Fat Kid turned Fitness Buff- One Man’s Story on his Challenges and Success with Fitness!

Let’s face it: we all have to deal with how hard life is.

It keeps throwing problems at us like a pitcher throws baseballs. Sometimes it even throws curveballs, and those are the problems that are really tough. But we have to understand that life does this not to bring us down, but to teach us to be strong and to be relentless.

My name is Ritchie A. and i’m one of the writers here at The Success Hub. I will take you on my journey in life and how i’ve managed to develop a strong relationship with my body, mentality and fitness, all while being consistently top of my class at the university.

To start off, growing up i was fat. And I don’t mean fat like a pinch of cutesy adipose tissue here and there, I mean like REALLY FAT. I had man boobs, a double chin, fluffy cheeks, and a belly busting out of my shirt. I could not even take my shirt off in public. i was so shy, i had no confidence at all, and it got me scared of people. It got me so scared that i could not talk and interact with others; it hindered my progress with my self-esteem. Why was I so fat? You guessed it, i love to eat. (love, not loved, because I still love it) Most of the time you will see me eating, and this was mainly because i was spoiled by my parents with food at such an early age. On the later part of my life, I was forced to play sports by my dad but i hated every minute of playing because i always had S.O.B (shortness of breath) afterwards. I really can’t run and jump as high as others, and I would also double up the size of my shirts because I was more comfortable with extra large shirts and pants. It truly was the dark ages for me, and life never seems to make me forget it.

By the time I reached 4th year high school, I made a decision that would change not just my life, but the way I view it. I wanted to lose weight and to be fit, to be free from the bonds of excessive eating. However, as you might have guessed, I failed. My failure came from a lack of knowledge about weight loss, a lack of motivation, and mostly an unquenchable affinity for binge eating. It happened to extend to the point that I entered college and i was still fat. I could not make friends with all the attractive and gorgeous girls in school (and mind you there are a LOT), I also could not get much attention from people as i walk past them. To cut the story short i was unnoticeable, and I felt invisible! I was doing good in school for a while, until i failed 7 subjects by the time i reached 3rd year in college. I felt like a failure! So i dropped out, out of school for 6 months. I was really depressed, i felt like i failed my parents and of course myself. I really didn’t know what to do with my life by that time, in short: I was lost. I was lost in a haze of testosterone, puberty, and the need to achieve something great for myself.

Months had passed and i still didn’t know what to do until one fateful morning my dad told me to try to go the gym. I felt anxious since i really didn’t know what I would be doing there since it will have been my first time hitting the weights. Still, I gathered up the courage because I had an inkling that this would be the solution I was so desperately looking for. So i drove up to the gym, signed up for a monthly membership, and started working out. I still had no idea what I was doing, but I felt something grow in me and it wasn’t muscle, it was the motivation that I always needed. I would use all the equipment I could see and tried them all repeatedly. As I finished my session and drove home, I started to watch youtube videos on how to workout and build muscle, and overall to achieve the proper fitness mentality. I did my research, I invested so much time in finding out the best plan for my body. Since then I’ve learned a lot of things, especially techniques in losing weight and shredding fat off my body the healthy way. 3 months down and I noticed some changes with my body, and when I stepped up on the scale, my eyes lit up as I saw my weight plunge from 183 lbs to 160 lbs. I couldn’t explain the feeling that i felt that day, it’s like I had won the lottery! People started to compliment me and told me i had done a great job, people started asking me how I did it, what my diet was, my workout plan, and my motivation to succeed. Since then I fell in love with fitness. It’s part of my life now, i’m obsessed with it, and i will not stop until i die.

You see, my story might be the generic fat kid-turned fitness buff, but what I wanted to partake onto the readers is that with everything that life throws at you, you can always find a way. So long as you still have breath, there is never a too late. In life, in order to suceed, you have to create your “why”. Every time you feel like giving up, think about your “why”. My “why” wakes me up in the morning and fuel my workouts everyday. My “why” is the reason I don’t skip a gym day, my “why” is the reason I don’t skip a leg day. So don’t tell me you can’t do it because of this, because of that, because of him or because of them. Excuses don’t make results. You can’t go to the mall and buy a perfect body, you’ve got to earn that literally with blood, sweat and tears. Fitness taught me not only to value my physical body, but it has enabled me to focus on my tasks much harder and has taught me to never give up when I know I have the capacity to do it. Nobody is gonna do it for you but you, because God placed us in this world to find our deep why.. You only have you and no one else, so don’t waste time and commit to fitness today!

