We all want that big break, where we suddenly start to succeed and get rich quick. We want to make that quick investment to finally achieve everything we ever wanted. However, many people seem to forget, the greatest investment you can ever make is in yourself. So, take the hard road, do it your way, and invest in yourself!
The greatest investment you can ever make is in yourself.
You are the most valuable thing you can invest in because only you can create your own success. Without the proper mindset or skills, you may never reach your full potential. It is easy to invest your money, time and assets towards others; expect them to do all the work for you. However, by taking that easy route you are not improving yourself.
Again, you are your greatest asset and the most valuable thing you can invest in! Yes, you can find some success through others, but if you truly want to be successful, then you need to create your own success. You have to put in the time, energy, effort, money and resources to get your full value back.
An investment in others will always die off, but an investment in yourself stays with you forever.
to heal your relationships, so you go to counseling.
more education or another skill, so you take some classes.
some free time to rejuvenate, so you take a vacation, go for a weekly drive somewhere, or take some time (15-60 minutes) every day to just relax.
Whatever you need to do in order to help build yourself up, start investing in yourself today. You will see an immediate return on your investment, and you will be well on your path to creating your own success!
Just keep investing, and someday you might just change the world!
Life is a journey, and you get to choose the path you take. Many will take the easy road while those that are strong-willed (like you and I), know that taking the hard road will make us stronger than before. So, when everyone takes the easy route, you should take the hard road. You will learn more and become stronger through the challenges you face. Then you can continue to lead forward with your new found knowledge as you create a new path for others to follow, while those that didn’t fight for their success have nowhere else to go.
Choose to do what is hard, because difficult things make us stronger.
Life is not supposed to be easy! If life was easy, then it wouldn’t be very rewarding. We need to struggle in order to appreciate the good times we have. Good things like success would hold no weight if there was not a struggle to get there!
Of course, not everything needs to be hard, but it shouldn’t all be easy either. It is good for us to fail at times in order to learn from it and build up some scars, so we can withstand more pain than before. So choose to take on challenges in life, because they will make you so much stronger!
Do What Is Difficult
Do what is difficult, because difficult things make us stronger.
You should be grateful for the challenges thrown your way because they make you stronger and help to define who you are by how you get through them. It’s easy to just give up and not even try when things seem too difficult, but it is through those challenges that we are reborn even stronger. Difficulty is just another pathway to creating your own greatness. Accept the challenge and show the world you will not be stopped!
Challenges do not stop you from achieving success.
They give you the opportunity to make a better one.
So many people take difficulty as a loss and just give up when things get tough, but struggle should push you, not hold you back. When you run into trouble, just view it as another opportunity to make things even better.
Change doesn’t have to be bad. You can take what you have learned and make a better future from them. Be open to change and learn from your struggles!
Leaders Take The Hard Road
The hard road is for leaders that want to push past what others have done before. While the easy road is for followers that want to quickly reach assumed success, with no real knowledge of how to get there.
Of course we all need to be good followers to learn how to become great leaders, but eventually, you will need to branch out if you want to continue moving forward. You have to go into the unknown and take risks. If you are strong enough, from all the hard roads you’ve taken before, you can succeed even when times are tough.
Once you have achieved success on your own, then no one can take it away from you. So choose the difficult things in life! Take the hard road and no one can take away what you have earned!
Don’t avoid what is hard. This is not supposed to be easy.
Destroy Challenges. Conquer Fears. Let nothing stand in your way!
This is your life! Own It!
Go Above and Beyond
On your Journey to Greatness, never do just the minimum!
When asked to do something 10 times, do it 11. Always do 1 more. One more than asked, one more than before, one more than you thought you could do…never the minimum.
Too many people do just the minimum requirements to get by and never reach their full potential because of it. It is those that push themselves beyond what is required, in everything that they do, that achieve true success. Go above and beyond to find what you are truly made of!
Many people spend their entire lifetime trying to find how to be somebody great. What they may not realize, is that they are looking in the wrong direction. Rather than searching outside of yourself for the answers, look inside at who you already are.
You were born with greatness inside of you…all you have to do is find a way to show the world how great you already are!
