Yin vs YangThe Battle for Success in Life

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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on twitter.

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Colin, a talented friend of mine recently was inspired by the BP Oil incident and made the gut wrenching video below from all of the photos released about the spill. The visuals really hit home for me, choked me up, and inspired me to write some feelings I have had for a long time…

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The BP Oil Spill in the Gulf has really started to highlight a point I think the world has been missing for a long, long time. The truth is, WE are all connected. Yes, we meaning the Earth, all of its inhabitants, and humanity itself. Every creature plays a part in making this world what it is: but a small part of an expanding universe.

Yet for some reason, some time ago, the idea that animals, the Earth itself, or any other living organisms have the equal right to life as humans was discarded as hogwash. Humans are much more important, with a greater right to life, because we have a brain. That incredible brain that separates us as the cream of the animal crop is what allows us, and gives us the right, to F up the world when we want to. Right?

So what if we slaughter species after species of animals or no reason, or we ruin the one planet we have ever found that supports life. As long as someone somewhere is able to make large sums of money, who really cares about the ecosystem and the environment? I mean, if we screw up the earth, we can just move to…um….we can go live on….um…, yeah, exactly.

This is why, I just don’t get it anymore. I am fed up with humanity. On a smaller level, I simply drive down the road (an environmental issue onto itself), and I see animal after animal dead in the street. People don’t care. It’s cool, as long as they get where they are going. Then, on a major disaster level, we see something like the BP oil spill. Everyone is up in arms like this is first time, or unfortunately the last, an oil company has F’ed up an ecosystem. People will hoot and holler, but at the end of the day, it will just continue on, as long as we are able to live comfortably. Some politician(s) will use this to try and drum up votes at the next election. Some entrepreneur will find a way to profit, and the rest of us will simply move on to the next catastrophe.

However, this perspective needs to change, or it will be humanity’s downfall. A friend of mine recently mentioned something he heard and it completely blew my mind. Basically, he put it like this…

When the human body gets a virus, it lives and grows until it becomes a threat. Then the body naturally fights it with everything it has until the virus is dead, or the human is. Right now, we (humanity) are the virus. The Earth is the body, and it is fighting back against us. Volcano after volcano, earthquake after earthquake, tsunamis, etc. The Earth is tired of humanity and is doing its best to save itself and rid its body of the threat that humanity has become. And even if humanity survives, will the Earth?

I just don’t understand the universal logic that humans have a greater right to life than anything else on this planet. I mean we all live here, we all contribute, and we are all part of this once beautiful, sacred planet we call the Earth.

The government will do what they can to help, as long as it helps their supporter’s pocketbooks, or contributes to more votes for them. The majority of humans, probably including myself, will get over this at some point, and move on. This circle of life will continue until at some point, it will come to a crashing halt that will make this nightmare of a recession we are in look like heaven on Earth.

All I can say to everyone is please wake up.

The only way to change our perspective is through one person at a time. So the next time you pass a dead animal in the road, and swerve your car annoyed that it might get some blood on your tires, think of the animal itself. Think of that on a mass level happening everyday. Humanity is slowly biting the hand that feeds it. What started as a few nibbles, has snowballed into a voracious appetite for total destruction of the beautiful planet we live on, and everything that gets in our way.

Unfortunately for us, there is no check anyone can write to buy another Earth. So once again, please remind me, who are the animals with the advanced brains?

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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on twitter!

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For anyone new here, the goal of this blog is to motivate you in the daily battle for success in life. Sometimes that battle is financial, sometimes personal, sometimes internal, and sometimes out of your control. However, the important part about any battle, is understanding you are in one.

If you are not literally ‘battling’ for success, then chances are, success is not going to find you. Even someone I grew up with, now known worldwide as ‘the situation’, battled through a lot just to make it on to that reality show that made him famous. I’m not going to go into details, but trust me, the kid could not get someone to get a slice of pizza with him 2 weeks after the show stopped filming. Now, everyone I know talks about him and how ‘lucky’ he is.

I’m not a big believer in luck. I kind of think, bad or good, everyone has luck. It’s how you deal with everything else that matters. Battling for success is about understanding first & foremost that it is going to be a battle. A tough one at that. It is going to take everything you have to win this battle. There will be many ups and downs that cloud your confidence. Staying focused is the key.

Understanding how to battle your way to success is going to come from inside you. Only you know about the ‘voices’ or ‘intuition’ you get when you know you should do something, but you don’t want to. That is part of the battle. In fact, as I said before, you should try to look forward to the things you don’t want to do, cause each one brings you closer to your goal.

Reaching that goal is what this site is dedicated to helping you with. So, with that in mind, I have put together a few lessons I have learned about battling toward my goal of success, which is to make a living doing what I love.

Enjoy the Storm

As I write this there is a Winter Storm blaring on par with a level 2 Hurricane out my window. It’s a perfect analogy for the battle to success. Success is like a far destination you have to get to in this kind of weather. At first the road may seem easy to navigate, but as the weather worsens, and the storm picks, up, things will get extremely difficult to manage.

The way you react to these obstacles is what defines your success. Think of it this way. If you are driving in a snowstorm, what’s the best way to drive?

If you step on the gas, rev your engine, and peel out down the snow-covered block, chances are you will not get too far before the sound of metal crunching is heard.

If you put on your emergency lights, and drive 2 miles per hour, stopping every time the car seems to slip the slightest bit, as your two ghost-white sweaty palms grip the steering wheel like life depended on it, chances are you should not even bother getting on the road. Ever notice, car accidents happen a lot to people who seem solely focused only on avoiding them?

The best approach to driving in a snow storm is to take your time, not overreact, and calmly assess each situation on the road as it comes up. You have to come to a calm understanding that, even though things are really bad outside, you can handle it. In fact, you live to handle it.

There’s Only One Way to Get a Black Belt

Once you understand you are in a battle, you will realize you have to take your lumps too. Can’t become a great fighter without getting beat up. It’s just not possible. Same goes for success. You are going to make mistake after mistake. Some people call this failure. I call it learning. In fact, I have yet to meet a success that had not lived through some sort of failure.

There is a saying in Jiu Jitsu that there is only one difference between someone who gets a black belt, and someone who does not. It is not their athleticism, or their physique. It is not their genetics, their technique, or their personality. It is only one simple thing that separates every white belt who ever got on the mat and the people who eventually succeeded in getting black belts. Do you know what that difference is?

The black belts kept coming. That’s it. If any of those white belts would have done the same, eventually, they would have became black belts themselves. Maybe not as fast, or at the same pace, but they would have eventually reached their goal.

The point of the story for you is, what ever your goal, you must get on the mat. If you want to win the lottery, you must first play a ticket. If you want to hit a home run, you must first strike out (or get really lucky). If you want to be successful, you must first….TRY! Then you must try, try, try again, until you get there. No matter how long it takes, you will not give up.

Success is a mindset!

Being successful at anything is all about your mindset, not your finances, or your clothing brand, or your material things. Take all of that away from a successful person, and chances are they will get it right back. That’s because they believe they are successful.

If you can’t picture yourself successful, or you judge every detail of your journey as a make or break moment, then you will not be successful. Successful people are like black belts. They know, whatever challenges they face, they will be successful. They know if they fail a challenge, they will just come right back and try again. However, this time, they will be even stronger from their previous defeat.

It is this mindset that lead successful people to their goals. They are not just lucky, or born more fortunate. They simply have taken the hand life dealt them and rolled with it. If someone’s got a better hand, so be it. If someone’s hand is worse, so be it too. After all, it’s not the cards, but how you play them.

In life, it’s not the battles that matter, it’s simply how you choose to fight them.

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Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Every Wednesday is usually Personal Development in Business, but today it’s just life in general…

Normally, a personal development post talks about what changes you can add to your life to make it better. However, this post is more about addition by subtraction.

You see, the other day, I thought of something that really has boggled my mind. I was thinking about the concept of ‘perfection’ that is held so dear in our society. Here is the definition from Oxford American dictionaries…

Perfection: the condition, state, or quality of being free, or as free as possible, from all flaws and defects.

Perfection is something we all hope to achieve in certain areas. It is a concept that is held in the highest regard. In baseball, the best a pitcher can do is throw a perfect game. In bowling, the best is a perfect score of 300. When taking an exam, we hope to achieve a ‘perfect’ grade of 100.

However, what was really bothering me was this question: ‘Does perfection really exist?’

