I can do all things....

By this time Friday the fiberglass tie that binds me should be off.... 4 more days.... I can't tell you how excited I am about that this week.

Last week I had finally gotten around to finishing two books that I'd been meaning to look at for some time now, the first being "Moneyball" by Michael Lewis, and the other "The Power of Positive Thinking" by Norman Vincent Peale.

Both are good quick reads depending upon whether or not you're into the subject matter.

Moneyball ends oddly, but for the most part I think its been largely misinterpreted by the detractors of what it proposes. If we could all afford to just shell out whatever it takes to have anything we want then life would be easy for all of us, we wouldn't have to struggle for answers or look into better ways of doing things. But what do you do when you can only have enough assets to get ONE thing that we need, which one thing is the most important? What will get you the most bang for your buck?

There are a lot of us that have to make this distinction, this decision, every single day in all the many aspects in our lives, especially over these last few years.... especially in this depression.

Moneyball takes this same approach to spending money in the game of baseball. Being someone who has always had to look for that one thing that will get me the most bang for my buck, someone constantly looking for that magic formula to win at life, this book fascinated the hell out of me. And it helps I love baseball.

What do you think gives you the most bang for your buck? If you had to get rid of everything but one, what's the one thing you would hold onto? If there were just one thing that you had to find that would get you from where you are to where you want to be, what would that be? The answer to that is going to be different for everybody.

The Power of Positive Thinking probably would have been required reading years ago for anyone that wanted to break into that same field that I want to break into, but these days there are hundreds of books preaching the same things. The Secret being one.

There is one thing that kept sticking with me... the saying "I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME". Peale was a Christian of course, so his viewpoint was skewed in that direction, and you could easily substitute Christ in that sentence for whatever it is in your life, your belief system, whether it be Yahweh, Allah, Buddha, Grilled Cheesus, Crazy Larry or The Man.... but there's real power there.

I can do all things through Strippers who strengthen me!

And as if I needed another example of the power contained in these words, Tim Tebow worked his magic once again against the Chicago Bears, this one looking as much like divine intervention as anything I've ever seen. The Power of Christ compelled Marion Barber to completely blow it for his team..... TWICE!

That's a movie reference by the way. If you don't get it, you need to brush up on your classics. That right there is something that I'll touch on again sometime down the road.

Throw your arms out wide and say boldly "I'M THE MAN!" (or woman) and tell me it doesn't feel great!

It does.

Aside from the delusions of grandeur that have been rolling around my head since last week, and the very real vision of what these delusions will look like, these revelations finally made clear something that I've already long knew.

• What we do in life, success/failure, and how we feel, confident/low self-esteem, is completely based on how we see the world.
• How we see the world, glass is half empty/half full, is completely dictated by our subconscious mind
• Our subconscious mind is being programmed every second by the people around us and the circumstances and events that teach us what we can or can not do.
• This programming is what forms our belief systems, whether we believe that we're good or bad, whether we are winners or losers. Believe you're a winner and you'll find ways to win. Believe you're a loser and you'll find ways to lose.
• Humans are social creatures, so we NEED to fit in with the crowd, yet everything we gain in life is based on perceived social values, so we are always trying to set ourselves ABOVE everyone else, and most people do that by telling others what they CAN'T do, by putting their competition down.
• Most people are programmed to see what they CAN'T do, but successful people have programmed their mind to see how they always win.
• Anyone can reprogram themselves to right thinking, but you have to unlearn what you have learned. There are very specific, easy ways to do this, but you have to do it constantly. Affirmations such as "I can do all things through Captain Kirk who strengthens me" or simply "I'm the Man!" can do that.

Keeley Hazell Desnuda

For a good while now I've been struggling with how simple it really is, afterall, there HAS to be more. It can't really be that easy, can it?

But it is. And I can show you how. Are you with me?

Later People!

Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

Coach LaSota

Tim Tebow - a shining example of how its done!

He did it again, his third come back victory in a month, the forth in his eight professional starts, this time against the supposedly great New York Jets Defense. The numbers to that point were horrendous. But that didn't matter, this is when he's at his best, late, with the game on the line. Tim Tebow engineered a 12 play 95 yard drive when it counted to win the game. Its what winners do.

