Why

I started this blog for a few reasons. First I want to help people from regretting what they did not do. I do not want anyone to ever to be on their death bed and utter the words, I wish I would have. I also want people to know that no matter what they will always have someone in their corner cheering them on to kick ass, live life to the fullest and experience everything that life has to offer.

The biggest mistake we make is that we never actually live. We put limits on ourselves. We do not have the time. We are not good enough. We could never become as great as we want to be. We believe the lies. You will never be completely ready, you are going to fail and it will hurt but it is worth it. Call me stupid (you wouldn’t be the first) but I would much rather try something once, realize I hate it than to never have tried it.

You can make up for what you did do but you cannot make up for what you did not do.

I want to put the fire back in people that society put out. I have witnessed the awesome power that comes when a fire is lit and the devastating effects when a fire is put out. As bad as society can be, there are people out there that will help keep your fire going. I know because everyone in my life has been there for me and I want to be there for you.

I have never had someone in my life that has told me to stop dreaming or to limit my dreams. I never have once have told someone my dream and my next big idea and have them laugh in my face and tell me how stupid I was and how pointless it was to try.

I see and hear stories of people being limited by their “friends” and their “family”. What was supposed to be their main support group is now their biggest critics. They tell them to limit their beliefs because what they wanted to do was crazy, it insane or stupid.

It frustrates. People have no right to limit your greatness.

The world is full of opportunities and all we just need the courage to take them. It is scary to look at yourself in the mirror and believe that you can do whatever you want. It is so much easier to belittle yourself into a person that means nothing and can do nothing. It gets easier because we now have an excuse to give up, to give in and to not see the light. While it may be easier it is barely worth it. Trust me I know. It is not starting or failing that we are afraid of but it is the belief in ourselves that we are good enough to even attempt it. To build up enough courage to even think about starting. I want to help people start something amazing in their life.

My question to you is how can I help you live an amazing live. Let me know in the comment section or email me at adam.lofquist@gmail.com

Finding Your Passion

You are in the standing in the ocean, looking at the beach and a giant wave comes behind you and drenches you in ice cold water. You become instantly cold, almost frozen. It is a feeling that you will never forget, it is just like finding your passion.

If you are never in the ocean, you can never get hit by a wave and if you never take action to feel your passion, you will never find it. We cannot just find our passion if we take a seat on the sidelines and wait for it, we need to be out in the ocean.

If you have ever been hit by a wave, it is a feeling that you will never forget and when you find your passion it is a feeling that you will never forget. The problem for many of us is the journey to find our passion because just as powerful as the feeling of finding your passion is, not find your passion is strong as well.

Have you ever lost your keys? You know the saying “They are always the last place you look.” The truth is that even if you found them the first place that you looked, it would still be the last place. It is not that you do not have a passion; it is just that you have not found it yet. Every place you try and find your keys, you become more and more frustrated. It is not long before it all seems hopeless and you begin searching where you first started. This happens to all of us as well when we try to find our passion, it is frustrating and it feels helpless but at the end of the day, you need to find it to take off.

You can tell someone that has passion from a mile away. They just seem more alive, they love life and they have such an intense and yet calming presence that it is impossible to ignore. That is what I want to help you do, I want to help you find your passion and the biggest advice I can give you is to keep looking, even when it seems pointless because you are going to find it.

Doing what you love, will get you nothing

During lunch with a friend who is an entrepreneur we talked about the concept of “doing what you love”. As a successful entrepreneur he had a lot of insight of why this concept is flawed.

No entrepreneur starts their own business to deal with the book keeping, logistics and filing for taxes. They start a business because they are obsessed about something it can be a product, idea, service or making themselves better. Yet to get to where they want to be, to grow and to thrive, they need to do the shit that they hate for at least a little while. In fact they need at times they need to stop doing what they love, to do what they hate.

Entrepreneur or not, at some point in your life and hopefully many points in your life you will face this challenge.

How many times in your life have you had an amazing idea of what you want to do or who you want to become? It is exciting but then it hits you, all the work and pain that would come with getting there. Your dream becomes a nightmare. If you cannot love every minute of it then it must not be right.

This is a struggle I have with getting in better shape. I am at a healthy weight but I could be at a healthier weight. I know the steps that I need to take in order to become healthier, stop eating so much and eat better food and yet I still struggle with it because I simply am not willing to do the work. In fact I am choosing what I love to do, eat food (bad food specifically), over what will make me stronger and healthier. I am choosing the short-term reward over the long-term goal.

The solution is to be driven by what you love, be so driven that you are willing to do anything and everything that needs to be done.

Take this back to your life, what is something that you have always wanted to doubt getting there has stopped you before. Decide and commit to doing it now.

Focus on what you want, what it means to you and why it is important to you. Be driven by what you love and stop doing what you love.

Passion and Skills

Passion and Skills are not on opposite sides of the equation, they are multipliers of one another.

When you are truly passionate about something you will stop at nothing to do more about it, to grow with it and to learn more about it. Your hunger for your passion fuels the need to develop more skills/do more work.

The more you work at something, the better you become, the more you will like it and your passion will grow.

As an example, I hated swimming but I love triathlons, I have a passion for the full-distance triathlon.  The more I worked on swimming the more I actually liked it because I could see improvement in my swimming, my passion for triathlons grew even more. Looking at the bigger picture I have a passion for how much both swimming and triathlons taught me, how much it made me grow as a person and how it changed my outlook on life.

We get passion wrong, we focus too much on things or ideas. We want to be passionate about leadership, education, poverty or fill in the blank and we end up spending our whole lives trying to find our passion as if it has to be limited to one idea.

When was the last time you had passion for yourself; a passion to see yourself grow, to challenge yourself to become a better version of yourself today than you were yesterday? Have you ever had a passion to improve your process, to learn more, just to improve? This passion is what will get you further than anything else. If you have passion to be the best, you can excel at anything.

When we try to find passion we become lost and discouraged. We have a nagging voice in the back of our head, asking us if this is really the right thing for us. What if we started to we decided to be passionate about everything that we did. If instead of looking for passion we were open to passion coming to us, when we worked our ass off. Attract your passion, do not try and find it. I know some of you think you cannot be passionate about everything you do, you are wrong, you can. The problem real problem is you have too many things going on in your life.

The problem with the way we work, is how we view work. We separate the work that directly relates to our passion to all the other work that we have to do. Everything that you do, every act that you preform, can help you become better at what you are passionate about, especially when you focus on become passionate about yourself. When you have passion, it rarely feels like work, not because it is not work but because you focus on the passion. If we are passionate about getting better, work will no longer seem like work.

Passion and work are like building a log cabin. You build on top of one another not against them. Start Building.

For the love of the game.

Have you ever met someone and noticed how much passion and drive they have for being successful and wanted to be like them? I have and one of the things that I have noticed is their passion and love for what they do, it is something that cannot be made up or you can spot a phony from a mile away.

Notice a clear distinction, I did not mention that they just had a passion but they had a passion for what they do. The excuse that I am just not that interested in a subject so I will try less hurts no one but yourself. Life is full of shit that you do not want to do but you have a choice, you can do it with passion or you can half-ass your way through it, use your whole ass. Successful people know that you need to be all in, all the time.

What I see about these people is that they are not so obsessed about a successful moment but rather are very obsessed with the constant opportunity for success and for the ability to grow from it. They are not obsessed with success but they are obsessed with becoming better at every chance they get.  They realize that championships, multi-billion dollar companies and to be the best is not made when everyone is looking but rather when no one is looking. It  is made when it is easier to quit, to give up when the pain sets in or when you would rather be doing something else.

A friend runs a business that sells nuts, bolts and fasteners to medium sized businesses. It is hard to believe that anyone could really get that excited about it and yet he thrives in the environment. It goes beyond what his company does, he has a passion for being the best, working hard and making amazing things happen, with that attitude you can be successful anywhere. These are all about the attitude not skills or talents. Anyone can learn to live with passion if they want to.

