The Athletic Mindset

Travis Gaertner is The Athletic Mindset’s, Athlete of the month!

admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 05:01:35 +0000

“Where was he going?” I thought to myself as the sweat dripped off me.

During my early morning workout a few weeks ago, he wheeled passed me while I was on the StairMaster. The curiosity got the best of me as I watched him, but I then focused back on the TV monitors in front of my machine. Two minutes later I looked back over only to see this…

Travis Gaertner was born without his left leg and just a partial right leg. But that didn’t stop him from doing some amazing things, as he most certainly has had the athletic mindset since he was a little boy. In our conversation he told me the prosthetic leg they gave him at a young age just slowed him down, so he insisted on trying the wheelchair. Those wheels soon became his legs and he made a decision. He was going to be a world class athlete! Most people born without legs would probably feel sorry for themselves, but not Travis. Born in the snowy location of Canada, Travis would take his wheelchair out for a daily three mile push to build his strength and endurance. Amazing!

Some of Travis’ amazing accomplishments:

Canadian National Wheelchair Basketball Team 1998 – 2004 (6 years)
2 time gold medalist – Paralympics in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.
Captain at the University of Illinois and member of Canadian national team
Graduated from the University of Illinois with BA, Actuarial Science in 2003
Consulting Actuary FSA, EA 2002 – Present (9 years)

Seeing his accomplishments, it’s obvious that Travis doesn’t see himself as “handicapped”. What is apparent is that he has a very strong athletic mindset, one we could all learn from!
Watch…

Thumbs up for the Thanksgiving SPIN Class

admin — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 17:29:47 +0000

Who’s got the athletic mindset on Thanksgiving?

It’s not always easy to get yourself to the gym, especially on a holiday morning! Because if it were easy, heck everyone would do it. But in the same breath, it’s really not that hard to take the first step.

It takes a willingness to take a step back and really see yourself in the mirror. Ask yourself, “Am I as healthy as I want to be?” You ARE in control of what you eat and how you treat your body.

It took an effort for everyone in that class to decide to get up, put on their gym clothes and get to Spin class. Here’s the beauty of a great Spin class. With a great instructor, great music and a motivated class, you can’t help but push yourself. And I mean push yourself beyond what you would do on your own. The funny thing is, when Pam started the class she said, “Now no one minds if we go an additional 15 minutes today being that we’ll all be stuffing ourselves with Turkey dinner in a few hours, right!” Everyone agreed, “YES yes, let’s do it!”

Today is no different than any other day (when you have the athletic mindset) as every one in that class has. Part of having the athletic mindset, as we talk about in our book (due out January 2012) is having a healthy body. After all, we only have one body so that means taking care of it every day. But that takes a conscious effort. Take control of your body today. It’s up to you to start thinking like an athlete, and feeling like you are unstoppable.

Here’s our health challenge to you, so you can start living a healthier life today!

Make a decision to have self control and to take care of your body
Be a good coach for yourself
Be a good mentor for others

Have a Happy Thanksgiving. Share your thoughts with us, we’d love t0 hear your story!

“Keep thinking forward,” said my CEO

admin — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 23:56:00 +0000

“Keep thinking forward, keep moving forward!”

That’s what I heard two months ago when I met with my CEO. We meet every couple of weeks to catch up, talk about the numbers and look at how we can improve things. I usually have some out-of-the-box ideas as well that I’ll share with him. Two month ago I went in his office with my head hung low and nothing to share. Water cooler gossip can do that sometimes. Even the most positive of us can get sidelined when naysayers try to roadblock our efforts.

When I shared my frustration with our CEO, the great leader that he exemplifies put his hand on my shoulder. He said, “Linda, you’re my Fraud Dog and I believe in you. Don’t let anyone keep you from accomplishing your dreams. I just want you to focus on one thing, keep moving forward. After all, isn’t that what you teach in your book, The Athletic Mindset?” INDEED, I said. I am so grateful to have his leadership and positive reinforcement.