They brought the house. They blitzed everyone.
AND HE RAN AROUND THEM!!!

During the post game press conference he first thanked Jesus. I can take it or leave it, but unlike so many other people, he never pushes his faith on anyone else, simply states that's what he believes, where he draws his strength. That I can get behind. How is it any different from any other way folks out there gain confidence? At least this is in a positive light.

Then he went on giving credit for the win to every other guy on the team, everyone but himself.

Last week I had to watch a disgusting ten minute diatribe by Bill Maher, making a real ass of himself, attacking Tebow. And why? Because he's a Christian, a man of faith.

"Fearing not I become my enemy in the instant that I preach"

So people can't push their beliefs or way of life down your throat, they can't tell you how you should live your life. But you can do it to them at every pass? Tim Tebow didn't do that, you did Bill Maher, way to go pal!

Whether its the Jesus thing or his ability on the field, there are a lot of detractors, quick to jump all over him. And why? Because he has character? Because he does everything right, the way that we're all supposed to do it?

Back in 2008 while at the University of Florida, following a loss, Tebow addressed the media and gave the above speech. He spoke the words with all the heart and emotion with which he does everything. And he put all the weight on his own shoulders. He promised to be better, to make everyone around him better. Who does that anymore? No one does. Well.... Tim Tebow does.

You will never see anyone play harder. You will never see anyone push more. This is what a leader does. They lead by example.

In a world where all we seem to care about is the pomp and circumstance, the flash without the substance, Tebow's stats never look pretty. Maybe that's why everyone hates him so much. Because its not a beauty contest, because he rolls up his sleeves and gets dirty. Because all he cares about is getting it done.

But for all of the ways his critics want to bash him, for everything they say that he can't do, they never speak of the things he CAN do, the quality of his character, the intangibles you just can't teach.

His entire Offense loves him.

His entire Defense loves him.

His entire Team loves him.

They make plays for him.

They kill themselves for him.

And you can see it in every action they take for him, whether its play on the field or hugs on the sidelines.

They do it because he kills himself for them first.

That's his girlfriend, or so the internet says

Tim Tebow makes everyone around him better. That's the one thing no one can ever touch. And he does it without credit, and without shirking responsibility. He puts the entire load on himself, takes all of the blame, but never the glory. That he leaves for his teammates. And for God.

Tim Tebow is a winner. Pure and simple.

He's a leader, the way all leaders should be.

He's a hero, and example for us all, an ideal to live up to.

And we need as many people like him as we can get right now, don't we?

My only hope is that he never lets us down like so many of our fallen stars. That, much like God rewards him for his faith, that Tim Tebow rewards me for my faith in him.

"We are what we continually do. Excellence, therefore, is a habit" - Aristotle

A Leader. A Hero. A Promise.

You will never see anyone play harder.

You will never see anyone push harder.

And for no other reason than I think this is an incredible picture of a beautiful woman. And I enjoy looking at it.

Later People!

Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

Coach LaSota

Joe Paterno, Child Molesters and why we need a hero!

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing" - Edmund Burke

As of this writing, Joe Paterno is expected to announce his retirement, forced out by the scandalous news that his former Defensive Coordinator, Jerry Sandusky, was a kid toucher, molesting little boys, and while Paterno went directly to his boss upon learning of it, allowed it to be swept under the rug.

This was a man, loved, respected, admired, for being an example of all that is right in the world, a beacon, a guide showing us that through the years what was once great can still be great. Someone who stood for doing it right. And now, like so many before him, that legacy is now forever destroyed. Its been raped like the children he chose not to stand up for, pillaged, like the soul of all of us who believe in something better, and the people who symbolize that ideal.

Its been a long time now since Charles Barkley famously stated "I'm not a role model". That message was always misconstrued, he meant that its the responsibility of parents to be role models for their own children, something he was dead on about, and has only become an epidemic in our world, the shirking of that most important job description. But he was wrong also, so wrong, because its the responsibility of us all to try to be and show the best of ourselves, give those younger who look to us for guidance a positive image to live up to. And our stars, our icons, are the very ones that are supposed to be leading that charge.

