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Tag Archives: Consistency

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Exercise

09 Monday Jan 2023

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Big Things, Consistency, Exercise, Flexibility, improved immune response, mental clarity, motivation, Routine, Small things, TedEd

For about 50% of the population, exercise is one of the New Year’s resolutions people commit to. Unfortunately, many start, but few achieve their goals. To add a little incentive, watch this video to see how exercise improves so many things without much effort. There is an entire cascade of events that occur within the body when we exercise consistently.

I hope you enjoyed the video and will start your own exercise routine. You don’t have to do much to gain the benefits of exercise. A little goes a long way, as long as you are consistent. Crushing yourself in the gym for a few days and then letting that new gym membership go to waste doesn’t produce the results you may be looking for. Consistency and continuous efforts are what win the day. Remember, your health goals are not a race–they are a marathon. Make them a daily habit, and you’ll feel better in a short amount of time.

Have a great Monday, folks! Get out there and get moving. Take it slow and easy, but consistently and you’ll see improvements in your immune system, your sleep, and even your ability to think.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Consistency

21 Monday Feb 2022

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Consistency, Exercise, Goals, Goodreads, Monday, motivation, Reading, Routine

Good morning! Happy President’s Day!

How do you stay motivated for your daily tasks and goals when it’s a holiday? I follow a pretty rigid schedule of Monday – Friday, even while retired. There are certain things I do everyday, regardless of what holiday falls on Monday. The caveat to that is during the month of December, I pretty much take the whole month off.

I find consistency is the key to getting anything done that requires more than a day’s work. Take reading, for example. I use Goodreads to track all of my reading. I set a goal of roughly 60 books a year. If I read 5 books simultaneously each month (5 chapters a day), I will typically meet or exceed the 60 book goal I set. A lot of that depends on how big the books are. During those years I am reading a lot of history or non-fiction books, the number I hit tends to be lower. Most of these books (at least the ones I am interested in) tend to be quite long (400 or more pages). Subsequently, it’s harder to knock those ones down compared to a 200-250 page novel, which tends to move along more quickly. Anyway, for me it is better to do the same things each day on a schedule than just wing it. By doing a little each day, you can achieve quite a lot by year’s end.

For exercise this week, I’ll be doing some home workouts. I’m not a huge fan of driving in the snow or in inclimate weather. Here’s my workout:

Monday (Quads and Calves)

Tuesday (Hams and Abs)

Wednesday (Back and Biceps)

Thursday (Chest and Triceps)

Friday (Shoulders)

Each day I’ll do 50 reps for each body part.

I hope each of you has a great Monday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Mindset

15 Monday Feb 2021

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Consistency, duplication, habits, Knowledge, Learning, Mindset, motivation, realistic, Sources

How do you get up on Monday, attack your goals and priorities, and feel great consistently? You do other things consistently. If you smoke, drink, and stay up until 3 am binge-watching a series on Netflix, you probably will not be your best at 6 am. Makes sense, right? The same follows with working out. If you are not eating right and getting enough rest, your performance in the gym is probably going to suck pretty bad too.

When I worked, I did my best to be in bed at a reasonable time every day. I went to the gym at the same time every day. It was my consistency that allowed me the same performance at work, in the gym, etc. Self-discipline is the key to anything we want in life. If you want to write a book, you have to discipline yourself to write on a schedule with deadlines and all the rest. If you want to get in shape, you have to go to the gym or exercise in some way consistently, coupled with eating right, drinking water, and getting enough sleep to recover. I’m not preaching some new thing today. This is the way things work–period.

So, if your goals are going off the rails, those New Year’s resolutions are not progressing, re-evaluate. Do you really want those things that you wrote down, or were they a pipe dream? This is one of the biggest problems with goal setting and achievement. We write things down, but fail to plan how to achieve them. Many times I have begun planning in the past and realize that the commitment to achieve something I think I want to achieve is just too much. I’d like to write some books someday. I gave this a chance a year ago, and it didn’t go anywhere. Why? Because other things came up that took a priority, and I couldn’t do what most authors do–work on their books consistently. I had too many other things on my plate that were a higher priority for me. Make sense?

