Every now and then you see a video that hits something in you.  This video did that for me.

It features Yvon Chouinard the founder of Patagonia and environmental activist.

Enjoy

Best line in the video “It’s not about catching the fish its about the fish catching you really”

Its not uncommon to get off track.  It happens all the time.  Personally i have been feeling spread very thin over the past few months and felt like i really needed to reassess my situation and determine my next steps forward.  What came out of it is this…

My Goals for the Rest of 2010-

-Only focus on MY businesses or businesses that I own a part of, no longer work for anyone else in any capacity

-Stay open to new people and new experiences (2009 was a great learning experience and I met a lot of cool people, need more of that)

-Travel Again (For the first time in my life i took almost a whole year off from traveling and i am restless time to get back on the horse, at least 2 out of country this year, Ecuador for sure!)

-Be Calmer  (I found myself very stressed from this last year and need to just calm down)

-Do more yoga (stress relief, better surfing, and a six pack, yea yoga is good)

-Take a Bonsai Class

-Cook More

-Stop putting off guitar lessons

-Renew old friendships

-Ski more

-Surf more

Yea there are some monetary goals mixed in there as well, but I wont bore you with those…..

Are you on track?  Do your efforts feel like a laser or a floodlight.

Come on now, tighten up, get it dialed in

Man, what a great experience it has been working with and learning from Greg lately.

I mean Think and Grow Rich, that’s huge!  This book has been accredited with making more millionaires than any other book in the history of mankind, and rightfully so.  I have the original on CD in my truck right now, its just a great motivator and breaks down one’s ability to control his destiny by controlling his mind.

So the story goes like this, in 1908 the country is in turmoil.  People are losing their jobs and everyone is up in arms about how bad their lives are and that there is no hope.  The richest man of the time, Andrew Carnegie commissions a young man by the name of Napoleon Hill to go around and interview the most successful people of their time to figure out their secrets.  He does this and it goes on to become the book now know as Think and Grow Rich.

Fast forward 100 years and once again, the country is in turmoil.  People are losing their jobs, banks are shutting down and everyone thinks the sky is falling and then it happens….again.  This time the Napoleon Hill Foundation themselves commission someone (Greg) to go around and interview the top entrepreneurs of our time period and the result is this book.  Think and Grow Rich – Three Feet From Gold.  Its an awesome book that is a must for any entrepreneur.

Thank you Greg for the interview, for the insight and of course for your friendship.  Its an honor to know you.

Enjoy the video and check out that 1980’s microphone, pretty sick I know.

Mat

yea, I like quotes and I heard a few lately that I wanted to share, all about taking action….

“Knowing is better than wondering…..
Waking is better than sleeping……..
and even the worst, biggest, most un-retractable mistake beats the hell out of not trying”
-Benjamin Franklin

“20 Years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do, than by the things you did.  So go on sail away from the safe harbor and catch the trade winds in your sails…..explore, dream….Discover!”
-Mark Twain

“Ships in the harbor are safe, but that’s not what ships are built for”
-William Shedd

Every now and then, a movie comes along that you have just gotta see.  I saw a trailer today that prompted me to write this post.

If you don’t know who Jamie O’Brien is then its time you learn.  If you don’t want to watch this movie or go surfing after seeing these trailers, then were not friends.

Hint- Watch these on fullscreen, they are HD….and turn the music up..

Official Trailer

Trailer I

Trailer II

Yes, that was a rodeo flip on a surf board, a two person barrel and a great piece of…….surf footage.

gonna be a sick movie.

I never though I would say it, but i genuinely miss the seasons right now.

Growing up in the Midwest(Michigan & Ohio), fall was always such a gorgeous time of year.  You could literally smell winter coming as you gazed around at the semi-barren tree branches and heard the crunch of dead orange and deep red leaves underneath your feet.

College football Saturdays on a brisk fall day were some of the best days of all time.  Maybe it is the grass is always greener mentality which I have been accused of before, but as I sat on my couch today watching Michigan Football in board-shorts, I began to actually miss Ohio for the first time in 5 years.

Well, maybe it is Ohio or maybe it the mountains, or maybe its just the restlessness I get in my soul after staying in one place for too long.  Everyone has certain elements of their youth that brings back a rush of memories.  For me they are freshly cut grass, the smell of a hockey rink, morning in the mountains and the smell, look and feel of a perfectly crisp fall day in the Midwest playing football in my backyard.

