Why I Fight

I read a sample of BJ Penns new book titled Why I Fight. It talks about his life from childhood and goes into his professional MMA career. Must say that the sample parts I read were quite interesting. As I was reading I started to think about my life and career. If i was to write a book I might title it Why I Work. People always ask me why I work so much? Or they'll say "why do you put up with all of the traveling? Is it hard to leave your family all the time for work?". When I get asked those questions I always give everybody the same answer. Simply put, I love my job. Some say I'm crazy or I'm a work aholic. Now when I say that I love my job, it doesn't necessarily mean I love my "job" job. I mean I love the fact that I want to provide for my family. To me that is my #1 job. Don't get me wrong, what I get paid to do is fun but at the end of the day I know I can come home and provide a roof and food for my family.

So what drives me to this? It has to be my mom. My mom was the hardest working person that I know. She is now retired and truely deserves the right to relax now. However when she worked she worked! When I was growing from the age of 5 years old all the way till I turned 18, my mom worked 16 hour days. She worked at two jobs as a nursing assistant. For 13 years my mom helped ederly people. This means feeding them, changing their clothes, changing their bed sheets, even lifting them up to get them in the shower. She did this for 13 grueling years to make sure I had a home, clothing and a meal. Keep in mind my mom weighs about 110 pounds and has been disabled since she was a child due to complications with polio. For years she worked this hard. So do you think I have room to complain about work? I sit in a nice office with a desk and I have a computer. I have it easy compared to my mom.

My drive to be the best comes from her also. She always taught me to appreciate any job that I got because it's not easy to find a job that you love. I am fortunate enough to not only have a job, but I have a career. The job I'm at is a job I chose. The job didn't choose me. A lot of people work in jobs today that they are not happy with but they stay because it pays the bills. Why would you want to do that? Be happy where you're at if not then find something else. When you do find that job you're happy with, be the best at it. Never settle for 2nd best.

So to keep it short, that's why I work. That's why I travel. Simply because I love my job and the dreams that I have will come true soon.

Live to learn, then learn how to live

“You have to live and learn, so you can learn how to live”

People are driven by money, fame and status.  What it boils down to is learning.  You should always base your job not by the paycheck you get, but what you learn from your professional experience.  Pay rates can get deducted, promotions can be delayed, bonuses may never come, however nobody can ever take away your education and experience.  You can never be successful if you base everything on money.  You will be rich, but how far can money take you?  Would you rather be ‘rich’ or ‘wealthy’?  Wealth can come in many forms, those include your experience, your knowledge and security.  I know many people that make two times or even three times more than me, but I know they are not the best at what they do or they still complain that there’s never enough money.  Our country was hit by a big financial crisis in the past few years.  Some of those ‘rich’ employees lost their jobs, homes, status and money.  However, the ones that had a good head and had a road map had no issues finding another job and picking up their lives when they fell.  You have to live and learn, what’s the point of life if you never learned how to live?