Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

Tags

Action Items, Bucket List, Dreams, Goals, Learning from Others, Organizing, Scheduling, Taking action, Visualization

Photo Credit: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/nelson_mandela_378967?src=t_motivational

Is there a task or goal you have that you are procrastinating on? You know you want to do it but you’re stuck. In the meantime, it keeps eating at you day after day. What do you do?

Like Nelson Mandela explains above, these tasks are not as big as we build up in our minds. The best way to handle a new task or undertaking is to learn how others have done it. Look for a tutorial on YouTube, post a question on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Ask your friends, your family members, your colleagues at work or church. It is highly likely that someone in your circle will know someone that can help or at least point you in the right direction.

I take a lot of online courses. I do this with a specific goal in mind. First, to learn something new. Second, to learn about something I want to know about that will help me achieve what I want. Recently, I took a non-fiction book writing course. It was terrific! It gave me a framework to work with. It provided key steps to take to write the book–the most important part being the creation of an outline. I discovered that once the brainstorming for things I wanted to talk about took shape, the writing of the book is actually pretty easy.

During this time I also had an epiphany. I took a look at my blog. In the last two years, I have easily written a book or two in content. So, I use my blog as the model. I write each section of my book and treat it like a daily blog post. Now, it’s a simple undertaking. Yeah, there are other unknowns out there like: How will I publish the book? Who will I get to edit the book? and other future questions, but the key, for now, is to get the content on paper. That’s what I’m focusing on now–content.

If you have any bucket list items, goals, or aspirations–don’t hesitate to begin searching for someone who has already done it. You’d be surprised. There are a lot of people in the world. There are a lot of people who post their achievements on YouTube and many other places. You’ll find out exactly what you need to find out.

The key to all of this is to act. You can talk about something, you can think about something, you can dream about something. If this is all you do, you’ll never get this thing done and you’ll be talking about it 6 months from now. Get off your butt and do something. You’ll be amazed how much you can get done if you just chop away a little a day.

This week is week 2 of the Kris Gethin 4-week to shred workout routine. I’m up to 40 minutes of cardio two times a day, along with a heavy-duty workout routine. I’m feeling pretty good and it feels even better when I’ve checked that second workout off of my daily to-do list.

I’m also reading some books, writing here and working on my book, and pursuing my spiritual interests. It’s going to be a great week!

Nothing is impossible folks. You just have to take a breath, visualize, come up with a plan, organize the action steps, set a basic timeline, and get to work. It’s that simple. I wish all of you a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday

Tags

Achievement, Character Building, Coach John Wooden, Goals, habits, Little Things, Making time, rituals, Time Chunking

“It’s the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.” – John Wooden

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_wooden_384652?src=t_wisdom

John Wooden is best known for his history as Coach of UCLA basketball. This quote relates to a part of his coaching philosophy. If you’d like to learn more, you can visit his official website at http://www.coachwooden.com/

Each of us has habits. Each of us follows a certain ritual each day. We get up. We go to work. We conduct that work. We go home. We go to bed.

What is important are the things we do in between all these mandated activities. What do you do with your time? Do you watch TV? Do you play video games? Do you read? Do you write? Do you learn?

It’s interesting when you look at your efforts over a given period. I looked at my blog this morning like I always do. Since Daily Rambling’s creation, I have posted more than 500 posts. I spend about 20-30 minutes on my daily postings. That 20-30 minutes doesn’t seem like much but when you add that 20-30 minutes up over 2 years you arrive at a pretty big number.

If you examine your life like John Wooden would do with the teams he’s coached over the years you will begin to realize how important these small contributions are over time. This is the crux of this quote. Small things turn into big things. This is one of my key learnings over the years as I have studied success, productivity, accomplishment, and all the rest. I learned that habits are important, but rituals are more important to a person’s overall success. Rituals are habits packaged up together in a synchronous and synergistic way to gain maximum advantage.

My rituals take on context. I write in chunks of time. I read in chunks of time. I exercise in chunks of time. I pursue my learning in chunks of time. I plan in chunks of time. These rituals are important because they literally guide your day. You get up, you make your bed, you brush your teeth, you eat.

