This Is Where Your Grit Is Made

Hello and welcome!

My motivation for starting my book (and this blog) comes from an epiphany I had.

It occurred to me over some time, over many sporadic days – during some of the most difficult times in my life.

In these times, it felt like everything was crashing down on me – my marriage, career, and sanity.

In hindsight, I made some bad decisions and more bad decisions on top of them.

I also realize that how I handled the consequences of those decisions was also done very poorly. So… even more bad decisions.

Two things occurred to me:

1.) Everything happening to me was my own doing, my fault; and 2.) My pride was holding me down.

When I analyzed how I got from A to Z, from the good days to the worst days, and I was honest with myself, it always started with a decision I made or didn’t make; or something I said or didn’t say.

It was me.

As I write this, I’m betting it doesn’t immediately strike you as a particularly difficult thing – to step back, look at your circumstances, trace them back to a starting point or series of points, and then realize that that point is YOU…

but it is.

It’s extraordinarily difficult when you’re trying to do that by yourself because it means being honest with yourself.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is F*ing hard!

Why is that?

I’ve summed it up in one word: “Pride.”

Call it pride, ego, vanity. It’s all the same.

Why do you think some therapists exist? We struggle with analyzing ourselves properly.

Because it’s really hard to see ourselves objectively and be honest with ourselves.

So this epiphany wasn’t just a one-time thing. I fought This ongoing battle with myself, and in prayer, for some time. I estimated months to a whole year.

A whole year to be able to say, damn, this was all my fault.

It’s annoying to think about how stubborn we can be, even with ourselves. What else could I have accomplished with my time that year?

I made things much worse instead of acknowledging my mistakes, faults, etc., and moving forward to repair things.

I was going backward.

When I boil it down to the most basic thing, I believe my pride blinded me. It kept me from seeing my mistakes.

It caused me to point the blame to anyone else – my wife, my children, my job, my boss – anyone else but myself, the true cause.

And through this community and using these tools and services, I aspire to help others to see this for themselves.

That sometimes, in fact, the majority of times, our pride is what holds us down.

It keeps us from learning and growing better, destroys our goals and relationships, and prevents new opportunities.

Then it builds upon itself.

You become a slave to it and probably don’t even realize why you do some of the things you do.

Why did you get so angry? Why couldn’t you let it go? Why do you care so much? Why do you want the things you want?

Have I “cured” this within myself? Hell no.

It’s an ongoing, never-ending pursuit of learning about myself and improving.

So I created this company, this mission, and made it my writing objective to battle this thing within me, this blindness called pride, and to convince you to join me on this journey of self-awareness.

When you practice self-awareness, you can begin to take control over your thoughts and emotions and not be held back anymore by yourself.

You can become confident in yourself and who you are, assertive in how you spend your time, and more in tune with how you interact with others.

You know who you are, what you want, and how to go after it.

I realized…

This is where real confidence comes from. This is where grit is made.

Amazing things can be set in motion, and big things can be accomplished if we start from the right place – ourselves.

It starts with getting over Self.

It starts with smashing pride.

Smashing Pride is the title of my upcoming E-book! Subscribe to my newsletter to stay informed about my upcoming E-book and other digital resources I’m creating.