So, here’s what you do if you are having trouble with consistency. First, reevaluate what your goals are. Second, examine what it will take to achieve your goals by the date you set. Third, be honest with yourself about your motivation levels around certain goals. Are they really something you want to pursue, or is there something else that is higher on your list? Fourth, put those goals on hold that you struggle to commit to. You can always pursue them next year or at some other time.

Motivation is about mindset. It is about pursuing the things you really want vs. pursuing things you think others want you to have. It’s your life. Pursue what you want. Also be realistic. If your schedule does not allow you to go to the gym every day, then start working out at home. If that doesn’t work consistently, then reduce the number of times you exercise and stick with that. At a minimum, if all else fails—walk. Walking is healthy. It is something most of us will be able to do for most of our lives. Any exercise is better than no exercise.

This same process can be used for any goal you have. Are you doing the things necessary to achieve it? Do you know what those things are? If the answer is no to both or either of these questions, there’s a quick fix. Simply do some research to see what other people do? Writing? You can find tons of information about writing books, articles, blogging, etc. all over the place. You can find out what other people are doing and try that. The first place I turn when I’m looking at doing something new is the Internet. Then I tag the things other people are doing and begin experimenting. Someone will have done what I need to do, and they will tell you. These can be found on YouTube, on some online schools/universities, or you may luck out and know someone that does something you are trying to do. All these resources are available. You just have to get out there and look. Once you begin to learn what it takes, then you have to decide: Can I duplicate what they are doing? Do I really want to do this? Can I fit in these steps or processes into my day? If yes, then you are all set and ready to go. If not, you may have to decide to put it all on hold.

The mindset we have is critical to achieve our goals. We have to know what we have to do consistently to achieve the things we want. We have to learn about what others are doing to achieve their results. We have to be willing to apply what we learn consistently in order to achieve what we want to achieve consistently. Make sense?

Ok, folks. Have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful/Thinking Thursday – Consistent Reading, Writing, and Learning

04 Thursday Feb 2021

Posted by Dave Gardner in Thankful Thursdays, Thinking Thursdays, Uncategorized

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Tags

Consistency, Exercise, huge results, Learning, Reading, small actions, Udemy, Writing

Photo credit: CallofDuty.com

Over the last few years, as more of my schedule has come under my control, I have found that doing a little each day compounds into huge results. A little exercise, a little reading, a little writing, and a few minutes watching, listening, or reading some educational material can go a long way.

Some of you are working from home. The beauty of working from home is you can get a lot of things done in a more efficient way. You are not forced to work only for your boss and then look at that pile of laundry, dirty dishes, or snow-filled driveway on your own time. Now you can work on both sets of priorities simultaneously, other than those ZOOM conference calls that eat up a good portion of the workday. Why not take an hour a day and knock out a little in each area: reading, writing, exercise, and learning? It doesn’t take long.

The average length of a session on Udemy is roughly 5-6 minutes long. If you take a few courses, you’re looking at 20-30 minutes each day. You’ll get your graduation certificates in no time, and if you take the right courses, you’ll be adding some critical skills to your toolbox. If you select the 4+ star-rated courses on Udemy, you’ll also be entertained by popular instructors that make the material fun and interesting. 30 minutes a day for 6 days (assuming you subscribe to my “do nothing day” policy) is 3 hours of learning!

If you take the time to analyze what you do each day, I think you’ll be amazed at how much time you spend watching television or streaming videos, and other activities, that although entertaining, don’t build anything. I’m a huge video game fan. My current favorite is Call of Duty, Black Ops, Cold War. It’s a great game and very popular (over 100 million players worldwide). I could play that game for 10+hours a day and still have more energy to play even more. Balance is the key. We all need our downtime to relax, recharge, and rejuvenate. Watch those shows, play those games, get some of that “me” time, but balance this out with some productive activities that will keep your mind working. It is really exciting to me when I pick up some new skill that I can apply immediately to what I do every day.

That’s all I got today, folks. Have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Here we go!

11 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

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Tags

Achievement, Categories, Consistency, Goals, Plans, processes, rituals

Hopefully, you’ve put together your goals for the year and have plans, processes, and rituals in place to guarantee your success. What if you haven’t done that yet? No worries. Start simple, if this is all new to you.

I like to pick goals within categories like physical, mental, spiritual, and social.