Is there such a thing and is it natural? To me, perfection does not exist, except in the minds of humans. Animals, and other life, have no concept of perfection. Babies, when they are born, also have no concept of perfection. In fact, without the word, there would be no such thing. There would just be life.

The world is not perfect, by all accounts, but yet is it? Maybe the balance of imperfections and flaws is what keeps the world going. Maybe trying to make everything ‘perfect’ by human standards achieves exactly the opposite in life.

The yang of this yin is that because perfection is held in such high regard, imperfection is something we are all embarrassed about. Our imperfect body, or our imperfect credit score, or our imperfect relationship history, etc.,  is something we all tend to be embarrassed about at one time or another.

With this in mind, I started to think of a world where the concept of ‘perfection’ does not exist. Suddenly, everything started to make more sense to me. If you eliminate the idea of perfection, what you are left with is trial and error. On some trials, there may be no error. On other trials, there will be nothing but error. Regardless though, they are both held in equal regard. They are a trial. Perfection is just one possible outcome of the trial. It is an expectation that we create in our mind.

So why do we spend our lives striving so much for something that really does not exist?

We strive and strive to be perfect in school, college, work, business, our hobbies, and our social life. Yet, if perfect does not exist, how will we ever really achieve it? Why when we make a mistake, or fail to be perfect, do we get so down on ourselves? Being imperfect is actually the most natural thing on this planet, so why not enjoy it?

Two Simple Steps to Achieve Happiness

I challenge you to follow these two steps throughout the next day, week, or even month. See if this change in mindset does not effect you in the most incredible way. Whatever task you have at hand, or whatever goal you are trying to reach, I want you to try a different approach. Instead of trying to do everything perfect, I want you to try this…

1. Clear your mind of the idea of perfection. It does not exist. The task you are about to undertake is simply a trial. No matter how you do, you will have learned from experience and be better for it.
2. Focus on the task, and not the outcome. Do the best you can, and do not judge the results. Simply doing the best you can is all that matters.

I have found this thought process to be quite liberating. Suddenly, the pressure that society places on us to live these perfect lives is gone. Not only that, but now when I notice other people’s imperfections I realize, they are just like me. In fact, that’s what makes them unique. Where I have succeeded, they may have failed, and vice versa. All Human beings are equal in this regard. Never has a person lived a perfect life, so why do we strive to do so?

Striving for something that is impossible to achieve is only going to produce unhappiness, and a lack of satisfaction.

I think that is why, regardless of the incredible advances in technology, work, sports, and other areas of life, we as humans, and especially Americans, are never satisfied. Nothing is good enough for us, except a concept that does not exist except in our minds.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this matter in the comments section below…

If you enjoyed this, please share by Stumbling it. It is much appreciated.

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This is a guest post written by Nathalie Lussier from Billionaire Woman.

I am currently traveling throughout China, and I decided that I would take a closer look at Chinese medicine. While in Beijing, I had my pulse checked by a traditional Chinese doctor.

What the doctor told me after 30 seconds of feeling my pulse was a revelation!

She could tell from the beating of my heart, whether I was healthy or not. However, she never told me that I needed to undergo more tests, because all she needed to know was whether my body was in balance or out of balance.

Balance

In traditional Chinese medicine, balance is the key to perfect health. Rather than a cold being caused by a virus, as in western thinking, a cold is caused by an imbalance in your body. For instance, you may have slept too little, or eaten too much unhealthy food. All of these things can be solved through the application of different herbs, and every plant has either a yin quality or a yang quality.

Hot and Cold

In traditional Chinese medicine, every food has a temperature: hot or cold. When I first went to visit a Chinese doctor, I was told that my body was too cold and that I should eat only hot things.

Food that is hot includes: meet, nuts, seeds, durian, bananas, garlic, ginger, onions, and other spices.

Cold foods include cucumbers, oranges, watermelon, lettuce, and other fruits and vegetables that are high in water content.

What you eat impacts your balance, such that medicine and food are one and the same. Different people need different amounts of each type of food group in order to keep their own balance in check.

Men and Women

Using the Yin and Yang concept, men are hot and women are cold. This may or may not stem from the fact that men tend to eat more hot things such as meat, and women historically eat more fruits and vegetables. Whatever the case may be, the way that women act and then act also reflects this hot and cold reality. Men tend to be fiery, aggressive, and on the ball. Whereas women tend to be like the waves of the ocean, cold, cyclic, and more emotional.