Medical to Business: One Student’s Story on the Path to Success

This story goes out to students who lose their way in life. This story goes out to anyone looking to share the experience of totally switching mindsets during their lifetimes. This story goes out to the “failures” of college. I am here to tell you that you are not. I am here to tell you that you are not alone and that you too can be worry free. I am here to tell you that you can be successful.

I am Gino M. I am one of the writers here at The Success Hub. Just like many college students, I have had my share of failures, in fact more than most. I am going to share to you a short story of how I landed in the business and management world. You see, it started in a prominent and highly established medical school in the Queen City of the South, Cebu. You might be wondering how it starts there, since medical and business seem so different in nature. I chose the course Medical Technology because I wanted to be a doctor, and at the time it was considered to be the hottest pre medical course one could lay hands on. Also, the school I enrolled in had no entrance exam, which was a plus for me because I was already very late in the enrollment period. Anyways, so there I was, naive and excited with a mindset of Medicine smack right inside my ignorant mind. I rode with it, I passed in my subjects, I was being a proper student. That is until circumstances both personal (family) and physical (I discovered during my 3rd year that I was indeed colorblind, and not just dumb at colors) hindered my progress in the Medical field. I started having problems in school, and I failed in some subjects. I also lost the drive to go to school on time and as a result of this dry season I became obsessed with network marketing and I involved myself with businessmen in general. I was in a mindset of study, study, study, and I shifted in a span of a few weeks to a mindset of a businessman, where the studying happens not in a study center or a library, but on the field, observing the trends and behaviors of markets.

After two years repeating third year, I finally came to the conclusion on a cold windy night outside my dormitory: i’m not cut out for this. I asked advice from the most reliable and credible person I know, my mom. She told me to follow what I wanted, because at the end of the day that’s what matters most in a career. I then told her that I just wasn’t ready to go back to school yet, and so she told me to go ahead and do whatever I wanted to do for a while. I decided to apply in BPO companies since I tried a summer job in a prominent call center once. Fate would have it that I had a friend who told me about real estate. I tried applying for a job at one of the largest real estate developers in the country, not aware that they do not usually accept undergraduates into their team. Nevertheless, I passed all interviews thrown at me, be it from a supervisor or from the regional director herself, and I took that as a sign that this is the right path. I worked there for a good few months, before eventually finishing my contract and deciding to finally go back to school, this time with a fresh mindset on business, real estate, and marketing/sales. I met a lot of friends along the way and developed a mentality and a personality that was not akin to the Gino of before. I had become a new man.

You see, it is not the failures that define you. What defines you is not giving up. What defines each and every one of us is knowing what we want, and the measurement of your strength lies in the question “Do you have what it takes to get what you want?”. Because I used to want to be a doctor, I wanted to be the one to cure my family from sickness and disease, I wanted to be a prestigious and respected person of society. Well, guess what my friends: you can be prestigious and respected in any field you choose. It is not the occupation that truly matters, it is the way that you handle the barriers in the pursuit of that college degree. It is the journey that defines a man, not the destination. Because you can be great no matter where you plan to go, so long as you go there with the mindset that you will never give up and that you will make the most out of everything.

My dear readers, I was a medical student with a factual and study-intensive regimen. I ended up being a theoretical and analytical man with a knack for reading other people’s behavioral patterns, which in the business world is a huge asset. And although I may still be a student, I already know that i’m going places. Mindset certainly is everything. Don’t give up, because I don’t plan to.

The Bird that Refused to Migrate

Contributed by: Jake D.

A little bird in Russia refused to join the pack which was flying south for the winter. It refused to listen to its parents and elders thinking it can tough it out. Winter came and it was so cold so the bird froze and fell to the ground covered with snow. A cow came by and dropped some dung on the bird. The pile of cow dung warmed the bird and brought it back to life. It lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing took the bird out of the pile of cow dung, and ate it.

There are three lessons to be learned from the story:

The first is to not take for granted the experienced advice of those who care about you. Sometimes we are like the bird, being so cocky and confident with our own abilities. We tend not to listen to those who are more experienced than us because we want to find our own way in doing things, but I tell you from personal experience that the sacrifice is not worth the return when you know the outcome beforehand.

Second is that not everyone that dumps crap on you is your enemy. The crap we receive from people could be negative in form, but we can look at it at a different angle. The crap they give could become fodder for our learning and growth. How we look at things tend to affect our day so let’s look at things on the brighter side to keep the positive energy going towards success.

