with A.Z. Araujo - Episode 46:

Lowest Form of Habit

with A.Z. Araujo - Episode 46:

Lowest Form of Habit

CUSTOM JAVASCRIPT / HTML
What makes a Champion? The ability to get back to work immediately following success and failure. How do you handle your success? Is it straight to the party or back to the process that got you there in the first place? Becoming a top producer takes commitment and hard work, but it also takes the mindset to question what is next. 
How Do You Handle Defeat?
  • ​I spent Saturday watching an anticipated boxing match. It was between Anthony Joshua and Ruiz, and it was anticipated because of the last time they fought; it was considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing. Ruiz had little time to prepare for the fight. I was looking at it from Joshua's perspective; he was the number one fighter, and he was set to fight the number two fighter. Because of a failed drug test, the number two had to be replaced, and they scrambled to find one. 
  • ​I don't think Anthony Joshua was excited about the fight, and his head wasn't in it. He didn't have anything to gain from the fight but everything to lose. On the other hand, Ruiz had everything to gain; this fight could change his life. Ruiz ended up knocking out Joshua, and it became one of the biggest upsets in boxing. 
  • ​What happened after that fight is what distinguishes a winner from those that consistently go back to their lowest form of habit. Anthony Joshua knew what he did; he overlooked Ruiz. He never doubted himself and said that 9 out of 10 times he would beat Ruiz, but he overlooked him. He didn't train less or stop being committed; he overlooked him. It is hard to stay motivated when you train for something big, and you get something less than what you had trained for. 
  • ​There is great responsibility that comes with being a champion. Joshua went back to the drawing board, and he gathered his thoughts; he took the loss gracefully and got back to the gym. He was a three-time world champion; he earned each of those belts one by one. As soon as Ruiz got the win, he got all three of those belts. He took advantage of the opportunity that was given to him and won. But after the fight, his lowest form of habit caught up with him.
  • ​Ruiz traveled, went on interviews, spending money on houses and a Rolls Royce. Joshua stayed focus, and Ruiz felt he had arrived. So this past Saturday was the rematch of these two fighters. Ruiz had an opportunity to create a legacy. There is nothing worse in failure than when you realize that you didn't give 100%; there is nothing worse than regret. 
  • ​Anthony Joshua came into the ring, looking lean; 10 pounds lighter. He didn't have to cut weight, but the reps he put in over the last six months showed. Ruiz, on the other hand, the world champion, and he was 15 pounds heavier than the previous fight. He was confident and thought he could do to Joshua what he did before. 
  • ​This was the biggest that Ruiz has ever been at 284 pounds. He came in too confident, and he couldn't keep up with Joshua. It was an anti-climactic fight. Ruiz wasn't prepared, and Joshua came in with a game plan and executed it flawlessly. Anthony Joshua retained his belts.
Lucky Streak and Flukes
  • The lesson is that failure hurts when you know you left a lot on the table. I'm sure Ruiz is hurting because he knows he didn't prepare or listen to those in his trainers. He was too caught up in his new lifestyle. Ruiz wants another fight, but I don't think he will get another opportunity. The fight was so lopsided, and he doesn't deserve the rematch; when you show up unprepared, you don't deserve the rewards. 
  • ​Ruiz is going to have to grind for years to get that opportunity again. He satisfied his hunger without a thought about what was next. I think that happens to most of us after reaching a certain level of success. We get five closes in one month, and we go out and celebrating, thinking it will always be this way. We haven't proven that we can be a top producer for months and years on end. That is a lucky streak; what Ruiz went through was a lucky streak. 
