Source: https://antoniolopezvereen.com/page/2/
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 16:01:07+00:00

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Whatever You Do Don’t Quit.
May 16, 2017 November 12, 2018 Antonio V.
There have been some times in my military, hell life in general, that I had wanted to quit. Give up. Walk away. Ring that damn bell. But then I came to the realization that some things are worth the pain and sacrifice if I really wanted them.
We used to say to “take a knee and drink water” during long marches or operations in the Army. It may seem silly now but it was during a time that you may have lost your bearings or felt like having a pity party. The idea was to take a knee, wet your palette and collect your thoughts. To take a quick second and look deep inside yourself for that second wind and reason why. And when you found that reason you would give your team a boost of confidence, inspiration, and keep pushing to accomplish the goal.
So why can’t you use this same example in your life? I do. When times get you down. When we see our “friends” achieving more and we are stagnating, take a knee and drink water. Collect your thoughts, reenergize your base and get after it.
Because we aren’t tapping out or ringing any bells around here.
May 14, 2017 May 14, 2017 Antonio V.
In high school I was never the popular kid. I just never felt the need to have to belong to a group of people or follow the norm. Sure, I had plenty of friends because I socialized with everyone. But I didn’t live and die by what they thought of me.
I was also very fortunate to become conscious and self aware of who I was as a young 17 year old. So I didn’t subject myself to society’s view of a young Black Man. And I have constantly evolved in my 20s, 30s, and now 40s.
But one thing is constant: I am not bothered by what others think of me.
Live your life and be who you have always wanted to be. On your terms.
April 18, 2017 April 21, 2017 Antonio V.
It’s so much easier in life to be average. To not rock the boat and to toe the line. It’s so much easier falling into a routine with everyone else. Falling into the norm. Doing exactly what your parents, not you, want you to be in life.
Yea, ok. No. I have always been someone who wanted and did the opposite of others. I didn’t follow the crowd in school. I never really had a ton of friends. Just like-minded people on the fringes like me who always did their own thing. Sure, there were times where I wanted to be popular. But that quickly subsided when I figured that high school was very temporary and we actually had to be something productive in life afterward.
I knew early on that I was destined to be something bigger than just another kid graduating and joining the workforce. I joined the military knowing I wanted to be the best Logistician and Soldier I could be. Sometimes I fell short and others I excelled, having retired after 23 successful years. During that time I fell into depression and grew very pessimistic. But one thing that kept me going was that phrase: I Dare You To Be Great. I often told myself this. I dare you to do good on this promotion board. I dare you to do your absolute best on this deployment day in and day out. I dare you to give your best leading these soldiers. Every single day that was my mission: to be great just that one single day. Like I said, some days I was great and some days I fell short. But I always dared myself and gave the best I could.
In the coming weeks, I will be elaborating more on these four principles in a new way titled the Becoming Better Project. My goal is to assist one hundred people in realizing their fullest potential. The plan will be to build a community of people from all walks of life who just want to become better. And it’s free. All I want is your time and commitment to want the best for you and others on the same path.
Will you commit? Drop me a comment below or send me an email with Becoming Better in the subject line letting me know you want to be apart of this.
March 14, 2016 March 14, 2016 Antonio V.
You know exactly what you want out of life. You know who you want to be. You know who you are right now. You have a plan. Goals are laid out. So what is stopping you?
You need to see yourself as a success before it actually happens. Whatever your definition of success is, you need to see it. See it daily. Picture what it would look like to you.
Keep that vision cemented in your head and work on the plan to get there. It may not always be clear. So break it up in 90 day chunks so you can see the progress better and more quickly.
All the hard work in the world won’t get you there without the vision.
It’s time to see it and achieve it.
March 12, 2016 Antonio V.
I recently had the opportunity to guest post for my writing friend the wonderful, Shawna Ayoub Ainslie who runs the site The Honeyed Quill. This was a tough and eye-opening post for me to write and I am grateful for her asking me to write on this topic. Let me know what you think below in the comments below.
What If Tomorrow Wasn’t Promised?
March 3, 2016 March 3, 2016 Antonio V.
It’s six o’clock in the morning. I just told you that today is your last day on Earth. What would you do differently? Would you lay in the bed contemplating your existence? Wondering where you went wrong and about all the time you wasted.
Or would you get up out of the bed and be accountable for your 86,400 seconds for this single day? See, we all seem to think that tomorrow is promised to us. This should not be a shock to you, but it’s not. Nothing in this life is permanent. Not a relationship, a job, etc. Nothing lasts forever and what you are doing now is temporary and in the moment.
So if today was your last day, you should be doing your best to accomplish everything you have been procrastinating about. But it shouldn’t take this ominous event to get you to take some action should it?
No, this is the very reason for the saying, Carpe Diem, which mean Seize the Day. And that is how you should be every damn day. You should ready every day to make the most of each second. To not waste it frivolously.
So get up and get started. Yes, right now. Don’t waste this day. Stop reading this. Start doing what you need to do to conquer your dreams.

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