Daily Ramblings – Thinking Thursday

Tags

Consistency, Dwayne Johnson, Keep going, Never quit, Reach your goals

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne Johnson

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/dwayne_johnson_760902?src=t_work

Consistency. It is making choices about what we will do and then consistently working towards the goals we have decided to pursue. If you want to lose weight, you must exercise, get enough sleep, drink plenty of water, and eat nutritious foods—consistently. You won’t lose weight if you eat right today and eat horribly for the rest of the week. You won’t lose weight if you exercise today and then blow it off for a month.

I don’t care what you choose to do. Once you decide, be as consistent as you can. If you want to write—write consistently. If you want to be well-read—read consistently. If you want to build any skill into your repertoire—build that skill consistently. If you want deep and meaningful relationships—contribute to these relationships consistently.

Consistent action is powerful. Watch the waves of the ocean sometimes. They never stop coming in. They erode rock. Watch the animals that visit your backyard. They are consistently foraging for food, working on their homes, and cleaning themselves. They are consistently scanning their environment for predators. There are examples of consistency everywhere.

Consistent action on the items you value will deliver tremendous results. Choose what you want to do, add in a little time each day to do something to work toward that goal and you will achieve it at some point.

Here’s my progress on reading, learning, and entertainment activities for this week:

Books:

Rediscovering Americanism and The Tyranny of Progressivism, Mark R. Levin – Just started this one. My brother sent it to me as a gift.

Ethics, Aristotle

The Shariyat Ki Sugmad, Paul Twitchell

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

Classes:

Western Heritage, Hillsdale College – Almost done with this one. A quick note: Hillsdale has updated their website and online courses. They no longer offer discussion boards, quizzes, or certificates of completion—FYI.

Documentaries:

Movies:

Venom (Another Marvel Movie) is scheduled to come out on the 5^th. I cannot wait. This one looks terrific!

Fun:

The West Wing (Currently on Netflix) – Just finished this season again. I cannot recommend this series enough. I have watched it probably 8 or 9 times and still do not get tired of it. The characters are terrific and the acting and writing are terrific. 5 STARS!!

Ozark – Netflix (in the cue)

Jack Ryan – Amazon Prime (in the cue)

Interesting Apps:

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday

Tags

Consistency, failure, Mistakes, Perseverance, Persistence, Planning

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” – Samuel Beckett

I like quotes like these because they truly reflect reality. There is nothing that you will do in life that will not result in mistakes. Mistakes are what makes us human. If we fear to make mistakes we will never accomplish anything. Those of us that accomplish a lot also fail a lot. Those of us that accomplish a lot are not afraid of making mistakes.

The lesson: Make mistakes. Make many mistakes. Continue pushing forward and make more mistakes. If 10 mistakes result in achieving something—make them and achieve.

Take some time today and look at some of the goals you have set for yourself. Which ones have you put off? I bet there’s a little fear inside of you telling you that you are not good enough, you don’t have the right skills to do that, or you don’t know where to start.

Today, I challenge you to grab one of those goals and think about what your life looks like when you achieve it. Then, once you know where you want to be, put together a rough plan. Don’t do anything else, just put together a plan.

Tomorrow, look at that plan and flesh it out a bit. Get some specifics in place. Set a few milestones (deadlines) for those specific actions you have created for yourself.

On Friday take one of those initial actions and do it. On Saturday look at your plan and schedule execution on another one of your action steps to be finished next week. Try this out. You’ll find that once you’re moving on these action steps you’ll begin to feel better and better about achieving your goal.

One of my major goals is to lose weight. I’m down 28 pounds so far. When I started, I went through the same actions above. Has my weight loss been consistent? Has it been perfect? No, to both questions. I have had to continue to adjust, realize I made some mistakes, fix them, and get back on track.

When you are looking to lose weight, you must do one thing: create a calorie deficit. We analyze what we are currently eating by monitoring our food intake for a week. We don’t adjust yet. We just write down what we are eating every day. Then, once you’ve done this for the week, you know what you are currently eating (calories, carbohydrates, fats, proteins). Then we adjust. I’m at 2300 calories per week, but do not hit that calorie goal every day. I lose about a pound a week. That’s all I want to lose. I’m not in a rush, I want to keep off whatever I take off.

