Day of the Shred VI: Why I don’t get a “real” job, EngineersWhoLift™, and fighting uphill battles against miss-information.

If you read my previous blog Day of the Shred V, you probably know I’m not a huge fan of writing blogs about myself. My feelings on blogs have changed a bit since then because I got so much positive feedback from you guys which has prompted this blog here.  I’m not writing this to pump up my ego and let you know how great I am and how awesome my life is (that’s actually the opposite of what I want), but to better improve my connection with you all who take the time to read the information I put out.  There’s also the fact that my last blog was the most transparent and honest I’ve been about myself in any of my work, and it felt exceptional to know there are people out there in my corner and who actually give a damn. But enough of this preface stuff, I got some stuff I wanna say. So here we go. 

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Why Don’t You Get a “Real Job”?
Since you’re reading this, I’m sure it’s safe to assume you know I’ve really made a push for myself in the fitness industry as a strength and nutrition coach and as a freelance writer for multiple websites. I love doing what I do and I wake up (most days) happy to know I’ve come this far.  But this is only a piece of the Craven puzzle.  A lot of people don’t know I have a BS in Mechanical Engineering and worked on a few projects. Even more people don’t know that I have a job working banquet events at a resort in San Antonio, Texas.  When people find out that my primary sources of income and what I spend most of my time doing have nothing to do with my degree, I’m met with a look of confusion.  Whether they say it straight up or imply it in a more subtle way, they’ll usually blurt “don’t you want a good job?” Or “when are you going to get a real job?”

Here’s the deal about working at a restaurant last year and now working banquet events: I have a GOOD, REAL, job.  Honestly, it’s a great job.  It’s a job so many people in the world wish they had, and not a day goes by I don’t take it for granted. It gives me the opportunity to pursue my personal goals as a writer and coach, but also bring in some easy cash. Every day is something different when I show up for work and it creates an exceptional opportunity to meet people from all walks of life, especially working banquet events.  You don’t get that kind of life experience working in a cubicle. Never do I feel discouraged or slighted when people think I should be doing something else, but sometimes I’ll be offended- Not on my behalf, because as you guys know I don’t give a shit what people think, but on behalf of my co-workers.  People might think folks working  in service or hospitality are below them. There’s dignity in every job, guys, and I don’t give a fuck if you’re the CEO of a company or the janitor who sweeps up at night, but you’ll always get the same respect across the board from me. And I hope you reading this feel the same as I do.   And I have to say, I respect the hell out of everyone I’ve ever worked with at a restaurant or working banquets.  If you’ve ever done any of this type of work you know these people are always willing to work hard, and they’re genuinely some awesome and straight up badass people; and if someone ever spoke bad about any of them in front of me I’d be the first to step up and throw hands for them.  I made a lot of friends in college and became close with a few mostly because we had to share a challenging experience with each other, but the friendships I made at work were like none other I’ve had, and I appreciate all of them dearly.

 When I was bar tending at a restaurant last year these dudes would make some fast cash during the day and have no problems with spending half of that on us later that night at the bar. They’d be happy to do it, and happy to do it again the next day.  Is this the most responsible way to live forever? Probably not. But it showed me there’s more to life than “having a plan at all times” and sticking to the script.  Because before I started working in this industry my life was conditioned to staying on a set track at all times. Honestly, it sucked.  I was being groomed to be a square peg to fit a square hole. Conditioned to keep my head down, shut up, and sit at my desk.  And that’s what a 9-5 job is. You show up, do a task, and clock out. Every day. Over and over.  That’s not a life for me, man. Maybe it’s because I’ve always been a little bit different my whole life.  I’ve never followed trends or did what was cool. I had questions that people felt uncomfortable to answer because it wasn’t “part of the plan.”  I’ve learned you don’t have to follow the crowd and there's always another way if you're willing to put in the work.

 And then there’s the question of “don’t you want to make a lot of money?”
No. No I don’t. Not for the sake of just making money anyway.  I’ve recently realized that money won’t make me happy, and it won’t make you happy either despite what you tell yourself.  Of course money is important to an extent, but I’m not going to sell 1/3 of my life doing work I don’t enjoy just to buy flashy things that won’t fulfill me.  I’ve tried this and it left me feeling hollow.  I know so many people who play this game and always lose.  It sucks to watch my friends and family fall into this trap and it sucks to see so much wasted potential.  If I’m going to make a lot of money it’s going to come from providing value to those who really want it, which is why I’ll continue to keep on coaching and keep on writing for as long as I can.

Does this mean I’ll never go into the engineering industry? Absolutely not.  It just means I’m not going to blindly jump into a job I have no passion for just because it’s something I feel like society expects me to do.  I’ve turned down a handful of jobs as an engineer this past year because I don’t feel the job is worthy of my abilities.  I’m not saying I’m some prodigy engineer because I’m not, but I’m confident in my abilities to provide a fuck ton of value to whoever is writing my checks. If you’re going to pay me $75,000 for my work then that means my net value to your company is at least $225,000. Work hard and make a lot of money for some faceless entity then only get a third of it? Hm, seems like a raw deal to me.  With that said I love being an engineer, I love solving problems, and I love finding out how things work.  You see that? That’s passion.  I guess this is a good segue into the next part of this blog. 
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EngineersWhoLift™
Short story here about how this became a thing.  A few months ago I took some of my engineering buddies out to dinner at the restaurant I was working at.  These were the guys who not only liked to study as much as I did, but who also enjoyed lifting weights and working out, so of course we’d become friends. So these 5 meat-head looking dudes walk into the restaurant side by side taking up the entire doorway and probably frightening a few small children and elderly people on our way to the host stand.  My manager GinoCasino walks up to greet me and ask who my friends are, so I let him know they’re a bunch of my engineering buds.  He takes a look at these big guys standing around and says “it’s been a while since I was in school, but in my day engineers were a bunch of scrawny looking poindexters, not a bunch of guys with muscles!”