You just have to find a way to show the world who that “somebody” truly is!
Don’t waste your time trying to change who you are, but rather find how you can best express yourself to others in a way that benefits everyone. We are all great in our own way, and it is often hard to look deep inside of us with a confident eye to see our own greatness. However, you already have the answer to creating your own success.
Think positively, with an open mind in search of your inner greatness!
Find what you truly love to do (This is usually the things we would do if we had all the money and time in the world. Think, what you would do if you were retired right now?), and combine it with what you are good at. Often these things match up closely, so put them together. Then find the best platform to display yourself to others in a way that benefits everyone.
Maybe you have a lot of experience in a certain field and can provide information to people about it. Or maybe you are really good at inventing or building things and should create things for others to use. Maybe you have a certain personality or skill set to put to use.
Find your greatness, then find the best way to present your inner greatness to others! Be confident in your abilities and help others! Do what you are meant to do!
HATE is a powerful motivational tool we can use to our advantage.
Yes, HATE is also hurtful and unacceptable when presented by others, but we can use that HATE as motivation for our own success.
Just think…what is your first thought when someone says, “You can’t do that!”? Do you take that as a personal hit to where you believe you are not good enough or do you use that HATEful doubt as fuel to succeed?
That HATE is a powerful tool in creating your success!
Now, of course, going out on a HATEful rampage is not going to solve anything, and that is not what this is about. It is about using your HATE to your advantage.
Athletes and coaches use this all the time to fuel success, and you can too!
Use the HATE of where you live, HATE of what you do, HATE of your environment, HATE of your situation and all the HATEful things around you, as the fuel for your greatness!
Use that internal HATE to start making positive changes in your life!
HATE should motivate you to want to do better, and be better, no matter how many things hold you down.
We cannot choose the position we start our life in, but we can choose what we do to change it.
We can stay down when life pushes, or get up and hit back harder.
In life, there is no disadvantage that can hold you down forever, unless you let it. You can choose to take life for what it is and get pushed around harder day by day, or accept what you have and turn it into an advantage.
Make your troubles and disadvantages into advantages to take on the world.
Take everything that annoys you, hurts you, all your past troubles, your failures, and ball it all up into one big ball of motivational rage ready to take on the world and show everyone WHO YOU ARE!
Take all the HATE you feel every day and eat it for breakfast! Control and funnel all your rage into one thing! That one thing that will get you out of your current life and moving on to a new one!
Whether it be a new project you need to start, working harder at your job, giving more love to your family, starting a new career, getting through school, accomplishing a goal, whatever it is, feed it with your internal rage!
Eat HATE and spit out success! Use your demons to show the world who you are and who you were always meant to be! Show the world how great you are and fight back against the HATE!
Are you going to stay down when life pushes, or are you going to push back?
I created these brands to help people from all over the world, no matter their fitness level, find and show their strength. I have always had the goal of changing the world, and I know I cannot do it alone, which is why I try to help as many people as I can to change their world through strength because we are all stronger together.
It has been a hard road to develop these brands, with many challenges, and I surely did not do it all on my own, so here is our story…
The Beginning
“I was less than a year away from graduating college with a Degree in Exercise Science…but I was unsure of what I wanted to do.”
The idea and goal of creating the Mathias Method began on December 25th, 2015 (Christmas Day). I was sitting at home thinking of what I wanted to do with my life. I had my Personal Training Certification, but after doing some training I found it did not fulfill me.
I was less than a year away from graduating college with a Degree in Exercise Science, and a Minor in Business, but I was unsure of what I wanted to do. My Financial Aid that paid for College was racked up to nearly $30,000 at this point. I wanted to find a way to invest $2,000 I had saved up, and turn it into a way to pay my loan.
“I had been searching for answers as to what I wanted to do in life for a while…”
I had just finished reading the book “Rich Dad Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki, a few months before (which taught me to save the $2,000 while still going to college) in an effort to learn more about how to be smart with my money. I looked at a few things to invest in, but none felt right. I had been searching for answers as to what I wanted to do in life for a while, and all I could think of was “Change the World”.
The Decision
“…if I’m going to invest in something it should be an investment in myself.”