  • ​There is great responsibility in becoming a world champion and with becoming a top producer. You need to have a great appreciation for the top producers who can do it month after month and year after year. Ruiz had a false sense of accomplishment, and he didn't have a gameplan of what was next. When you have your great months, your great quarter; whats next? 
  • ​Ruiz had an opportunity to create a legacy, and now it is looked at as a fluke. He showed up heavier, slower, lethargic, and uncommitted. It would have been a great story if he would have shown up powerful; If he had shown the fans that he was prepared and took it seriously, it would have changed the dynamic of his future. Some of you put yourself in that same situation over and over again. You can run with the top producers, but you choose not too. 
  • ​You are celebrating too early because you think your work is done. We are supposed to stay with the game that got us there, not leave it. The worst thing you can do is have regrets and wait until it is too late. I see this all the time in marriages when one person gets fed up; the other person tries to correct themselves and show up powerfully. They try to do what they should have all along, but it's too late.
The Responsibility of a Champion
  • Going into 2020, I want you to think about where you want to be. Do the reps every day, do what is required of you; when there is a failure you need to overcome it; do not feel like you have arrived. When you start to get the deals that you have been hoping for, have a game plan of what to do next. You may not get this opportunity again. We all have an opportunity to come back from failure and mediocrity. 
  • ​My life is a testament to this; it was six years in the making for me. But I feel like I'm getting somewhere. My marriage is on fire, and I feel connected to my daughters. It didn't happen overnight
  • ​Stop thinking you have arrived; there are a lot of great opportunities out there, but it's what you do after that matters. There is great responsibility in being a champion, and in being a top producer. Each of you has proven you can compete at that level, but it's what you do afterward that distinguishes you as a top producer or not. 
  • ​We can't enter into a new decade with the same habits we've had before. You have to stop reverting to your lowest form of habit; I have done this before, and so have you. Maybe you quit drinking and started again, lost the weight, and then gained it back. You are going back to your lowest form of habit; what would happen if you just kept going? I have a great vision where I am going; where are you going, and how will you handle defeat? How will you handle the opportunities?
  • ​We all have a chance at a great opportunity, but it's your responsibility to figure out what is next and not to stop doing what got you there. Joshua came back and reclaimed being a champion because that is who he is. It was no accident. He has conditioned himself to be that person. We can all condition ourselves to be a winner and not be a fluke. 
  • ​The key is to be able to identify when we are making these mistakes. I couldn't identify that. In 2008 I swore off alcohol after I got a DUI; thank God I didn't kill anyone. I was an idiot for drinking and driving. It almost cost me my career and my family. Little by little things got better, and I thought a little whiskey wouldn't hurt; top shelf, what a gentleman drinks. I started to revert to who I was; I wasn't driving, but I was drinking. I went back to my lowest form of habit; I got success again, and I forgot the pains. 
  • ​Some of you do that with food, with your business or with your marriage and your kids; it's about being able to stop. I have a drink every once in a while, but I need to make sure I never get to that place of being obliterated. I can go months without it now, and that is the difference. 
  • ​What happens after you win, after you lose, after you fail, is what defines you. Who will you be> That is the most significant difference between who I am and who I am today After the wins and how I come out after the failures. I have been in that place I have arrived and fallen into a place of complacency. When I would lose, I would put myself into a place of darkness. I bounce back. That will be your difference for 2020; you bounce back now, it's who you are.

