How to live on 24 hours a day... a little bit better.

Today I finished the book: How to live on 24 hours a day for being a book from the early 20th century i found it quite a good read. I think I learned a few good lessons from the book which I will go over here:

1. Realize the free time you actually do have.aside from the time we're working, we have a good amount of extra time to pursue other interests, but the bulk of man wastes away this time on things such as mindless TV or aimless internet use. after work, the time is yours. use it wisely.
2. Devote the time you spend commuting to investing in an interest of yours. - the book first focuses on making ourselves better through concentrating the time we would normally spend listening to the shock jocks of the morning rattle off... crap to focus on building our interests on a topic. If you're interested in gardening, get an audiobook on gardening, spend that time learning something new in the world. apply this to your favorite topic.
3. Devote time to let your brain think about what interests you. I know for me for a long time, I would find myself listening to audiobook after audiobook, tearing through a myriad of books, but never stopping once to see how I could apply the lessons I'd learned to my own life. It's powerful when you give your mind a topic to focus on. sometimes you have to bring your brain back to that center, but it's still a worthwile practice. 
4. Align your life with your principles- here's one of my favorite quotes from this book. "All I urge is that a life in which conduct does not fairly well accord with principles is a silly life; and that conduct can only be made to accord by means or daily examination, reflection and resolution. take some time each day to make sure you're on the right path. Did you know if an airplane flying from California to New York City was pointed just a degree off course, it would end up in an entirely different state? The airplanes of today are equipped to monitor when the plane gets off course, and makes adjustments to get back on the right track. we must do the same. through this we may learn how to become better men and women. We will find ourselves achieving goals beyond our wildest dreams. With ease! so continue on. continue to learn, make adjustments, and you'll find yourself at your goal.  

I hope you take these tips to heart and apply them in your life. I highly recommend this book. so go out my friends, live greatly and be ready to UP YOUR SUCCESS!

Moving Sites!!

Howdy internet users,

just so you know in the next few days I'll be moving this site onto a wordpress site, mainly because I think I have more freedom for customization and less domination by the google juggernaut (I still love you Google) So just so you know, keep on using the site upyoursuccess.info and we'll keep on truckin towards success. I will also be periodically posting some of my older posts so new people that are coming to the site can partake in the wonderment and joy of reading stuff on the internet.

Thanks for the support, and get ready to see some AWESOME results in the coming weeks with the Upyoursuccess blog, site and twitter. LET'S DO IT!!!

-To our continued success,

Hayward Sparks III

The Goal.

Yes, I eventually finished. and got a shiny medal. HOO RAH

One more step, one more step

I look down at my watch.

It's around 10:00 in the morning now and my legs are starting to feel it

I had been running for almost two hours now and my legs we're letting me know it. 

as I ran up another hill rocky style wrenching out the little kinetic energy left in my legs during the Austin Half Marathon.  What I saw next elicited a Star Wars III Darth Vader like "NOOO...." as I reached the top as I saw what was waiting for me. 

Another hill.

Why am I doing this to myself? because I've found something I love. 

Many times we as human beings are running in this race called life. and sometimes we don't know what we're running for. We put in extra hours at work. We try to squeeze a few more hours of sleep in. we watch an entire season of Lost (or 24 or Grey's Anatomy, choose your poison) and find ourselves stuck in the same rut we were six months ago. 

But that's because we've forgotten the passion, we've forgotten the goal. We've forgotten what drives us. We've replaced dreams and goals of great success with the pain of enduring the mundane. I promise you  even the greatest of basketball players didn't have aspirations of running suicides (sprints back and forth across the basketball court)

On that day during my race I found  the simple truth that had avoided me for so long. Always focus on the goal. See the destination. Feel the way you want to feel. Live the passion!

I'll tell you right now. running up that last hill with pretty much an unforgivable sin to my legs (I'm sorry legs) but the thing that got me through was the goal. the dream the desire. I saw myself finishing the finish line in a Lance Armstrong in his prime motion with my hands up in the air. I saw beautiful women coming over to kiss me and give me a gold medal. I saw a big bottle of Gatorade and a plate of BBQ ribs (okay maybe a little too much) but that's really what got me through. 

The point is that you need to constantly remind yourself what your motivation is. Keep a picture of what you want to look like. keep a photo in your wallet of your family.  Have a pair of underpants that remind you of success (lucky skivvies always do the trick). It's all about keeping your eye on the goal. 

And that's what got me through my race, and it can help you get through yours. So keep up the good work! Live your passion! and get ready to Up Your Success!