Lastly, not everyone who helps you out of crap is your friend. There are many wolves in sheep’s clothing. You may not realize it but your success also benefits those around you and when they lose interest in you they will just cast you aside like garbage. It’s a bitter fact of life but hey at least you have actual success.

Learn from the story, and know that we birds must always migrate once in a while.

#migratetosuccess

How do you know you’ve succeeded in life?

Contributed by: Andrew N.

All of us struggle to succeed. But to succeed in life is not only hard to achieve, it’s hard to even notice. You could be, right now, succeeding in life as you’re reading this. It’ll come to you naturally; sometimes you won’t even realize it. I am here to make it easier for you to maybe notice that you’ve actually succeeded in life. Here is a list of guidelines, or however you may call it, in knowing you’ve succeeded in life.

* You don’t have any more drama going on in your life. You’ve either moved on, or they have been resolved. Or you just avoid drama because you know you don’t need it in your life.

* You have accepted that failure is always an option. You’ve failed so many times to then realize failure helps you pick yourself back up and become a better person.

* You don’t complain about life anymore. You enjoy what you have and you have no complaints about your life.

* You are passionate about what you do. You enjoy whatever you are doing in life, whether it’s working in a regular office or being the CEO of the hugest company in the world.

* The goals you’ve set have become reality. Those goals you set out after graduation have come true, after all the hard work you’ve put into doing so.

* You know when to let go. Simple, you know when things aren’t worth sticking around to.

* You appreciate yourself. You’ve learned to love yourself more than you’ve ever had.

* You are open to everyone you love. Whatever feelings you had, have been put out.

* You’ve set your own standards. You’ve measured out what’s best for you and what isn’t.

* And lastly, to simply put it, you are happy.

I know for a fact that I haven’t reached the pinnacle of life, evaluating myself through these tips I have suggested. If you’re reading this, then you too are wondering if you’ve succeeded in life. I hope this has inspired you to look forward to succeeding in life. Good luck and have success in life.

#nowyouknow

The Two Frogs

Contributed by: Alain E.

A group of frogs were travelling through the woods. Two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead.

The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead.

Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died. The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, “Did you not hear us?” The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

There are lessons to be learned from this story. The story shows that there is power of life and death in the tongue. Encouraging words will help lift someone up and will help them make it through any day. Words have such an impact in our day to day lives, so be careful on what you say. Speak life-giving words to those who cross your path. There is power in words, and it is this power that can either make or break a person in life. It is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Also, the story shows that wise men should not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience. If I agreed with you we’d both be wrong.

Lastly, light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

#dontstopjumping

Here’s how to be a Successful Young Entrepreneur

Contributed by: Katrina I.

Have you ever asked yourself what you want to be when you grow up?

Most of the time, people would say that they want to be successful in the future and have their own family. But there are others who would want to be entrepreneurs and find money at a very young age.

So the question is how. There are ways in order to become a successful entrepreneur at a young age. First would be to stay energetic. When starting a business, you have to be excited about your product or service. Your being energetic will transfer to everyone you meet and talk to along the way towards your path in business. Being energetic would attract positive feedback towards you and the business and would brand you as the type of person everyone wants to do business with.

Second is by taking risks. Taking risks would help you move forward in your business and would lead to greater opportunities. Taking risks is kind of crucial in starting a business but it is also good when done in the right way. Risking something in business without proper research and preparation is lethal for any businessman’s plans.

Third is to partner with experience. As an entrepreneur, you need experience to guide you through the journey of running a business. As what they say, “Experience is the best teacher.” Some businessmen would even go as far to say as Experience is more important to them than any other learned value.

Fourth is to listen and speak. As entrepreneurs, it is really important to listen to what others have to say first because their say has an importance in running a business. It may be good or bad but it is essential to know what you should improve on in your business. It should also be critical to note that an outsider’s perspective is something every business needs, be it a successful one or a suffering one.

And lastly, surround yourself with positive people. The people around you would help you become the superior you. Being around with the right people would help you grow, learn and seek new ideas.

There is really no perfect formula to be successful in the future. As long as you love what you’re doing, you can achieve your goals and ambitions in life. Just trust and believe in yourself that you can do it, and with these simple steps, you may be sure to see yourself succeeding as an entrepreneur!

#entrepreneurshipislove

The Successful Mindset

Contributed by: Kenneth D.

