Yin vs YangThe Battle for Success in Life

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

For those of you who don’t know me, I am currently a purple belt in Gracie Jiu Jitsu. I have been training for over 4 years and I can safely say Jiu Jitsu has changed my life for the better. I have not only become a better Martial artist, but I have become a 1000x better person as well. Jiu Jitsu is a martial art which naturally permeates throughout the rest of your life.

This is because Jiu Jitsu takes persistence, patience, and perseverance to be successful at, just like anything else in life.  Even getting just my purple belt is probably one of the accomplishments I am most proud of in my young life. However, if you don’t train Jiu Jitsu, then you probably don’t understand why. Lucky for you, that’s what I’m here to explain.  Read more... (702 words, 2 images, estimated 2:48 mins reading time)

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

“Darling I don’t know why I go to extremes
Too high or too low there ain’t no in-betweens
And if I stand or I fall
It’s all or nothing at all
Darling I don’t know why I got to extremes” -Billy Joel: ‘I Go To Extremes’

For whatever reason, I have always been someone who could not walk away from a challenge. My wife even uses this to her advantage by dropping her tangled jewelry in front of me and watching as I grumble incoherently for however long it takes to untangle. She knows I can’t stop until it is done, even if I want to.

It’s how I’ve always been since I can remember. Growing up, if you told me not to do something, all I heard was…  Read more... (1127 words, 2 images, estimated 4:30 mins reading time)

Growing up, probably like most of you, I always wondered if I was going to be special at something.  I was told I was special many times by teachers, parents, grandparents, and other relatives (admittedly sometimes mockingly).  However, deep down inside, I really wondered, if I was special at anything, because it certainly did not seem like it.

I would try all sorts of things hoping I would be naturally talented in it.  Throughout school, I tried baseball, hockey, soccer, guitar, tennis, marketing, business, math, science, English, French, writing, film making and countless other things.  Yet, in each one of them I found the same situation:  I was not special at it, and it would take really hard work to be so.  Read more... (574 words, 1 image, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)