Embrace the Grind: 2013

It's all about the work

Update from surgery: I have hit a stride in my recovery from reconstructive ACL surgery. I am now at 180 lbs which means I have gained 16 of the 24 pounds back. I now have my eyes firmly set on 200 lbs by the End of July. My goal for the month of May, however, is to knock out 20 hill sprints in 30 minutes.

About a month ago I got a job as a cook at a pretty amazing restaurant. A restaurant that has been awarded 5 stars by the News and Observer, and is run by the most talented chef in North Carolina, Steven Greene. Being a 17 year-old working with professionals, who are the best at what they do, has been an eye opening experience--one that has transformed and impacted me, and one that I'm glad is taking place. What I'm learning each and every day is that it's all about the work. Talking is nice and everything, but, frankly, it's not going to get you where you want to be. The work, however, will. It's not easy sticking to a plan and attacking it with a relentless, indomitable will each and every day, it's not easy leaving behind all the negativity and negative people in your life, it's not easy hammering away endlessly at the minutia, but it's worth it. And it's all a necessary part of living a purposeful and successful life.

I look at it like this: You can sacrifice and attack your dreams with everything you have now, or, say in twenty years, you can look back and wonder why you didn't. For me the choice is easy. You can choose to become successful, choose to leave a mark that will endure by just doing you--by pursuing your interests rather than listening to someone else's.

Forget about the past and focus on the present, forget about every little thing you would've done differently and get to work now. Right now. Not tomorrow, not the day after that. Today. Because the time is now for us to get to work and to get to the place that we have envisioned. There are no excuses in our journey, no excuses that can serve as reason for failure. It's time to live up to our potential; It's time to get to work. It's not too late. The race ain't over.

Thanks for reading. JG

How to Cook an Egg

"If you can cook an omelet, you can cook anything. "

Recently I have started to learn more and more about cooking. If you have not checked out Tim Ferris's book The 4 hour Chef then you should do so immediately. Tim has some great points on cooking and learning, or as he describes it, Meta-Learning. Anyways, if cooking is your interest, then I suggest you start with properly cooking an egg. I firmly believe that if you can properly cook an egg, you can cook or create anything in the kitchen. Let's get to it. Here's what you will need:

3 EGGS (Your choice although farm-raised are probably ideal)
2 Forks (1 for mixing the eggs, 1 for eating the eggs)
1 regular sized bowl
1 Non-stick Pan
Olive Oil
A Stove-top
A Rubber Spatula

And Now for the Process :

Take Your 3 eggs and Crack them on a Hard Surface(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfHqdc4pbbs
Put The Eggs into the bowl
Mix the egg mixture with a fork, stirring forcefully for about a minute (You want a good consistency)
Leave that bowl to the side for now
Turn your stove-top on to medium
Put a quarter sized drop of olive-oil onto your Non-Stick Pan
Put your Pan onto the stove-top for 10 seconds
Lift the handle of your Pan and maneuver it so that Olive Oil is spread evenly throughout the pan
Pour the Eggs onto the Pan
Let the Eggs sit on the Pan for about a minute
Once you can see the Eggs set(aka the edges are not liquidy) then you get your Spatula
With Your Spatula push the solid edges of the Egg in and let the remaining liquid take the Empty Space
Wait about 5 seconds for Egg to firm a little
Flip The Egg Over By picking up the pan and Using a QUICK forward and back motion
Serve.

Conclusion: Your Egg should be perfectly yellow all around. There should be NO BROWN spots on the egg--if there are then you will have to be a little quicker next time. Happy Egg-Making!

How To Fold a T-Shirt In Two Seconds

"You gotta know when to hold-em, know when to fold-em." - Some country singer

Wow!!! Who would have thought it was possible that everything you have been taught about folding shirts is a lie! Yes, thats right, a lie. That is assuming you have not seen this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An0mFZ3enhM . Now I know most of you could care less about efficiency in folding shirts, but it's a very interesting topic to me for the following 3 reasons:

Doing anything better than 99% of the population is awesome(especially something that seems simple)
I am a manager for a sports team and this will help me improve my effectiveness
I can now impress my mom by keeping all of my shirts folded (and do it in half the time)

As you can see the benefits are numerous, and best of all it only took about 15 minutes to learn and 20 minutes to master. Learn how to fold a shirt in two seconds by following the these steps:

