2:30pm | “I assure you I had rather be first in a village than second in Rome.” – Julius Caesar
As I scrolled through my phone’s text archives with tears streaming down my face, I reasoned that this may have been the greatest quote Shaun Lumachi ever shared with me. Shaun texted me this after I told him he was “my number one,” a sincere thank you for yet another referral he provided for my business — one of many may I mention.
One of my favorite qualities about Shaun was his dry sense of humor, and come to think, he may have been one of the funniest people I have ever met, whether he intended to be or not. Although he conveyed that he was proud of me for taking a stance, he regularly made fun of my weight room policy banner. There are 13 rules that are printed on the banner requiring people to follow through on things such as cleaning up their sweat to sharing the equipment if asked.
Shaun loved to make up his own rules, often building the list to about 123 rules, and often starting at whatever number he felt was appropriate. He would say something along the lines of “Thou shall not write any more rules until the conclave has been scheduled [long pause] at Mecccccccca.” I laughed always. His style of humor had me won over too many times to recount. Even better, Shaun not only had a great sense of humor, but had a personality which could instantaneously switch to an acceptable level of seriousness, backed by action-oriented language that helped you if you chose to listen closely and intently.
I had the good fortune of seeing Shaun just hours before he died. We scheduled a training appointment for 4:15pm Friday evening, and from the best of my knowledge his flight to Miami left at 8:00pm that same night.
On our last workout we would ever share together as trainer and client, I had the pleasure of hearing Shaun’s perspective and advice once more. A week prior, my business partner had agreed to house a Brazilian Dance company, to help them with the space needed to execute their one-time class for several hours, and the parents and children began to filter in right as Shaun showed up for his workout. For the majority of our training relationship, Shaun and I always had the gym to ourselves. This was a new environment for us.
Although I remember what it was like to be a kid, these “little people” were running around the gym floor everywhere. In fact, there were at least six kids that were below, in back, to the side, and on top of a boxing dummy that was tied to a rope, secured by a large pole. I had asked the parents more than once to control their children for fear of these young ones getting hurt. Shaun, after one of his sets, calmly observed the situation and said to me, “That rope may snap.” To which I replied, “It’s their kids, I warned them.” Shaun retorted,” It’s your lawsuit.” I couldn’t help but smile, even in the moment of his criticism.
I was fortunate enough to see Shaun five days a week, mostly at 6:00am to coincide with the very few “dead hours” in his busy schedule, over the course of a five month training relationship. I grew to consider him many things, all of which were great or good. I loved Shan as person, respected him as a businessman, and was proud of him as a client. Shaun Lumachi, in just five months, had lost nearly 30 pounds of body fat and gained 15 pounds, of lean body mass. This is remarkable progress for a person that came into the training program in Shaun’s condition, and his success is largely owed to him by following through, not me. Shaun’s initial objective for seeking my services was looking better to increase his business revenue. It was that simple. A week before his passing, he shared that he had the most profitable year of his career. I was so happy for him.
The man taught me many things. While I won’t go in to detail, a personal situation had caused me a tremendous amount of stress early in our training relationship. My behavior at work and away from work had been altered, and Shaun spotted the change and let me in on nugget of business knowledge. His text message read, “My investment in this is in direct proportion to your stability.” Which I took as: “Jack, snap out of it, focus and move forward — or lose a person you can never replace.” I chose not to lose this man.
I once asked Shaun what his favorite book was. Shaun replied, “The one that’s collecting dust on your desk.” The book that was collecting dust on my desk was the one he let me borrow a week after we started training; it is called “The Leadership Challenge,” by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. On page 22, one would find a list of five practices and ten commitments of leadership. Although I did not share an office with Shaun, I communicated with him enough regarding my work with the the Long Beach Post to form the judgement that he had every single one fo these practices and commitments implemented within his life.
And although my heart is truly shattered over Shaun’s loss, I made a promise to myself that my 28th year of life, which begins today, December 5, will be dedicated to finding truth in the contents of the book Shaun wanted me to read so badly. Shaun you were a leader in every right. As your trainer, I want to say I love you, will always miss you, and look forward to the workouts in the afterlife. Your picture is on my wall, and I will be reminded of your face everyday. You have and will continue to inspire me. First exercise: dumbbell pullover, your favorite. Love you, Trebek…