He was right, but even as an author of a motivational book I too needed reminding. That’s what makes a great role model, someone who can pick you up when you are down. I went home that night, wrote those words out and taped them on my mirror next to where my ties hang. For the last two months, each and every day I say, “Today I move FORWARD.” I have accomplished more in that time, (when I thought moving any faster was not possible) than I thought I could. All because I changed the way I was thinking.

What will you do to start thinking forward? I can guarantee the moment you start to think forward you will start to move forward in whatever you do!

~ Linda Webb

Professional Athletes, Coaches, CEOs or Celebrities opportunity

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:23:37 +0000

Opportunity to be featured in a new book rapidly gaining attention while authors are conducting seminars and conferences with their successful thinking. The Athletic Mindset is a life-altering skills management guide book to help readers of all ages and professions think like athletes to reach their goals and achieve ultimate success. Your success stories will inspire the readers to reach their highest potential.

We were quite overwhelmed by the response and very happy about that–as it’s clear that there is a great need for this amazing book. While we’d like to have everyone that has submitted In The Athletic Mindset, we welcome you to share your stories here as well. While we are going through all the submittals. We will contact you for more information should your story be selected for print.

Please be sure and like us, follow us and share us with others!

LA Fitness Spinning Doctor has the Athletic Mindset

admin — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:39:19 +0000

Spin Doctor in the house!

Don Cameron is the famous Spinning instructor at LA Fitness in South Florida. He is so well liked that every one of his classes fill up to capacity! And let me tell you, this is no walk in the park. His class is a killer, and everyone that takes it, loves it! Now you can ask Don his age (as I did) but he won’t tell. “I like to keep people guessing.” Don may have snow white hair, and a head full of it, but he’s in better shape than most people half his age.

“I teach 7 days a week just because I love it. It’s a hobby of mine, not what I do for work.” When Don and I talked after class we discussed how empowering Spinning is for all ages and all body types. He told me a few stories of how some people have tried every fad diet there is, but when they see the benefits of Spinning 3x a week, their fitness level explodes and the pounds come off. He even has Doctors take his class. As most of us know how important diet is, getting your heart rate up is the key to burning calories all day long. This is one class you burn a lot of calories! (That picture was taken after a 900+ calorie class.)

So how does Spinning bring the Athletic Mindset way of thinking up a notch? Speaking from experience, I can tell you not every Spin instructor is a “Don.” Don is a true mental motivator! The music he puts together is well thought out that makes you want to push past the pain and work hard. He knows when to push you and when to give you a break. And he has a unique way of motivating to help you achieve your personal best. Why does he do it? “Simply because I love to make people feel good. I know after taking my class they are going to feel better than when they walked in!”

When not Spinning Don owns a West Palm Beach franchise of Home Vestors, better known as “We Buy Ugly Houses.” One things for sure… He may buy ugly houses for a living, but he sells motivation to those who want to live a better life!

Here’s to you Dr. Don. Thanks for making a difference!

Do X Factor contestants have The Athletic Mindset?

admin — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 02:46:24 +0000

Do you know what the X Factor is? Do you want to have it?

The fact is, the contestants that hear a “YES” from the judges all have “it”. That “it” is something you too can aquire. Let the following guide; The ATHLETIC MINDSET, help you find your X-FACTOR!

Belief - These entertainers Believe in themselves and show they are confident. The LOVE being on stage.

Awareness – They are aware of their unique singing talent and can easily display it for others to see.

Gratitude – They are talented, proud to show it off and full of appreciation to have gotten that far. They show tremendous gratitude and humbleness!

The X FACTOR judges focus on ”Key Factors” when selecting a contestant on the show. These same factors are in the The Athletic Mindset.

Contestants that can clearly show passion, purpose and integrity are often the ones who get selected for the show. They have The Athletic Mindset!

“The X FACTOR on TV is a great hit, because it highlights the best in people,” says Linda Webb, aka The Fraud Dog & Co-Author of The Athletic Mindset.

Pandora saved my workout

admin — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:14:07 +0000

At 5:00 am , everyone could use a little boost of ENERGY! Mine comes from my music.

