Joshua SciarrinoLast name; “Sure-Reno”

Inspirational Story | Value of Persistence and DeterminationFiled Under: Self Improvement, life

Thanks for coming back!

I’m a casual fan of the UFC but this story is just simply inspirational. The moral of the story is pretty obvious because of my headline: persistence and determination pays off!

I heard a fantastic quote from someone:

If you don’t risk, you don’t get to drink champagne.

Some people take on too much risk which leads to utter failure but every once in a while foolish risk, IMHO (In My Humble Opinion), pays off.

I would never condone or encourage extreme risk like what this man took but his tremendous risk is what makes this story so great.

==Begin Story ==

If anyone needed a huge postfight bonus at UFC 104, it was Pat Barry. The heavyweight out of New Orleans, scored Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night for his victory over Antoni Hardonk. That was good enough for $120,000. Good thing,  Barry needed the infusion of cash in the worst way. He confirmed to MMAScrapsRadio that he was completely down on his luck before the fight, agreeing that he had little to eat in Los Angeles the week of the fight.

“I still had my apartment but if something would’ve happened and the fight had been canceled, I would’ve been evicted six days later.”

Barry, 30, said he didn’t even tell his trainer Duke Roufus for fear that he would think the fighter had the wrong motivation going into the fight. Barry said he didn’t ask anyone for money including his mother:

“I could ask someone but then at the same time, how hard are you going to work for something if everytime you get in trouble somebody catches you? I did something to put myself in this position I have to work my way out of it.”

Listen to Barry talk about his troubles before the fight:

Barry got his $120,000 bonus check last Tuesday. He couldn’t believe it. When he went to deposit the check, his truck wouldn’t start. Barry got a jump and hit the bank sporting a black eye and pink striped shorts.

“I go to the bank, I’m sweaty, I’ve got the black eye, I haven’t shaven in two
days, I’m strung out because I haven’t slept, I have green circles under my eyes
so I’m like ‘Can I have a deposit slip mam?’. She gives it to me, I fill it out
hand it to her. She looks at the deposit slip, then the check, then
looks at me and says ‘Excuse me I’ll be right back.’ Then a manager
comes out, a guy in a suit and says ‘What seems to be the problem?’ I was like
‘Well I have a black eye, that’s the only problem I know this looks
really ridiculous.’ So he asks me for my ID, I hand him my license an
he’s like ‘Your license says Pat Barry, but this check was written to
Patrick Barry.’ So I decided to be funny and tell him Pat Barry is in
my trunk right now. He didnt laugh. So I told him take your time man do whatever
you need to do because I have no where to go and my truck probably wont start
when I go outside so you can just do whatever you need to do. An hour later he
came back and everything was fine, the check was in my bank
account.”

Listen here to the entire Barry interview.

Tip via Middleeasy.com

Source: Yahoo Sports

Crazy right? I thought so too. Bitter sweet story. I hope it encouraged you in your endeavors.

Continuous Self Improvement, My way of life is KaizenFiled Under: Self Improvement

DISCLAIMER: If you detest spiritual talk, or any philosophical things. Please avoid this post.

I’m a very unique individual. I say this proudly, not loudly. (Volume doesn’t equal comprehension ;))

Anywho, I’d like to give my readers an insight to my mind, my philosophy. If this frightens you, please stop reading now and read another post. I don’t nor won’t post all the time on my philosophy but I don’t mind sharing it, nor am I ashamed.

Literally, when I started this post, I had no idea what ‘Kaizen’ is, nor did I have any plan on putting it in the title of my post. I just knew that I’m a person who seeks continuous self improvement.

Kaizen (pronounced ‘ky-zen’) is a Japanese philosophy that focuses on continuous improvement throughout all aspects of life. [1] This sums up fully, what I’m trying to convey. Life isn’t just physical, nor just mental, it’s spiritual, social, economical, and many other dynamics. I’m not saying ‘be rich‘ or ‘be perfect‘ or ‘be such and such‘. I’m saying be the best you can be, at whatever you do/are.

This is my way of life. This is how I live life everyday.

• When I work, I do the best as I can. If I mess up, I improve upon it.
• When I come to a certain belief, spiritually, then find better ideas later. I modify the old and polish the new.
• When I see myself gaining weight, I lose it. If it creeps back…I let it but over time, I lose the weight again.
• When I realize I pissed someone off because of a comment, I modify my way of reacting to people.
• When I see an error in others, I try to fix it in myself.

I’m like warm clay in the Potter’s hands. Although I’ve said a bunch of ‘I’ statements, it’s not really me doing all the work. It’s really Jesus empowering me to do such tasks. (For more on my faith)

Scripture teaches me (Col. 2:10) that I’m complete in Christ but it also teaches me that I’m to be continually pursuing perfection (Matt. 5:48). To many non-believers of Christianity, it would be a good point for you to interject and say ‘CONTRADICTION!!!’. :p  But seriously, it’s an oxymoron, a dichotomy that we must balance.

For me, I look at ‘you are complete‘ and pull acceptance, fullness, and the need to pursue perfection extinguished. So, I’m complete, as the verse states, I’m perfect as I am. I can just sit here and do nothing, and God is cool with that because I’m fully accepted by Him. Also, there is the other verse where it encourages me to do something unobtainable, ‘be perfect as your Father is perfect‘. To ‘be‘ something, is to exist as, something. For example: A rock is being a rock. A rock can’t be a flower because a rock’s nature is a rock, not a flower. Instead, the verse is encouraging me to strive and pursuing the qualities of my Father (perfection, goodness, kindness, gentleness, self-controlling, slow to anger, etc)

I bring Scripture up because I’m a Christian and many things that the 66 books teaches (in it’s context) is what guides my entire life. So, this principle of ‘your perfect but be like your Father’ is a daily mandate for me. It’s something I try to obtain. I try not to condemn myself because ‘I’m complete in Christ‘. I’m fairly conscientious, so being too negative on myself is an issue and it’s something I’m trying to improve =).

In Conclusion: I hope after reading this you smile =) and consider how I view my life. That you’d actually think about ‘are there areas in my life, that I think I can do better’. Smile and enjoy your Kaizen life.