I’m a big fan of Kanye West and I know just how controversial he is, but I see the talent, confidence and creativity he has as well as empathise with the fact he has mental health issues I can relate to. I love rap, and really like his music and originality, he’s just doing his own thing and it’s evident he always has been.
I finished the new docuseries on him entitled “JEEN-YUHS” on Netflix last night. I loved every bit of it.
The confidence, belief and vision he had for himself in the first episode before he even started his rap career is second to none, I have never seen anything like it. If you haven’t watched it, it’s a fine example of the law of attraction in action. (But let’s not forget he also put in a lot of work, consistently for years).
Like you, I struggle with many things in my life but Kanye’s words and belief reminded me of different perspectives we can take to deal with life and our goals. He talked things into existence. I took immense value from the docuseries that I want to share with you…
3 lessons Jeen Yuhs reminded me about personal training and life
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Ask and you shall receive. A closed mouth doesn’t get fed!
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Self belief, and vision is your most powerful asset.
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Sometimes you have to be crazy, or stand out from the crowd to achieve brilliance.
1.Ask and you shall receive. A closed mouth doesn’t get fed
Somewhere in the second part of the trilogy, while helping produce some music for Jay Z, Kanye asked him if he could play him one of his songs. Jay Z loved it so much he asked him to rap in part of one of his songs, and Jay Z’s response to him was “A closed mouth doesn’t get fed”, meaning you don’t ask, you don’t get, and as a result of Kanye asking, he not got more then he wished for.
If you don’t put it out into the world and ask for it, how will it ever come to fruition? I started applying that to my own life, and as a result have lined up two podcast guests in the last 2 weeks that are well known in the fitness industry.
For my clients it appears in many ways. Maybe they ask for help with their restrictive food mindset, maybe they ask to be pushed a little more when they know they’ll take the easy option. Pushing ourselves that 1% more or asking for that extra piece of help within personal training can help us get to where we want faster.
But remember it takes time. You will still need to commit to the work after you ask for help.
2.Self belief, and vision is your most powerful asset
It helped that Kanye had someone as supportive as Donda, his mother there to help him believe in himself but her belief alone wouldn’t have got him to where he is now, one of the most famous and successful artists and icons of our time.
There was a clip of him in a car where he says “I used to walk to the train practicing my Grammy speech.” Now this was years before he even got his first Grammy, or had made it as an artist. There wasn’t an ounce of doubt in his mind about it, he knew it was going to happen. The fact he even had someone document his journey from the begin shows how confident he was in himself.
I’ve struggled with anxiety for many years. It was so bad that at one point I couldn’t do a food shop by myself, being at the tills caused me severe anxiety, as did being on public transport.
It sounds a bit mad to me now but I truly feel for the Eanna that was going through it at the time. And I know so many of you struggle with anxiety too. I did breath work, counselling and journaling which all helped greatly.
But the biggest piece of advice I got from my counsellor was to let it be and not try to fight it and as soon as I did, it became a whole lot easier to manage. Recognising my anxieties and believing and having the vision that I had the tools to overcome it have helped tremendously . Instead of asking why, remind yourself you’ve been through it before and worse and that you’ll be okay, because you will.
This self belief and vision has allowed me to build my personal training business and bring my experience and understanding to clients who feel the same way. Being able to work with them and help them is truly a passion of mine. So much of the transformation process happens internally.
3.You have to be crazy, or stand out from the crowd to achieve brilliance
In the final part of the series, we see Kanye’s struggle with his mental health, which is difficult to watch at times, but we also see him at his most creative. I thought of stories of the likes of Vincent Van Gogh and other great artists and minds in history who had a little crazy about them that we love and it reminded me of these two great quotes:
“No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness” – Aristotle
“Oh how near are genius and madness! Men imprison them and chain them, or raise statues to them.” – Denis Diderot
After all, all of the best people are a little bonkers! (according to Alice from Alice in Wonderland).
I took an enormous amount of value from watching this rare and never seen before footage of Kanye. The path to change has struggles and difficulties along the way. We often doubt ourselves and our abilities. We find it hard to embrace fear and failures, and rightly so.
I often hear from successful entrepreneurs on podcasts, that when their response to a new idea is “I don’t know, that sounds risky” or “I’m not sure about that” they know they might just be onto a winner.
I think everyone and everything has something to teach us, we just have to be paying attention. I learn things from life every single day and I hope this inspires you to do the same.
And I’ll leave you with one last quote, because who doesn’t love a good quote.
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance it is the illusion of knowledge.” —Stephen Hawking
I hope you enjoyed the 3 lessons Jeen Yuhs reminded me about personal training and life. I’m sure there are some things you can resonate with here as life is a journey we are all on with its ups and its downs. If you’re interested in hearing more about how I help clients deal with their struggle with personal training I would love to invite you to listen to my podcast .
On the podcast I speak about personal training and all that goes into being healthy in body and mind.