My plan:

• Collect food intake
• Determine total calories consumed each week by macro (Carbs, Fats, Proteins)
• Then reduce the calories by 500 (3500 calories in 1 pound of body weight)
• Stick to the new calorie goals

Assumptions:

• This is not an exact science
• My body will react differently over time as it adapts to the diet
• I will need to adjust as I go, but the adjustments need to be gradual and consistent

You see how simple this is? You can do it too. You just need to take a little time to create a plan, break the plan out into actionable steps, and execute each step. You’ll get there—I promise.

If you are stuck and still don’t know what to do, feel free to reach out. I like helping people with achieving their goals. Simply reply in the comments and tell me how to contact you. I’m not looking to make money here, just help others to achieve what they want to achieve.

Making mistakes is part of being human. Make them. Fix them. Move forward.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

Tags

Confucius, Consistency, Daily Rituals, Exercising, Learning, Reading, Writing

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” Confucius
Read more at Brainy Quote

Consistency is critical to our success. Doing little things each day will contribute more to your success than doing a whole lot in one day. I call these things my daily rituals and they work, at least for me.

Pick one thing you’d like to improve–say reading. Instead of trying to read a whole day, just read one chapter or a few pages. Do this every day and you’ll be reading more books in a year than you did previously. It’s all about consistent effort.

The same applies to exercise, learning, or writing. Just do a little each day for a pre-set time period and you’ll be better for it. Consistency is key.

Here’s what I’m up to…

Physical:

My goal is to get my body fat down to 15% by year’s end.

My last weigh-in was this morning: 224 lbs.

Bodyfat 33%

Currently following the Labrada 12-week lean body trainer. I just finished week 1 today, 11 weeks to go.

Mental:

My goal is to finish 12 online courses by year’s end. I am at 6 so far. I finished the Udemy Non-fiction writing course last week. Still working on Public Policy and Learning How to Learn.

I also want to read 36 books this year. I’m at 23 so far.

Writing my blog post every day except Sunday and work through my non-fiction project daily (knocking off little bite-size pieces as I go). Right now I’m researching, analyzing my reader and audience, and putting together topics that I’ll organize later.

Spiritual:

My goal here is to finish my discourse by year’s end, read my Bible daily, Meditate/Pray twice a day, and keep a dream and gratitude journal. All of this is on track so far.

I am participating in a workshop in Canada, another workshop here in Michigan in September, and already served on a panel and gave a talk at our spiritual center in February.

Social:

My goals are to build my readership to 500 by year’s end. I’m currently at 386! If you know anyone that would benefit from my blog, please send them my way!

Attended a Sound of Soul meetup, held by the local Eckankar group. Great fun and a nice dinner afterward!

My niece visited this week and we had some great fun. We went out to eat, saw a movie, and talked on our back porch. It was good to see her (she’s on her way back home to AZ as of an hour ago).

Well, that’s my week folks! I hope you have a terrific week!

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Persistence and Determination

Tags

Consistency, Determination, Gym as a laboratory, Obsession, Persistence, Push Yourself, We are all unique

“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” – Og Mandino

There’s another quote that is in alignment with this one: “You can’t lose if you don’t quit.” – Author unknown. Both relate to persistence. Attainment of your goals is nothing more than continuing to pursue them until you’ve achieved what you set out to do.

I’m on a major push for weight loss. I weigh myself weekly and this week there was no change on the scale. Boy, was I disappointed. I’ll continue to do two cardio sessions a day, weight lifting Mon-Friday, and continuing to adjust my diet.

This is the biggest reasons for diet failure or exercise failure I think. People follow an exercise or diet regimen as best they can and fail to get the results. They get frustrated and give up. Each of us is unique. We will all react differently to supplements, differently to various foods, and even the types of exercises we subject our bodies to. This is where using the gym “as a laboratory” makes a lot of sense. The key to success is to really evaluate what works for you and what does not work for you.

Here is my week folks:

Exercise and Diet:

Two 40-minute sessions for cardio daily (Mon-Sun)

Weightlifting Mon – Friday

Food intake: 216 grams of protein and 133 grams of carbohydrates on weight training days, on active rest days (days I don’t lift) my carb intake will dip to 119 grams.