What is Joy?

What is it?? What is Joy? is it an emotion? a feeling? I think of joy as a feeling that you get when everything is working in synchronization with one another. It's a powerful place where the best of humanity is brought out. Maybe it's a point at the end of a long race. Maybe it's a wedding. Maybe it's doing what you love. Maybe it's a song that brings back good memories from a time past. (Snoop Dogg's "Beautiful" takes me back to my first real crush in middle school.) 


For many, joy is an idea that inspires one to reach and attain a goal. But if joy can be found simply through a song, what drives us to live? Why shouldn't we just put that song on repeat and float into a constant state of ecstasy?


Well, because joy isn't the end all be all. Unlike the movies, we don't just ride off into the sunset while the credits slowly scroll up the screen.  Joy is a moment, but there are so many other emotions and feelings we have that make joy, joy. It's the shadow that proves the sunshine. It's the struggle that sweetens the victory. It's the rain that leads the flower to bloom. 


So my friends, what am I getting at? Well, what I want you to see is that as much as we love the sweetness of  joy, we must also be thankful for those moments of progress, of tireless effort. Of working when you don't want to. Of mistakes and failure. Of trial and error. 


Because that's what makes Joy worth having.  


So my friends, I encourage you: focus on the end result. Focus on the joy you will feel. Focus on what will be when you're challenged with the tireless challenge of doing the small things every day. Because then you will fire the engines of your consistent persistence with the coals of joy; which will lead you to the great city of success. 

Continuity, Define your Why and You can Achieve any How.

You know we’re now here in this new week, about to start the month of February. So here’s the same question I was asking a month ago, and I want to continue to ask you. How are you doing on your goals? Are you moving towards them? Are you continuing to push forward?

You know this is the point where most New Year’s “resolutions” begin to go sour. It’s where people begin to “rationalize” way they are living their lives. They say “Eh, I’ll do it tomorrow,” or “Geez it’s just been a really busy week so far…” or “I just don’t have time to finish this” I mean pick your favorite.

But we’re not about that anymore. That might have worked in the past, but if we’re still dwelling on those lines, we cannot expect anything greater than what we have now. A wise man once said the things that got you here aren’t the same things that are going to get you there. Now I believe each and every one of us has the ability to achieve BIG goals. We have already been given the ability and the means to achieve and do things that have never been done before. We just have to use them. We can’t let fear, or lame excuses define our lives anymore. We’re here to make changes and be the best we can.

As an example, I recently started the process of beginning to start an internet marketing business. I’ll tell you I read Tim Ferris’ book “The Four Hour Work Week” and I was impressed. I saw that it was possible to achieve levels and goals that I couldn’t even fathom before. I could hardly believe I was starting down the road to achieving my own goals. But I tell you, there isn’t a day that goes by where doubts and fears try to sneak in my head and tell me that I can’t achieve my goals. It’s hard. Sometimes I just want to give up and get back on the “safe” road that I’ve been told to travel my whole life.

But that same thinking won’t get me to my dreams. You see I’ve always wanted to travel; I want to live abroad again. I was one of the few kids that actually used the 4 years of required Spanish back in high school. I had the opportunity to live in Spain for 4 months, and I’m ready to get back there. I want to live a life where I can be an example to my younger siblings, and ultimately my kids. And I know if I didn’t take the chance to be extraordinary, I would always be settling for the ordinary. And life isn’t supposed to be a constant stream of settling. And I hope you won’t settle either.

I came across an amazing quote today, and I hope it will bring you some confidence in pushing towards your goals today

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”

Wow! How about that? That’s what I want you all to think about during the remainder of this week.  So continue to press on towards your goals!

Expect great things! And get ready to UP YOUR SUCCESS!!

Run for Success

Running.

I consider myself a runner. I really consider it one of my favorite things that I do. Each and every time I get to run it feels like an escape from all the "stuff" that may be going on in my life. It's really cool because I find that when I run I can either, be training, just enjoying good weather, getting my body and mind ready for the day etc. I'll tell you right now that some of my best thoughts come while running. The idea to write this  post came from a run yesterday.

I find so many connections between running and life it's almost uncanny. here's a few of them I've thought up for you, and may help you feel like more of a success.

1. Consistency is Key. Persistence is Omnipotent: FACT: if you want to run a marathon, you shouldn't just say "hey what a great day to run 26.2 miles" when the only place you have run to recently is to the door to greet the pizza guy. Running takes training! it takes a commitment over time to better yourself to reach goals like the marathon. 

example: I just got my roommate started on running with me. I enjoy our runs, but since he's just starting off (workin' off some of that college beer belly) it's a process. we don't go 6 or 8 miles. we go 2. with breaks. but we're continually moving up and going farther each time. I'm pretty proud of him! he's gone from 1 mile to two! (another tip: celebrate the small things)

2. You don't have to go it alone! When I was in high school I was a part of the track team. our school had consistently gone to state and in my opinion has one of the best (and craziest) coaches out there. He made us run in the morning, run in the afternoon, he even had plans for us to workout during weekends and holidays! (yeah, a little intense, but really worth it.) one thing he has us do is stick together as a team. he would split us into groups depending on ability, and would have us run and finish under a certain time. If ALL of us didn't, we would do another one. I remember whenever I was with the long distance kids (I was a middle distance guy) I always had pushed a little bit harder to finish whatever grueling workout he had for us. why? because I didn't want to let down my team. I wanted to help them  succeed. and succeeding for us meant surviving every practice! Get that team! get a partner! associate with those you wanna be like! surround yourself with winners in your field and you'll eventually pick up some of their skills. 

3. Don't for get the WHY!!! - When training for my first 10 mile run, I put myself on a strict running regimen, particularly because I wanted to survive the race. I ran day in and day out, but about 3 weeks into it I found myself getting tired of running, trying to make excuses "it's too cold, i have to study (get on facebook), I have this and that  to do...." all just lame excuses. My goal of finishing my first 10 miler had become nothing but a chore I had to do. I focused more on HAVING to run than GETTING to achieve my goal. My running buddy continually reminded me on why I was running. that WHY got me through a lot of training runs, and that WHY changed that HAVE to into a GET to. How can you mold your WHY to change your HAVES to GETS?

Well there's my three thoughts for right now, I hope you can use them to kick start whatever you're trying to achieve this year. So I dare you to great things, go boldly forward and get ready to UPYOURSUCCESS! 

  

Getting the Most out of each day

Hey all,
We are officially 22 days into 2011! How are you doing on your goals? Are you keeping up with your plan that you've created? do you have a written plan at all?

These are some of the things that we need to ask ourselves right now, instead of 6 months into the year when people have a tendency to totally forget all of the resolutions made at the beginning of the year.

So here's a plain and simple 3 point list so you can maximize your time, and your goal achieving endeavors.

1. Plan!- we all have resolutions at the beginning of the year that we "promise" to ourselves we'll do. Usually they revolve around topics such as losing weight or reaching a certain weight goal. The problem is that people fail to plan, and also PUT IT ON PAPER. It's amazing how much more you'll achieve when you do this simple step. My favorite is the legal pad, but you do what works best for you. ALSO make sure that in addition to your resolution, you have checkpoints throughout the year. 
2. Set the Six- Here's one of the most powerful tools I use in my life. The  "Sacred Six" as they have been referred to are basically the six most important things you have to do for the next day. So before you hit the sack, be sure to write out these suckers on your legal pad/Iphone/blackberry etc. These Six Tasks should relate back to your major goals and resolutions you made at the beginning of the year. How does this help? by writing down these day goals, you are committing to making continuous improvement and moving your goals forward a little bit each and every day. 
3. Give Thanks! Now here's one of the biggest kickers. As we all are moving our goals forward we sometimes lose sight of all of the good things around us. So even as you are making the commute to your job/college/child's school find things to be thankful for. i.e. Thank you for the traffic so I can listen to my favorite beats! Thank you for my vehicle that has a working Heating unit! (something I struggled with in college a lot) Thank you to my office for providing free coffee! So find what works for you. Look around, because more often than not there is something worth taking a moment to enjoy. 

One of my favorite rappers gives this advice "Go ahead and switch your style up and if they hate then let them hate and watch the money pile up." there's some wisdom.

So, go out today and make your day the best one you've had so far! if you're tired of living the a drab and boring life, define what life you'd like to have and begin to make it happen. be ready to UP YOUR SUCCESS!

New Changes

What does it mean to be strong? to be powerful?

I've been in search of this for the last few weeks,(via workouts and running) and I'm starting to see it's about what you do everyday.

I began a little workout frenzy about three weeks ago, it all started when I saw a magazine with this super-uber strong guy. I was like "man, I wanna look like that" so along with my running, I began working out. one thing leads to another and I'm on some crazy workout plan, I'm taking multivitamins and protein, and I'm getting (or at least feeling) as strong as if not stronger than I've felt since high school track. man it feels good! and I know I've made some progress, but I want to keep continuing. It's powerful when you find somethings that you can actually see the progress that one is making. It's even better when you have a goal that you can look at.