Neither of these is wrong, or better than the other, we just happen to need a bit of each to make the world work. It’s another piece of the balance puzzle.

Yin and Yang Working Together

Although we have yet to achieve balance on a world scale, I believe that true balance begins within. Once you start eating a more balanced diet in terms of hot and cold foods, your body will return to its optimum state. Once you are a healthy individual, you will begin to look towards the outside and try to balance this reality. Once we have more balanced individuals vying for global balance between men and women, humans and animals, nature and humanity, we will make great strides.

I challenge you to learn more about traditional Chinese medicine, or at least try to balance your intake of cold vegetables with hot foods.

This is a guest post written by Nathalie Lussier from Billionaire Woman.

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Yesterday morning I took a Jiu Jitsu class.  My good friend & training partner, Tony, teaches at my school once a week.  He asked the class if they remembered the move he had taught the week before.  Even though many of them were there and Tony tried to explain it, they barely remembered it at all.  I, being the seasoned veteran I am, boldly declared that I remembered the move, which was a guard pass.

Tony picked me to be his dummy and began to review the details of the move with the class.  He was barely two steps into the demonstration when I realized I had forgotten numerous details.  I knew the idea of the move, but as far as the details, I was lost. Thank God I did not have to show it!

I tend to do this a lot though.  I learn something once and all of a sudden I feel I am an expert at it.  However, in order to be an expert at something, you have to have experience in it. When we first learn something, we learn the concept and the basic breakdown of things.  Then, because we have found this new knowledge, we suddenly feel we have no more to learn.  However, what we are forgetting is the details.

The details are what we learn through experience.

For example, when I first started in Jiu Jitsu, like any other competitor, I wanted to tap everyone.  Logical thinking lead me to believe that if I learned how to do an arm bar I would be set.  This, unfortunately, is not how things work in Jiu Jitsu.  Learning how to do any submission is only a tenth of the battle.  The other 90% is getting the proper position before you apply the submission.

Without the proper position, you are bound for failure.  Even better is the fact that there is not necessarily one single proper position either.  You have to learn to adapt your position constantly based on what your opponent is doing.  There can be thousands of decisions and movements in order to actually apply a simple submission such as an arm bar.  That is what I have learned through experience.   The simple fact is I can explain the entire theory, concept, and breakdown of moves to anyone in the world.  Until they have tried multiple times and failed at applying the submission, it would be fruitless for me to think they understood.

I also get to see this with many new students.  Eager for success, they surf YouTube for instructional Jiu Jitsu videos.  Sometimes they find stuff even my instructor has never seen.  They come into class foaming at the mouth, ready to pull their new Ace in the hole on a senior student.   The problem is it never works.  Not once.  No one pulls a move off perfect the first time, especially with limited experience in the sport.  They usually wind up asking for help in learning the details.

The same goes for life.

I believe I can kid myself sometimes into thinking I know more than I do.  The simple fact I have found is I always have more to learn.  Every day, every experience, I learn a little something different.  Or, maybe I learn the same lesson over again, and it reinforces that knowledge.  Whatever happens, each day, as a person, we all grow with knowledge if we allow ourselves to absorb it.

So don’t get frustrated, like I used to, when making the same mistake over and over.  Try to keep a clear mind.  On the mat, when someone is frustrated, their focus drops dramatically.  If they are able to keep a clear mind, and figure out what they are doing wrong, they will eventually succeed.

If you find your frustration is too much to handle, try these steps:

1. Breathe 5 really deep, slow breaths.  Inhale…..inhale again…..then exhale….
2. Release your mind of the blame game.  It does not matter if it is your fault or someone else’s.
3. Take a step back, clear your mind, and try to look at the situation from different view points.  Sometimes our focus on one factor hides the view of another.
4. Understand what phase you are in: you are learning.  Frustration is a part of the growth process, so learn to enjoy it because it makes what you are learning much more valuable.  If it was easy, everyone would do it.
5. Focus on the details.  Sometimes, instead of accomplishing the whole goal, we need to accomplish little steps at a time.  For instance, when in debt, it is better to pay back a little each month, rather than waiting for a day you have the whole sum. Try this approach.  What small step can you accomplish that will get you closer to your end goal?

