Veteran Mettle

Your narrative is a powerful tool that can help you get better, or worse… remain stagnant, or develop your capacity for more greatness. It’s a tangled web we can weave. It’s best to practice self-awareness often in the tales we spin. Listen in to find out how. Conviction Strong Radio (CSR) is about finding your balance across family, fitness and career. The goal of CSR is to remain open-minded, tell stories and interview subject matter experts. The focus is on giving you ways to improve your position or outlook on Life so that you may evolve into your most awesome and best self. Remember, don’t text and drive! (Listen to this podcast and drive instead!) Listen up, enjoy and give us feedback! For show notes and related links - http://convictiontraining.com/csr-episode-008-whats-the-story-you-create-for-yourself

We have to be willing to let go of old behaviors that no longer suit us, for newer, more beneficial behaviors, even if that means some initial apprehension and discomfort.   There is some beneficial information in the article below, on yoga, (even thought it's Men's Health), which is all I'm looking for, once you wade past all the fucking advertising. http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/yoga-benefits-for-men If you are local to Hilton Head, there is free beach yoga available (and this probably isn't the only one) - http://www.hiltonheadisland.org/event-calendar/details/free-beach-yoga/ Whether you're near Hilton Head or not, simply Google "your city+free yoga" to identify a starting point for yourself. In order to make some improvements in your life, you have to be willing to try new things, to shed some aspects of your old way of thinking. I still struggle with the idea of doing yoga, no matter how much I read about it's potential benefit...

Anytime we attempt something new or something repeated but at a higher level than before, it's a great thing. Trying allows us to explore new areas, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Trying something new can be a subtle way of preventing our world from getting smaller, and our thinking narrower. Trying something new can show us that we are more capable and less fragile than we had convinced ourselves. Take for example, being in the gym and going for a new one-rep max. Sometimes we successfully make the lift and obtain a new max, boosting us to a level of strength we never knew we possessed and now begs the question; how much more could I have lifted? There are times when we try though, and we fail. This can be a real bitch of a spot, if you overthink it, allow yourself to wallow, or if you do not learn from this attempt. There's that quote "You want to know the difference between the master and the beginner? The master has failed more times than the beginner has e...

"Show me a man who cannot bother to do little things and I'll show you a man who cannot be trusted to do big things." - Lawrence D. Bell I found Crossfit through a buddy, on active duty in 2007. We were actually in Iraq, and we began doing some investigating into what Crossfit was and how we could adopt it into our routines. I've since transitioned to the civilian world where Crossfit has become wildly popular among the masses. You can probably walk into any Crossfit-style gym these days and see athletes, civilians, veterans, and active duty all working out together, in the same room, at the same time. This is one of the great things about Crossfit, it's appeal has brought many like-minded people together in pursuit of a better self. As with anything that draws good people together, it will also draw in some folks from the fringe (the ying and the yang). It will draw in the introverts, and the extroverts. The ones who keep to themselves and the ones wh...

In this episode, Craig and Jake talk about finding and contributing value. Enjoy, leave feedback. Conviction Strong Radio is about creating balance across family, career and fitness. The goal of CSR is to remain open-minded, tell stories and interview subject matter experts. The focus is on giving you ways to improve your position or outlook on Life so that you may evolve into your most awesome and best self. Remember, don't text and drive! (Listen to this podcast and drive instead!) Listen up, enjoy and give us feedback!

This article was originally written for the Task & Purpose website by a retired Marine named Carl Forsling. http://taskandpurpose.com/vets-need-to-cool-it-with-the-outrage-on-social-media/ I feel the same as Carl, we as veterans need to chill out on social media, and in life. If we spent time improving our own situations, instead of looking at everyone else's and bitching about everyone else, then we wouldn't have the time to get all spun up about menial bullshit. As Carl said, there are some things that make sense to have feelings about, but ultimately, we need to focus more on our selves, and our own "injustices". It's pretty easy to get caught up in the noise, losing the real signal. Instead of getting spun up about some noise (nearly anything in the media), and piling on (which doesn't fucking affect anything), try to let it go, and if you're unable to let it go, then critically think about how you can make the situation better or bring ju...

Interview with Jeff Ford. Jeff drops by the podcast to talk about the transition of CrossFit Endurance to Power Speed Endurance (PSE), why he writes the training program for PSE the way he does (and why it might be right for you), what inspires him, how he stays motivated, the rituals he uses to keep his day going full tilt and the best lesson his father ever taught him. Conviction Strong Radio (CSR) is about finding your balance across family, fitness and career. The goal of CSR is to remain open-minded, tell stories and interview subject matter experts. The focus is on giving you ways to improve your position or outlook on Life so that you may evolve into your most awesome and best self. Remember, don’t text and drive! (Listen to this podcast and drive instead!) Listen up, enjoy and give us feedback! For show notes and related links - http://convictiontraining.com/csr-jeff-ford-talks-life-lessons

Anger makes you sharp/tight/focuses the senses. Use anger as fuel, to the next level, to kill or to do extraordinary. Anger beats the drum when tired, morale has vaporized & it's raining. Anger fills the moat between you, your brothers & everything else. Anger feeds the fire to keep getting better. Anger makes you strong, tempers you like forged steel. Anger suppresses fear to do unimaginable tasks. Anger allows you to turn around & roll right back out. TRANSITION TO: STATESIDE - CIVILIAN - THE MALL - RHETORIC How/where/when do you constructively/sustainably let go of anger? How do you allow vulnerability/honesty/compassion in? How do you let it in and maintain balance? How do you let go of tried & true tools to pick up new & adapt to them? How do you learn to trust again; where do you start? (Just some drivel from my brain one afternoon)