Have you ever heard someone say “All it would take is one big break and I would be set?” This is an example of looking for just a moment of success. They are not so much obsessed with what they are doing but rather with just being successful so they can be done. People that are focused on the growth want that big moment to propel them to even bigger moments of more growth and opportunity. They are not obsessed with winning but they are obsessed with improving everything that they can to win more. Many of us get it wrong; we spend all this time trying to be successful without putting the effort into what will make us successful. You win a football game by scoring more points than the other team, what this means is that you need to not only score but you need to stop the other team from scoring. To break it down further what this means is that you need to practice the components that make up your offensive and defensive line. That is how you win and that same concept is how you become successful

Michael Jordan made a multi-million dollar salary for numerous years. Even getting paid  $10,000,000 would for most people be making it big but he kept going and at his peak he made $33,000,000 in one year but that did not stop him. He had a love for the game he was playing, not for being successful. Clearly money did not drive him but what drove him was his desire to be the best. 

Warren Buffet has been named one of the richest men in the world, and still working at 85 has a love for the game. He could have quit years ago and lived easily off what he worked so hard to get and yet he did not, he kept going and kept creating more success. He loves the challenge and the ability to grow from what he takes on.

Oprah Winfrey is one of the few people whose first name is a household brand. She is a multi-billionaire who has mastered the media for years. She could have given up years ago and retired but she is still in the game, even without her television show. While she may have experienced plenty of success, she was not looking for a onetime event but rather a lifetime of growth.

Focus on growth.

Why I stopped running for myself

When I tell people about some of the endurance events, they begin to tell me how they could never do that, how hard it must be, how much time I must have had to give up to get there and then there are times where they tell me that they are not strong enough to do what I do. I want to grab them and look them in the eyes and tell them the truth, they are and you are.

What you have to know is the truth. I am not all that strong, I get frustrated, I get pissed off, I lose my way, I get off track and there are times when I just give up. I have lost faith in myself to believe that I could accomplish what I have set out to do. The truth is, I am weak, I am vulnerable and I fall short a lot more than most of you will know. Now there is another thing that you need to know, none of this really matters because of the people I run for. It is because of them that I can endure the pain, training and frustration that goes into accomplishing my goals.

I tell you these things not because I want your sympathy or because I do not like myself but because you all need to know this. That if I can do such "crazy" things you can as well. There is nothing that makes me greater than anyone else.

Here are just a few of my many highlights of what I can do with the power of other people.

I did a 50 mile road race in Door County, WI. I ran for a young man named Bo Johnson who I never had the pleasure of meeting and yet he was with me the whole time. Bo passed away from Cancer at the age of 13 which was not enough time for the world but enough time for Bo to impact the world. In his final days instead of giving up on life, he gave life everything. He inspired thousands of people to act in kindness and be a bright light even at the world's darkest moments. I continue to run for not only him but his mother Annika as well. Cancer took the most precious thing away from her that anyone could ever imagine, her son. Many people would become bitter, angry, mad and start to hate the world and then there is Annika. A women that chose to continue Bo's legacy of going out and making the world a better place and inspiring and acting with kindness. She is in the corner of anyone that has battled cancer or is battling cancer. She is overjoyed when she hears about people overcoming cancer. I know that as much as Bo has taught her and has inspired her, she did the same for Bo and always had this passion in her.

In 2014 I completed Ironman Wisconsin with two of my best friends, Aaron Hunnel and Katie Neuman. Katie has CP so Aaron and I were lucky enough to be able to be her arms and legs that day. When I tell people this, their response usually is a compliment about how selfless I am, and while I appreciate it, it needs to be known that it was not as selfless as it seems. Katie had just as much to do with crossing the finish line that day as Aaron and I did. Katie kept Aaron and I going the whole time, in fact she did such an amazing job that the whole day was an amazing adventure. That day we swam, biked and ran not only for Katie who is amazing, inspiring, relentless and positive beyond measure but for everyone to provide hope. Katie is bound to a wheel chair pretty much every second of her life. She is not there because of some choice that she made or that her parents made but just because of bad luck and yet Katie is one of the happiest and positive people you will ever meet. She gets life and what it really means to live.

Later in 2014 I ran an indoor 12 hour treadmill run to help raise money for pediatric cancer research and to provide scholarships for pediatric cancer patients. To most runners, including myself the treadmill is not our best friend. Telling people about this event, many of them said they would never even think about doing that and yet when I put it into perspective of the kids and families we ran for, it really is not that bad. On that run I thought a lot about what it would be like to know that your child is battling cancer and how heartbreaking that would be. To know that no matter how much you try and how hard you fight the odds are not in your favor. I thought about the kids who never asked to sign up for a disease that is trying to kill them. The fact that many of them are not even in high school and most people's definition of their age, they would have no understanding of what life is really about and yet they do. They understand life more than 99% of this world ever will. They live when they are being told to die.

As I tell people about my future plans, I once again am given support and at the same time I am asked the question of "Why would you ever want to do that" or the statement of "That sounds like it would suck." What I want you all to know is that why it may suck it is one million times easier and better than everything that the people I run for have to deal with. The pain I feel is temporary and the pain of the people I run for never really goes away and yet they live and inspire people beyond measure.

If you want to be inspired, stop running for yourself and start running for someone else. This applies to life just like it does running, stop living for yourself and start living for something greater, If for no other reason than the simple fact that if you do everything for yourself, your legacy dies when you do but even if you spend one minute investing in something greater than yourself, you live forever.

Enough

You are enough, plain and simple. You are enough to accomplish anything that you want to. You are enough to make your biggest dreams come true. Who you are and what you bring to the table is enough. The gifts, talents and love that you give is enough so stop believing everyone that tells you different. Your life is enough.

We need you; we don’t need another whoever we need you. We need your talents, we need your passion and we need your skills. You are enough.

God does not make mistakes so stop thinking that your life was a mistake because it was not. Everything that you have been through, all the mistakes you have made, the times you have fallen, the success and the best times of your life have put you exactly where you need to be. Stop worrying and start believing that you are enough because you are.

Now you are enough and so is everyone else around you, they are enough as well. What an amazing gift we could give to someone if we told them that they were enough, that they did not need to marginalize themselves any longer. It is a simple, yet powerful gift.

If you want to change the world here is your chance, I want you to find someone that is struggling and let them know that they are enough. They do not need to fight anymore with what society tells them and that who; they are right now is and always has been enough.

I have been lucky enough to be on the receiving end of this and it changed my life. It is a powerful message that will change lives.

Just one drop...

Even the greatest oceans started with just a drop of rain, which is made up of molecules, pretty simple science. The greatest movements have stated with one thought that led to a passion which led to an action, which led to a movement. Our life is made up of years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds. Every action that we take thought that we make and idea we have has the potential to change the world.

The greatest oceans started with just a drop of rain. The ocean is massive body of water going on for miles and reaching miles below the surface. Can one drop really matter? Can one decision we make in our life truly make a difference?

Every action you take may not seem like a lot but it is. The best part, its okay to screw up, its natural it teaches you a lot and it gives you an opportunity to improve. Every action can change the world. My friend Christian Jensen followed his dreams because of a video. The video lasted five minutes, changed his life, he found his passion, he took action and began changing the world. One drop matters. I have been lucky in life to have amazing opportunities, people and events change my life. Rotary Youth Leadership Awards is one of them. One of the biggest gifts I have ever been given is a note, on sticky pad, letting me know the gifts I have given. It was a drop in time for my life but made an impact. One drop matters.

Your one drop creates a ripple; it carries the energy out to the world. Christian has made an amazing impact on me. His passion, dedication and love for what he does has changed my life. Imagine the ripple affect, imagine a child at the age of 13 having chancer, what is the impact he can make? The impact he made is great, his name is Bo Johnson and sadly he passed away on September 28^th 2012 and let me tell you about the impact he has made. He has inspired thousands to love one another, give the gift of themselves and change the world. I have witnessed it first hand. A complete stranger to the family and friend of my self, Brian Gruender dedicated to running 100 miles to honor Bo and the passion, love and lessons he gave to the world. A close friend of family and my good friend Heather Goodwin dedicated to following Brian for the first 50 miles. It started at 9:00 pm and ended at 6:30am the next day. Now how can a child of just 13 years old impact a man who lives over an hour away, who he never met, never knew and never would. He chose to add just a drop to the ocean and watch the ripples create magic.

One drop matters but think what ten drops can do, 100 drops and 1,000 the impact is inspiring, you actions matter. Brian’s journey to honor Bo, started with just one step, a step in the miles he would run to honor Bo and his legacy. Take the first step. The Grand Canyon, one of the greatest wonders of the world was formed by trillions of drops carving through stone. Keep giving you drops, its what will change the world.