Since that time our leaders have betrayed us, showing us all how completely corrupt our entire system, our way of life, truly is, and how very little they care about their own people so long as their pockets are lined.

The people we are supposed to look up to have been exposed as frauds, lying and cheating and swindling every one on their way to the top.

Showing their true colors, that like Hilary Swank with ruthless dictators, these people are little more than mercenaries, taking the money and running off to the next party satisfied with their own greatness while looking down on the people who believed in them, who needed them.

What was it that LeBron said.... in the morning he'll still be rich, but the rest of us will have to wake up and go back to our miserable lives? I'm paraphrasing, but this was the message Lebron had for all of us. That's what it means these days to be great.

The other day someone who should know better yelled at me for things I've said, having this to say:

"Yes, Steve Jobs was a dick, but he changed a lot of things, created jobs and technology that's being put to use in hospitals and to help aid in third world countries. He was openly an ass, never faked anything but. Can't fault him for that."

So its ok to be a total prick, ruin the lives of these people over here, so long as you admit you're an ass, invent some gadgets, and throw some of your money at the problems of those people over there.



The very fact that this person finds this acceptable highlights so much of what's wrong with us today, doesn't it? The fact that they don't see how asinine that really is shows how disillusioned we've become.

And when we were promised change, filled with the hope for a return to better days, nothing was done, and the only thing to change is that we no longer believe that there's anything to hope for. The future looks as bleak and as doomed as it ever has. The morale of the nation, of the world, and the people has never been lower. I've never felt so much despair from so many people and like most of you out there, I don't know if things will ever get better. There's no image to make me believe that it will.



There was once a time when we did everything that we could to protect that saintly image of our heroes, no matter how many or how gruesome the skeletons in their closet were. Sure, part of that was because you weren't going to get the story if you ripped into guys back then, but part of it was because we better understood the sanctity of that thing to aspire to, that greatness in all of us we could all reach if only we had someone to show us the way.

And now the world has become so cynical, so nasty and cruel, that even when we find a true winner, a good man, a man of heart, of soul, of conscious, that uses all of what's in them and every effort to do it right, just for the sake of doing it the right way, we do everything we can to tear them down and rip them apart in every way.

It makes me sick. But what's worse, it makes all of us sick, in our souls, in ways we can't see.

I was 18 years old in 1995 when the Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs, and that night I bawled my eyes out, cried like a baby, because Don Mattingly was never going to win it all. I'm a grown ass man, and to this day whenever I see pictures of Donnie Baseball tears fill my eyes, and a smile crosses my face. He was an example of every way you play the game right. I wanted to be him. I love him. He's my hero.

Now more than ever, we as a people need someone to bridge the gap between one era of greatness to the next, someone to make us believe again, have hope, when there's nothing else to cheer for.

We need a Dragon Slayer, a champion, someone who sees the road ahead, knows what has to be done, and is willing to take the weight of the world on their shoulders, to put us on their shoulders, and lead us to the promised land.

We need someone who understands that we're more than just the sum of our parts, that is able to look passed our differences, look passed what separates us, always finds the beauty in us whether we're black, white, yellow, blue, purple or green, whether we have pointy ears or hairy feet

Someone who doesn't believe in unbeatable scenarios, and is always able to find ways to accentuate our strengths rather than bash our weaknesses, and brings us together, rallies us behind them to use those strengths in synergy to get the job done. Someone who makes us better than we could be by ourselves.

What we need now more than anything else, more than ever, is a miracle. Something to makes us believe again, to believe in each other, to believe in ourselves.

But this is hard to come by, because integrity is so hard to come by. Because sometimes it requires making the ultimate sacrifice, giving everything, your very life if need be, to stand up to the slings and arrows, to hold on to what you believe.

And that's a lonely road very few want, or are willing, to walk.

Yet still, we need a rallying cry, someone to rise up an galvanize the people into action now for a better tomorrow, no matter the cost.

"But Cap, you'll DIE!"

"I know... AVENGERS.... ASSEMBLE!"

But then.... my heroes have always been Captains.

Later People!



Join my fanpage John LaSota - Writer

Or our creative team's page The Mad Doser Presents

And if you need a healthy helping hand from a Personal Performance Consultant

Coach LaSota