It really helps when you know exactly what you're going for and how you can get there. WHY? because you can picture yourself there. you can picture yourself achieving that goal, or finishing that race, or buying that house, and if you put it in the right position, you will be able to consistently see it. This is one reason it is important to have goals that you look at everyday, and that you're making progress towards everyday!

Man! I'm a member of morning coach, and one of the basic ideas is continuous progress (kaizen). basically what you're doing is you're improving 1% a day, and you continue on over time. sure, it may be hard to get 100% better in one day, or even to get 25% better in one day. but if we take it day by day, then we can really make some progress.

Now there are times where you just have to make a decision and say "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!!"  and be done with something. but 9 times out of 10, when you're making the big changes, it is a process.

So i'm gonna keep on working towards an uber-strong body, a 3.5 GPA this semester, and an excellent stint in my organizations, and you can aim for whatever's on the top of the list of goals you're aiming for.

anyways, I want you to think today about how you can improve 1%. today. on something that's really important to you.

until next time,
Trey Sparks logging out.

Decisions.

Decisions. everyday we're faced with them. it's a decision to go to the football game when you know you need to study. it's a decision to eat pizza after you've already eaten tons of just food for the day. it's a decision when you let go of your plans and let someone else take care of it. It's a decision when we decide to stick to our plan and let go of the plans that other people have for us. We can either be who we are to be or be who other people want us to be. It's a decision to stand up for what you believe in, or be pushed around by the winds of life.

It's a decision to decide to be the captain of our own ship. It's our decision what the destinations we will set, what courses we will commit to, and how we will get there.

Now the winds of life will blow, and sometimes get you off the right path, but then and there is where we must make our decision on how we will live.

But the best way for us to sail is to determine our direction, and stay the course.One of the legendary coaches at TCU motivated his players with these words, words which are still part of the spirit of the school today.  "We'll fight em. we'll fight em until hell freezes over, and then we'll fight em on the ice."

How's that for determination! If we really take time to find what our goals are, what our dreams are, then commit to a game plan that includes continuous performance, then we can achieve all of the goals and dreams that are inside of us.

So, What's your destination?

www.upyoursuccess.info

Parkour and the Mindset. Connecting the Dots

Me and a couple of my friends have been trying to learn to do this thing called parkour, which basically is jumping on/ over crap and looking cool. It's really a tight way to keep in shape and stuff, but there's a lot more that goes into it. You begin to test your fears as you try to do backflips, jump over tables and jump from high places. For example, I've been trying to learn how to do a back flip. am I good at it right now? not really, have I hurt myself trying to do it? yes. but I know if I keep on practicing, I will eventually get it. I know I will. and it's fun to try to do something that not many people can do. 

The biggest thing I've learned so far is that we as human beings have been given so much. we've been given the ability to do so many things, and many times the only one that stops us from accomplishing this is our own fears. 

Take for example walking. everbody walks (unless you have some kind of handicap) from the day we are born we see people walking. it's not a big deal to us at all. It's to balance ourselves on these two stick like objects we call legs. in fact walking is good for us in many ways! we can go places when we walk. Why is walking so easy? because we are taught it at an early age, and it's just a natural part of our lives. 

NOw what if we looked upon walking as a skill that only them most elite have. what if at a young age we were only taught to crawl? wouldn't that be something. It would chage our whole society. podiums would only be maybe 2 feet tall, many of the sports we play would be atered, and only the greatest of athletes would be able to stand, something we find so easy to do?
Now what if we applied this theory to something else, say speaking 6 different languages. what if we from an early age were around people that spoke french, english, italian, swahili, french, and mandarin? then it wouldn't be a problem! Speaking 6 different languages would be freakin' awesome. and we could go places and be understood, because we can speak 6 different languages. 
My question then is why do we stop ourselves from becoming all that we can be? (army commercial quote, i know)

I guess I'm thinking that we shouldn't limit ourselves because society tells us that we can't do it, or that doing it is too hard, or too painful or too demanding or whatever. 

And that's exactly what parkour does. here's an excerpt from a website if found
"Parkour (also called Le Parkour , PK ) is a philosophy/activity in which participants no longer see obstacles in their path as something to keep them where they are, in the world and in life. Instead they see obstacles as opportunities to progress, which they do in the most fluid and natural manner possible." 


Why? because we can walk