What is there to say about these trips?  In 2011, the Success Club vacation was a Caribbean cruise (read about that here).  If you don’t want to read about it, it was incredible.  In 2012, Beachbody raised the stakes by taking everyone to the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas.  Just like the cruise, that was equally amazing.  This year, though, the focus was a little more family-oriented with a trip to DisneyWorld.  While that  might not have been my first choice of vacation, as a Dad, I was pretty excited because I knew my kids would be off-the-charts excited!  Just like the earlier trips, Beachbody once again put together a magical vacation!

The middle shot is from our balcony!

With these posts, I always strive to share something that I hope will be of value to you, The Reader.  I suppose I could share my opinion of The Animal Kingdom (skip it; the rides are “meh” and the animal part was much more like animal prison than animal kingdom).  Maybe I could give you a plan for maximizing the value of your time at The Magical Kingdom (uh, yeah, you’ll have to check with my wife on that one; she’s the planner for those places!)  How about the jogging route I used while there?  It was a loop.  Do it over, and over, and over again like I did to get in your requisite time or distance.  Rather than waste your time with that stuff, I thought I would share two things: (1) how I earned this trip (my third in a row) and (2) the content from one of the training sessions I attended.  (Part of the trip was a one-day “conference” for those so inclined.)

How Did I Earn a free Family Vacation to DisneyWorld?

One simple word: consistency.  Anyone with whom I work, whether other Beachbody Coaches, fitness clients, or triathletes, knows I preach that success is a mathematical equation, best summarized as shown:

Success = Consistency + Sufficient Time

That formula is all one needs to achieve anything.  Want to be a millionaire?  My first question would be, By when?  If it is January and you want to finish Ironman Arizona (which takes place each November) yet you have no experience?  No problem at all.  With a clear and reasonably-achievable objective, anything is possible.  You simply start at your goal and reverse engineer the plan you need to reach it.  I firmly believe that anything is possible (of course, within reason, sadly I will never sprouts wings and fly) given enough progress towards a goal and sufficient time.  Anything.

For these trips, the qualification rules are just the application of my math formula above.  A Beachbody Coach must makes what is called “Success Club” a requisite number of months during the year.  Three months got you a ticket to the Conference portion (one-day).  Five months got you two one-day park adult park passes.  Nine months got you lodging at the Disney Yacht Club for four nights.  Ten and eleven months got you two adult Park-Hopper passes for each month.  Finally, twelve months got you either a $500 or $1,000 cash bonus.  Nicely enough, a guest was included too.

Given that I was taking my whole family (The Wife, The Boy, and The Girl), there was no doubt about my objective: twelve months.  The Wife might love all things Disney more than The Girl, but it would be a close competition.  Park-hopping, princesses, and more were certainly going to be on our itinerary so I wanted all the prizes I could get!

So, what did I do?  Twelve months of course.  I set my goals at the start of 2012, determined what I would need to do to reach them, and proceeded with determination and desire.  I started on Day 1 of each month at zero and made certain that I had done what I needed to do by the end of each month, without fail.

I am not amazing.  I am not incredible.  But, I can be amazingly and incredibly consistent and persistent.  When I have a goal, I will pursue with steady, dogged determination.  That’s always the key: steady.  In “The Tortoise and The Hare”, the tortoise wins right?  The Hare is faster, quicker, and should have every advantage.  Yet, the Tortoise prevails.  Why is that?  You know the phrase: slow and steady wins the race.  Which part matters more: slow or steady?  The answer is clear.  The fact that the Tortoise is slow means nothing.  All that matters is that he’s steady.  Be steady and you can accomplish anything!

How to be Successful

At any conference, there’s typically some keynote speaker.  He or she will often have some connection the attendees of the conference, like a really experienced lawyer speaking to a room of semi-experienced lawyers, can you say snooze-fest???  I’ve been there and, trust me, it is seriously nappy time during those.  Thankfully, we were spared the boredom of listening to a lawyer.  Rather, we enjoyed Chris Widener speaking about success.  One part in particular, really connected with me and that’s what I want to share: how to be successful.

