I’ve often asked myself… “What does it take to become a full-time fighter?”
Is it the mindset and focus to wake up for an appetizer of a 4 am workout?
Or is it the a 5-mile run, the lifting of dead weights or a session of jump rope?
Even after all of this intense training, you look at the clock and see it’s just 8 am and you have a full course meal of 8 more hours of this shit…
With a full contact sparring session for dessert!!!
You repeat this process for months, and the reward you are gifted is the opportunity to get in the ring with another athlete who’s been training just as hard and just as long with the express purpose to dominate you in the ring and hopefully, knock you out.
I’ve always wondered something about this… What happens to the losers on fight night?
The build-up only for an ANTI-CLIMACTIC ending.
One fighter face ends up face down on the canvas, covered in his blood, sweat, and tears.
His children’s friends on Tik Tok turning him into a meme or a new dance challenge.
(*Do the snoring man challenge)
But the one trait you will always see is a fighter’s true heart based on their reaction to failure.
The most important moment is always the post-fight, their spirits tell you whether you’ll see them on that main stage again or not.
Losing a fight in front of sometimes, millions of people is high stakes failure.
Failure. Simply put, it’s a wild concept.
One we avoid far too often.
I’ve experienced failure before, man, let me tell you it sucks.
I applied to Loyola Marymount Film School.
I actually studied for the damn S.A.T.’s just so I could get a good score, so that I could attend that school.
It was only one school I wanted, and it was Loyola Marymount, specifically their film program.
I took the S.A.T.’s
Did community service. Well, honestly, partially for that as well as to impress a girl in high school (that’s an entirely different story)
Created film projects.
Interned at radio & public access TV stations.
I did any and everything I could think of to get into that damn school.
Can you believe that raggedy-ass institution of higher learning rejected me?
Sent me a letter I can still hear the words on that paper ringing in my goddamn ear.
“We regret to inform you…blah blah blah…..Not this time…blah blah blah…great resume keep working and apply again….blah blah—”
I balled that rejection letter up and threw it in the trash!
I pulled it out of the trash and then set it on fire.
(I’m a pyromaniac at heart who doesn’t accept rejection well.)
Now I can look back on it and laugh about all the student loan debt I avoided, but one thing that haunts me is I’m ashamed to say I gave up.
I received that rejection letter once, and I stopped trying for that goal…
I stopped striving for that film school placement…
Even though the letter told me to reapply… and even though the letter said, I was onto something…
I burned it and have vowed my hatred for Loyola Marymount ever since.
(I still enjoy watching them lose whenever they play any sporting event)!
My heart said that Loyola Marymount can kiss my ass (BOTH CHEEKS AND BETWEEN)…
Why? Because I hadn’t yet learned about the art of rejection.
I hadn’t learned that sometimes a ‘No’ isn’t a ‘NO’ forever; it’s just a ‘not right now.’ I feel that Loyola Marymount’s film school meant that, too. ‘NOT RIGHT NOW’, not ‘NO’ forever.
I hadn’t learned that lesson yet, and it was a hard pill to swallow?
Do you have anything you’ve gone through? Do you have something you tried to achieve with all your heart and fell short on?
I’d love to hear your stories, reply directly to this email with your rejection stories.
I want you to understand that if you learn to reframe the rejection and repeat this mantra…
“Not right now.”
You can change the way you frame what you perceive as rejection.
I’d love for you to share your stories of ‘rejection’ so please reply directly to this email.