Breathe, release your mind, step back, understand, and focus.

The goal of success is a long, perilous road where your only guide is the experience gained through numerous trial and errors.  Trial and error is the main concept in nature.  It is why, after re-learning the guard pass, I used it successfully at least 4 times in the class.  I now had the experience in it to be effective.  I understood the details I had initially forgotten.  Tony even decided he would teach every move from now on two classes in a row.  I think that is a great idea, as it gives us a chance to digest the information, and then re-learn it a week later.

This is why people with great minds in life never stop learning.  They are constantly trying to improve their depth of knowledge.  I am going to try and take the same approach.  I need to stop kidding myself, and be aware of what I really do know, and what I may think I know.

Has anyone else noticed this occurring in their own life?

Stumble It!

Today, I happened to catch the first 20 minutes of an interesting documentary about the life of the famous boxer Rocky Marciano.  Being Italian, I always heard stories about Rocky Marciano and his undefeated record of 49-0.  I knew of the legend, but never anything about the real story behind it.

The documentary was interviewing family and friends of Rocky when he grew up in Massachusetts.  They all talked about his great work ethic, and his love of athletics.  But the one thing they said about Rocky that always stood out, was something their parents always repeated to them in Italian…

Non parlarne. Basta andare lì e farlo.

In English, it’s “Don’t talk about it.  Just go out there and do it.”  The quote is nothing special, but the meaning is.  Basically, it means you should never say what you are going to do.  Just go do it, and it will speak for itself.

Before I got into Jiu Jitsu, I used to waste my breath all the time.  I would say I was going to do something.  Then to put pressure on myself, I would tell others about my goal.  I would even talk as if it was already achieved.  However, when it came down to doing it, I never lived up to my end of the bargain, even though I had every honest intention of doing so.

When I got into Jiu Jitsu, that changed pretty quickly.  When you grapple with someone, it does not matter much what you say when you are on the mat and they are choking the life out of you.  The truth speaks for itself.  Well, I’ve found the same goes for life, except for the choking part.

In life, I used to make the same mistake.  I would say one thing, hoping I will reach that goal, only to spend future hours making excuse after excuse on why it did not happen.  The trick is to save your breath, cause it actually is harmful.

Don’t say a word about your personal goals to anyone or you may drastically increase the chances of not achieving it!!!!

Reaching a goal makes us feel great.  We all feel like champions when we set out to do something and achieve it through hard work.  The day we reach that goal, it feels great hearing people speak about it.  Just the simple fact that others know what you have done makes you feel good inside, even if no one ever says a word.  It is a personal satisfaction quite unlike any other.

This satisfaction is what we are after when we speak to others about our goals before we reach them.  We are actually fishing for some satisfaction out of the fact we want to do something.  The problem is, once we speak about it, and get a small sample of that satisfaction, the desire usually starts to fade.

Even if you do talk about a goal, and then actually accomplish it, it can feel empty, like it is missing something.  Talking about a goal let’s others tell you how wonderful it is if you reach it.  If you tell them again when you accomplish the goal, they simply will say ‘Oh, great job.  I am so proud of you.”

How many times have you heard something as lame as that?  It’s like a pre-recorded message on a phone system.  The reason for this is they have already shared in that experience when you told them about it, so the wonder and amazement has already been used up.

Now, compare this with not saying a word about your goal.  You don’t tell anyone anything about it.  You just go out there, work hard, and achieve it.  Then, next time you are with your friends, instead of talking about something, you show them what you’ve already accomplished.  You experience all the joy and satisfaction out of the sincere amazement they display.  It is an incredible moment that can even inspire you to go out an achieve another goal.

So take a cue from the family of the only undefeated Heavyweight Champ in boxing history:  Save your breath and just go out there and DO IT!

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Everyone has heard a story, read a book, or seen a movie in which they wanted to be just like the main character.  Maybe not exactly like them, but there were those one or two qualities that you admired greatly.  For me, it was Rocky.  I think it was because most of the times, I felt like an underdog. Therefore, I wanted to be the underdog who overcomes every odd on his way to victory.

The reason I bring this up is because many of us are not comfortable with another kind of main character: ourselves.  Life is all about making decisions and sometimes we make the wrong choices.  Sometimes we make mistakes.  Sometimes we make really BIG mistakes.  However, so does everyone else.  It is called being human.