Entrepreneurs nowadays are confused on what kind of business they are going to run. They might think that it is too common or a lot of other people have already started that kind of business and think that the presence of competition will put them at a disadvantage, but competing is just natural in the world of business. Competition is healthy, it is something that sparks more business at a macro-economic point of view. We must prepare our mindset to accept that competition will always be present in life, not just in business. Only by doing so can you prepare your mind to not be fazed by anything the competition will throw at you.

In starting a business, you must know the importance of knowledge, skill, and talent, and especially devotion. In order to have entrepreneurial success, you must be devoted to your business because it is your devotion that will help you prevail in hard times and convince people to work for you and want to do business with you even when times get rough. You must show these people that you can be trusted enough so that they would have the confidence to continue to work for you. The same thing goes for your customers: Never let your fear of failure bring you down, see those failures as a lesson or an opportunity that you can correct the mistakes that you have made. Another thing to add to your mindset would be to remove procrastination from your list of values. You mustn’t procrastinate for you will surely lose opportunities.

Lastly, remember that the most important person is you, so you’ve got to believe in yourself and set things under your lasting control. Spend your profits wisely to gain more profits. All you need to do is believe in yourself and know that you can do it. You must have the positive mind set to achieve your goals, and these are some of the ways to reach them.

#mindsetispower

The Art of Moving On

Contributed by: MC V.

Success in Moving On

The first time I fell for someone, I felt an unexplainable feeling. It was so mysterious and incomprehensible that until now, I still cannot define it. As they say, “Love is a rosary that’s full of mysteries.”

It is a mystery, for no one can define the future, and love comes with it the promise of a future. We never know what will happen today, later or tomorrow. In most cases, the next thing you know is that you are being separated from your partner. Yesterday, the two of you would be so damn sweet and today it would feel like you don’t even recognize each other anymore. As what the trending and unbeatable saying in social media goes, “#WalangForever”.

I tell you from experience, in love it is normal to be hurt, to be lost and to be left out by someone who is worth everything to you. Sometimes, it may feel like you are questioning your worth or that you ask yourself where you went wrong when you felt like giving everything for that person. I’m here to tell you: DON’T BE!

Because someday, you’ll find someone who is a hundred times better than him/her, someone who’s worth the hurt, pain, and someone that’s truly worth fighting for. For those that are in this kind of situation right now reading this, be strong, appreciate everything that is happening in your life, because everything happens for a reason. Always thank God for whatever circumstances He is throwing towards you because it only means that He knows you are strong enough to face every battle in life. When bucket of tears fall from your eyes, just smile instead and move on. Because moving on doesn’t mean you are weak, it simply mean you are strong enough to face tomorrow with someone who you can see and spend “forever” with.

#hugot

The Story of the Chicken and Eagle

 A man found an eagle’s egg and place it in a nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them. All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air. Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings. The old eagle looked up in awe. “Who’s that?” he asked. “That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” said his neighbor. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth—we’re chickens.” So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.

One of the most common reasons why most people fail to achieve the success they have always dreamed of having is because they fail to recognize their true potential. We see ourselves as the eagle that is living a lie for the rest of his life, not really knowing and learning how to soar above the sky because of the limits that we create in our minds. We often limit ourselves based on what we see, hear and feel around us, basing our potential on what other people can do, what they think they can do, and what they say you can do.

As human beings capable of doing and experiencing so many beautiful and wonderful things, we should realize the lie that we have been telling ourselves, and that this lie limits our every move towards success. We should be able to rise above the limitations we have brought upon ourselves and soar high above the sky with the people who have also realized their true potential. Each one of us must fix in our minds the goal of liberating ourselves from the limits we have brought upon ourselves and deciding right now as you are reading this article to live your life being limitless.

#betheeagle

A little prelude.

The Blog that will enhance your life is now here!

The Success Hub, what is it?

It’s a blog intended to inspire, influence, energize readers! Our main objective is to make potential readers be fueled throughout their life in search for that elusive success.

And we don’t mean success in the money sense alone, we want readers to learn about other forms of success and how to reach them.

Here at TSH, we want to enrich our readers’ knowledge and insight towards life. We understand that life is hard, and we understand and experience how there can be aspects in life that are very hard to succeed at.

So come and take a look at our blog! We post random content that relates to all kinds of success each day of the week, beginning Sept. 7, 2015.

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Happy reading, to all of us Successors! :)