This book is dedicated to my two grandmothers, Granny Abbott and my late Grandma Rowland, two women who thrived through discipline, hard work, and standing their ground. Each of you gave me a different understanding of the world and what it meant to be strong in my own way.
THERES A BADASS hiding inside you. Its time to unleash it. Im not talking about someone whos mean and nasty or a troublemaker. Im talking about a mentally tough person with a powerfully positive attitude... someone who exudes a daring, knowledgeable, make-it-happen drive, with kick-ass charisma... someone who pushes the limits in life from all aspects and knows exactly who she is... someone who respects mind, body, and spirit and rocks with confidence as a result. When people like this do somethingat work, at home, in the gym, whereverthey do it all out.
The reason this breed of ballsy folks is so successful: They know how to kick bad habits to the curband theyve done it. Im talking about bad habits like overeating, not exercising, smoking, abusing alcohol and drugs, and just plain being unkind to yourself. Bad habits mess with your life in a zillion little waysscrewing with your psyche, chipping away at your self-esteem, or putting you at risk of serious physical or mental problems. Consider smoking, for example. Its no secret that this bad habit can ultimately do deadly damage through a heart attack, cancer, or emphysema. So you definitely dont want any bad habits to stall your happiness and success.
How do habits form, anyway? Understand that we are what we repeatedly do. If you do something over and over again, the brain cells involved in that behavior begin to sprout tiny fibers called dendrites. With enough repetition of the behavior, those dendrites grow and entwine with other brain cells. Once theyre all linked up, your brain has formed a physical circuit called a neural pathway, which quickly and efficiently enables the behavior. The new behavior is wired into your brain and is now a habit.
How long does the habit formation process take? It depends on how many times you repeat the behavior. If you repeat it occasionallylike having one or two cocktails a weekthen its not likely that youll develop a drinking habit. If you repeat the behavior five or six times a day, and you get some sort of pleasure-producing reward from it, the habit gets ingrained faster, maybe in a month or so. This goes for bad habits as well as good.
What Im here to help you do is get rid of bad habits and form new ones. And I know all about how to do it. For those of you who dont know me, Im a fitness trainer, competitive CrossFit athlete, business owner, author, and public speaker, among other things. But I wasnt always this productive. Not at all! From age thirteen until my early twenties, I was a mess, physically and emotionally. I was crazyand killing myself with my crazy. I was a heavy smoker. I was a druggie. Booze. Meth. Really bad stuff. I couldnt change; I didnt want to change.
So... habits, really bad habits? Yes, I know more than a thing or two about how to rid your life of them and be a success. It took me a long time to clear up the wreckage of my life, but through it all, I discovered that buried within my psyche was a mental toughness I didnt know I had. Mental toughness encompasses a lot of qualities. Preparation. Focus. An attitude that drives you to persist and strive for things you consider worthwhile. Its a get-off-your-butt-and-do-something reaction to failure. Its about encouraging thoughts that lead to positive emotions and minimizing the negative emotions that demotivate you. Its a head game that lets you take absolute control over your life. Its what having a badass life is all about.
Youre not born with mental toughness; its something you developwhich is what this book is all about. Each chapter covers ways to develop mental toughness so you can be the best for yourself. These are action-oriented techniques Ive used in my life for yearsand techniques I now teach my clients and cover in my seminars and speeches: goal setting, self-love, overcoming failures and setbacks, harnessing positive thinking to attract success, and other issues that will help you seek what makes you happy. All of this is based on my personal experience of creating a better life for myself.
With my own lifestyle and habit shifts, I was able to create a whole new world for myselfa world that I loved and thrived in. I moved up quickly in my work. I was able to create solid business plans with no previous business experience. I implemented practices and created programs that educated, elevated, and empowered my staff. I created nutrition seminars that are uniquely mineand which would lead to my first book and many additional opportunities.
You can do whatever you want by applying my techniques. You can become more financially secure if you want to. You can become physically fit. You can build a business. You can be more successful in your career and in your relationships. You can find happiness and create a self-fulfilling life. Ive seen my personal training clients transformednot only physically but mentally and spiritually as wellby putting these techniques in play in their lives.
So are you ready to form life-affirming habits, such as mental toughness? Will you push fear out of the picture and take control of your life? Will you give up nasty lifestyle habits that are standing in your way of happiness? Will you get rid of self-limiting thoughts and start living life to the max?
To do all this, you have to start implementing good habits to build a foundation so strong that it overrides your bad habits.
I know, ugh!!! That doesnt sound fun at all! Dont worrywere going to make it fun. Youre going to be your own boss, kick bad habits to the curb, and replace them with good ones. Youll build your mental fortitudeautomatically, without all the suffering and sacrifice youve been through a million times before. The goal is a level of happiness and success in your life that you may not have felt before. Thats the badass wayand what this book is all about.
This book is a day-by-day motivational guide designed to encourage habit change and mental toughness through fun, dynamic daily tasks. It takes you through a 30-day program with easy-to-implement solutions involving positive daily habits to create a better, well-rounded lifestyle.
It takes 30 days to break a bad habit and 30 days to make a good one. So if you follow my program faithfully, a day at a time, expect to meet a new badass you at the end of one monthone amazing phenom who looks great, feels great, and storms the scene with heart and soul.
How badass will you be? Total badass.
My 30-day program shows you how to increase your willpower and self-confidence, overcome negative thinking that has held you back before, and love yourself; it also helps increase your creative and logical thinking. The Badass Life will help put the power of your mind, body, and spirit to work for you. This is the whole-package program.
Each day tackles a different subject, with fun activities in different categories that will get you firing on all cylinders. For example:
Mind work that includes quizzes, life questions, or small challenges that make you think, not just act. These help activate your mind for greater motivation and the ability to overcome obstacles. Your mind is really the hard drive of your entire systemthe controlling force. The stronger your mind, the stronger your spirit and body will be. Ill emphasize the power of thoughts, for what we think determines the course of our lives, good or bad. When you change your thoughts, you change your world.