That’s when I decided that if I’m going to invest in something it should be an investment in myself. I believe in myself more than anything else, so if it went anywhere, it should go towards helping me follow my dreams. At least then I knew I truly was in control of my future and what I could accomplish. I wanted, and still want to, change the world, but at the time I did not have a “how”.
“It was like an idea just dropped right in my lap and told me what I needed to do.”
How was I going to change the world that is changing on its own so rapidly?
I had already accomplished a lot at this stage of my life, as I was soon to earn my 3rd Degree Black Belt in Martial Arts, after over 13 years of consecutive training. Still, I had no plan of how I was going to utilize my knowledge and experience. I began doubting myself and was not sure that I had the strength to change the world.
I wanted to help others by sharing with them my knowledge of how to get stronger, and make a difference in their lives! Then it hit me!
The Great Idea
It was like an idea just dropped right in my lap and told me what I needed to do. Suddenly, I knew what I wanted to do! What I was meant to do. I wanted to help others change their world in order to change the world. With that in mind, the plans for the Mathias Method were born! I quickly grabbed a note pad and started writing…
“I dove in head first as soon as the ideas popped into my head and have never turned back.”
Performing the Daily 30 on top of the Haleakala Volcanoe in Maui Hawaii
I began by writing down all the different programs, that you see as Levels 1-8, which teach people how to get stronger from a beginner level, all the way through competitive strength sports.
That same day I also put together the Daily 30 Bodyweight Exercise Routine, which teaches people to commit to themselves every day, and always be moving forward towards their goals.
I have now done the Daily 30 every day since! I even did the first drawings of our Mathias Method Logo with all of its colors that same day, alongside the help of my family. I dove in head first as soon as the ideas popped into my head and have never turned back.
“All of the knowledge that I learned from my personal experiences enabled me to create the Mathias Method Strength System.”
I based everything off of the knowledge that Strength is the basis for all other fitness goals. We all have to develop a base of strength in order to improve more efficiently and effectively. All of the knowledge that I learned from my personal experiences (Read “My Strength Journey”), enabled me to create the Mathias Method Strength System which can be applied to any training regiment in order to optimize your results!
Hard Work
“I worked on developing and improving the Mathias Method every single day.”
From that day forward, I worked on developing and improving the Mathias Method every single day. I forced myself, no matter how late it was or how tired I was, to do at least 1 thing every day to build up the Brand. That made for many late nights, as I was still driving back and forth to college every weekday, and teaching Martial Arts many days a week as well.
I took the $2,000 and invested it towards paying for my new found Business, which quickly turned into a $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 investment of my normal income.
I would get up at 5:15 am every day, to leave by 6:00 am, drive 2 hours to school, drive back in the afternoon, then either drive 20 minutes to the gym to work out for 4 hours, or drive 30 minutes to my job of teaching martial arts and do that until 8 pm before driving back home for dinner.
I didn’t sleep much, but I was enjoying what I learned at school and creating the Mathias Method was fun, though tedious at times.
“It was finally becoming real.”
Ryan Mathias, CPT USPA Meet
I was also in the midst of preparing for my first Powerlifting Meet during this time. It was scheduled for March 5th, 2016 in San Diego, CA. I flew in with my mom, aka my designated camera woman, after getting my first 2 t-shirts made in a rush order from a lady that worked out of her barn. They were dark and ugly with my logo on the front and said “MathiasMethod.com, Available March 16th, 2016” on the back.
As ugly as they were, I was excited to see my Brand in full color. It was finally becoming real.
I had a few people talk to me about it, but no one really knew what it meant. I wasn’t even sure what it meant. As I said, the idea was just put in my head and I just learned as it grew, never truly knowing where it was going to end up.
My first Powerlifting Meet went well overall. I weighed in 7lbs under what I expected and took 2nd in my division, plus I got some PRs.
MathiasMethod.com
“On March 16th, 2016 I made MathiasMethod.com available to the world.”
After my first meet, I did exactly what I said I was going to do… on March 16th, 2016 I made MathiasMethod.com available to the world. Though I still had many things to add, it had most of the content you see on the site today, starting with the Daily 30, available to start helping others grow stronger.