Physical – lose 10 pounds by year’s end

Mental – read 12 books by year’s end

Spiritual – meditate once a day for 10 minutes

Social – post uplifting quotes and materials to social media 1 x weekly

These are just examples, but easy to do. One thing I’ve learned about consistent small actions every day is that they build into big things. When I started this process for myself a few years ago, I could have never predicted I would read 60 books in a year. This is what happens when you read a little each day. Now 60 books is no issue. This works for anything you aspire to. Pick some goal, and chop away at it a little bit each day. You’ll be there in no time.

Now get at it! The year’s young. Get your goals in place, put together the daily things you need to do to hit your milestones, and get at it. It’s not too late to set yourself up for success in 2021.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Routine – Week of November 9, 2020

09 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Workout Routine

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Tags

Consistency, Dedication, Discipline, Exercise, Exercise Bands, Routine, Tabata routine, workout

Welcome to my Workout Routine for the week of November 9, 2020. As we approach the harsh winter in Michigan, I am much more prepared than last year. Each year, we get some big snows. This makes driving really difficult and treacherous. To avoid that risk, I purchased some exercise bands from Bodylastic, and I am very pleased.

I’ve also been studying some of Jim Stoppani’s work. One of Jim’s biggest insights is that sitting is the new smoking. I couldn’t agree more. My life is very sedentary, now that I’m retired. I exercise daily, but discovered through Jim’s website (jimstoppani.com) that he follows a rule where he is doing an activity above his daily workout routine. This week, I’m going to incorporate that. This will add some variety to my workout and let me focus on one body-part each day.

Because I have an Apple Watch, I am reminded to stand up every hour. I’ll use this as my cue to do some exercise. Here’s my schedule for the week:

Monday – Legs

Tuesday – Back

Wednesday – Chest

Thursday – Shoulders

Friday – Arms

Saturday – Abs and Calves

Sunday – Off

I’ll be mixing in some Tabata work in as well. My Tabata format will be:

8 minutes of exercise (20 seconds exercise, 20 seconds rest)

That’s it, folks! Have a great week!

See you at the finish line!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Week of Nov 9, 2020

09 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Consistency, Dedication, Determination, Discipline, Do what you love, Focus, Motivation Monday

It’s the beginning of the week, and we’ve got to get moving!

Here’s my routine for the week:

Reading daily; Writing daily; Exercise Daily; Spiritual tasks daily; Learning daily; and Posting quotes/blogging daily.

One of my favorite tasks each day is programming. I am really enjoying Python. I’ve been at it for a year, and now I’m starting to feel some comfort with it. I’ve still got more to learn, but I’m getting there.

Have a great week, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Week of November 2, 2020.

02 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

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Tags

Consistency, Determination, Discipline, Drive, motivation, Resilience, Resistance, will

Alright! Here we are! It’s Monday and we are facing another week!

Here’s my schedule:

Writing daily (blog, journaling, research, school, and book)

Coding daily (Python Course, Udemy)

Reading daily (Books, nonfiction and fiction)

Socializing daily (Social media, phone calls, Video calls)

Exercising daily (See Workout Routine)

Spirituality daily (discourses, Bible, contemplation)

Entertainment daily (movie, gaming)

That’s all I got for now, folks. Have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Routine – Week of October 26, 2020

26 Monday Oct 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Workout Routine

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Tags

Cardio, Cardio Respiratory, Consistency, Dedication, Discipline, motivation, Running, Treadmill, Walking

This week, folks, it’s cardio, cardio, cardio. I’ve been feeling a little winded during my weight routines and going to tackle getting my cardio fitness built back up. This week, I’m going to do solid cardio for the entire week.

Mon-Saturday: Cardio 30 minutes (Treadmill)

That’s all I got.

See you at the finish line!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Routine – Week of Sep 28, 2020.

28 Monday Sep 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Workout Routine

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Consistency, dig in, Discipline, Drive, Exercise, Keep going, Music, Push, videos, workout

One of the tricks I use to get pumped up for the gym is to watch a great motivational video or listen to some inspiring music. Attack the week, folks!

My routine this week:

Monday – Saturday:

20 minutes cardio

Upper Body (weights) Lower Body (weights) alternating every day.

Have a great week! Get at it, folks! You got this!

See you at the finish line!

Dave

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