When I saw Rocky,  I wanted to be that underdog who wins it all.  Yet, as life goes, just because I was an underdog did not mean I would win.  So there were countless times, and I mean countless, where I just flat out failed.  It hurt too, because I wanted to win like Rocky did.  I wanted to have that success.  When I didn’t, I immediately would judge myself for not living up to my own expectations.  I would make excuses that I tried to believe.  I would wonder if I was good enough to be a winner.  I would be embarrassed about it.  I would think many negative thoughts, because I had tasted failure.

The first step toward success is usually a step down.

This is something life has taught me dearly.  I have learned that failure is a huge part of getting to where you are going.  Many times, I have judged myself too harshly because of my failures.  I let it affect my confidence.  I let it be a harbinger of negativity which made me feel inferior.  I thought maybe I was a loser, even though my pride would never let me show it.

Life is all about failing forward.  It is essential to human growth and is a basic part of nature.  We learn from our mistakes.  Therefore, try not to be so critical of yourself.  Try to understand that each failure is one step closer to your goal.  Many people fail to succeed because they never fully try.  They give a half-ass effort because they are afraid of giving it their all and dealing with the potential failure.

Say it with me:  Failing is how I learned to succeed.  Without failing I will never be able to progress.  I will stay stagnant, which is actually worse.

Since I have actually applied this to my thought process, I have started to see the fruits of my success.  Without worrying about failure, it does not exist.  Instead, there are only two things: success, or, a lesson.  Either way, I win!

The goal is not to be too hard on ourselves or to let what other people say influence our self perception.  Simply understand the way life works, and then just try and roll with the punches.  You failed at something.  Big f#@!’n deal.  It didn’t stop Rocky.  It’s not going to stop me.

Don’t let it stop you.

Instead of judging your progress with a pass & fail mentality, try something different.  Try to judge yourself on movement.  Movement means you are progressing.  Staying stagnant means you are failing.  Therefore, if you try something, and you fail, you are still moving.  It is only when you stop moving, and do not try at all, that you have actually failed.

Using this as a measuring stick for your progress is much more effective.   Because one day, you will take the same path as many times before, but instead of failing, you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams, and then forever wonder why you got so down on yourself for trying in the first place.

Article by Peter J. Normandia. Follow me on Twitter.

Last night, I had the privilege of sitting in on the final tweaking of the first major album from FallOut Shelter Records (FOS).  I sat in a Brooklyn studio with the lead man, D-Boards (Danny), Haylo, Kimbo, his man John Q, my partner Chris, and the sound engineer, Matt.  They are in the midst of what has been an incredible 7 year journey.

As the final mixing was being applied before sending it off to an industry giant for mastering, I couldn’t help but smile.  I have only known these guys for over a year, but I know their story well.  They have been through one nightmare after another, yet have survived due to their incredible persistence, courage, and determination.  They thought of giving up all the time.  They struggled financially.  They gave every ounce of everything they had to give toward this album, even when they had nothing at all.

Boy, has it paid off.

Last night, I listened to one amazing track after another.  The music is hip hop oriented, but with so many musical instruments, plus a live band when they perform, it seems like something totally new.  The other amazing aspect of FallOut Shelter is the camaraderie their struggle has brought.  It is like one big family, each person with their own unique, engaging personality, and all of them messing with each other incessantly like brothers.  Through the long journey, a bond has developed that shines through the music they create.  But I guess that is all due to the crazy story.

FallOut Shelter is the creation of Danny Ciazzo and my partner Chris.  Both Danny & Chris, even though they had not met yet, were working in the financial district in Manhattan back in 2001.  They both loved music, but just like everyone else, they also needed a paycheck.  Everything changed on that fateful morning of September 11th, 2001.  Danny was working on the 55th floor in the World Trade Center tower that got hit second.

After the first plane hit, the office said no one was allowed to leave.  Of course, that did not stop any of them.  Just as they were piling out, the 2nd plane hit.  In the nightmare that ensued, Danny’s boss fell down and passed out.    She was a somewhat heavy woman in her forties.  Danny picked her up, put her over his shoulder and carried her down 55 flights of stairs during the entire panic-stricken event.  It was the most intense moment of Danny’s young life.  The event would leave horrible memories buried in his head, but at least he had survived.  His boss thanked him repeatedly and Danny went home to deal with what the hell had happened like every other American.