I continued to work on the site every day trying to put out the best information I could for FREE. I had learned so much during my experiences, but I also got a lot of FREE help along the way. Having the site be FREE, although nearly everyone advised me not too, was one of the main purposes of what I was trying to do.
I wanted the information about how to get stronger to be available to everyone at all times. I feel everyone should have access to learn how to free their internal strength to change their world, and so the site was, is, and always will be FREE.
Though we do have to make money somehow in order to grow, we provide way more FREE content than we sell here on this site!
The Next Steps
Building The Brand
“On July 7th, 2016 Mathias Method became an official Business.”
Over the next few months, I continued to add content and develop new ways of teaching people through social media platforms. The Brand was slowly building and on July 7th, 2016 Mathias Method became an official Business.
With this new business came new advancement. I began making apparel that I could sell to friends, family, and followers. It started with t-shirts and slowly grew to hats, sweatshirts, sweatpants, bumper stickers, and so on, as everything was sold by hand.
There was little money made, but I was getting the Brand out there so it was not a total loss, and I stayed optimistic, despite the struggles of a minimal profit business.
“I put all the “extra” time I had into building my Brand even more.”
Finally, in December 2016, I Graduated from CSU-Sacramento with a Degree in Exercise Science (Strength and Conditioning, Health and Fitness Concentrations). I put all the “extra” time I had into building my Brand even more.
The Strength Warriors
The first big step from there was creating a Strength Team, named The Strength Warriors. The point of the Strength Warrior Team was to create an awesome group of motivated individuals that wanted to help both themselves and others around them to get stronger, just like me. We all had the same goal of strength and wanted to share that with others by spreading our wisdom of The Mathias Method.
The first training session was on January 16th, 2017 where we had a little Deadlift Party with about 6 people who were interested. We started training 4 days per week together and making YouTube videos of our training which you can see today. We were on a roll and it was time to take another big step…
An Online Store
On March 16th, 2017, the one Year Anniversary of Publishing MathiasMethod.com, I created STRENGTH WORLD Online Store to sell my increasingly popular apparel. Everything was going great for about a month, but with new progress comes new challenges.
Major Setback
“We were told to shut down our store and destroy all products…I was back to nothing.”
About a month after opening the online store I received an email from a very large and well-known company in the fitness industry that believed we had copied one of their products, and we were told to shut down our store and destroy all products.
Being that I am just an individual with little knowledge, experience or money towards the situation, I was quite shocked and somewhat terrified from the situation. We did have an original design on our products that resembled one of theirs, but the difference was very easily distinguishable; as ours had our logo and brand name written on it, while theirs was written without any logos or distinguishing marks. We simply had the same common dictionary word written on our products as one of theirs.
None the less, I had no desire nor ability to fight them and we came to an agreement to where I was allowed to donate all of my products to charity. However, after months of no sales and losing all my products that I spent the last of my investable money on, I was back to nothing.
Defeat Drives Success
Yet through defeat, we find a new way to succeed, as I see every challenge as just another opportunity for greater success.
“I took a risk…knowing that I had to make things work this time, or I would lose everything for good.”
So I changed things up with the result being even better products than before!
I took a risk and put myself into the hole of credit card debt, knowing that I had to make things work this time, or I would lose everything for good. I did this without a backup plan, and I made sure that everything I got was better than before using my Brand logo as the staple.
Then some amazing things started happening…the products were selling even better than before! I was quickly able to come out of debt and start to build the business even better with every new product. Everything I get from sales goes right back into the business to continue the growth of our motivational brand line!
We were even able to start producing products for charity, which was a goal of ours from the start! We are far from perfect, but now we know that even when knocked down we can get back up, no matter the challenges that lie ahead!
Keep Moving Forward
“You can be successful as long as you keep moving forward.”
So no matter where you start, whether you are a broke college student that doesn’t know your true path yet, or you are making your way along and get knocked back to square one, know that you can make it.You can be successful as long as you keep moving forward.
Every day, just keep moving forward and don’t stop until you make it all happen. Now go out and Change Your World!!! And thank you for helping to change mine.
Strength to You,
Ryan J. Mathias
If you want to help support our Mission to Change the World please check out our store:
