The Different ME so far in 2016

Hello Everyone!

Geez it has been a minute since I had a chance to speak with you guys! Certainly I hope all is well. I have been busy which is the main reason for my absence. Largely been busy restarting and reworking me. Ive talked before about you being your most important project. So going into 16 I thought about the things I either need to do differently or the things I need to get back to in order to be my best self. Its always a combination of those two ideas. Looking at where ever you are in life, there are some things you do that have helped you get there. The other side of that coin is there are things that you are doing (or not doing) that are holding you back from being the best and getting to your dream. So here are some of the adjustments I am making

-Getting up early
Ive adopted the 5AM concept into my life. Simply put my first alarm Monday through Saturday is always at 4:45AM. The idea being that even if I snooze once, I am on my feet at 5AM. This is such a basic one and when you look at biographies of successful people in various fields they all talk about this with some getting up even earlier. I may graduate to that point but for now getting up that early gives me more day to get more stuff done.

-Morning rituals
Your habits are who you are to a large extent. At the least, they can be key to you getting where you want to go. I have to thank good ole Tony Robbins for getting me to focus on this one. For me they get me in the right mindset to start my day. Mine is simple so far. Get up, Pray and be thankful for a few minutes. A guided meditation from you tube, review my most pressing goals. It does not take long

-Read more
For the last few years I haven't had a book goal per se, just read as I like. I need to get more new knowledge in so my goal for this year is 3 new books per month. Ill likely mix in a few re reads of books but people who do big things constantly invest in their minds as well as their bodies..which leads me to...

-Going back to real running, Muay Thai, BJJ as fitness
Weight rooms are nice and I feel they should be a part of a full fitness. At the same time, the best shape of my life has always been when martial arts was my core workout. If you run marathons, pilates or yoga..props to you. For me, being in fight shape at whatever age you are is the highest form of fitness


If I can do these things and take even more risk this year, my belief is that I can get somewhere. When I get there ill sure thank you guys who stayed with me on this crazy journey.

Also, I'm probably going to move to wordpress soon.

Be your best...every day all the time and get a little better each day


Ahmad
@MoviestarAhmad on IG and Twitter

The power of quiet early morning prayer...

Hello everyone

Hope all is going well for you guys! For me its Ramadan which is to say I fast from food and water from sunrise to sunset every day for about 30 days. If you have never done it, it seems daunting but for me its the best time of the year for two reasons....1 The discipline and submission of it all brings you closer to god and 2 you would be surprised how clear your mind is when you don't have anything in your stomach.

The clarity always helps me move on and work through the obstacles that might be happening in my life. I have them just like you do..so today isn't about complaining its about moving past the right now

Your right now exists..it is real. For you to deny your immediate term reality is the pinnacle of unhealthy delusion. (yes, I think some delusion is healthy) For you to wallow in the negative parts of your reality makes you a prisoner which is also no good.

Accept your right now and know that it has no bearing on what you can become..what you can be in 6 months or a year or 5 years. Don't get down on yourself and don't give up hope. While you're at it....don't give up actually putting in the work necessary

Other Ramadan thoughts....

Pick your thing and go at it. Ive learned now, the hard way, that you just have to keep working on your craft and keep improving

Your mind is your window of opportunity in this world. It can be your demise or your salvation depending on how you use it

Be excited about yourself and your life at all times

Its your dream! live it every day. We all have those days were we get bogged down by the bad stuff..just don't let it last for extended periods

I know in my heart that I was put here to do something epic :)


Talk to you again soon guys,


Ahmad
@MoviestarAhmad
on Twitter and Instagram

Less and more...or defeating your main opponent

Happy Cinco de Mayo guys,

Since I haven't put anything out in a while I don't have a lot of lead up..just thoughts that go through my head as I'm trying to get to the next level of things. Most of this is stuff I say to myself as I'm working to improve me and my situation..


Less whining...more working
Less excuses...more accountability
Less stress...more focus
Less tears..more blood and sweat
Less prove em wrong...more prove YOU right
Less complaining...more enthusiasm
Less defeats...more training and prep
Less sizzle...more steak
Less of the bad you..more of the best you
Less thinking...MORE ACTION
Less limits...more unlimited belief
Less reminiscing...more of you in this moment

The battle is always with yourself guys. I can certainly attest to that. There are no shortcuts to mastering you or your universe but you can do it so long as you do less of the self destructive stuff and more of the dynasty building stuff


Quote for today "Stop whining about the career, body, family or money you don't have and DO SOMETHING about it...everyday"


Ahmad
@MoviestarAhmad on instagram and twitter :)

My Dark Phoenix Moment

Happy holidays gang!

Usually when I go stream of consciousness it goes a bit south. At the same time the honesty is always a good feeling and I always promised to those that read this I would be totally honest..

When you get down to the bottom of it, I really think I am special. I don't think I'm better than anyone else, or worse for that matter, but I know I'm special. My parents always told me so. Like every one's parents did. Rough times and situations have happened and I didn't always connect to my inner belief of being extraordinary. When I did fully connect to it..boy did my whole world change. I started walking with my head higher than ever. The world started to open up to me and opportunity came from all directions. I always knew that I was destined for big things even when I had no idea what I wanted to do. Well that lack of focus did lead to a little bit of drifting..but when you drift with a strong belief in your own epic destiny..you end up having adventures all over the world. On some level I got to the place that I think most people wish to reach at some point in their lives..i really believed that I could accomplish ANYTHING. Didn't matter what it was. When Barack Obama was elected president I called my father and didn't talk about this moment in history or anything like that. I told him "You know dad, I kinda thought I would be the first" He had a good laugh but I was dead fucking serious. If that's what I wanted I believe I could have done it. So I thought a more worthy thing to do with my considerable special-ness and power cosmic was to become a moviestar..

The downside to this epic belief is that when you aren't quite at the lofty levels that you expected to be, it hits you hard. Ill say it till the day I die but if you show me a happy loser ill show you a long time loser. Ive now passed my Hollywood birthday and since college, I've been doing this as long as I was working a "real job" as in a real job with no serious thought of a different pursuit as opposed to the day jobs I work now. I didn't expect to be at the same level but I still feel like I am in the open wilderness. I'm alive, I've got all my fingers and toes but I don't have a compass and no compass would work anyway. I cant navigate by the stars although they are nice to look at. There are people who can help but they cant all the way help as each path is unique through this wilderness. A lot of times I reject their help as I am hard headed. I would hope that by this time I would have maybe gotten on top of a rock and seen the way out no matter how far away it must be. It definitely takes a toll on how special you think you are. :)  The fact is that I wanted this wilderness. I chose it on the idea that I can do anything and I cannot wane in my self belief now.

I see friends that stayed on the path I left doing very well in all the traditional sense. That makes me very happy! Ive seen some old enemies that are house shopping in the south of France. That made me frustrated in the moment I heard it whereas now I have had time to process it. Truthfully I must thank them for the re-focus and motivation. So here I am..approaching a birthday and now with a severely injured knee that recently punctuated how much of a wilderness I'm in. Trust me, having a knee injury in college with a full professional physical training staff at your disposal was no fun..it certainly isn't fun as an under insured starving actor. This is about as un-fun as my life has been for a while. But it is always darkest before dawn.. Whats the point of all this??

I promise to myself and my family and everyone who loves and supports me that I will get through to the other side. Im prepared to burn myself in my entirety down right now and be reborn as the person I know that I am inside. I promise that you will not know of a person who works harder than me going forward to make the most of himself in all things. This isnt about acting, money, business, finance or even a big house on the hill. Its that ive finally come to the point where I understand that when I live the life I imagine in my head and go after it..it works out for me. 

So with that said..its time for me to start physically rehabbing to get my body strong. Training in all the skills i need to move forward and make my talent strong. Feed my mind more knowledge to make my mind strong and really hone in and move my life towards MY VISION


There is no quote here..but thanks for reading!


Ahmad
@MoviestarAhmad on instagram and twitter
www.ahmadruss.com

Either the right place or the right track..which is YOU?

Greetings everyone!