Learning and Reading:

Udemy Nonfiction Writing Course

Wellness Course at Yale Online*

Public Policy Course with Hillsdale College*

Books I’m reading:

• The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad Books 1 and 2
• Stranger by the River
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons
• The Orion Plague
• Turn Your Passion into a Business

*These courses are both free. Reach out if you’d like to learn more

Writing:

Blog Posting daily (Monday – Saturday)

Entertainment:

Listen to a lot of music throughout the week, particularly when I’m reading

Currently watching a documentary on the Civil War, by Ken Burns

Currently watching “Hell on Wheels” on Netflix

Other:

My brother is visiting this week from Arizona. I will be spending some time with him while he’s here.

Playing Diablo II (video game) with my Army buddy

I hope each of you has a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Diary

Tags

Bad Workouts, Boring Workouts, Consistency, Go to they gym, Lack of Motivation, Self-propelling habits

Hello there!!

Today was another weightlifting day. Again, the same as the previous three days. 20 reps for each body part. You could even call what I’m doing a circuit. I start with legs, move to chest, back, shoulders, arms, abdomen, and calves. The only rest I give myself is the time it takes to move from one machine to the next. This is all about my plan on getting used to going to the gym and getting some consistent exercise.

Consistency is really the key to achieving results in the gym. You have to keep going and keep executing your workouts to get any benefit. Sporadic lifting or doing a day here or a day there can actually be more harmful than helpful to your physique.

Some days your workouts will be awesome; on other days they will absolutely suck. The workouts that suck are mostly caused by a lack of focus or motivation. It’s hard work and sometimes we just don’t want to go. But, if you go and knock out the workout consistently, your good workouts will outweigh the bad ones. You’ll slowly build the habit of consistent exercise, build up your self-esteem, and help your body adapt to the stressors you put it through.

If you don’t feel like going to the gym–go. If you’re too tired to go to the gym–go. If you’re bored of your workout routine–go. You get the point. The key is to show up and get it done. The more you go, the more results you’ll see, and the more you’ll want to go. It is a self-supporting cycle of improvement that will take place for you. You just have to go do it.

See you tomorrow!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Sea of Change

Tags

Challenges, change, Consistency, Determination, Persistence

“Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.” – African Proverb

As we commence in the New Year, this is a particularly relevant quote. We do not get better when things are easy. It is the challenges we face, the hardships, the difficulties, the unexpected problems that truly contribute to our development. Without challenges, we stagnate and become complacent. We enjoy the lull as long as it lasts, only to be disrupted by yet another problem we did not foresee.

Embrace problems. Embrace challenges. Embrace difficulty. They are all part of the grand scheme of things and truly make life worth living. Without problems, challenges or difficulties life would be boring right? Without problems, challenges or difficulties the victories we achieve would be empty.

Writing, drawing, music are all creative endeavors. They all require practice, patience, and a methodical means of putting them together. The book begins with one sentence, the drawing with one stroke of a pen or pencil, the music with one note. The sentences, strokes, and notes come together in a unique voice only known by the creator.

Creation is difficult work. It requires patience, contemplation, and an innate ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Patience is probably the most important aspect of creation because you can’t rush creativity. Creativity visits us and gives us yet one more idea to put in place, the final result being the novel, poem, or tune.

As each of you pursues your goals this year, take time to realize that your path to a goal’s achievement will not be a straight one. It will require you to detour around obstacles, learn new things about yourself, and deal with the challenges inherent in the goal you have set for yourself.

If you’re looking to lose weight, you’ll deal with the pain of hunger, sore muscles, and temptation after temptation. If you’re looking to write a book, you’ll deal with writer’s block, the challenge of self-editing and rewriting tasks, and the self-doubt that arises whenever we create anything for others to read or listen to. Whatever goal you have set for yourself, there will be a price to pay for the goal’s achievement. We must pay for what we receive. There are no shortcuts.

As you embark on your New Year, keep these things close to your heart. Goals are achieved by those who are persistent, consistent, and willing to pay the price for the goals they have set for themselves. Goals are achieved by those who are willing to face challenges and overcome them. Goals are achieved by remaining focused on their achievement despite the numerous distractions that raise their heads.

I wish each of you a terrific New Year and hope the seas you travel this year to attain your goals are as rough as they need to be to help you make a permanent and beneficial change in your life.

Until next time…

Dave