Do not get lost in the ocean of life. It is an amazing and fascinating place and at the same time it is easy to feel alone and see you actions as nothing but splash in the pan, but it is so much more. Your actions, thoughts and ideas are what will change the world. The greatest movements, innovations and achievements started with one thought, that led to a passion, which led to action that led to a movement that changed the world. The greatest oceans in the world stated with just a drop of rain

Embrace the spirit of a marathon

I recently had the great opportunity and privilege of being able to run in the Cellcom Green bay marathon. It was amazing for a number of reasons. First and foremost I had the ability to run, others cannot. Second I was able to work with an amazing organization called myTEAM TRIUMPH. They help challenged athletes compete in endurance races by having Angels push them in buggies. Third the atmosphere and spirit of a marathon is amazing.

I have the ability to run, it is a gift. A gift that far too often many of us see as a burden, “I have to run today”, “I need to train today”, “I need to run x miles today”; yet we forget that there are people in this world who cannot even walk. They can barely move themselves. In my book the ability to run is truly a privilege. The speed you go at, does not matter, the distance does not matter, just be happy you can run.

myTEAM TRIUMPH is an organization that is dedicated to helping challenged athletes compete in endurance events. The challenged athletes are called captains; they are the ones in the race, the ones who get the shirts, medal and whose name is behind the time. They are the inspiration   behind every step we take. Angels are the ones who push or pull the captains. It is an honor, privilege and pure motivation to be able to be an angel. I an inspired constantly by the passion, greatness and love these captains live there life with everyday. Thank you to everyone who cheered us one. Thank you for your inspiration and the ability with a phrase to power us through the run. I had the privilege of running with a father who was pushing his daughter the whole way. The words, signs and smiles meant more to us than you can ever know.

Embrace the spirit of a marathon, it is truly amazing. Runners, your dedication to training proves that if you believe, you can do pretty much anything. Getting up for at 7am for a 20 mile run then getting on with your day is fantastic. The sport is addicting and even though running seems like it is a solo sport, we are all in it together. The power and awe of a marathon goes beyond the runners. To the trainers, staff and volunteers who dedicated their time just to ensure we would be okay, thank you. We could not compete without you. Last but not least, lets not forget the fans along the course who cheered us on. Many of them had no one to specific to cheer for, but they choose to stand out in the heat just to cheer random strangers on. They made signs, turned on their hose and handed out water just to see a total stranger succeed in a dream.

What if we lived everyday like that? What if we invested our time, energy and passion into helping people succeed, with nothing but the satisfaction of knowing we helped them succeed. In my opinion, life is not about us, it is about everyone else. How can we live each day to provide inspiration, motivation and dedication that helps people achieve their dreams?

Start with why

To begin, I should mention that much of this is inspired by Simon Sinek’s video that explains his golden circle. In the outer layer is what, the middle is how and the bullseye is why. It has to do in which the way organizations explain their product or service. However it has so much more to do with life and how to live one with passion and achieve your dreams.

For the longest time I have been involved with a lot but most of the time have not felt connected. As much as I could find a reason for the other members, mission and vision or it all being part of the progress, what it comes down to is I never gave my self permission to understand why. Why is it that I take part in everything I do? Why do I want to have an impact and why do I have the dreams I do. It is great to have a dream of changing the world but until you understand why, something will be missing.

They why is your story. It is the inspiration you drive from and help create the difference. Everything that you do is built on the foundation of why. Don’t believe me, here are some examples. A company has a choice on how they want to market themselves. They can choose to talk to their customers about what and how they create or do what they do, or they can talk about the why. Telling the story of the passion, commitment and drive they have every day when they walk in the door. The fact of the matter is, what and how will change frequently, just look at Nike. What they did in the past, selling shoes in retail markets has now changed. They sell almost any sports equipment one could imagine and a lot of it online. Yet what they do has not changed, they provide people the ability to become athletes, the ability to live a healthier life.

Live your story and start with why. In my life I have had the amazing luck to have met so many people who have the story of why down, you can tell the moment you talk to them. They have a passion and fire that cannot be put out, because they will not let it. They know that what and how is just a vessel for why and the impact they will make on the world.

The first person is Christian Jensen. He is on a mission to change the world and understands why. He wants everyone to know that they are not valued by their disability, speed or talent, but by the gifts they bring to the world. Christian realizes the why, if we let everyone know that they are not judged by their disability, they will be set on fire to change the world. Choosing to include everyone and help them be part of the team, will let them know they matter. That is what we are all looking for, to know that we matter.