Mr. Widener talked about four things it takes to be successful: Integrity, Optimism, Service, and Respect.  According to him, to truly achieve success, one must possess and display these four traits.

Integrity

I think we all know what integrity is right?  Walking the walk, talking the talk, and so on are great phrases.  You must live what you teach.  I can’t successfully coach people to race triathlons if I do not race.  Likewise, I cannot offer advice on nutrition if I eat at McDonalds all of the time.  I have to be an example of that which I offer.  Living that way is living with integrity and integrity breeds trust.  Without trust and integrity, true success will never happen.  Someone may achieve a small amount of success but exist as a fraud and there will forever be a ceiling on your growth.

Hmmmm, should I be like these guys???

These guys once had all the trust in the world but exactly zero integrity to go with it.  When this small, but rather critical, fact was discovered, what happened?  They were exposed as shams and liars.  After being revealed for the frauds they are, think they still have success?

Optimism

Ahhh, optimism, one of my favorite things.  I firmly believe that people’s words and actions are a very accurate and candid window into their minds.  Watch someone act and listen to the words they use and you can generally have a great appreciate for what is happening inside.  Want to perform a quick self-test?  Just listen to yourself talk.  Hear what and how you say things, even when joking.

The derivation of the mere word “optimism” is fantastic.  Opt comes from both “to choose or elect” and from “to see”.  What outlook do you choose to have?  How do you choose to see the world?  Ponder these things, especially when circumstances are less than ideal.  People want to be around others than make them feel better and see the glass half-full, all the time, is a great start.

Service

Does anyone do it better than Disney???

Walt just may have been onto something when he required excellent customer service…

Put simply, we all should consider other people’s interests greater than our own.  We, all humans, are here to serve and give of ourselves to help others.  To be successful, you have to determine how best you can serve those that want or need your assistance.  Think of the customer service you receive.  On the trip to DisneyWorld, the service provided by the hotel staff was top notch.  They consistently went above and beyond to provide exceptional service.  Think Disney customer service is one of the reasons the Disney brand is so wildly successful?  You can bet your ass it is.

I don’t think Hilton does it better than Disney…

Respect

People are attracted to excellence and, with excellence, comes respect.  Why are some athletes paid millions of dollars to wear certain shoes, drink certain drinks, or drive certain cars (at least in commercials)?  Because they are the best (or near the best) in their fields.  They are, in a word, excellent.  Michael Jordan drinks Gatorade because Gatorade pays him buckets of cash to do so.  But, millions upon millions of people drink gatorade simply because Michael Jordan does (or does in the commercials).  Why is this?  Does it taste better because he drinks it?  No.  Does it do more for us?  Is it healthier?  Is it cheaper?  No, no, and no.  Nothing about Gatorade changes because it passes the lips of the greatest basketball player who ever lived.

It does, however, become more appealing because he drinks it.  No inherent characteristic changes because of his endorsement but, for some reason, humans are drawn like moths to a flame when someone we view as excellent endorses something, no matter how ludicrous the endorsement.  Want to have the respect of those around you?  Be excellent at something.  Anything.  The “what” doesn’t matter.  Well, maybe avoid being excellent at murder or arson.  But beyond things that are morally repugnant or illegal, just be excellent.

I know, you NEED these products now. My fault.

So, there you have it.  A simple, easy-to-follow path to success and being successful in any endeavor you pick.  Start with any goal, work backwards to create your plan to reach it, and proceed with steady progress towards it and it shall be yours.  Along the way, learn, practice, and live the four traits discussed above and you too can have all the success you crave.  Want to learn how you can go on these trips for free like I did or want to just make some extra income?  Contact me here to become a Beachbody Coach and I will teach you what to do.  As two famous movie stars once said:

Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.