Happy couple days after labor day. Its always bitter sweet as it signals the calendar end of summer. Here in southern cal the sun is still as bright as ever. As hot as its been..its still home for me.

A few weeks ago I sent out a tweet that got an old friend to call me out of the blue. They asked me what was up and I told them that the tweet said it all. I wasn't in physical danger then and i'm not in danger right now as I write this. What I was feeling at the time was pretty direct but did sum up the last few months I spent away from this blog. The realization I basically came to went like this..

Its ok to not be in the position you want to be in life..and its ok to not be on the right track but it is NEVER ok for both to be true simultaneously.

Its pretty sobering to think about that. At that moment I looked at myself and my situation and honestly acknowledged that both of those things were true of me and my reality. It can creep up on you while your focus is on your temporary job or when you allow yourself to become a captive to your current situation or the current obstacles in your face. I will never allow that to happen again.

Part of my struggle came as I turned away from this blog. I forgot that it was very therapeutic and  that people read it and asked about what I had to say next :) to those people I give you eternal thanks! I wont turn away again.

So what do I do now...very simple...I am not in the place I want to be. I don't own a home, or have a family nor am I established in my career to where I have earned the right to take a break to reflect. Thats OK..so long as EVERY DAY going forward is spent working on and being on the right track to get there. I know the work I need to do and its simply time to apply the consistent effort in all aspects of my life. My perma-positive outlook has long been a major strength to lean on at all times. I got bogged down and forgot that for a while.

Sometimes you have to call yourself out in order to move forward. :)


Quote of this post

"Get going. Move forward. Aim High. Plan a take-off. Don't just sit on the runway and hope someone will come along and push the airplane. It simply won't happen. Change your attitude and gain some altitude. Believe me, you'll love it up here."


Thanks for reading guys. Hit me up on twitter and instagram

Ahmad
@MoviestarAhmad on both

Summer time...Self improvement

Happy May everyone!

As always I hope this message reaches you in good health and spirits. It feels good to express myself writing again

Summer time is here..so how did your almost first half of the year go? We set some big goals and wanted to move closer to our dream. Some of you have put in the work and have earned a summer off. Good on ya! Hop in your private jet and go lay on a beach til your hearts content. I've done it..and it aint bad :) but I definitely have not earned a full summer off. So here is what you and I can do to have a productive summer and give us a great shot at finishing the year strong.

Don't lose hope if you haven't set the world on fire like you wanted to this year. Just make sure that you relax a little less and work a little more. Remember, don't take a vacay if you haven't worked enough to earn one. All that said, 3 things we can all do together this summer..

**Take stock of your skills and craft. Ultimately if you arent better at what you do than you were 6 months ago, let alone better than your competition, you arent going to dominate your field. Take a hard look at your skills. Call an old teacher..check out new ones. But you have to have the skills to pay the bills

**Feed your brain. Knowledge outside of your wheelhouse always helps. At the least the knowledge broadens your pool of intelligent conversation partners. If there is one thing that I have underestimated in the pasts its having random but intelligent discourse with people of all shades. It doesn't always have to be quantum physics but (along with 3 books in your field) pick up at least 3 new books this summer that you haven read

**Visualize to actualize. How should your year be going? Lots of you say its not what I want or not where I want to be..ok..fine. WHAT DO YOU WANT? Take a serious look and plan it out and see it in your mind. It may not happen according to plan but when you can see it your actions can help you be it.

**I wont harp on fitness today, as you already know how I feel. If you aren't in summer shape today, pick something physical to work towards to get on track now. Sign up for a 5k. Take a fight if you have time. Sometimes doing that thing and committing to training for it can break you out of a short term outta shape period. For me, Im signed up for an obstacle mud-run in a couple months. Wish me luck!

Guys if you really want to do something big in life its NOT going to be easy. If it were easy everyone would do it. So no matter where you are now, don't worry and don't freak out...just get to work and get on the right track again NOW and tomorrow will take care of itself.

"I believe that everything happens for a reason..and sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together"

Thanks guys for reading!


Ahmad
@Moviestarahmad on Twitter and now on Instagram if you wanna see what I see

A vastly different take on how Richard Sherman demonstrates why I LOVE the f*****g playoffs.