Second is Peggy Eserkaln, she is on a mission to help people build better teams with communication, acceptance and trust. Peggy realizes that these three qualities are the building blocks for a great team. When this is set in the foundation, teams and organizations become dynamic and truly achieve success. She also realizes that at the very inner of every person people want acceptance and trust. They want to be supported in their dreams and help others achieve their dreams.

Third would have to be my father. He wants to help everyone succeed because he believes in the potential that every person brings to the table. Where people are right now does not determine where they will be or who they can be. The path we are all on, is meant to be a journey and every step we take will bring us closer to who we are truly meant to be.

Not once in any of these stories did I tell you what these people did, I did that on purpose. Unless you know any of the three above, you have no idea of what they do and how they do it. Yet you understand why. Do you feel inspired?

fearLESS

I have made an awesome choice to join a group that is truly changing the world. The name of the group is my Team Triumph-Wisconsin. For those of you who do not know the short story of this group is they help disabled athletes compete in endurance events. I am sure you will soon see that is just the surface.

Fear is something that we all have to deal with. The world creates fear around us daily and rewards us to give into it. We fear we will not fit in, so we buy the clothes, home and care we cannot afford. We are afraid we will lose our job, so we agree and go along for the ride. We are afraid that we actually have the potential to change the world so we let the evil take control and let our soul be taken. I do not write this as a judge of the rest of the world, I write this as someone who has done it and continues to do it.

However as life does almost every day, people are put into our life that changes it forever. This is where my Team Triumph comes in. I had the great opportunity to run with a group of Angels and Captain Mary to train for the Cellcom. The path had hills, more hills and then you guessed it another hill. However what struck me most about the run was not the miles, the scenery, pace or finishing it. It was a simple comment made at about mile 12. We were going up a hill (there were a lot) and I was able to push Captain Mary up the hill. The whole time we had “light thoughts” to help us get up the hill faster, it helped. Mary told me about the time she went out on a hot air balloon. The experience, seeing other balloons takes flight and the scenery. She talked about how she saw the horses in the field, then moved on to the time she rode a horse. While this may not seem like a feat to many, what you may not know is that Mary has Muscular Dystrophy. Many of the things that you and I take for granted and many of the things you and I complain about doing, she cannot.

What struck me about this conversation was not the fact that she rode the horse; it was what she had after “I have very little fear”. Mary has many problems, so few of us could imagine. She has to deal with difficulties most of us could only dream about, yet she chooses to not let fear hold her down. She puts fear to the side and takes on whatever life gives her. Mary will not let fear control her life, she chooses to control the fear. This may be the point where I say if Mary can make this choice, we can too. However that is unfair to Mary, you and your future. The fact of the matter is, we should be making the choice to not live in fear regardless. Comparing our self to someone else builds fear that we are not good enough. Just like the hot air balloon, it is not until we let go, that we can see all the world has to offer.

SUCCESS: How much does it cost?

There are so many people that are willing to tell you the key to success. Many want you to pay to learn how to successful and what it means to be successful. I find this trend rather sad. Since when do we need someone to tell us how to be successful or what it means? The last time I checked success was something we decided upon. It was a goal we set and a path we took a path to freedom, happiness and learning.

There is one main point that everyone needs to be successful. It is passion. Passion drives you. It drives you to learn more, do more and be more. Creating success.

Over the past three months I have not been chasing my passion. Thankfully that was ended for me. Which is truly a blessing for me, it has set me free.

It is easy to get caught up in the day to day and get lost in finding what your true passion is. Here are a few hints from me on what it looks like

1) You seek the approvals of others instead of yourself
2) You feel like you can’t do anything right
3) You feel like you are letting the team down
4) You know deep down this is not what you should be doing
5) You have no idea how you impact the business

How can you apply this to business? Simple, define what your passion is. Not what it will be but what it is. What is it that you do better than anyone else and is it something you love to do? Then the hardest part, you need to go out and do it. Find the right people that will invest in your future. Find the customers who want to buy from you and speak their language. Create a culture where your passion will stay alive. This to me is the key to success. You have to have passion

“Go forth and set the world on fire”