Today when I went to the gym, the lady at the front of the desk was like, “Man, you a soldier! I see you in here all the time!” And to that I responded, “Pretty much. :)”

Then, the lady that does the daycare said as I dropped my youngest daughter off, “Man, you are dedicated. I wish I had that type of dedication.” To which I replied, “Started when I was a kid.”

Yes, I am in the gym 5 to 6 times a week and it is kind of funny to me that I would have two people comment to me basically the same thing on the day I write this blog. Who knows, maybe they’ll start following it. 🙂

My health is very important to me. For a person that goes to the doctor as unoften as I can, eats healthily (although I do have a weakness for chips and brownie sundaes) takes his vitamins and lives life un-vaccinated, I have to take care of myself; it’s become a way of life.  That’s where “Built Like a Tank” gets it’s origin.  The name is from an old NWA song but it fits. 🙂

If you take care of your body, it’s the best pharmacy, the best healer, the best looking, low fat, get you whistles from the opposite sex-thing there is. 🙂

OK, so it’s a new year. It’s still January so your resolutions have to be on your mind still, right? Right? Right. 🙂 I will be making weekly postings about fitness and nutrition tips as best as I can. I know a little bit about training (have to thank my uncle Jeff for that one). The first thing I have to tell you about health and fitness is that being healthy and fit has to be a MUST for you. If it’s not, you will yo-yo up and down for the rest of your life. So the starting point has to be you DECIDING THAT YOU MUST GET INTO SHAPE AND STAY HEALTHY FOR LIFE.

We’ll talk more about how to do that in the coming weeks. An assignment for you this week should be to make a firm decision on where you want to be health and fitness-wise. Your weight, bodyfat, dress size, pant size, shirt size, etc. Everything. Find someone that you can aspire to, a fitness role model that’s attainable for you. Get some pics, cut them out, make a fitness vision board. Have fun with it. We’ll talk more about it next week. DECIDE to come back and read what I have to say 🙂

Good morning all my fine feathered friends. Just got back from the gym and I am about to go relax in a bath. Before I do, I’m starting off the afternoon with one of my own quotes. Some of you that have followed me for a while may remember some of the Tankisms for the first couple weeks. I want to introduce them to everyone here and then new ones will be coming in the coming weeks. Until tomorrow, be blessed, keep an open mind and let love be your guide 🙂

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Question: When is NOW a good time for you to start living life and going after your dream?

Yesterday’s gone and will never return again, no matter how hard you try, you cannot change your PAST

The FUTURE is written by what you do in the PRESENT, i.e. NOW!

NOW is all you’ve got. This moment, this time, this NOW.

So, when is NOW a good time for you?

Good day to you all. I apologize for getting this blog off to such a late start. I woke up this morning to type it and my internet was down. Things happen, right?

So I’ve given thought as to how I want to do these Motivational Mondays and since Tankisms will be on Tuesdays, I will provide tips from books and stories that I’ve read from other sources that have motivated me. Poems, sayings, quotes, parables, verses, etc. just depending on how I feel I can best get my point across to my readers on that day.

Please remember, it’s all love. And if we all can begin to see that which we “intend” to see in all situations and people we encounter, your life will be exactly as you intend it to be; it has no choice.

Time is the only factor and if you begin to look at time as something is neither real or fake, present or non existent, i.e. Time just “is” It neither passes or sits still, it just “is.” Which means that if you visualize and actively “live” that which you want and how you see yourself in the “future” you already have that in the present… Heavy for a first blog but take some time to really think about what I wrote above. I will explain it even better in a future blog. There is a poem that I love that encompasses my own life philosophy. Get your week off to a great start. See it from start to finish. See what you want to accomplish in area and work towards making that vision, that pre-cursor manifest itself as the days go by. 🙂

IF YOU THINK YOU ARE BEATEN, YOU ARE;
IF YOU THINK YOU DARE NOT, YOU DON’T;
IF YOU LIKE TO WIN, BUT THINK YOU CAN’T, IT IS ALMOST CERTAIN YOU WON’T.

IF YOU THINK YOU’LL LOSE YOU’VE LOST,
FOR OUT OF THE WORLD WE FIND
SUCCESS BEGINS WITH A FELLOW’S WILL-
IT’S ALL IN THE STATE OF MIND.

IF YOU THINK YOU ARE OUTCLASSED, YOU ARE-
YOU’VE GOT TO THINK HIGH TO RISE.
YOU’VE GOT TO BE SURE OF YOURSELF BEFORE YOU CAN EVER WIN A PRIZE.