So there I was, at the gym heading for the treadmill. I put my earphones in and pushed “play”. I thought I was ready to hit the treadmill… but there was no juice on my ipod! I won’t last more than 10 minutes without music, especially that I was planning on running for 2 miles. Running is not my favorite, but it works!

For some reason I brought my phone into the gym with me today. “YES, I thought,” … I’ve got music. I have not used it yet on my Droid X, but I knew about Pandora from my last phone. So I quickly downloaded the application, signed in, and WHA-LA… there they were. The playlist mixes I created almost a year ago, were all there. J-Lo, Jimmy Wayne, Keith Urban, Elton John, Jim Brickman… (I know, I’ve got a varied taste in music).

So J-Lo and music similar to hers got me thru 2.5 miles and the Jim Brickman mix gave some great stretching music. If you’ve got the athletic mindset for working out, I highly recommend having Pandora (at least as a backup) when your battery dies on your ipod!

Do you listen to music when you lift weights or do cardio? What do you listen to? Share it here!

Ranked #50 on the Fortune 500 Women CEO list is PepsiCo’s Indra K. Nooyi

admin — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:14:21 +0000

If you are looking for a female executive with the Athletic Mindset, look no further than PepsiCo’s, Indra Nooyi! She covers every base, runs down every field and gives a mean locker room pep talk. It is women like Indra who give women entering the work force the vision to believe they can make their mark in business, raise a family and live the American dream.

Nooyi, who’s been CEO of Pepsico since 2006, latched on to Michelle Obama’s quest to combat child obesity, vowing to pull soda from schools in 200 countries by 2012 and agreeing to move nutritional information to the front of beverage containers by that same year. And that’s a beautiful thing!

Indra K. Nooyi is the president and chief financial officer of PepsiCo. Best known for its Pepsi soft drinks, the international powerhouse that Nooyi oversees is actually one of the world’s largest snack-food companies. It makes and sells dozens of other products, including Doritos-brand chips, the Tropicana juice line, and Quaker Oats cereals. Nooyi is one of the top female executives in the United States, and is also believed to be the highest-ranking woman of Indian heritage in corporate America.

She plays Cricket and Guitar

Nooyi was born in Madras, India, in 1955, raised in a conservative, middle-class environment. She joined an all-girls’ cricket team and even played guitar in an all-female rock band while studying at Madras Christian College. After earning her undergraduate degree in chemistry, physics, and math, she went on to enroll in the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta. At the time, it was one of just two schools in the country that offered a master’s in business administration degree, or M.B.A.

Nooyi’s first job after earning her degree was with Tootal, a British textile company. It had had been founded in Manchester, England, in 1799, but had extensive holdings in India. After that, Nooyi was hired as a brand manager at the Bombay offices of Johnson & Johnson, the personal-care products maker. She was given the Stayfree account, which was just introduced on the market in India, and struggled to create an identity with its target customers. “It was a fascinating experience because you couldn’t advertise personal protection in India,” she recalled in an interview with the Financial Times ‘s Sarah Murray.

Determined to study in the United States, she applied to and was accepted by Yale University’s Graduate School of Management in New Haven, Connecticut. Much to her surprise, her parents agreed to let her move to America. The year was 1978. “It was unheard of for a good, conservative, south Indian Brahmin girl to do this,” she explained to Murray in the Financial Times. “It would make her an absolutely unmarriageable commodity after that.”

“Behind my cool logic lies a very emotional person.”

Tough times

Nooyi quickly settled into her new life, but struggled to make ends meet over the next two years. Though she received financial aid from Yale, she also had to work as an overnight receptionist to make ends meet. “My whole summer job was done in a sari because I had no money to buy clothes,” she told Murray. Even when she went for an interview at the prestigious business-consulting firms that hired business-school students, she wore her sari, since she could not afford a business suit. Recalling that the Graduate School of Management required all first-year students to take—and pass—a course in effective communications, she said in the Financial Times interview that what she learned in it “was invaluable for someone who came from a culture where communication wasn’t perhaps the most important aspect of business at least in my time.”

A $60 billion industry!