More Episodes

CUSTOM JAVASCRIPT / HTML
What makes a Champion? The ability to get back to work immediately following success and failure. How do you handle your success? Is it straight to the party or back to the process that got you there in the first place? Becoming a top producer takes commitment and hard work, but it also takes the mindset to question what is next. 
How Do You Handle Defeat?
  • ​I spent Saturday watching an anticipated boxing match. It was between Anthony Joshua and Ruiz, and it was anticipated because of the last time they fought; it was considered one of the biggest upsets in boxing. Ruiz had little time to prepare for the fight. I was looking at it from Joshua's perspective; he was the number one fighter, and he was set to fight the number two fighter. Because of a failed drug test, the number two had to be replaced, and they scrambled to find one. 
  • ​I don't think Anthony Joshua was excited about the fight, and his head wasn't in it. He didn't have anything to gain from the fight but everything to lose. On the other hand, Ruiz had everything to gain; this fight could change his life. Ruiz ended up knocking out Joshua, and it became one of the biggest upsets in boxing. 
  • ​What happened after that fight is what distinguishes a winner from those that consistently go back to their lowest form of habit. Anthony Joshua knew what he did; he overlooked Ruiz. He never doubted himself and said that 9 out of 10 times he would beat Ruiz, but he overlooked him. He didn't train less or stop being committed; he overlooked him. It is hard to stay motivated when you train for something big, and you get something less than what you had trained for. 
  • ​There is great responsibility that comes with being a champion. Joshua went back to the drawing board, and he gathered his thoughts; he took the loss gracefully and got back to the gym. He was a three-time world champion; he earned each of those belts one by one. As soon as Ruiz got the win, he got all three of those belts. He took advantage of the opportunity that was given to him and won. But after the fight, his lowest form of habit caught up with him.
  • ​Ruiz traveled, went on interviews, spending money on houses and a Rolls Royce. Joshua stayed focus, and Ruiz felt he had arrived. So this past Saturday was the rematch of these two fighters. Ruiz had an opportunity to create a legacy. There is nothing worse in failure than when you realize that you didn't give 100%; there is nothing worse than regret. 
  • ​Anthony Joshua came into the ring, looking lean; 10 pounds lighter. He didn't have to cut weight, but the reps he put in over the last six months showed. Ruiz, on the other hand, the world champion, and he was 15 pounds heavier than the previous fight. He was confident and thought he could do to Joshua what he did before. 
  • ​This was the biggest that Ruiz has ever been at 284 pounds. He came in too confident, and he couldn't keep up with Joshua. It was an anti-climactic fight. Ruiz wasn't prepared, and Joshua came in with a game plan and executed it flawlessly. Anthony Joshua retained his belts.
Lucky Streak and Flukes
  • The lesson is that failure hurts when you know you left a lot on the table. I'm sure Ruiz is hurting because he knows he didn't prepare or listen to those in his trainers. He was too caught up in his new lifestyle. Ruiz wants another fight, but I don't think he will get another opportunity. The fight was so lopsided, and he doesn't deserve the rematch; when you show up unprepared, you don't deserve the rewards. 
  • ​Ruiz is going to have to grind for years to get that opportunity again. He satisfied his hunger without a thought about what was next. I think that happens to most of us after reaching a certain level of success. We get five closes in one month, and we go out and celebrating, thinking it will always be this way. We haven't proven that we can be a top producer for months and years on end. That is a lucky streak; what Ruiz went through was a lucky streak. 
  • ​There is great responsibility in becoming a world champion and with becoming a top producer. You need to have a great appreciation for the top producers who can do it month after month and year after year. Ruiz had a false sense of accomplishment, and he didn't have a gameplan of what was next. When you have your great months, your great quarter; whats next? 
  • ​Ruiz had an opportunity to create a legacy, and now it is looked at as a fluke. He showed up heavier, slower, lethargic, and uncommitted. It would have been a great story if he would have shown up powerful; If he had shown the fans that he was prepared and took it seriously, it would have changed the dynamic of his future. Some of you put yourself in that same situation over and over again. You can run with the top producers, but you choose not too. 
  • ​You are celebrating too early because you think your work is done. We are supposed to stay with the game that got us there, not leave it. The worst thing you can do is have regrets and wait until it is too late. I see this all the time in marriages when one person gets fed up; the other person tries to correct themselves and show up powerfully. They try to do what they should have all along, but it's too late.
The Responsibility of a Champion
  • Going into 2020, I want you to think about where you want to be. Do the reps every day, do what is required of you; when there is a failure you need to overcome it; do not feel like you have arrived. When you start to get the deals that you have been hoping for, have a game plan of what to do next. You may not get this opportunity again. We all have an opportunity to come back from failure and mediocrity. 
  • ​My life is a testament to this; it was six years in the making for me. But I feel like I'm getting somewhere. My marriage is on fire, and I feel connected to my daughters. It didn't happen overnight
  • ​Stop thinking you have arrived; there are a lot of great opportunities out there, but it's what you do after that matters. There is great responsibility in being a champion, and in being a top producer. Each of you has proven you can compete at that level, but it's what you do afterward that distinguishes you as a top producer or not. 
  • ​We can't enter into a new decade with the same habits we've had before. You have to stop reverting to your lowest form of habit; I have done this before, and so have you. Maybe you quit drinking and started again, lost the weight, and then gained it back. You are going back to your lowest form of habit; what would happen if you just kept going? I have a great vision where I am going; where are you going, and how will you handle defeat? How will you handle the opportunities?
  • ​We all have a chance at a great opportunity, but it's your responsibility to figure out what is next and not to stop doing what got you there. Joshua came back and reclaimed being a champion because that is who he is. It was no accident. He has conditioned himself to be that person. We can all condition ourselves to be a winner and not be a fluke. 
  • ​The key is to be able to identify when we are making these mistakes. I couldn't identify that. In 2008 I swore off alcohol after I got a DUI; thank God I didn't kill anyone. I was an idiot for drinking and driving. It almost cost me my career and my family. Little by little things got better, and I thought a little whiskey wouldn't hurt; top shelf, what a gentleman drinks. I started to revert to who I was; I wasn't driving, but I was drinking. I went back to my lowest form of habit; I got success again, and I forgot the pains. 
  • ​Some of you do that with food, with your business or with your marriage and your kids; it's about being able to stop. I have a drink every once in a while, but I need to make sure I never get to that place of being obliterated. I can go months without it now, and that is the difference. 
  • ​What happens after you win, after you lose, after you fail, is what defines you. Who will you be> That is the most significant difference between who I am and who I am today After the wins and how I come out after the failures. I have been in that place I have arrived and fallen into a place of complacency. When I would lose, I would put myself into a place of darkness. I bounce back. That will be your difference for 2020; you bounce back now, it's who you are.

More Episodes

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