Tag Archive for: Practices for Professionals

In early August I got a call from a guy named Martin Rooney who had just moved to Charlotte from New Jersey. Turns out we had a mutual friend who insisted Martin and I meet.

I agreed to meet. He’s a new guy in town and he’s a friend of a good friend. We’d have a short meeting and be done. So I scheduled a 30-minute breakfast.

At breakfast, Martin and I began to talk. Three hours later, we were still talking.

We talked sales, martial arts, fitness, health, speaking, writing, and 100 other things. We exchanged books and agreed to carry the conversation deeper. Martin agreed to help me get ‘in better physical shape’ at his training facility.

Martin Rooney bills himself as a Fitness Philosopher. But he is at the top of his profession as both a trainer and a speaker on fitness. He has been a trainer-consultant to athletes from the NFL, MLB, NBA, and has trained numerous Olympic medalists. He produced the fastest athlete at the NFL Scouting Combine four times. One hundred of the athletes Martin has trained have been drafted to the NFL, and the contracts signed were in excess of a billion dollars. Not bad.

My training is taking place at one of the facilities he licenses in his, ‘Training for Warriors’ program. He now has over 70 locations worldwide and over 1,000 trainers have become certified in his training system. Not bad.

So, what’s the attraction? Adonis wants to train an overweight old man. Doesn’t seem like a fit – until you discover our mutual passions: thinking, writing, and speaking. We also both have four daughters, and we’re both from New Jersey. We are helpers at heart, and we exchanged amazing ideas in the first three hours. So many ideas that I believe I have found a new life-long friend. Not bad.

He gave me a copy of his book Rooney’s Rules. He creates a new health, fitness, sales, philosophical rule every day.

Here are a few examples of his philosophy, his thinking, and his writing:

• Want to be REMEMBERED tomorrow? Then don’t FORGET to do something great today.
• You don’t become the thing you THINK about all the time. You become the thing you DO all the time.
• The real garbage holding you back is all the time you throw away.
• Try new things. Biting into the unknown may be the best way to cut your wisdom teeth.
• Success may have less to do with the depth of your background than it does with the strength of your backbone.
• When fighting this battle called life, taking yourself lightly may be your heaviest artillery.
• Hindsight is worthless until you are able to use it to gain insight that can be used to positively affect your Foresight.
• Algebra and Trigonometry are less important than learning to correctly add your strengths, subtract your faults, divide your time and multiply your talents.
• Just like a well-prepared meal, a well-prepared day often ends with a clean plate.
• If you aspire to retire after building an empire, the best way is to inspire as many people before you expire.
• Most people often develop a weak set of knees when it comes time to take a stand for themselves.
• Perhaps the most important thing you can be when you grow up is Yourself.
• The key to confidence has less to do with inborn talent than it does with ingrained practice.
• Just like the tide, you will rise or fall as a result of the most influential bodies around you.
• The Road to Success does not intersect with the Path of Least Resistance.
• Joy follows success. Success follows experience. Experience follows failure. Don’t fear failure. Without it there is no joy.
• Your life will not be measured by how many days you get to ‘take off,’ but instead by how many of the days you ‘take on.’
• The easiest way to lead an unsuccessful life is to work hard all day to get out of a hard day’s work.
• Most people think the difference between easy and hard can be found in the problem. Successful people know it’s found in your head.
• Your Reputation and Credibility are just like your muscles. They take years to develop but can be lost in a short time of misuse.
• Action is your most important export. Better to use it up in the storefront than to keep it stored away in the warehouse.
• You’re a product of your priorities. You have 168 hours a week. If you can’t find five to workout, you’re not busy; you’re insane.
• Don’t go ‘halfway’ with anything you do. Either go ‘all out’ or not at all. Your ‘whole heart’ always beats your ‘half ass.’
• Make your enthusiasm for success stronger than your fear of failure and you will become unstoppable.
• One way to stand out is to be kind, fair and hard working in a world that often isn’t.
• Unlike a great steak, great effort can be rare and well done at the same time.
• Waves of problems will always break on the shores of your life. It is not the wave, but how each is ridden that will reveal you.

Pretty cool, huh? Martin Rooney is a deep thinker and doer who is able to express himself in a very intelligent and thought-provoking way.

He’s putting me through my paces. And I’m loving it.

SO FAR: I have been to Martin’s workout facility six times. I’m getting personal training from a world master. And it’s a fun exchange of ideas along with the grunting. I love it. I am building strength and friendship at the same time.

Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.

About the Author

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].