Have Some Balls: Make It High Impact

When I was a young boy, I was passionate about any activity that revolved around playing with a ball. Baseball, football, basketball, just about anything.

I’d throw around a tennis ball if that was all I could find. I was fond of kickball as well.

One of my favorite activities was to throw pitches with a rubber baseball against the brick wall of my grandparents’ house, on their back patio. Like many other boys my age, I would pretend I was one of the great pitchers of the day, gunning for that all important strikeout.

I could do that for hours, until I was drenched in sweat. I never thought of stopping.

Occasionally, I would play ball with friends right in the middle of 14th Street, where I grew up, pausing only enough to let the infrequent car pass down the street. Back in the 1970’s, there wasn’t the traffic that there is now on a side street in my city.

Playing in my grandparents’ yard, I injured my ankle once sliding into a imaginary home plate, gashing it on a rock that I didn’t see, requiring a trip to the hospital to get stitches.

It put me out of commission for awhile after I hurt myself. But I knew I had to get back to playing ball as soon as I possibly could, bad ankle or not.

Although I don’t remember it, I’m sure I was out there a week or two later, stitches and all, ready to go. As far as playing ball was concerned, I never wanted to stop.

When my parents bought a house a couple of miles outside of the city, I went to a different school and made some new friends. With some of those guys, I recall afternoons spent in our yards, throwing footballs, playing impromptu games of two hand touch in the snow.

The point of these examples above? I realize that back then, I was involved in more activities that I was fond of, rather than the alternative of things that you should do, which we tend to do more of when we’re adults that are all grown up.

Playing ball so much when I was younger was what I refer to as a high impact activity. Maybe it doesn’t make you money, but instead moves you forward in some way while increasing your “enjoyment” factor.

High impact activities for me now include cooking, reading, exercise, researching high impact people, and planning upcoming vacations for my family.

High impact equals quality. Spending time with my wife and kids is the most high impact thing I can do. In the end, isn’t it all about quality?

It’s important to make the distinction of things you truly have to do (such as providing for your family, taking care of your health) vs. things you want to do or should do. You need to take care of business, but don’t should on yourself, regardless of what others think (read a great article about that here).

Speaking of providing for your family, you don’t necessarily have to love your job or your work. I wrote about that here. You should, however, have a fondness for the other things in your life if you don’t love your work. Take a good long look at your activities outside of your job or business. Are they high impact? Life’s really too short to consider anything else.

Nowadays, although I don’t play ball as much as I used to, I try to get it in as often as possible. Having a ten year old son who loves his Little League makes it a lot easier. And it’s important that I still partake in what I loved to do as a kid.

To keep yourself youthful, make it high impact . Have some balls. And have fun!

Let me know in the comments section how you may be keeping things “high impact”!

ItalianAmerican: Sylvester Stallone

88th Annual Academy Awards -Arrivals — The 88th Annual Academy Awards Arrivals Featuring: Sylvester Stallone, Jennifer Flavin Where: Los Angeles, California, United States When: 28 Feb 2016 Credit: Apega/WENN.com

Since the mid 1970’s, Sylvester Stallone has been my definition of the term American Idol. As writer, actor, and director of some of the most famous franchises in the film industry, he has been nothing less than an Italian American inspiration.

He has inspired me for many years. In a previous post, I wrote how the original Rocky, the movie that was his breakthrough project, was also important in the life of a particular socially awkward pre-teen.

With this inspirational movie as my training catalyst, I went from an overweight introvert destined for a life of sloth and obesity, to a young man that could do miles of running with ease, and, if needed, physically eject uncooperative patrons from my family’s bar/restaurant.

Stallone kicked ass, and he showed me how to do it, too.

Again…thank you Mr. Stallone.

“I think everyone has a certain kind of formula in their life. When you deviate from that formula, you’re going to fail big or you’re gonna win big.”

“I believe there’s an inner power that makes winners or losers. And the winners are the ones who really listen to the truth of their hearts.”

“I have great expectations for the future, because the past was highly overrated.”

“Once in one’s life, for one mortal moment, one must make a grab for immortality; if not, one has not lived.”

“Success is usually the culmination of controlling failure.”

ItalianAmerican: Vince Lombardi

“The dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success.”

“It’s easy to have faith in yourself and have discipline when you’re a winner, when you’re number one. What you got to have is faith and discipline when you’re not a winner.”

” The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”

“We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.”

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”

The “Stallone Effect:” A Rocky Road to Weight Loss

I can imagine in this modern day, it is not easy to be the fat kid in class.

sylvester-stallone — Stallone with my favorite exercise equipment: the heavy bag

I remember it well, as I was that kid. It was years ago, in elementary and middle school, but I was once the fat guy. Chunky. Overweight, whatever you prefer to call it.

I empathize with today’s modern kid because even if you want to lose weight, there is temptation everywhere. Fatty foods, high carbs, sweets, sugar in everything…it seems worse now than when I was young.

