Brian Cole & Associates
Newport News
“Positive thinking has it backwards. We change our state of mind by doing something to be positive about, or else it’s just a veneer.”
—Brian Cole
I was my late 40s and after being self-employed for many years, I saw a book titled, “Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow” and I wanted to find something I loved and turn it into a moonlight. So I identified my favorite hobby, went back to school, eventually sat for national certifications and started personal fitness training . What I didn’t foresee was in less than one year my new “moonlight” had transitioned into five private fitness studios helping people make positive changes.
Why Physical Fitness? There are so many enjoyable things to do and it’s a short, short life.
I look for new challenges all the time. It sounds corny, but it’s not. It’s what keeps me up and energized. I had a friend who got diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. So I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise money for him. I didn’t make it to the top the first time because of altitude sickness. but I went back and made it to the top the second time.
I’ve got four words: Do all I can. I don’t have any tattoos, but if I had one that would be it.
If we just think of things a transitions and not as beginnings and ends, it’s better than thinking of everything as temporary—that something didn’t work out. It’s all transitions and cycles.
Advice for getting to 100
Stay really active. It’s a lot more attractive to think of a change than to do it. Be physically active all of the time. It’s such a cushy life. It’s easy. People don’t move as much. They don’t run and walk, play and climb. Then your body breaks down and you go on medication. It’s because we’re sedentary. Move. Do all you can.