Greetings super stars!

I hope all is well with you. Its only been a day :) but I was talking to my sister and of course the NFL playoffs came up. If you are reading this then you have certainly heard your fair share of commentary about the "controversy" regarding Seattle CB Richard Sherman and his actions. First of all, the Seahawks vs 49ers was the best game of the ENTIRE football season! Its really sad that this was lost in all the discussion. Now, let me tell you up front what this post is NOT about. Its not a rehash of the typical story lines at play here. This isn't about race, class or sportsmanship. Its not about Compton to Stanford or the score and certainly not about whether the reporter was afraid. Not that those aren't valid opinions to express but you have all heard those expounded upon and I promised something different. I aim to deliver :) So I'm talking to my dear sister and she asked what I thought about it and to me it was very simple "Nobody gets it..Sherman demonstrated exactly why playoffs are must see TV me. Because it takes these grown men and strips away their life armor and makes them young all over again" Let me explain..

Professional athletes in the major sports live very very comfortable lives..and they have 100% earned that comfort in my opinion. The countless spent working to hone your skills to a professional level comes with a ton of perks. We all can see how comfortable and nice life is for the mega-star athletes. Turn on any gossip website and you'll see Kobe, Floyd Mayweather, Tom Brady or Cristiano Ronaldo living it up to put it mildly. You can also easily imagine the good life being lived by guys who are really good but maybe not at the top of the food chain like those guys. Think about your favorite pro team and the second and third best players..yeah those guys are having a ball too. Lets leave these class of players aside (even though Sherman is one of them) The reality is that all those guys live, in an overall sense, very comfortably. By all of those guys I mean even the guys who are on the team but just don't play much. They are still part of an exclusive club that gets the keys to whatever city they play/work in.  How comfortable? Lets put you in the comfortable life of your local non star but still professional athlete.

If you are a player under contract with a team, you live in a really nice house. If you're a rookie maybe you are renting a really nice place to see if you stick with the team. If you are a 2-4 year veteran (again not top guys on the team) you probably own one really nice house in a nice neighborhood in your city. You have 2 really nice cars. Maybe not a million dollar super car but you can easily swing a luxury sedan and a luxury SUV or sports car. Every one's personal taste is different but those cars will be customized as you like as far as color, rims, sounds etc. You're in a city that supports a pro sports team..so you have at least a few really nice restaurants and a few trendy ones too. Guess what..you get to show up at any of those places without reservations and get an excellent table. Maybe not the best table..that's for your star teammate but boy being able to walk in and sample the cuisine of the hot new chef is awesome. Any social events in your metropolis? No problem..an invitation is in the mail for you automatically. If somehow you are left off the invite list because the party doesn't think its your cup of tea..just show up. Come on in. You are always welcome. The club perks are pretty done to death..but its worth noting that you walk right in and generally are very popular with the ladies at the establishment. This is to say nothing of those who will go there to meet you after they hear you are inside. Golf much? Perfect..you have a tee time at any course you can get to.

Ok Ahmad..we get it. They get perks and its comfortable but life is bigger than cars and parties and restaurants. Very true. Ok..so now you have children. Those children either go to very nice public schools in very nice neighborhoods or they go to the best private schools in your city. Now you have to pay for school, which you can afford, but pesky little things like applications and academic qualifications magically disappear. Not that your child isn't smart..but so that the school can say that your child is a student there. God forbid that they have health issues but if they do, you can access the best treatment available. If not in your city you can go visit a specialist in another city..no problem. Time for the family vacation? You can actually take a look at a globe and basically go anywhere. Now, only the alpha dogs have private jet money but there is no shame in being able to travel and stay first class with you and your immediate family. Sounds like a dream to me, frankly. Now all this gets you through the regular season. If you're on a winning team then holy cow life is going FANTASTIC. If your team is losing then all the comfort that your job provides you and your family provides a more than fair balance. Losing always hurts..that's a key to why they are there. When you compare all that I described to being on a non playoff team, those guys are WAY ahead of the game of life. But now lets talk about playoffs..