It’s challenging to be overweight when you grow up Italian American as well. Although I’ve mentioned before that my grandmother cooked me a lot of great meals that were heavy on the vegetables, I also ate a lot of things that could potentially put on some weight.

I’m talking meats, rich sauces, sweets and pastries galore.

As much as I loved my veggies, meatballs and manicotti were likely to be on any menu as well.

If there was a cannoli in the room, chances are I would eat it.

Things were also made a little more difficult attending middle school at a military academy. With the extra weight, I obviously did not look the part of a polished cadet. Among the sharp creases, perfect shoes, and shiny belt buckles, you stand out from the crowd when your stomach flops over that belt buckle.

I have to admit, when I finally decided to make some changes to take weight off, it wasn’t for any health reasons. I was too young to think that way. I just wanted to get those rotten kids in school off of my back.

Although I wanted to make some strides in taking off some weight, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do. I had little knowledge about health and fitness, and even less inspiration and motivation.

Then my inspiration hit me, square in the face, while sitting in a movie theater.

Rocky.

For anyone unfamiliar with this mid 70’s classic, Rocky is the not so improbable story of a boxer with slightly less than average fighting talent, living in near poverty, who is randomly chosen in a 4th of July marketing ploy to fight the world heavyweight champion.

In the movie, the fight scenes are dramatic, the acting crisp, and the training montages, where Rocky prepares for his big night, are inspirational. For me, very inspirational.

Can you picture the face of a young kid, watching Star Wars for the first time, or some great animation, staring at a movie screen with eyes wide, his mouth agape? That was me while I was watching Rocky, as he trained by climbing the summit of the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, or pounding a side of beef posing as a heavy bag in a desolate freezer.

He transformed himself from a washed up, out of shape fighter, to a lean physical specimen that was a whisper from calling himself champion. I had my answers.

After seeing the movie, I ran circles around my neighborhood. Running became a top priority in my life. I learned to use a heavy bag, worked around my awkward attempts at jumping rope, and although I never aspired to do the one handed push-up that Rocky did in the movie, I became pretty good at the two handed version.

Rocky was Sylvester Stallone’s baby. He wrote the script and played the lead in what was to be the breakthrough moment of his life. And I can’t thank him enough for it. It also wound up being a breakthrough moment in my life.

Fueled by the motivation I had gotten from the movie, I worked for months to shed pounds and get fit, and it was a success. I don’t know exactly how much weight I came off, as I lost track after the first 20-25 pounds.

By the time I was 15-16 years old, I was in pretty good shape. And I stayed that way. When I met my wife years later (I was 30), I was 6’1″ and 170 pounds, with a 32 inch waist.

I’m not in that kind of shape now, I confess I am a little heavier. But as far as I can see, Stallone still looks fantastic physically, now in his 70s!! Knowing that, maybe it’s time for me to recommit to the roadwork, the heavy bag, and the sit ups.

Yo Rocky…how ’bout a rematch?

Here’s To The Losers

The Yankees were knocked out of the baseball playoffs late in October, and being a Yankee fan, I was not at all happy about it.

My wife was also a little disappointed. My brother in law, who was watching the game with us, was a little too giddy about it, being the Mets fan that he is. I don’t think my daughter cared at all (seeing as she rarely looked up from her ITouch as she sat on the couch).

But I was kind of shocked at my 10 year old son’s reaction. He was really pissed. Very upset by the fact his baseball team was not going to the World Series.

Although I’m happy that there is a rooting interest here that I had a hand in cultivating, I don’t want either one of my kids to put too much emphasis on wins or losses, and to keep both in the context where they belong.

I’m hoping that someday both my kids realize that yeah, winning is fun, there’s nothing like it, but sometimes you learn your greatest lessons in life by those times that you just fell short.

Winners can win in a methodical, plodding fashion, day in and day out, that may not be interesting at all.

Losers, on the other hand, can fail in a spectacular manner. And some losses teach you right away what not to do next time, to make your chances of future wins a little better.

I gained much satisfaction watching the Yankees win the World Series last year. But towards the end of the last game, it was a foregone conclusion. It became a matter of just waiting for it to happen.

This year, in the waning moments of the final playoff game, the Yankees practically had no shot. But they battled till the very end, giving great effort in what was probably a no-hope situation.

The latter did not give the desired outcome (a Yankee win), but I found the game just as compelling as when they won the Series.

For those of us that aren’t large profile, highly overpaid athletes, wins and losses are part of everyday life. The trick is to not get too high when you win, and not crash too hard when you lose.

And when you do lose, whether it be a sale, momentum, a game…take it in another direction, learn what can be done to get a better result.

Most of us, when it’s all said and done, will win at the game of life. The losses are only temporary setbacks, to be overcome.

Celebrate the winners. But remember, it’s always how you play the game that counts.

Here’s to the losers.