10 Sep 5 Keys to Becoming Better & More Efficient

By Danny Bellmore

Lifting and Life – 5 Key Points:

1. Work Ethic
2. Positive attitude
3. Have a daily plan
4. Don’t be afraid of change
5. Have a vision of what you want to achieve

Work Ethic

If you want to make any type of advancement in life hard work is required…and persistent hard work is where goals are achieved. I have never seen a successful entrepreneur who sits back and waits for an opportunity. Opportunity is created through hustle and perseverance. Successful people get to work before the average guy and will still be at work when that same average guy is on the way home. Constant improvement comes from putting the work in and it’s no different for anything else you are trying to better yourself at in life – lifting, or otherwise. Don’t be that person who has 1 million excuses as to why you’re not as successful as the next guy. Get to work.

Positive Attitude

Personally, this is one I really struggle with because I often don’t see things for as good as they are. Our brains are programmed to see the negative and this is a preprogrammed defense mechanism. The mechanism explains why we are always in defense mode, and we are always visually scanning for things that may be wrong.  I think its great practice to focus on things that are positive. Take time out of your day and focus on things that are right, things that make you happy, things you are invested in. Everyone has a happy place and it’s not a bad thing to visit that place a few times a day. Negativity can be toxic and will cripple your mind if you allow it.

Have a Daily Plan

Having a daily plan is a process that will make you much more productive. Sometimes you must go off the plan and shoot from the hip. While I don’t suggest this tangential practice as a daily activity, you must always listen to your body. I often see people work 12 to 15 hours a day with about half of that time being productive. These types of people will work in circles and forget the things they have started and never accomplish what they should, or set out to do. A plan could be as easy as a notebook with things that need to get done in successive order. Before you know it, you make the list, get to work, and have it completed with time to spare. It’s amazing how being organized can make the daily grind much smoother with less chance for disaster. This is no different than your training, everyone on Team PRS who follow 10/20/Life principals works off a plan.

Don’t Be Afraid of Change

I know there are many of you that don’t embrace change, instead you fear and resist. You see this element at work and in the gym. I feel that change is good and necessary. Consider the car you drive today, without any type of change you could be driving an old Ford Model T. Now, how much would that suck with over a foot of snow on the ground and trying to get to work? Without that change and adaptation, we would all still be driving a Model T! I know that was a drastic analogy, but change is the only way to move forward. I say to people at the gym, “If what you’re doing is getting you the same results, why not try something else?” What would the risk actually be? I find the percentage of forward progress is much higher with people who embrace change. If you utilize the first 3 key points when you make a change you will see results.

Vision

I’ve found it useful to take the time and reflect on where you came from and then visualize where you want to go. In order to land long term goals you need to have a short AND long term vision. People who live for the moment – with no vision for the future – end up with no future, or at best a misguided one. Small milestones over time add up to a significant amount of progress. There are times where you will hit bumps in the road, but these bumps should never have any effect on your vision. Obstacles are handled the best way you know how, simply (not easily at times) keep moving forward. Never lose focus on your vision. I also find it best to be around people with the same type of vision. Don’t let others dictate your vision.

These are some key points I used as a manager of medical technology, and they apply to everyday life. These 5 points form the foundation for the way I approach, pursue, and attack my life and training. My life in general is fairly structured. I try to stay the course and I am also always working on being more positive. Negativity is the devil’s poison and I fight with it every day.

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Danny Bellmore

Danny has been involved in powerlifting since 1994. The first swing at a career was short lived due to a major back injury in 1999 that resulted in a 3-level spinal (lumbar) fusion. At that point, he took a 10-year break. Avoiding the gym all together because his body, and back, just never felt right. In 2010, Danny went to handle a good friend at a local meet. That experience re-ignited the fire within and he was back under the bar, never looking back. Danny established an elite total at my first meet back in 2010 and then accomplished a win at the 2012 APF Masters Nationals. Through his win at the APF Masters, he was training using the Conjugate Method, but he wanted a change. He needed a change. Danny reached out to a friend who stated that Brian and the Samson Barbell crew had it going on. In the process of connecting with Brian, he has endured a few setbacks. During our initial discussions, he had torn my rotator cuff and labrum, along with a separated AC joint. The surgery did not "take" and just nine months later, he was back under the knife for a "do-over." During the healing process, he had lost feeling and strength in my right arm. Being pig headed, he waited and waited. My choice to remain stubborn backfired, and I was back in the OR for another spinal (cervical) fusion. Now healed, and a few years under Brian, Danny’s total has moved to 1871 @ 165. He doesn’t like to predict or talk about goals, but he wants more, and feels like he has more. Plans now are to compete at the Senior Nationals in Jacksonville, Florida this June.

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