2 years later, that same boss fired him.

It was not her decision, of course.  But in the aftermath of everything that happened, the entire company needed to make cuts.  I can’t imagine what that must of been like for that woman.  Imagine firing the person who saved your life.  Chris also lost his job due to 9/11.  He had been lucky enough to not be there that day, but the effects on his company cost him his job as well.

Soon after, in late 2002, through mutual friends, Danny and Chris both met up.  They had similar interests in music and hit it off.  They both felt that the tragedy of September 11th had brought them together and to this point in their lives.  They wanted to try and build off of that.

In the aftermath, Danny decided to start a label from his basement.  He wanted a name that would convey what they had gone through.  Something that matched the change in the world, the change in them, and the tragedy he had lived through.  He decided on the WWII born name, FallOut Shelter. At the time Chris was producing as well so they had a lot in common and became friends instantly. Fallout was born.

A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designed to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War. -from here

Their shelter would be their music.  Danny had met a rapper named Haylo in a terrible music school they both attended.(Haylo, and Steez also collaborated on the name Fallout Shelter)  They immediately hooked up and started working together.  Haylo was a rapper from the projects on Baker Street in Brooklyn East New York and his best friend, Montana Steez, was also an incredible rapper.  Danny made the beats, Haylo and Steez would freestyle in the basement before they got equipment. Chris then came in and handled the promotion, helped structure the company, and Haylo & Steez lit up the tracks.  They would record together for the next few years, constantly working on their craft, while trying to pay their bills in-between.  Danny would literally spend nights sleeping on his MPC, a tool for making beats.

But through all the hard work, they finally found some success.  Haylo & Steez proved to be a lethal combination.  Steez was the stand up man’s man from the projects with a wife and daughter, and Haylo was the ladies man nicknamed ‘Coverboy’.  Danny was incredible at production, and together they started to put their first album together.  The plan was to release an album with Haylo & Steez, and then do solo albums for each.

Life, of course, sometimes gets in the way of plans.

One day, Steez was sitting in his rundown car in the projects when a crackhead, pretending to be looking for weed, pulled a gun and tried to rob him.  In the struggle that ensued, the gun went off, and the crackhead wound up dead.  Cops immediately were on the scene, as if they were around the corner the whole time.  They arrested Steez, even though it was self defense and it was not his gun.  After all, they have to bring you in if someone gets killed.

Any lawyer worth his weight would have been able to get this case dismissed or dramatically reduced. The problem was no one had any money for a lawyer or bail.  Steez sat in a prison for almost two years awaiting his trial.  Forget about the music, he couldn’t even be with his family just for protecting himself in his crazy neighborhood.  After spending two years locked up, he was pretty much ready to just get it over with.  The DA could not come up with any clear evidence because there was none.  Yet, Steez could only afford the public defender, and he was powerless to make any progress.

Steez wound up taking a plea deal that will keep him locked up for about 10 years.  Think about that.  He is locked up for 10 years simply for protecting himself.  His daughter won’t see her father till she is almost in middle school.  The DA even told the public defender she knew the kid did not deserve it, but it would look bad to her superiors if she didn’t pursue it to its max.  Such is the life of an inner city kid caught up in local politics.

FallOut Shelter was once again, beset by tragedy. One half of their incredible duo was now locked up until 2013.  Danny, Chris and Haylo were left to deal with the aftermath.  They could have easily given up, but they didn’t.  Instead, they used this as motivational fuel.  Haylo, made it a point to move on for his man.  He would carry the team so that when Steez was free, his family and him would be taken care of.  This is the thought that would motivate Haylo every day afterward.

Danny & Chris pressed on as well.  Starting a company and running it for 6 years without making a profit can take its toll.  However, this was never about the money anyway.  It was about the love of the music.  And nothing was going to take that away from them.

‘Anything that doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.’