If you work, you have rituals as well. You get up at a certain time, you clean up your room, you wash up, you eat, and you head out the door. When you get to work you fire up your workstation or do whatever your work requires. There are hidden rituals that occur all day long despite your awareness of them.

The impetus of my topic today is on actively and purposefully documenting your personal rituals to begin gaining an awareness of what you do every day so you can find out what you can change to achieve those things that are outside of work. Do you want to exercise? Find a place in your calendar and make the time. What will you add to that exercise ritual? Packing your gym bag, putting it in your trunk so you can workout before or after work? What type of exercises will you do? What gym or park will you go to?

If you’ve never exercised before, you may want to start small. Maybe you buy a second-hand workout bench and some used dumbbells. Maybe you find a used stair-stepper or treadmill that someone wants to get rid of. Whatever you choose, create a ritual that you can commit to. Maybe you’re like me and must do your first workout routine in the morning before anything else. Maybe you’re comfortable doing it on the way home from work. Regardless of what you choose to do, try it out for a bit. Does it work, or do you need to change it? If you need to change it–do it.

You can create rituals for hobbies you’d like to pursue, exercise programs, sitting down and getting on with writing the book you’ve always wanted to write, or any number of things.

My rituals surround a few topic areas. These topic areas are writing (blog, book, school work), exercise (aerobic, weight lifting, sleep, supplementation, tracking my food), reading (nonfiction and fiction), and learning (helping my wife with her degree program, Coursera, Hillsdale College, and others), and spiritual pursuits (praying and spiritual reading daily).

You have the freedom to pursue whatever you are interested in. You can pursue whatever drives you from day-to-day. Make some choices. It’s ok to watch Netflix (I do). It’s ok to watch your favorite sports teams when they appear. Just keep it in balance. Find the areas of your life that you believe need some work, write down a plan, get it on your calendar, and execute. Start small and grow the ritual as you see fit. After a while, you may decide that the price a certain goal or activity is too much for you right now. Put it to the side and continue with the others you have selected and are willing to pay the price for. You can always go back to one of these things should you decide to.

Little things add up to big things. 20 minutes of exercise a day, reading a chapter a day, writing a few paragraphs for your book each day, spending 15 minutes on a video course each day are all actions that are very doable and will deliver huge results over time. I wish all of you well on your life’s journey and hope you achieve what you want to in this lifetime.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

Tags

Achievement, Attainment, Exercise, Fun, Goals, Reading, Self-compassion, spirituality, Writing

“The past cannot be changed. The future is yet in your power.” Unknown

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/unknown_159550?src=t_motivational

We can be our own worst enemy. I don’t know if this is a quote that belongs to someone but it sure is true when I deal with myself. I always tend to beat myself up if I fail to meet an objective, miss a workout, or eat the wrong thing. I’ll tell you this isn’t the healthiest thing to do. It’s ok to be objective when you measure your performance against your goals, but it is not when you begin fixating on what you did wrong or where you messed up.

Give yourself a break. The key to attaining anything is persisting. Who cares if you missed a workout yesterday—go today. Who cares if you ate a piece of pie while on a diet—eat right today. Who cares if you missed reading something you were scheduled to read today—read it tomorrow. If you are like me and more apt to beat up than cheer up, it’s ok. Just don’t fuss too much about yesterday; you’ll end up screwing up another day stewing about yesterday. Every day is a new day—embrace that.

Here’s my schedule for the week:

My workout routine is a two-a-day format. Cardio and weightlifting each session. I designed this workout and looking forward to it. I have found that my attention span wains after about 4 weeks, so I’ll be adjusting this every month, depending on the success I achieve. I typically hit the gym in the morning around 9 am and then again at 6 pm.