The rivalry between Pepsi, the flagship product of Indra Nooyi’s company, and its Atlanta, Georgia-based competitor, Coca-Cola, is one of corporate America’s longest-running marketing battles. In the United States alone, the soft-drink industry is a $60 billion one, with the average American consuming a staggering fifty-three gallons of carbonated soft drinks every year. (Okay, that’s a little scarey!)

Coke is the leader in market share for carbonated colas, but soft drinks remain its core business. Pepsi, on the other hand, began acquiring other businesses in 1965 when it bought the Texas-based Frito-Lay company, and has a larger stake in the food industry.

Nooyi did not earn a second M.B.A. from Yale. Instead, her degree was a master of public and private management, which she finished in 1980. After commencement, she went to work at the Boston Consulting Group, a prestigious consulting firm. For the next six years she worked on a variety of international corporate-strategy projects, and went over to Motorola in 1986 as a senior executive. She remained there for four years, leaving in 1990 to join Asea Brown Boveri Inc. as its head of strategy. ABB, as the company was known, was a $6 billion Swiss-Swedish conglomerate that made industrial equipment and constructed power plants around the world.

GE offered but PepsiCo won

Nooyi’s skill in helping ABB find its direction in North America came to the attention of Jack Welch, the head of General Electric. He offered her a job in 1994, but so did PepsiCo chief executive officer Wayne Calloway. As she told a writer for Business Week, the two men knew one another, but Calloway made an appealing pitch for Nooyi’s talent. He told her, she recalled, that “‘Welch is the best CEO I know…. But I have a need for someone like you, and I would make PepsiCo a special place for you.’”

Nooyi chose the soft-drink maker, and became its chief strategist. Soon, she was urging PepsiCo to reshape its brand identity and assets, and became influential in a number of important decisions. She was also a lead negotiator on the high-level deals that followed. The company decided to spin off its restaurant division in 1997, for example, which made its KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell holdings into a separate company. She also looked at the successful plan by Pepsi rival Coca-Cola, which had sold of its bottling operations a decade earlier, and had been rewarded with impressive profit margins on its stock performance. Pepsi followed suit, and the 1999 initial public offering of the Pepsi bottling operations was valued at $2.3 billion. The company kept a large share of stock in it, however.

Tropicana, Quaker Oats and SoBe – The Real Deal

At PepsiCo, Nooyi has been the chief dealmaker for two of its most important acquisitions: she put together the $3.3 billion-dollar-deal for the purchase of the Tropicana orange-juice brand in 1998, and two years later was part of the team that secured Quaker Oats for $14 billion. That became one of the biggest food deals in corporate history, and added a huge range of cereals and snack-food products to the PepsiCo empire. She also helped acquire the edgy beverage maker SoBe for $337 million, and her deal beat the one submitted by Coca-Cola.

For her impressive dealmaking talents, Nooyi was promoted to the job of chief financial officer at PepsiCo in February of 2000. It made her the highest-ranking Indian-born woman among the ranks of corporate America. A year later, she was given the title of president as well, when her longtime colleague, Steven S. Reinemund, advanced to the position of board chair and chief executive officer. Reinemund had said he would only take the job only if Nooyi came onboard as his second in command. “‘I can’t do it unless I have you with me,’” she recalled him telling her, according to Business Week.

Upon taking over as president and chief financial officer in May of 2001, Nooyi worked to keep the company on track with her vision: “For any part of the day we will have a little snack for you,” she told Business Week in 2001. The company sold a dazzling range of snack foods and beverages, from Mountain Dew to Rice-a-Roni, from Captain Crunch cereal to Gatorade-brand sports drinks. It also owned the makers of Doritos-brand snacks and Aquafina bottled water.

The Athletic Mindset VISION

Nooyi’s success in the business world landed her on Time magazine’s list of “Contenders” for its Global Business Influentials rankings in 2003. Many watchers predict that she will someday head one of the company’s divisions, such as Frito-Lay, or its core brand, PepsiCo Beverages North America. In early 2004, there were mentions in the press that Nooyi, who still wears the occasional sari to work, was being considered for the top job at the Gucci Group, but she denied rumors that she had been talking with the Italian luxury-goods giant.