Watch the video I have linked at least two times prior to touching a shirt.
Take a shirt and go through the steps slowly. Repeat.
Go get a stopwatch and set the timer for 5 minutes. During this time practice correct form and don't worry about speed, however, the end fold should be neat.
Now you're ready for the big-time! Practice folding as quickly as you can for the next 5 minutes(use the stopwatch you lazy sonofab!!!!!) You should be averaging about 2.5 to 3 seconds per shirt by now.
You now have to work on top-end speed. Go as fast as you can for the next 5 minutes (repetitions should be less than 2.2 seconds each time) and don't worry too much about how neat the fold is-- it's purely about speed. I was able to get a shirt done in 1.87 seconds during this phase.
Now go back to making the fold a bit neater and keep the speed up--I hit a 1.89 perfect folded t-shirt about 1 minute into this phase of my folding education.

Finally, don't brag too much to your friends and family about how cool you are with your now superhuman folding skills. Believe it or not, they may not care about this as much as you or me, but don't fret--the benefits of acquiring this skill transcend praise from your peers. Get a shirt and get to work. Happy Folding!

Thanks for reading. JG

What Really Matters

Too often in life it is easy for us to become self-absorbed individuals. You know what I'm talking about--you get to the point where you forget to show the people you love just how much you love them. And while it's a common fault it's still not something to be okay with, because there may come a time when you won't be able to let someone else know how you truly feel about them. And being there for others and making an impact in their lives, in my opinion, is what really matters.

"A friend who dies, it's something of you that dies."

There's nothing in this world that puts things in perspective quite like death. The death of a loved one illustrates just how important being there for others and showing them how much you love them is. It's easy to take for granted the relationships you have with the people around you: you may think, for example, that your boyfriend/girlfriend understands that you love them; you may think that your family understands how much you love them; you may be absolutely certain that your friends know how much you love them--but my question to you is do they? Do they really understand how much they mean to you? When was the last time you told them that just how much they mean to you? Was it last week, last year, or worse--have you never told them how you would do anything in the world to help them and be there for them? Better yet, when was the last time you showed them how much they mean to you? Sure telling them is nice, but it's the showing part that really demonstrates the type of love you have for someone--remember that it's your actions, not your words, that defines your character. The point is that your love for the people around you that you truly care for should not be something you keep bottled up inside; rather, it should be something you're proud of, something that you consciously flaunt, something that is evident in both your presence and essence.

I was at my first funeral, a funeral for my 19-year old cousin Katie, and I had to learn these simple lessons the hard way. It took a tragedy to truly understand how important the little things are. And now, more than ever, I know what greatness truly is: greatness is the little things done right day-after-day, week-after-week, year-after-year, until eventually doing the right things the right way every time and every day becomes second nature. Rest in peace Katie, I will miss you and I promise to not forget the wonderful life that you led. And to the reader: Do not be ignorant to the fact that one letter, one phone-call, or conversation could change someone's life. It's never wrong to do the right thing.

Thanks for reading. JG

Train 4 War to The Renaissance Man

"Do Work."- Every great man

Who do you find impressive? Recently I was asked the question and, upon further cerebration, the man who comes to the forefront of my mind is Leonardo Da Vinci. He is undoubtedly one of the most impressive men I have ever read about. Don't believe me? Well take a gander at his Wikipedia page and then tell me you're not impressed. The most awesome and downright amazing thing that I saw on his Wikipedia page was the number of titles that followed his name. There are 12 professions and skills that were used to describe what Da Vinci did and who he was. He was far from a one-trick pony.

After seeing all twelve of his professions, I couldn't help but question my own life--at least a little bit. Sure I'm a pretty good basketball player and student, but why don't I have a host of talents like the great Da Vinci? What would follow my name on a Wikipedia page? I have decided that there is no reason to not become as talented in as many fields as I possibly can--especially while I'm still young. So I'm off to become the next Da Vinci. Will I fail? Who knows. But I can't help but think I'm going to learn a whole lot in the process. And as I'm thinking about it: being well-versed in an innumerable amount of fields is definitely helpful in the game of life. Learning, at least I think, will help me become a better human being and more indestructible human being. In my path to emulate Da Vinci, I will no doubt become a harder human being to kill and that will be helpful in reaching my ultimate goal of becoming a United States Navy SEAL. I will be posting more frequently to share what I did/learned and hopefully the blog will remain/become a fun, informative and purposeful medium to share my thoughts on life.