LIFE’S BATTLES DON’T ALWAYS GO TO THE STRONGER OR FASTER MAN;
BUT SOON OR LATE THE MAN WHO WINS IS THE MAN WHO “THINKS HE CAN.”

-Author Unknown

What a whirlwind month! I have had so much fun. Ever since I “surrendered,” doors have been opening left and right; I am so grateful and you don’t even know… 🙂

And to think, the cherry on top comes tomorrow when I get to be in a commercial with my own daughter. I am more excited about that than anything else that I have done. We are going to have so much fun together!

I have to say, though that Friday was a pretty cool day also. It started off going to set to shoot my scene for CSI: Miami; I didn’t know that it was the #1 show in the world! Who woulda thought? I got to go into my trailer and it was nice. TV, DVD, Radio, Microwave, shower… 🙂 Got dressed, hair and makeup and then it was time to rehearse.

I was playing a prison guard so we were shooting in a jail like setting. I was to transport a prisoner from his cell to be executed. He had been in prison for a while and we had gotten to know each other a little so it was sad that he was going to have to go to the chair. My job was ala Tom Hanks in The Green Mile. Well, we get ready to rehearse and lo and behold, The Dead Zone himself Anthony Michael Hall was my prisoner. I smiled because I have to admit that I am a fan.

I don’t get star struck so it was just admiration. I honestly didn’t recognize him at first, but after a couple rehearsals I did. I was to shoot 4 scenes so we rehearsed for nearly an hour. The reason we rehearsed for so long was because one of the scenes was going to be tricky to shoot based on how it was written. We had to do some “trickeration” with the scene to make it work.

One of the things we had to do was to get into a scuffle with one another in the cell. We didn’t know what type of scuffle. We tried to mark it but it just became its own deal, very organic and a lot of fun. For me, it was like when I got to manhandle George Clooney on the set of Three Kings.

Now, I cannot give away too much with this blog because the episode hasn’t aired yet. Let’s just say that I had a lot of fun, received a lot of praise, had a lot of laughs and lost a lot of skin on my arm, lol. We got a little off balance on one of the last shots of the day and my arm got caught underneath Anthony Michael. When I got up I could see some of my arm skin on the concrete wall. There was blood running down my arm, man! And, my thought was… “This is cool!” My other thought was, “Do I get hazard pay for this?” 🙂

They cleaned it up, put a liquid band-aid on it and we finished the rest of the shots with that part of my arm out of site. Hope it looks good when it airs. Anthony Michael, if you’re reading this you’re a cool cat. Had a lot of fun and enjoyed the conversations with you. Sorry guys, I didn’t get pics because I forgot to charge my camera. I guess you’ll just have to wait for the episode to air. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and keep sending those positive vibes and prayers this way so 2010 and beyond can just build on the foundation that December 2009 has started. 🙂

Now, I’m about to prepare to eat strawberry ice cream all day tomorrow with my girls 🙂

As I walked into the AMC theater this morning, I could sense something was in the air. I heard a father kidding his little son about movies. His kid was all excited to go see a film. His dad was naming every film but the film the little kid wanted to see: The Princess and the Frog. This little white kid, his father, mother and two bigger sisters all clamoring to go see “The Princess.”

Now you all should know me by now, I’m not big on labels and I think everyone could keep their culture without throwing race into everything and still be perfectly fine (just my humble opinion). Yet, when I saw this and then walked into the theater and saw children of EVERY race, with their parents to see “The Princess….” When I saw my children, especially my youngest with eyes glued to the screen and smiling… when I heard the clapping of EVERYONE in the theater after the film was complete, I had a thought…could this film change the world?

There have not been very many films and images of blacks to come out of Hollywood relative the films that perpetuate stereotypes. Sure, this film had a few, sure there was that black magic stuff, sure the father died and wasn’t a big part of the film, or was he? The story was about the daughter and her dream, a dream that was inspired by her father.

I enjoyed the film very much and my girls were overjoyed. The imagery and the celebration of the culture, the love story, the girl that looked like them and the many millions that will see it and fall in love with a young girl who doesn’t look just like them…the merchandise that will be sold with the likeness of a brown, hope filled, smiling and beautiful young lady to people that she doesn’t look like…

Could this film change the world? Could this film plant the seed of tolerance, hope and belief in the minds of this young generation? Time will tell…

Happy Holidays 🙂

Tank Jones

Can I just say that I love being a parent? I really do.  I remember the carefree days before I was thrust into “dad-hood.”  I had fun and never thought that I would be a father.  Now that I’ve been a dad for nearly six years, I really enjoy it.  Kids really do say and do the darndest things.