Nooyi serves on the board of trustees at the Yale Corporation, the governing board of Yale University. She lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, not far from PepsiCo’s headquarters across the state line in Purchase, New York. At home, she maintains a puja, or traditional Hindu shrine, and once she flew to Pittsburgh after a tough session with Quaker Oats executives to pray at a shrine there to her family’s deity. Her predictions that her American graduate education would hamper her marriage prospects proved untrue, for she married an Indian man, Raj, who works as a management consultant. They have two daughters who are nearly a decade apart in ages, and Nooyi occasionally brings her younger child to work.

Teamwork strategies of an Athlete!

The former rock guitarist is still known to take the stage at company functions to sing. Her job, however, remains a top priority. She watches championship-game replays of the Chicago Bulls to study teamwork concepts, for example, and admitted to Forbes journalist Melanie Wells that she strategizes 24-7 sometimes. “I wake up in the middle of the night,” she told the magazine, “and write different versions of PepsiCo on a sheet of paper.”

Outstanding Service Award in Business Nomination

PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi has been chosen for this prestigious nomination. On the historic 100th Anniversary of International Women’s Day, March 8, 2011, the Women’s Information Network (WIN) will be proud to honor 15 women in each U.S. state and in every one of the 175 countries participating with us. These women will be honored for outstanding service to their:
1. Family
2. Business
3. School, Church
4. Community, Women’s Organization
5. Country, Government, Military Service

Go to www.InternationalWomensDay.org and click on AWARDS for more information.

15 Fortune 500 CEO Women with the Athletic Mindset

admin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:39:32 +0000

Currently, 15 FORTUNE 500 companies are run by women, the same number as last year, although some of the names have changed. At Xerox, Ursula Burns became the first woman CEO to replace a woman, Anne Mulcahy, as a Fortune 500 chief.

On March 8, 2011 International Women’s Day celebrates its 100 year anniversary. As National Directors for the largest gathering of women in the history of the world, sponsored by the (WIN) Women’s Information Network, Randy Friedman and Linda webb (authors of The Athletic Mindset) salute these amazing women for stepping up and standing tall. These are women of the current generation that create the platform for others to follow. Women are stepping up to run more businesses, government and executive matters, thanks to the women that came before them. These women are the pioneers!

CEO	Company	Rank
Barnes, Brenda C.	Sara Lee	180
Bartz, Carol A.	Yahoo	343
Braly, Angela F.	WellPoint	31
Burns, Ursula M.	Xerox	152
Elsenhans, Lynn L.	Sunoco	78
Gold, Christina A.	Western Union	413
Ivey, Susan M.	Reynolds American	272
Jung, Andrea	Avon Products	228
Kullman, Ellen J.	DuPont	86
Meyrowitz, Carol M.	TJX	119
Nooyi, Indra K.	PepsiCo	50
Rosenfeld, Irene B.	Kraft Foods	53
Sammons, Mary F.	Rite Aid	89
Sen, Laura J.	BJ’s Wholesale Club	232
Woertz, Patricia A.	Archer Daniels Midland	27

Issue date: May 3, 2010. CNNmoney.com

Winning is Ageless with an Athletic Mindset

admin — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 02:45:32 +0000

Vince Lombardi began his career as a professional football coach in 1954 at age 41 first with the New York Giants, and later became a head coach at age 45 with the Green Bay Packers. His success was clearly in having the athletic mindset which he passed on to his players.

His dedication, clearly defined goals, daily planning and relentless passion created a dynasty of winning football games. His athletic mindset training helped achieve the winning coaches’ notoriety of all times.

Other notables:

Colonel Sanders started Kentucky Fried Chicken in his mid 60’s, and McDonald’s creator Ray Kroc was in his 50’s.

It is never too late to follow your passion! Having the athletic mindset skills, will help you achieve whatever it is you want to do. Look for what you want, find out how to “catch it”, and start moving in the direction to achieving great success.