When those guys are in the playoffs..they are playing for bigger stakes. Much bigger..so big that the comforts of their lives aren't the main focus. For us it is entertainment, for them the playoff road to their respective championship is all they dreamed about. Its the only path to the pinnacle of their field and that always matters. Its what got them out of bed to train and work and play and work and work and play. Sure those comforts are there but in the moment that is playoff game all that stuff is suspended. Said another way, some regular season games don't matter to those guys (there, i said it) but EVERY playoff game is the biggest game on earth. Winning or losing is all that matters. All the other stuff gets stripped away and these guys return to being in  8th grade or high school when all they wanted to do was WIN THIS GAME. (more on this later) They didn't want a nice house or expensive watches..they just wanted to win THIS game here. That purity of desire played out in competition is beautiful and compelling!

So specifically to Richard Sherman. Here we are in the NFC championship game. The biggest game of the season as it gets you to the Super Bowl. It goes without saying that as an All-Pro cornerback, Richard does have all the comforts we discussed above and then some. In that moment of the deciding play of the game do you think Richard was thinking of those comforts..NO. Was he thinking of that when he woke up..eh maybe. When he arrived at the stadium and got out of his car..that was likely the last moment he thought about any of that stuff. Because tonight was a big game..the most important game of his career..A game he had to win and winning was going to be the ONLY THING HE WANTED. He didn't want a table, or another car or to go meet pretty women at some exotic locale. He wanted to win a football game. Period. When you want to do something with such singular focus, it REQUIRES you to lay it all on the line. The fact is every player on both teams wanted nothing but to win that game. The victory would be greater than any comfort life and their job has already provided them and none of those same comforts would immediately alleviate the pain from the loss. When that play began, Richard Sherman likely looked across at his man and among other things thought "I ABSOLUTELY CANNOT LET THIS GUY BEAT ME RIGHT NOW" So the play happens and he makes a spectacular play..the season is saved and you are going to the Superbowl!! Holy COW! Now people love to toss around the stereotype of the spoiled rich athlete who only cares about his money. I am not saying it doesn't exist but in contrast I present Richard Sherman. When asked by the reporter to describe that last play..aka the BIGGEST play he has ever made in his entire career..was he thinking about his money, cars, clothes, money, cars, clothes...NOPE he was thinking with the purity of an 8th grader..That sorry receiver cant beat me!! He cant beat me! I told you! We won!! I told you and were going to the Super Bowl!!! His exact words are obviously up for interpretation..but this is what I heard him thinking in that moment.

Now the game is over..The Seahawks went and celebrated and nothing they did during that celebration was better than the feeling of that win. NOTHING. Those guys were ecstatic! The 49ers went home to mourn and no amount of houses, cars or beautiful ladies to comfort them would console them in that moment. NOTHING. Those guys were devastated! Both the respective bottom lines for those men. Both teams knew that going in and that's why I stood up and applauded them both for that game. You have to risk being hurt to feel that kind of joy..in the playoffs..those are the risks and that's why its MUST WATCH.

So for those that think the world is coming to an end with what happened...allow me to share with you a fictional but possible (read: likely) Richard Sherman story that's gone on and will continue to go on at middle schools and high schools across our great nation....

Yo Tony, you ready to play today?
Yeah man..gonna be fun.
Yup. Hey, Steve Willis said he was gonna burn you today if you guarded him!
SAY WHAT?
Yeah man, I heard him tell Jackie in history class
Man Steve is sorry as a receiver! he cant burn me!
Yo that's what he said man.
Ok..lets do this!

Late in the game..with Tony's team up by a few points, he looks across and sees Steve. Snap..they head to the endzone, the ball is up...Tony tips it away! Game is over. Tony is mobbed by his team "I told y'all! I told y'all Steve was sorry" Steve's reply? "Whatever man..that's the only play you made all game"
I told y'all!! Steve was sorry..he cant burn me.

Not worried about money cars or anything..Just who would win that day :) Ah...the purity and simplicity of youth. Always refreshing when I see it from adults.


Quote of the post

"You have to risk being totally destroyed in order to feel epic happiness. It sounds tough, but its worth it"


Good night yall!


Ahmad
@MoviestarAhmad