Both of my girls are doing very well and adapt to situations rather quickly.  Right now, I’m sitting at the computer while helping them with their homework.  I, for the life of me will never understand a person who has bore a child and does not feel that child is the most precious gift.

My oldest is in Kindergarten.  I want to put her in first grade and I know she will do well there.  But, fun in school is important to me.  She learns a lot at home.  She’s learning Mandarin for God’s sake, lol.  She’s going to be home schooled after this year anyway so I’ll let her have some fun even though the work she brings home, her 4 year old sister can do.

Just wanted to share.  I encourage all the parents out there to keep the faith.  I even ask some of the parents out there to put some comments on what they do to parent their children and “train them in the direction they should go…”  Inquiring mind (me) would like to know. 🙂

What does it all mean? I had this long blog ready and I just deleted it.  I don’t know if I wanted the message to be put up as I can never take it down. So, I’ll pose the question to you just as it’s going through my head at the moment… What does it all mean?  That’s it for today…

“Everything that offends you, weakens you.” – Dr. Wayne Dyer

Good evening everyone.  This is Tank checking in with you today.  I hope everyone had a great start to the week. My week started off with me staying at home with my two beautiful daughters.  Over the weekend, they both had high fevers (103ish?) but the fevers subsided by Sunday and it was just a pre-cautionary measure today.  Now, I’m a person who doesn’t get sick.  I don’t believe in sickness and so we don’t cross paths.  Today, though I will say that I wasn’t at my optimal best, but I also had a pretty hard workout regime this past weekend and my muscles were very achy.

I want to share something with you all.  As you all know or I hope you can tell from my page, that I am an actor.  I love acting, I love producing, I love being on set, the development of projects, being on set, getting the phone call that I got the part, being on set… 🙂  I have yet to hit the level that I know I’m going to hit, for it’s just a matter of time and I’ve learned that I do not control time (I still try, though).

I had a mentor of mine question me a little over a week ago about responsibility and career paths and the fact that I graduated with high honors from college and they don’t understand why I gave up the “security” of a stable job to pursue my passion.  “When are you going to get real?”  Basically, was the essence of this conversation.  This person told me that I live for my work and work is just supposed to be there to pay bills…

I thought, “How sad.”  If you don’t love what you do, then I feel sorry for anyone that does it that way.  The appearance of security is just that, “appearance.”  Look at the collapse of the global economy that just happened, all the titans of industry that crumbled.  The lock up of any and all credit to consumers, unemployment numbers, etc.  Job security?  I say this to condemn no one, I just have a different view on life.  To me, it is worth it to go on the journey to realize and fulfill what I feel is my destiny.  It is worth it for me to get up and put one foot in front of the other towards a goal that I may not see because the road is foggy or there is so much debris out there and the street markers are covered. Mark Victor Hansen remarked about life that it’s like driving in a car with the headlights on at night.  You can only see so far in front of you.  But, if you know where you’re going, you don’t panic.  Even if you have to take a detour because there’s construction on the road, you have faith that you will get to your destination.

Sometimes that destination is a little farther than you thought when you started out on that journey and you have to stop at a gas station to get some fuel.  Fuel for me is the mastermind that I recently created with some of my friends on Facebook.  I have to tell you guys, I love all of you.  You are greatly appreciated.  Your thoughts, prayers are propelling me forward.

So, knowing when to quit?  I mean, do you ever?  Well, that depends on you I guess.  “But, what about the real world?” Some might ask this question.  When do you think you have put yourself through enough pain?  Well, what if Thomas Edison had said after the 9,999th time trying to create a commercialized light bulb, “This won’t work.”  What if the Wright Brothers had listened when people told them that man was not meant to fly?  What would have happened if Clint Eastwood listened to his critics early on in his career when they told him he wasn’t handsome enough to be a leading man?  What if Tyler Perry had given up on his dreams when he was broke and homeless? What if Walt Disney had given up after his fifth bankruptcy?

What if? Who can truly answer that question?  None of you can and neither can I.  I do know this, though… No matter how long it takes, no matter how many people may say, “You should hang it up,” no matter the roadblock that tries to impede my path on my way to my Definite Purpose in life, I will not be stopped.  I will hit every goal that I ever set if it takes me the rest of my life to do it.  Oh, what a different story man would have to tell if everyone had that same “sticktuitiveness” for things they set out to do in life.