OK, enough reminiscing, something has to give, gonna have to get some real fall weather in my life real soon…..

Ha, ok so if you know me at all you know that I have a tendency to get injured.

I will contend that no one else is playing hard enough, but whatever.

So I am making this post to fill you in on my most recent injury, which happened to be a facial injury.  Let me set the stage for you….

Its a gorgeous day in San Diego and you guessed it, I am Surfing.  Now the waves are small today, very small about 1 foot or shin high.  I am out with 2 buddies, Casey and Luke at our favorite hidden spot.  So when the waves are this small, really you do whatever you can to entertain yourself and get even a little ride.  That being said, I was ecstatic when I finally did ride a wave into shore.

Finally the wave died and i fell off the board.  As i was standing up, I felt someone hit me with a baseball bat in the face.  Only it wasn’t a baseball bat, it was the butt end of my board, which just so happens to have 2 points on it.  Dazed and confused, I stumbled to shore and my buddies followed as the look on my face instantly said something was wrong.

Now I could feel it starting to swell, but wasn’t sure how bad it was until I asked my buddy Luke “How does it look?” and he just kind of turned around and walked away.  Ha, so its back to Scripps Green Hospital for me, situated nicely on the 11th Hole at Torrey Pines Golf Course.

Long story short, I did not fracture my face(this time), but it swelled up……..a lot, check it out.

BEFORE

AFTER

Which one looks happier?

Ha and no I am not a Boston fan, its just all i could find at the time, I was dissoriented!

Ok, so I have drug this out long enough, I am fine, back surfing and my face might get back to normal one of these days.

To address the title of the blog post.  I AM the reason your medical premiums keep going up, so thank you for helping me split all my medical bills.

Well,

Its been a long time coming.  I have personally spent over a year of time and research in developing this product in conjunction with several other partners and nutritional companies and I am proud to announce the official Launch of Travelers Defense.

Travelers Defense is the worlds first and only holistic travel supplement.  Travelers Defense targets the 4 main causes of travel discomfort.

1. Jet Lag
2. Altitude Sickness
3. Airborne Diseases
4. Travel Insomnia

By boosting your immune system and allowing your body to relax and rest at the appropriate times, Travelers Defense is the ultimate travel supplement.  Fortunately, we are not the only ones who think so!  We have received countless glowing reviews so far on the product from airline pilots to adventure travel guides.  Business travelers and families, they are all loving Travelers Defense.

We have started ramping up distribution as well, so you should be seeing it pop up in stores before the end of the year.  You can check it out at our website…

http://www.HealthyAirTravel.com

For the launch period, I have also authorized a 20% off coupon on top of the already discounted launch price, to get Travelers Defense into the hands of the people who need it.  Just enter this code at checkout:

Coupon Code: TD2009

You can also garb an extra FREE bottle on the back-end as soon as you checkout for a limited time as well.  It will ask you to upgrade your order for free and you are good to go.

So go ahead and take advantage of all the special deals on the product, its the cheapest it will ever be sold at!

>>Visit the site Now to Try and Learn More<<

Thank you for all the support!

Mat

I am 27 years old, and after this trip I wonder why I waited so long to finally go to Yosemite.

The place is awesome and the whole valley looks like a postcard.  You can literally see exactly where the Glacier came through and carved out the valley.  Yosemite is also home to 3 famous mountains.  El Capitan and The Sentinel are great mountains, but we were here to conquer none other than The Half Dome.

Now most people will start around 6 am and hike through the day to summit and then come back down in the afternoon/evening.  We decided to take a little different approach.  We started just after 9 pm and got to the base of Half Dome around 3am.

We camped out below the dome until we couldn’t take it anymore and finally scaled the remaining thousand feet or so by cable to get to the top just before sunrise.

It was definitely a surreal moment looking down a vertical mile to the valley floor on either side of you as you hold on to an old steel cable attached to the top of a rock.  Its a rush and even more so at night, but absolutely worth it when you get to the top and look around a gorgeous valley below as the sun starts to peak over the eastern mountains.  I highly recommend it.

I usually try to tie all my adventures and trips into business somehow, but for this post I think I will just leave it at this.

Go see some damn nature, you’ll feel better.

Mat