom is a therapist and the bulk of my dad’s career was spent as a school guidance counselor.  I watched throughout my life how they touched people and what an impact they had on people’s lives.  They were great listeners to all who needed to speak their mind including myself and my siblings.  Kids in school would tell me how awesome my dad is.  We would see people in the supermarket with my Mom and they would hug and kiss her.  Still to this day I’ve witnessed reactions from people when they see my Mom that blow me away.  As a teenager I never appreciated it and I begged them to please stop asking me why I felt a certain way,  or what can they do to help and blah blah blah.  I wanted to run from any profession that would make someone so into the emotional, touchy feeling part of life.  Now? All I want to do is help.  I want to make people laugh at life when all they want to do is cry.  I want to make them believe in themselves when they think they are failures.  I want to help them see what their purpose in life is when they think they don’t have one and to raise people up and beyond where they thought they could ever go.

My parents bred that into me and I am eternally grateful for that, because it is a gift, one that I have ignored for far too long.  It has been a round about journey to get to this place, but now that I can see the road ahead it has become a mission rather than a journey:  To touch as many lives as possible, to give hope where there was thought to be none.  It is who I am, it is what I was put here to do and it is liberating to finally know that feeling of the ancient Greek aphorism, “Gnothi seauton” or “Know thyself.”  After a life time of searching I realized that all I was looking for was right there in front of me.   God gave me the ability not only to listen to others, but hear their stories.  To look into their souls and sympathize, lend a shoulder to cry on and a warm embrace to feel okay when they feel alone.

The law of attraction is a powerful, irresistible force.  This week I left behind my career on Wall St. to embark on an entrepreneurial path that will help me to transform lives.  My wife and I will be opening The Max Challenge of Berkeley Township,NJ  in the spring of 2017.  The business is a 10 week challenge that combines the best in fitness classes, nutritional counseling as well as personal motivation to create fast and long lasting changes to our clients appearance and overall health and fitness levels.  Many have described it as a gym, but I feel the term that describes it best is a transformation center.  A place to come to not only transform your body, but your mind and spirit as well.

I decided that it was time for me to walk the walk instead of just writing about it.  As you scroll back through my previous blogs, you will see this decision was made a while ago. There was an instant, a breakthrough moment,  I knew my life was about to drastically change and never be the same.  To many this may look as a massive risk, and it is to an extent.  However, I know that in my heart, to my very core this is who I am and what I was meant to do.  Like finding the right pair of running shoes, you just know when it feels right.  You actually stop and wonder why did it take so long to change shoes, when the old ones were soooo uncomfortable.  As it is said, you don’t have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great.  I could not wait any longer to share my dream to see as many people break through their self imposed limits and have them believe they can be who they want.  That they can do what they want, and go wherever their hearts lead them.  I want to do more for others than they would ever do for themselves.  The blog has been one step, this will take it one step further and beyond.

How do you do this?  Take a chance.  Take a risk.  Be scared and stop thinking so much and just JUMP!  You don’t choose your life’s purpose, it chooses you.  You need to take the obstacles in your life and use those walls to climb up and stand on to reach higher instead of having them get in your way.  We need to fix our priorities.  We have car alarms and home burglary alarms to protect our cars, TV’s and jewelry but we have nothing to protect the most valuable things we own: our thoughts, our dreams, our minds!  Beware of the stealers of dreams.  They come hidden as friends, confidants and sometimes even family members.  It is ironic that those most precious things, the gifts from God, are the ones we take most for granted and can never replace; our material possessions however, which we can replace with a click on Amazon, we seem to value the most.  Can you imagine if Edison, or John Glenn, or Henry Ford had listened to the naysayers, the non believers?   It was their unshakable belief, that although what they were attempting to do had never been done before, their persistence is what carried them.  I can’t count the amount of times that people have told me how many businesses fail in the first year.  To be honest I got tired of hearing that one.  Did you ever stop and think that the very same people who are afraid to see you fail, are just as afraid to see you succeed?

God put you here for a reason.  There is a plan for you and this world would never be the same if you didn’t live your life to its fullest.  Believe in yourselves, dream as big as you possibly can dream and please, do what you were put here to do.

Peace, Mike