Maybe your hero is LeBron James or Albert Einstein. Those might be worthwhile heroes. However, it would be even better to become your own hero. Your life is your story, and every story needs a hero.

By defining the hero of your story, you have a chance to become that hero. And it’s important for you to define the hero of your story, because the hero of each story is different. The hero of your story won’t be the same as the hero of someone else’s story.

A few ground rules:

– Your hero has to start where you are. You have a particular starting point and resources available to you. Your hero has to begin from your starting point.

– You have to set a time limit on when you’ll become your hero. Your hero doesn’t have 100 years to work with. You also need a deadline to work with. A good deadline is 5 to 10 years from now. At that point, you can reevaluate and create a new hero from your new starting point.

– Avoid the tendency to limit yourself. You can accomplish a whole lot in 5-10 years. You’re a hero, after all.

Become your own hero:

1. Define your hero’s accomplishments. What has your hero accomplished? From this moment in time, until your deadline, what will your hero achieve? Once you’re satisfied with your list, ask yourself how you could make it even better. Remember to work within the time frame you’ve given yourself.

2. Define your hero’s attributes. What qualities does your hero have? What attributes would they have to possess in order to accomplish everything they’ve accomplished? What qualities in a person do you most admire and respect?

3. Define your hero’s life. How does your hero live his life? How does he spend his day? Who is in his life? What types of things is he involved with? Where does he live? What time does he get out of bed? What does he eat for lunch? What is important to him?

4. Define your hero’s goals. Your hero has accomplished a lot, but she’s not finished. What are her goals now? Whom does she want to become? What does the future hold for her? What are her plans?

5. Make a plan to become your own hero. Starting where you are right now, what do you need to do to become the hero you’ve defined? What changes do you need to make in your life? What goals do you need to set and accomplish to become your hero?

– Consider your hero’s finances, health and fitness, social circle, accomplishments, and skills. This is just for starters. Imagine what needs to be done to transform from your current self into your hero.

6. Get started. This is the hardest part for most people. It’s fun to sit down and plan your future. It’s a little harder to actually get busy and make it happen. You have years to complete your mission, but you don’t have time to spare.

There’s no time to waste. The more time you wait to get started, the longer it’s going to take to become your hero. Unless your life is perfect, your story needs a hero. You can define who that hero is going to be. There’s still time to become the most incredible person you’ve ever known.

When someone asks you, “Who is your hero?” you can honestly say, “Me, in 10 years.” Be the hero of your story.

While there are a lot of habits that will help to bring happiness into your life, there are also plenty of habits that will chase happiness away.

Some of the things we do each day make it very unlikely that we’ll experience happiness. You’re probably doing at least of couple of these things and never considered the negative impact that they could be having on your life.

Avoid these habits that can rob you of happiness:

1. Unnecessary spending. One of the greatest stressors in life is financial issues. Happiness is harder to find when you’re up to your eyeballs in debt. General financial pressure is one of the greatest causes of misery and divorce.

– Clutter is another barrier to happiness. When you spend too much, you have too much stuff. It’s always in the way and serves as a constant reminder that you spent more than you should have.

– Think about the reward you gain by spending and find a less destructive way to accomplish the same thing.

– If you want to make happiness a real possibility in your life, keep your spending under control.

2. Postponing your life. We’re always waiting for something to happen before taking action. Whether it’s waiting for the first of the month to start a diet, or waiting for the kids to leave the home before starting an online business, we always have an excuse to wait.

– There will never be a perfect time to take that big step. Manage your circumstances as well as possible and get started today. Time is the one thing none of us can ever get back.

3. Blaming others for your challenges. When you blame others, you lose control. It’s not easy to accept responsibility for all of the unpleasant things in your life, but what other choice do you have? No one else is going to fix it for you.

– Even if you’ve been used and abused, you are still responsible for dealing with the aftermath. Accept the challenge and move forward.

4. Not staying grounded in the present. Most people have a bad habit of dwelling on past mistakes and tragedies and worrying about the future. The past is over, so leave it there. Good choices today eliminate most future challenges. Focus on making the most of today, and the future will take care of itself.

– Pay attention to your thoughts for an entire day. Notice how much time you spend thinking about the past or the future. Think about how that impacts your effectiveness and your happiness.

5. Holding a grudge. If someone has wronged you, you might be making a good decision by not trusting that person again. However, holding on to the animosity is pointless. You just make yourself unhappy and less effective. Once it’s over, learn what you can from it and forge ahead.

6. Focusing on challenges instead of solutions. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed if you focus on the unpleasant things in your life. Rather than do that, spend your time, energy, and focus on finding a way to make things better. You’ll feel better and be much more successful.

It’s easier to be happy if you stop doing the things that prevent happiness. We all pick up some bad habits along the way. The important thing is to recognize them and eliminate them.

Allow yourself to be happy by letting go of your anti-happiness habits. You’ll find that happiness isn’t as challenging to achieve as you thought.

Many of us are well accustomed to the development of the glory muscles. Muscles like the chest, shoulders, quads and glutes will always get special attention in the gym – but how many people train their core correctly?

Yes, you see others doing simple exercises like leg raises and crunches to work their “abs,” but when we say core, we mean something different.

Think of the core as an entire muscular system that spans the entire surface of the stomach and back. The core is a system of muscles that starts at the hips and runs all the way up to the ribcage – supporting the body the entire way without fault.

With that said, many people have a very weak core which can lead to back pain, hip pain, and even pain in the upper back and neck.

Training your core is important for these main reasons:Your core is your stability. Whenever you’re doing an exercise where a load is placed on your back, shoulders, or overhead, your core is the main muscular system that is providing stability.

1. Think of it as the bridge between your upper and lower body. If the bridge is weak, the connection between the two (upper and lower body) will not be nearly as effective as it could be. Training your core is important for stability in your big overhead movements.
   • A weak core means a weak squat and a weak overhead press. If you’re a strength athlete, this is something you need to look for.
2. Your core helps you run. Since the core links the upper and lower body together, it will act as a synergist in nearly every step. A strong core means a strong and efficient runner.
• The core will also help to absorb shock. When you’re running, your body is impacted with about 40 x your bodyweight on each stride.
• If your goal is to run a long distance, you must have a strong core.
3. A strong core makes you look great. Last but not least, the core is important because a strong core looks great. Your core is very important to your overall wellbeing but training the core for strength and physique is also important.

Having a great core is more diet than training, but when both of these ideas meet in harmony, you’ll have a core that is built for strength and success in any setting.

Core Strength – A Crucial Element

Core strength is important for your balance, stability, body strength, weightlifting goals, and running goals. This core muscle system appeals in the aesthetics of training. Plus, it helps keep your back, neck, and hips pain-free.

This is one system that cannot go unnoticed in your training program.

For best results, be sure to try and hit your core for about 60 minutes of training each week. Dedicated ab sessions, rather than 5 minutes after each workout, also seem to show better strength returns.

The best time to pair core work is at the end of a leg training session. Pair your core training with all your leg workouts and watch as you grow stronger in the core and every aspect of fitness that comes with it.

Start training for core strength today. You’ll like the way you feel!