The Body Shop Edge Blog

I NEED TO...

Mon, 14 Jun 2021 14:17:17 GMT

I NEED TO…

How many times have you started a statement with the phrase, “I need to start/stop?” Every day you keep telling yourself what you need to start or stop doing without any initiative to move forward. At what point do you start or stop doing something in particular? At one point I found myself repeatedly using this exact phrase before I had a very much needed reality check. Either start the process or move on, there is nothing else to discuss.

“Mister or Missus Mediocrity” lurks around every corner and in some instances has already settled in. Yes I know, just meet the status-quo and you will be fine. The key is to identify what is holding you back. I go back to initiative starts the process and your self-discipline keeps you on track. In some cases, not all, losing ground takes little to no effort while the art of gaining ground takes everything you have with no guarantees of moving the hypothetical frontlines.

But let me reiterate this; every single challenge takes an effort with the demand of some much greater than others. Simple enough but are you ready for the reality check?... It is you that is holding yourself back. You have anchored yourself to the “I need to start/stop crowd” or way of approach. Birds of a feather do perch together. What you soon start or stop will become your habit. Do not waste your time or others with the same old sentiment.

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

GREATNESS IS A MINDSET; THE ACT IS THE BECOMING

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 13:50:16 GMT

GREATNESS IS A MINDSET; THE ACT IS THE BECOMING.

Where have your thoughts led you? Every so often in life the perfect storm comes along and forces evolution to take place in the arena. Utilizing this moment is a way of finding out your true pedigree. Be Great or Spectate? Your mindset is KING! Pay close attention to the habits and actions that are created by your thoughts. Listen carefully, everything here started with the thought, “I want to be great.” That thought alone should be closely followed-up by another one. “What will it take to become great?”

The little baby steps are the foundations of giant leaps; much like the long jumper standing on the runway that skips into the approach before uncorking a massive leap for the ages. Meaning, you cannot rush into greatness; it reveals itself to the world when it is ready. While the vast majority of people only see the final product, they will never see the vision, the preparation, the sacrifice, the anguish, or the unglamorous side of the transformation. Simply put, the tireless gut busting work and sleepless nights seemingly go unnoticed to the masses.

Every drop of sweat along this journey deserves the brief moment to shine, so don’t be so quick to wipe it away and discredit its existence. It serves as a constant reminder of repeatedly paying your toll on the hard road. You will find that there are no quitters here in this arena of greatness. The thought of quitting is silenced by the strong and openly accepted only by the weak-minded entities longing for the easy road, hitchhiking on the mediocre bandwagon to nowhere.

Any “potential” thoughts? The “potential” label is just a pass given for something that may or may not be developed. Remember this, everyone is a “potential” something. Therefore, you are what you once thought, believed, worked for and sacrificed to become. Be humble, stay mindful and work harder while displaying a solid character in the process. Greatness is a mindset; the act is the becoming. It is also demonstrated and not announced.

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

DISAPPOINTED?

Tue, 06 Apr 2021 14:19:41 GMT

DISAPPOINTED?

Change your outlook with me for a minute and begin to view your disappointments as milestones. Use them as a switch to signal a powerful change within your life. Choices? Only leave yourself with one option. Suck it up and move forward! Life is filled with highs and lows but even at the lowest, the greatest and most resilient people maintain the highest character, standards and willpower to drive on.

How is that even possible? How do people continue to shrug off disappointments and keep moving forward? Well… Success comes at a cost. Without sacrifice these things hold no true value, as no true victory comes without its moments of pain. Listen, at some point you are going to hurt but you are not going to quit. Life will ask: Are you with me or have you quit on me already?

I will keep pushing myself to inspire greater heights through greater works. I know that life is not what you hope for, it is about the life that you create for yourself while inspiring others along the way. Believe in yourself and a purpose greater than yourself. Understand that yesterday’s solution will not solve tomorrow’s problem. Each day will bring on a new set of challenges and disappointments of its own. The question is, how will you respond?

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

NEVER SETTLE

Mon, 29 Mar 2021 14:08:32 GMT

NEVER SETTLE

Never settle for average results when you can accomplish great things. Too many times people quit on their journey to succeed when the times get tough and people start to doubt them. These are the things that should add fuel to the fire and motivate the unmotivated. You must continue to think beyond what you can see and eventually, the people around you will begin to see your vision soon enough.

The average mind sees failure whereas the strong mind sees the pillars of success. The success is measured by your progression towards your goals. It is extremely easy to stand still and go nowhere in life. The progress lies within the right effort of the applied knowledge. When you know better you respond better. Your response? It can be the determining factor of succeeding or holding yourself back.

Who cares if you only start with a pebble? Casting a small pebble can result in a noticeable ripple. As you become mentally stronger and smarter, pebbles turn into rocks and rocks into boulders. At that moment of achievement is when you make your splash. You continue to succeed no matter where you started. Strap up your chin strap and understand that success is an ongoing battle that you are just not willing to lose!

Why settle?

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

STAKE YOUR CLAIM

Thu, 25 Mar 2021 16:45:23 GMT

STAKE YOUR CLAIM

What is willpower? By definition, “it is the control deliberately exerted to do something or restrain impulses.” In a nutshell, it is the absolute ability of control over yourself through a self-driven effort to get the damn job done. How else do you control the impulse to settle for a half-hearted or mediocre effort? By imposing your will to get it done at a high level and by disregarding your plush comfort level. You must be willing to take your comfort level and focus to a place that it has never been before and in the process, keep digging deeper until you stake your claim on greatness!

In life, you either will or you will not. “Maybe” is half-hearted and doesn’t cut it on the grind to succeed. Being “kinda-sorta” only leaves you on the outside looking in at the others who are willing to do whatever it takes to push through. You must impose your will to get things done when your mind tells you that you are too tired, too hungry and too weak to go on; give in and you’ll leave your will too weak to exist. Discipline starts the process and willpower keeps the engine running for those few of us who are self-driven to succeed.

On your journey, you will see that most people in life are too afraid to commit themselves to any real change. Most will start a challenge and then quit when the going gets too tough. They will never build the willpower to gut through the tough times and move on to the next in a confident manner. Your defining moments are what they are meant to be. They may not always be in our favor but there is always something that pushes us to become greater. It’s your will. Refine it like a fine blade that has been repeatedly burned, beaten, strengthened and then sharpened into a formidable weapon that you will wield at your discretion for all of those that oppose you.

Will you?

What will you become?

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

THE WAKE UP

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 12:23:33 GMT

THE WAKE UP

How was your mood when you woke up this morning? Did you wake up energized and ready to roll or did you drag your ass out of the bed ready for conflict? “I wish somebody would try me today, I ain’t even in the mood!” lol Already??? But you just woke up! What is it that has you so charged up in a negative manner? What types of energy have you been receiving that keeps you in a broken state and your stress levels in the red?

It’s time for you to wake up and find yourself that positive spark and diffuse some of that negative energy. Whether it’s a podcast, YouTube videos, reading books or my blogs, (grin) find yourself a peace of mind. You attract what you put out and repel what is foreign to your being. The right people will absolutely want to be around you when you’re in a good state. Believe me, nobody wants to be around the person that drags everyone else down.

I can’t afford to have a bad day. As a matter of fact, people don’t pay me for my bad days. Everyday I have to be the force of positive influence to lift and inspire everyone that I come in contact with. This day and age you don’t know who your future boss or potential client will be. Ask yourself; how does my purpose and being add quality to the people around me? Remember this… A negative and calloused mind yields nothing. It’s much like planting a rock in the sand and waiting for something to grow.

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

AND THE CROWD ROARS

Mon, 08 Mar 2021 15:16:53 GMT

AND THE CROWD ROARS

Every day presents us with the challenge of being a better person than we were yesterday. Today is the day that you embrace the challenge and conquer any negativity with great character and moral strength. Understand that you are the captain of your fate, the sole owner of your thoughts and the facilitator of your actions. There is no need to look elsewhere than in the mirror for the answers to your personal shortcomings.

Things will not always be in your favor, but the tide does change from time to time and sometimes you have to be knocked down in-order to know how good it feels to be up. Quit whining and know that you won’t get any stronger walking the easy flat roads to avoid trekking through the mountains. Your strength is built through adversity and the ability to push through the areas where many have already given up.

Yes!!! (rising to my feet) Not you damnit! Look at your reflection in the mirror and make a promise to never give up on yourself! If nobody else believes in you, it doesn’t even matter because you believe in yourself! (and the crowd ROARS!!!) Stay the course; welcome the occasional storm and fear not the turbulence when you decide to spread your wings and take flight. Be accountable, be confident and be driven.

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

WHO > WHY

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 14:37:01 GMT

WHO > WHY

I’m not overly concerned with your “why.” Find your “who” and it will more than likely determine your why. The fact is, trying to identify your why may not be compatible with who you are as a person. Are you a quitter, winner, driven, unmotivated, confident, insecure, etc? Most of the time you will find that the two are incompatible. Therefore, I believe that it is most important to first identify who you are before you can establish your true why.

Not to say that at some point things cannot change but that all goes back to you fixing who you are to align with your why. The who is more important in this case. The people who have already identified their why are driven by the who which is etched into their very existence. The people who wake-up every morning to make the world a better place become their why and are destined to succeed through all of the pitfalls and setbacks. More so the character never waivers.

Are you battle tested, tried and true? Why am I driven to push my body to the limits and inspire people on a daily basis? I do it because this is who I am. That is the answer to my why. Ahh, make sense? At the end of the day I want to know who you are; the why’s can be misleading but the people themselves are very telling.

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

THE GOOD DAY

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 18:08:29 GMT

THE GOOD DAY

In my humble opinion, the “good day” is equivalent to being one rep away from becoming mediocre or having a bad day. Why settle for “good” when you can have “great?” To counter this, I start off every morning by greeting my family and clients with “it’s a great morning” instead of just “good morning.” Have a great day, instead of only a good one. How you start your day sets the tone.

The thing is you have to set a buffer for yourself. Great > Good > Meh > Bad. What makes a day great? LIFE!... Hands down it is another opportunity to make a difference. To put things into perspective, a homeless guy finding a meal in a trashcan could be a great day for him. Whereas the ungrateful person is having a “bad day” because they had to work through lunch or someone got their order wrong. Yes, real life things do happen beyond your control that change the ebb and flow of things. Ultimately, beware of your personal DECISIONS or great can turn to bad in a hurry.

But the goal here is to inspire greatness through small subtle changes since most people possess the innate ability to adapt to the little things over time. One day these little things become greater things. Much like each grain of sand that creates the beautiful beach; you don’t run the whole mile in one stride, you get there over the collective effort of each stride. Each small thing or step dictates the outcome in its own way. Days turn into weeks and weeks into months and so on. So make the most out of each moment, before those moments become your destiny!

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

CRY AND GET IT OVER WITH

Fri, 12 Feb 2021 18:44:30 GMT

CRY AND GET IT OVER WITH

Why do we continue to hold on to the things that cause us grief? Why not just cry and get it over with? Packrats of emotional turmoil, maybe? Why would you continue to pile up emotions that you should have let go of a long time ago? The weight of your emotions will soon become the heavy anchor that weighs you down. This also leads to people having the “victims’ mentality.” Really, no one else ever has a bad day?... Right!

“Why does everything bad always have to happen to me?” Sound familiar? Look, it is not that everything always happens to only you; it is the fact you have never let go of anything that actually has. At some point you must cry and get it over with. So what, things don’t and won’t always go your way; welcome to the real world baby! Cry, shake that shit off and move forward! Let these things serve as lessons and not emotional anchors. I promise you that someone else in the world would trade places with you in a heartbeat!

The need to cry is just a release valve and does not have to be taken in the literal sense. A good conversation will suffice but if you have to shed physical tears then do what you must. These tear drops can also represent the people that need to be released from affecting your life in a negative manner. A healthy body also needs a healthy mind and the consistent flow of positive input. It’s hard not to keep crying about the same things over and over again if you’re constantly holding on to raw onions. Control what you ingest and you’ll become a better person for it. Trust me, you don’t want to become someone else’s tear drops.

The other day I had a random conversation with a total stranger in a hotel lobby.

She started to cry.

She needed to shed those tears.

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 16:55:49 GMT

Every day is a new opportunity to make a difference and another opportunity to rise to the occasion. But along with every opportunity also comes new challenges. Every morning after you wake up, walk into the bathroom, look in the mirror at your reflection and say to yourself, “challenge accepted.” Most people will shy away from challenges with the fear of exposing a weakness or looking foolish. So should a new opportunity arise, do you rise to the occasion or do you hide in the shadows?

You must understand that opportunities themselves are granted and should not be taken for granted.

A tried and failed opportunity should be viewed as a challenge to forge a stronger version of yourself for the next. For example, if you did not do so well on that last presentation, should you not do better on the next one? Challenge accepted! Whatever your challenge may be, whether it is physical or mental, you will face it head on! Stand strong in the face of adversity and you will muster the fortitude to keep going!

The challenges of life will not stop, why would you?

For anything to become stronger, it MUST be challenged to change.

Do you feel challenged?

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast

TOO AFRAID TO HURT? (The Mental Override)

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 12:29:43 GMT

The Mental Override

You can't think with an average mind and expect to accomplish great things. What are you prepared to do and how far are you willing to go to attain it? That is my question to you. What is your mindset to achieving greatness? Physically you will only go as far as your mind will allow you to go.

Here, you will have to be in tune both mentally and physically to achieve your greatest results. A well disciplined person with a high degree of mental toughness always has an edge. He or she is always willing to go a great distance to achieve their goals. When people constantly search for excuses, there lies the reason why they constantly fail.

If you ask around, most people are basically too afraid to hurt for what they want. It seems to be the ongoing trend. In order to get what you want out of life you're going to have to hurt for it at some point. If it's too early in the morning, then it may HURT their sleep. Too late in the evening, then it's going to HURT their off time. What if your lack of willingness to sacrifice something HURTS your chances of achieving your goals? Any true physical or mental test is going to hurt. Learn to embrace the painful nature of the process to progress to the next level.

Dedrick J. Clark

#StayBeast