Truer words were never spoken about Fallout.  Haylo stepped into the lead like never before, motivated by Montana’s plight.  Danny recruited two other talented veteran rappers, Kimbo and Cise to the label.  Both Kimbo and Cise had their own struggles they had lived through, and that is what drew them to FallOut. Kimbo even has an 8-inch scar across the back of his head from getting hit with an axe in his neighborhood.  Haylo also recruited some other boys from his projects, Krims & Rebel.   Together, they pressed on, throwing free shows, giving away t-shirts, flyers, and CDs Chris spent his free time designing.

When they thought of quitting, they just kept going.  When they had great nights, they just kept going.  No matter what, they just kept on going.  That brings me to last night.  As I sat there, I was amazed at the reaction of these men.  They had a single love of making music.  This one love, infiltrated their entire existence and carried them through a long arduous journey, filled with many lows, a few highs, and plenty of sleepless nights.

Yet, here they were, putting the final tweaks on a few tracks before sending it off to be mastered.  Danny’s music has started to gain recognition from industry bigwigs, and slowly but surely, at least for the moment, things are looking brighter than ever.  Looking at them, though, you could never even tell.  To them, it’s just about moving forward.  No time to stop and celebrate now.  Their not out of the woods (or hood) yet.

No matter what, though, nothing can ever be taken away from anyone involved in FallOut Shelter Records.  Simply put, they love what they do and no matter what, they are going to continue to do it.  The only ones luckier then them, are the people listening to the amazing music this journey has produced.

The harder the struggle, the greater the results.

It is the lesson I have been blessed to experience through my relationship with the whole FOS crew.  If there is ever a day that my dreams make me want to quit, I just throw on a track from FallOut and let it carry me through my own struggles.  I feel motivated even when I put on their t-shirts, just knowing what it represents: regular people overcoming tremendous odds on their way toward success.

No matter how tough the road to success may get, there is always hope as long as you keep moving.  Sometimes you move forward, sometimes you fall back.  Either way, as long as you keep on moving, hope is still alive.  As FallOut Shelter is living proof…

…The harder the struggle, the greater the results.

When I was in grade school, I remember some of the crazy perceptions I had.  One of these was that only people born with innate special talents in something were successful in it.  For instance, if I played basketball and did not have some immediate success, I figured I was not meant for the game.  Based on what I was taught, mistakes were not a good thing.  They meant you were not good at something.  They were a sign of failure.

This is just another form of the crap they used to teach us in school.

Mistakes are a great thing and everyone makes them.  It is part of our nature. We are not perfect beings.  We are beings capable of making decisions toward becoming perfect.  This brings up the other major fallacy I had: the thought that people are born special.  They are not.  Don’t be upset.  You, I, or the next person are not anymore special than anyone else.  Some people are born with better abilities for certain things then others, but this is just a starting point.   Think about it.  Not every 7 foot tall person is a basketball star.

People are not special.  Some of them just do special things.

Determination always triumphs talent.  Think of the greatest athletes or out time.  Would you say Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong or Tiger Woods were the most talented in their respective sports?  Maybe.  But I bet you would have no doubt that their ruthless determination to win is unmatched by any of their competitors.

When you see a Tiger Woods commercial, does it show how far he can hit the ball?  Not the ones I have seen. However, I have seen one where Tiger practices every day no matter what, even in the rain.  And plenty of ones where he triumphs through all sorts of distractions with his signature mental toughness.

The point is that these men may be very talented, but they do special things because of their determination.  We all have different talents, but they are just that, talents.  They are undeveloped.  In order to take your talent to the next level, you must develop it.  You must work hard, practice hard, research everything, and become a sponge of knowledge on your goal.  You must do everything in your power to get there.  I will repeat it again:

People are not special.  Some of them just do special things.

Remember this the next time you think to yourself, ‘I can’t do this.’  What you are saying is that you can not do it as well as others, yet.  But the key word is…YET.  If you were determined enough, I bet you could do anything.  Just look at the videos on this blog from previous Fridays if you have any doubt about the power of determination.

The greatest thing about being human is our ability to control our own destiny.  Do not take it for granted.  It is a power like nothing else on this earth.  If we set our mind on something, anything, it is only a matter of time and effort before we achieve it.  So, for the last time, please remember…

People are not special.  Some of them just do special things.

Tony Robbins is one of my favorite Orators.  He really emphasizes many of the points I strongly believe in, especially the idea of pursuing what you love.  Nothing is more important to our well being than doing something we love each day.

Enjoy your weekend.