But he wasn’t wrong to say that.  Me and these 4 others guys were the exception. In a class of 200 people we were the only ones who enjoyed lifting weights when not getting crushed by projects and tests. Actually there were a few dozen more who did workout, but we were the only 5 who really had any success to speak of when it came to developing some decent physiques. This always puzzled me because to really excel as a bodybuilder or in any type of physical activity, knowledge is power.  The more information you apply, the better your results will be.  A bunch of my peers would look to me for some guidance and tips to help them find success in the gym, and it baffled me because these are the type of people who could easily spend 10 hours working on a single problem and use every resource possible to figure something out, but didn’t know how to translate that ability to improving their gym performance.  I’ve noticed anyone who studies engineering usually has an inherent ability to seek solutions by any means necessary.  These guys could find solutions on mechanical stresses, heat transfer, and dynamic equations, but can’t find out how to set up a basic training routine and nutrition plan?  There’s a huge disconnect here, and I wanted to find a solution for it.

So EngineersWhoLift™ was born.  It’s a developmental project aimed at helping provide proper information on training and nutrition for engineers in the professional industry.  A lot of people are turned off when you start reciting fitness and nutrition fundamentals because it’s not the most exciting thing in the world to sit and listen to.  By making the content more relate able to engineers by providing a scientific foundation, we’re hoping to increase the participation of recreational weight lifting by engineers.  When it comes to desk jobs, you know how I feel about them. But there are some people who may actually enjoy them, but most will just tolerate them.  Most people spend a majority of the day sitting on their ass at work, then come home to do more sitting.  Couple that with the aging process and you’ll be in for a sudden surprise when you take a look at yourself in a few years.  This is my attempt to provide a solution and help people who need information. This is what I do. 

Fighting an uphill battle against miss-information
The other day while working a banquet event I overheard a lady say eating Brussel sprouts makes you fat. Actually, her exact words were “Brussel sprouts are the most fattening vegetable”.  My immediate thoughts were “what the fuck lady, really? Did you not just hear the words that came out of your mouth?”  Her statement is wrong on so many different levels, but the most frustrating part is that she’s not the only one who believes this! I’m certain she got this information from some daytime TV doctor or some tabloid type website, so that means there’s probably thousands of other people who believe it too.  This type of wrong information has to stop. It’s propagated by fear and shock value to get people to buy what they’re selling, I promise you. It’s unethical and down right dangerous. People who need real helpful information are being lied to, and it’s sickening.  This is a big nasty rabbit hole to do down, so I’ll try and keep it short.  But the biggest lie I hear is that calories don’t matter as long as you eat healthy foods.  Everyone who comes to me still holds on to some sentiment that there are somehow inherently GOOD and BAD foods.  An example would be strawberries=good.  Sugar=bad.  But it’s not like that. It’s not so black and white. It’s all relative and a matter of context!  I promise you 60 grams of carbs from strawberries has the same effect as 60 grams of carbs from sugar.  I’m not saying you can get away eating bags of sugar and thrive, but stop being so blind and do a bit of research.  If the goal is fat loss, calories and energy balance will always be top priority.  You just don’t lose fat eating more calories than you expend. That is physically impossible. And for those who do say they lose fat eating whatever they want, they’re actually eating less than their maintenance calories are, otherwise they wouldn’t be losing fat.  On top of this “calories don’t matter, eat clean foods” thing is that there are some superfoods that can do no wrong.  A big one right now is coconut oil.  I’m not exaggerating when I say people are taking this stuff by the spoonful daily because they’ve been told it has some special fat burning properties and is a superfood.  While there CAN be a few benefits to it, a huge fact being overlooked is that the fat in coconut oil still has 9 calories per gram.  If you’re trying to lose fat and you’re shoveling down spoonfuls of this stuff daily, you won’t get very far. ::face palm::  There is just so much wrong information being spewed everywhere that it makes my head spin.  The medical industry isn’t much help either.  If you go to your doctor for diet or fitness advice, you’ll be met with the same old “eat healthy, get exercise” song and dance. Most (except a few) doctors don’t know shit about properly losing weight, but people will take their word over someone like me every time because they’re doctors.  I’m not saying I have all of the right answers all the time, but I have plenty of accurate information that WILL be beneficial when applied correctly.  It’s an uphill battle, and the more progress I feel I make, the more resistance I’m met with.  But that’s just the game I get.  There are guys in the fitness industry who are my mentors that have thousands of people follow them and impact even more.  But these guys are met with so much hate and opposition, I have no idea how they continue to push on.  I’m sorry if this has come down to me sounding like I’m complaining, but It’s more of a plea asking you to open your eyes a bit.  Do your research and don’t blindly swallow information because it sounds good.  Question it.  Don’t even believe everything I say, I want you to go out and find out on your own.  Test it. Test me. Test yourself.  I love helping people and I love what I do, but some days are harder than others when you’re facing so much bad information.  All I can do is keep putting out content and hope that I can truly help a few people in the process.  So for all you guys who do pick up what I put down and have stuck with me through my uphill battles, I sincerely thank you.  
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And if you made it through this blog in its entirety, I thank you for that!  I don’t know how frequently I’ll put out these blogs, but if you like it, hate it, or don’t care, it’s always great to hear some feedback.  As always, thank you guys for all your support.  Craven out.