Thanks for reading. JG

Haters: Just One Part of the Process

Just because you don't understand it doesn't mean it isn't so." - Lemony Snicket

Imagine an average boy. He is around 13 years old and he has only a few friends. He is mediocre in every sense of the word. Now imagine that this same boy gains a vision for his life: he sees himself doing things that have never been done before. At first this vision scares him: he questions it constantly, wondering if what he sees could actually become reality. But, with time, his vision grows inside of him. His confidence grows with each passing day, week, month and year. His friends notice that something is different about the boy: some of his 'friends' say that he is working too hard, or that they don't like the change they see in the boy. Others embrace it. The boy, naturally, decides that the people he spends time with will be the people who are embracing his vision; besides, he realizes that everyone else was just a hater anyway. And he read somewhere that haters are just part of the process. He wasn't cruel or harsh to these haters, though, he just didn't value any of their opinions. He thought to himself, "When people don't understand something they dismiss it." He couldn't hate the haters and the naysayers because he had once been in their shoes. He had once been the very being that he could no longer stand.

The puzzling fact about the situation was this: while he was no longer a hater, he could still spot one from a mile away. He had a penchant for identifying people who could be a hindrance to his dream. This helped him throughout his journey. However, there was still one thing that irked the boy: two of the "haters" happened to be his parents . To be continued. . .

Thanks for reading ~ John Guerra

ACL Recon: 1 Month Update

Wow! It's hard to think that it's already been a month since I have had surgery. There have been numerous athletes that have torn their own ACL's in this past month; namely, Nerlens Noel, Rajon Rondo, and Leandro Barbosa.With this recent outbreak in mind, I think that writing down my personal struggles and triumphs in my journey is as important as ever. So, how have I been doing? The simple and precise answer to that is one word: fantastic. The more fleshed out answer, however, will require a deeper analysis. Here are some facts about where I am now:

I have not taken Tylenol, Advil, Motrin, or any other prescription or non-prescription drug since day 14
I have no swelling in my knee
I have no pain in my knee
I am walking with a normal gait (no brace) and have 137 degrees of active flexion and -3 degrees of passive extension
I am squatting with a weighted barbell
I have been given the okay to start doing basic drills in the pool (walking and leg raises)
I am riding the bike for an average of 45 minutes a day
I am walking up and down stairs comfortably

I feel extremely confident about how my rehab has been going. I know most people are thinking that I'm moving too quickly to weighted exercises, but I have a clear reason for everything that I have been doing. My final thought: if you have torn your ACL(or injured anything else) I urge you to educate yourself on EVERYTHING that you could be doing to get better; don't just trust whatever your surgeon or PT is saying because, at the end of the day, it's your body and your going to have to live with it. Do everything in your power to return to strength and become legendary.

Thanks for reading. JG

The Return: Day 14 Post-ACL Reconstruction

"It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped." - Tony Robbins

I am off the crutches as of now. It took Adrian Peterson 15 days to get off crutches so I am definitely happy with my progress so far. With that said, the hardest part of my day is at night before bed. I greatly dislike having to sleep with my leg straight(and sometimes I don't) but at the end of the day it's just part of the process. Re-learning how to walk has definitely been interesting and I feel like I am extremely close to walking with a normal gait. My extension has also improved markedly and I can straighten my leg out now. The exercises I have been doing are as follows: Straight leg raises, quad sets, heel props, stationary bike, walking forwards and backwards in front of mirror, patellar mobilizations and Terminal knee extensions with a band for resistance. I have been icing as much as I can and that has definitely helped the swelling go down. It is crazy to see that Rajon Rondo just tore his ACL and it'll be interesting to see how he recovers. Until next time.

Thanks for reading. JG

A Major Comeback From a Minor Setback: Days 1-3

"If you're going to go through pain get something out of it." Eric Thomas

It's day 3 post ACL reconstruction for me. The first two days were definitely a challenge, but I feel like I have gotten much better in the past 3-4 hours. I have officially started doing heel slides, heel props, ankle pumps, calf stretches, and hamstring stretches every hour on the hour. In only 48 hours, I have learned so much more about myself, specifically, I have learned that you can take so much more pain than you thought possible. Pain truly is temporary. While going that extra centimeter or inch during a set of heel slides may seem impossible, while the pain may seem unbearable, the truth is you can do it. And this is not limited to the heel slides, it's just a fact of life. When the pain subsides something will be left. The question is what will takes its place? I'm doing everything I can to have success fill the void that the pain will leave. At the end of the day when your time is ready--will you be ready?

Believe and Become. JG