It’s as basic as, “Are you a glass half full/empty” kind of person?  Do you see a statistic like “Only one in ten businesses succeed” and decide not to start a business or do you say, “You mean I only have to start 10 businesses to be successful?”  Think about it.

Thank you, person of mine who inspired me to write this by doubting me.  You helped me to remember all the reasons why I’m doing this in the first place and have re-energized me to keep going.  Be blessed everyone.

Tank

Allow me to re-introduce myself, my name is Larry “Tank” Jones. For those of you who don’t know, I’m an Actor, Motivational Speaker, Producer, Hip Hop Artist, Forex Trader and Family Guy (no Peter jokes). I hope you all like this new layout of my site. Although you see some blogs down below, this is my first official blog for this site.

Some of you didn’t even know I had a personal website did ya? Well, I’m about to inundate you with it, so you know now. I will be constantly updating here as I’ll be blogging about all the topics you see above throughout the week. Hopefully, my writing improves as I do this.

I’ll be introducing some video blogs throughout the month also. Just got a new camera so I’m anxious to test it out.

Those of you that know me, know I created Tankisms as a way to give my friends a little pick me up when they need it. The front page will rotate my Tankisms throughout the week so be sure to check it there. I hope to make this site as interactive as possible. You will start to see different artists, different music, different commentary, interviews, etc.

We will exorcise some of these Mental Demons together. I know we all have them. I know I do. It’s been somewhat of a struggle for me mentally in ’09 as this is the first time that I didn’t book anything major since I’ve been focusing on my career (I know it’s not over yet).

Your mind can play tricks on you. When this happens, I always find it helpful to begin to focus my thoughts on what I want. I have a whole wall devoted to my VISION of my life. My beach house, my Porsche, my 650i, my pool, my vacations to the islands, my goals, what I strive for , my daughter’s drawings… It’s right in front of my desk so I cannot help but see it.

I control the language I use and do my very best to keep my emotions in check. I think about something I can do to move myself closer to my VISION. Try it. It can be difficult but you must know that you are moving closer to your VISION and your VISION is moving closer to you.

I know this is a long introduction, but welcome to my site, look around. Check out the gallery, new videos coming soon. Leave feedback, buy an album or 3. I’ll be back soon.

Larry “Tank” Jones 🙂

Guys, believe it or not I just spent 40 minutes writing this blog for the second time and my computer wiped it out… Forgive me but this one, this 3rd edition if you will, mayl be “briefer” than the previous two as I’m slightly disappointed but I will get this right…

I received all the messages from you all about the follow up for the last week before I checked to see that the first time I wrote this response to “8:59” never posted; I was quite surprised. So, I sat down an hour ago determined to write another version as good as the first… I had done so… and then pressed the “back” button by accident and the whole blog was gone…for the 2nd time… 🙁

I want everyone to know that I really do appreciate all the comments, notes, subscriptions and all that you say. I am quite humbled by it. I know some of you wonder when the next Tankism is coming and why it takes so long to get them to you sometimes. Well, you all have been sharing them with a lot of people so now I’ve got over 11,000 friends and I do my best to get one out to everyone. It just takes a little longer now for obvious reasons…

TANKJONES.
My personal website is almost completely renovated and when it is, I will be posting the Tankisms there more frequently so I’ll be sure to let you know. I’m also going to offer my last CD, Antithesis (an autographed copy) there along with a free poster. I’ve been asked by a lot of you to do that. I only have a couple hundred and will not be making any more of that CD so if you can’t wait until I make the announcement, shoot me a message about it. First come… 🙂

OK, here we go again for the third time…

A QUICK RECAP
I love to read. You will either catch me reading something inspirational, motivational, educational, spiritual or a script. I feel the need to balance the scales. I need to search out the positive side since there is so much negativity out there. If you don’t actively seek out the positive stuff you will find yourself behaving negatively for no other reason than that is what’s out there. Hey, most of us are addicted to the negative, the gossip, the car wreck on the side of the road. It sells ads so that’s why we get so much of it, because as much as people complain about it, they’re addicted to it.

One of my quotes is: “Now! That’s all you’ve got.” I try to make the most of each day because you never know. You’ve got this life, this Now, this moment. Take advantage of it as often as you can. Remind yourself to live life to the fullest. Even if you believe in reincarnation, you still have to take time away from your NOW to remember who you were, which wastes more NOW time so by the time you figure it out, you may have NO time. Now, what was I saying?

