FROM GOOD OLE UNCLE VIC

June 2007

   June. The end of the school year. The beginning of the summer. My anniversary! A wonderful time to be alive!

   The answer to last month's trivia question: Who was the first person to make it fashionable to wear a headband while playing basketball? No, not Manute Bol, Ben! Why, the first and only person to score 100 points in an NBA game, of course, The Dipper, Wilt Chamberlain.

   This month's quiz: Who is the only president to have returned to Congress after serving as President? E-mail your answers to Lisa at Lisa.Hemovich@BrickBodies.com.

   Yes, it is graduation time. Time for my annual Words of Wisdom from Good Ole Uncle Vic. Here goes:    

1. Find something you love doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life. I have worked jobs where the hours seemed to crawl by. I would look at my watch every few minutes and the minute hand would never seem to move. Now that I own my own business the days fly by. I start on a project early in the morning, look up and it is 7:00 pm. Sure it is tough sometimes but Lynne and I love every minute of it. Well, almost every minute.
   
   
2. Try a lot of things. There is plenty of time to get into a career. I have hitch-hiked through Europe, worked construction, taught school, worked as a recreation director, coached college and high school basketball, taught tennis, taught at the college level and sold home security systems, all before entering the fitness industry. Sometimes it takes awhile to find what you love doing.
   
   
3. Give 100% in everything you do. Everything. Your job, your personal relationships, your family, your continuing education, your personal health, your spiritual beliefs, your friends, even your recreational pursuits. When you work, give it 100%. When you relax, relax 100%. Don't bring your computer with you. When you are with your family, give it 100%. Don't bring a paper to your daughter's soccer match.
   
   
4. Make integrity one of your key values. As the world's greatest investor, Warren Buffett says, "You really only have two things in this world, your word and your reputation. You lose either one of those and you are through." The problem with telling lies, even small ones, is that you can never remember which lie you said so you always end up contradicting yourself. It is much easier to remember the truth.
   
   
5. Choose your friends wisely. Your friends will do more to shape your future than anyone with the possible exception of your parents, your spouse and your family. If you hang around motivated people who challenge you to succeed, you will accomplish things you never thought possible. If you lay down with dogs, you get fleas.
   
   
6. Be persistent. As Winston Churchill said to the graduating class of Eton, "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never give in." Do you know the easiest time to quit? The second time. It is really hard to quit on anything the first time. School, a job, a marriage, a career. But the second time around it is really easy. Never give in.
   
   
7. Develop a good sense of humor. Almost nothing is as bad as it appears. For most things, you should laugh at it when it happens because you will almost certainly be laughing about it two months later. Not everything, of course, but pretty darn close.
   
   
8. Don't be discouraged by failure. Abraham Lincoln lost eight elections before he became president. Dan Snyder went bankrupt before becoming successful enough to buy the Washington Redskins. And Michael Jordan got cut from his high school team as a tenth grader. As Nietzsche says, "That which does not destroy me makes me strong."
   
   
9. Expect ingratitude. Do things just because it is the right thing to do or just because you want to, not because you expect anything in return. If you expect gratitude or reward for good deeds, you will be sadly disappointed. This is especially true with the people closest you. As it says in Mark 6: vs. 4, "A prophet is without honor only in his own country and among his own people."
   
   
10. Marry for love. I have been married for 29 years on June 17. Never, not for one second, have I ever regretted marrying Lynne. My heart still soars like an eagle when I see her. Every single time. Take it from me. Marry for love.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY