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TweetThis was posted by Travis Mash on his training log at elitefts. For those of you who don't know who Travis is, let me tell you he is one hell of a man. I've met him and talked to him on a couple of occasions and he's always willing to help anyone out that he can. He is a very gifted lifter and one of the most focused people I've ever met.

Here's his post:
Today I was talking to a friend, and I was trying to help her understand why I do what I do, and what it takes to be someone who wants to push the limits of human capability. She was asking me how I could ignore certain distractions in my life, and still function as if they don’t exist, and how can I tune out people that I care about because they might be distractions. I’ve thought about this all day, and I am going to explain the best that I can.

First, I am going to try and explain how I became so obsessively driven. I grew up in a very small town, where my mom was married three times. This kinda got me left out at times, but I dealt with it. We moved about 23 times growing up, which left me a little insecure about getting used to things, and feeling comfortable. I had a stepfather that I admired very much, but could never satisfy. My senior year in high school, I had a football game where I scored two touchdowns, I had two interceptions, ten tackles, four receptions, 150 yards of total offense, a fumble recovery, and two sacks, and all I got from him was about time. I’m not whining because he was just a tough man with high expectations from his kids and himself. This started the whole obsession to be the best. It was something that I could control, would never leave, and at the end the world would respect me.

Over the last year, I lost my dad to cancer, and I lost my fiancée to who knows what. I was at an all-time low, and I had to make a decision: quit it all and fade away into life, or seize the moment? I have chosen to seize the moment! I am not going to go through life saying that I will get to this or that next year, or I should’ve could’ve, etc. One thing that I learned in the last year is that there is no guarantee of tomorrow, so if you have a quest in life, make it happen now. Now I’ve committed to continue breaking records in powerlifting, making a bid for the summer Olympics in Weightlifting next year, and the Winter Olympics in Bobsledding 2010. Talk about a life change! Now I am sprinting, Clean & Jerking, and I am still squatting big weight. Not to mention that I am doing all of this at 33 years old. This is my quest! I might not know the questions, but I don’t have to. I just have to take the gifts that God has given me, and take them to the outer most limits. This is what I am going to do, and I can’t let anything distract me from this for the same reason as why I can’t wait till tomorrow to begin them, because there is no guarantee until tomorrow. In my mind I have the next five years to leave my legacy in life, and it can be one excellence or one of almost. I say damn, almost! I am going to give every last ounce of my heart and soul to reach all of my goals, and in turn show the world that it is never to late to start as long as you commit and form a plan. I am determined to never say tomorrow, only today! I’m not sure if this explains why I am so focused on my goals, or why I do what I do, but I hope it helps.

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