I consider myself a lot of things…QUITTER is definitely not one of them…then 8:59am PST on today, Friday, July 17th, 2009 happened…

I thought I understood what it meant and what you had to do to be a success…then 8:59am PST on today, Friday, July 17th, 2009 happened…

I was at the gym, working legs and as I was doing my reps I was listening to “Think and Grow Rich.” In the beginning of the book, Napoleon Hill writes about there being a “secret” contained in the book that, if he were to just point it out to you would rob you of the joy of finding it on your own. He also mentions that when it occurs to you, you should “turn down a glass for it will represent a turning point in your life.”

MY MAMMY’S GOTTA HAVE THAT 50 CENTS!
Napoleon writes of a story of a young “colored girl” who came to a farmer’s work area and asked him for 50 cents. This was back in the 1920s. Well, the farmer refused and told her to go away and the little girl replied, “Yessa.” But, SHE DID NOT MOVE.

The farmer went along doing his work, not noticing the child had not left. When he did notice that the girl had not left, he got angry and began to yell at the child. He told her to GO! or she would not like the consequences…Again, she replied, “Yessa.” But, SHE DID NOT MOVE!

The farmer became enraged and ran over to the girl. The farmer’s nephew that was in attendance thought for sure the child was about to receive a beating at the hands of his uncle. When the farmer reached the child, the child actually STEPPED FORWARD and yelled, “My mammy’s gotta have that 50 cents!”

…

This response stopped the farmer cold in his tracks…then…he reached in his pocket and pulled out the 50 cents and handed it to the girl. She thanked him and went along her way…

8:59 AM PST, FRIDAY, JULY 17, 2009 A.D.
I have read this story many times…
I have listened to it many times…
I truly thought I had the meaning of it many times…

I often found it amusing but it never had that much impact on me. Then, that day, that time I realized that I had just discovered what it means to THINK AND GROW RICH. If I had a glass, I would have turned it down to mark the occasion.

Picture the scene: early 1920s, a white male, a colored girl, his property, deep south. Doing what she did, she could have been hurt, beaten or killed and more than likely nothing would have been done about it.

How could I have missed the lesson of this story the previous times I had read it or listened to it? It is the most powerful story in the entire book! This girl had a mission. She KNEW WHAT SHE WANTED. She knew what she needed and had determined that she would stand by, no matter what until she got it.

She asked for 50 cents for her mom. “The man” said “No!” At that point, who would have blamed her for going home with her tail tucked between her legs so to speak and say, “Sorry, mama he wouldn’t give it to me.” That’s what 90% of the people in that position would have done; she did not.

When “the man” became angry because she did not leave, he felt disrespected and felt this child needed to learn her place. So, here he comes charging after her and about to teach her a lesson…Now, she was supposed to cower and run at that point, right? After all, she’s just a “colored girl” on the property of “the man,” a man who could harm her and no harm would befall him. This was a big OBSTACLE, a big MOUNTAIN, seemingly insurmountable.

But, what did she do? She took a STEP FORWARD! What did “the man,” the obstacle, the mountain do? It had no choice but to crumble, to fall, to realize it had been beaten at its own game. In other words, it had no choice but to give the girl what she was after, if she could stand up to that type of resistance without blinking and not only stand up, but STEP FORWARD “the man” had no choice. He was severely over-matched.

STEP FORWARD
When you are so convinced that you must have something that you are willing to STEP FORWARD, give it your all and stand by that decision until you succeed, you WILL SUCCEED. Life has no choice but to give you what you want because you would not let life push you around any longer. You told life that you will not run away any longer, you will not “Duck and Run” (3 Doors Down, love that song) any longer. You know that that there’s going to be turbulence, wind, rain, potholes, in-laws, naysayers…

But, if this little girl can stand by and get 50 cents after total rejection three times at the risk of physical harm…whew!

There is no obstacle that can stop you when you have that type of determination and I am ashamed that I let the prejudice of the language stop me from getting maybe the most important lesson I’ve ever learned, perhaps that’s why I had to type this three times and the words kept getting erased. Maybe that was the Lord’s way of making sure the lesson “really” sank in.

I have had life rain of my parade. I have had plans not work out. I have failed and I have walked away. I have been knocked down so hard that I felt paralyzed with FEAR. Now, I know that no matter what, I must GET UP. I must NOT BLINK. I must be determined. This story showed me that even I had another level to go up in my determination level.

Now, I know without a shadow of a doubt, that when “the man” comes charging at me with his nostrils flaring saying that you can’t have this part, you can’t have this money, you can’t have this house, you can’t live in this neighborhood, you can’t drive this car, you can’t buy this apartment complex, you can’t…

“Yessa!” And, I will smile and STEP FORWARD into my destiny…

How about you?