What I’m reading:

The Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, Paul Twitchell

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

Ethics, Aristotle

Rediscovering Americanism and The Tyranny of Progressivism, Mark R. Levin

Online Courses:

Designing your own weight-loss plan, Case Western University on Coursera

Western Heritage, Hillsdale College (free course on Hillsdale.edu)

Curious.com (a daily collection of interesting mini-courses, puzzles like crosswords, and other tidbits – this one is a monthly fee of $9.99)

Writing:

Technical Recruiting Book (Rough Draft due December 2018)

Blogging (Monday – Saturday and once a month on Sunday)

Journaling throughout the day

Entertainment:

West Wing, Netflix

Black Panther Movie (part way through), Netflix

Jack Ryan (in the queue), Amazon Prime

StarCraft II (online video game), with my buddy a few times a week, we are currently using the map editor to create our own battle maps—great fun.

Big events:

Mom’s birthday today! (She’s 75) – Diet and workout are not happening today—going to get some writing done and eat what I want when we take Mom out for dinner 😊

Religious Retreat Friday-Sunday)

I realize that my schedule is a little over the top but remember I am retired. I do not have kids in the house and I do not have to work anymore. Keep this in mind.

I hope each of you has a terrific week! Remember, don’t worry about yesterday—it’s gone. Tackle the day ahead and do your best—it’s all any of us can do.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thinking Thursday

Tags

Achievement, continuous effort, followers, Goals, Liane Cordes, Writing

“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” – Liane Cordes

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/liane_cordes_385862?src=t_intelligence

Thank you for following Daily Ramblings

Before I get into my posting, I wanted to thank my new readers who followed Daily Ramblings recently. I’m up to 441 followers and appreciate everyone who has decided to give my blog a whirl. I hope to keep you entertained. My goal for followers is 500 by year’s end. If you know of anyone in your blogging network that could benefit from my words, send them my way. One thing I want to note for everyone. I am not an affiliate of anyone right now. Who knows? Maybe in the future. Currently, however, I recommend products, websites, videos, and other services without any kickbacks from anyone. I enjoy sharing the things I find so that others may benefit from these things as well.

Thinking Thursday!

When I find a quote, I have been taking some extra time to find out more about the person who wrote it. In this case, Liane Cordes is the author of The Reflecting Pond – Meditations for Self-Discovery. I enjoy reading quotes that reflect my values. I value persistence.

I don’t know when I adopted this. Maybe it was ingrained in me as a child. The thing is I want to learn new things, I want to be a published author, I want to leave something behind for this world to ponder.

I was brought up to always leave a place in better shape than I found it. When I was in the Army and heading to a new assignment I tried to do everything I could for the person who would end up replacing me. I made sure furniture was clean and polished, ordered all the manuals, publications, and regulations the unit was missing, left some notes on things I wanted to do but didn’t get done. I also left private notes to my incoming replacement on any personnel issues they would need to know about (who is on vacation, who is up for promotion, that sort of thing).

I want to do the same thing with this blog, my personal, private writings (diaries and journals), and get a few books out there. Writing is one of these things that takes continuous effort. It takes practice. It takes learning about writing and reading about the challenges other authors have faced. Writing requires writing. It always feels good to get a comment that tells me what I wrote is what they needed today—this is what keeps me writing for this blog.

I use this blog to practice my craft. Sometimes the writing is great—other times, not so great. I return from time-to-time to earlier blog postings and wonder “how the heck did I think that was worthy of getting online?” Then I sit back and realize that we evolve. We improve. What we wrote a year ago isn’t the same level we are writing now. This evolution will continue I think.

On to my current activities. I’ve hit my goal of 36 books for the year. Now it’s on to 48 books next year. I will continue to read more books but wanted to brag a bit. I always get a rush when I hit a goal or achieve a major milestone. It feels awesome.

Books:

Ethics, Aristotle

The Shariyat Ki Sugmad, Paul Twitchell

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

Kobo: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War, Herbert Strang – When I first found this book on the Project Gutenberg website I thought it was a history book. After reading it for a bit, I discovered it was a fictional story using the Japanese-Russian War as the backdrop. The story was terrific, and the characters were endearing.

Classes:

Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential, Coursera

Public Policy, Hillsdale College – Discusses the nature of changes that have taken place due to progressive influences across a large group of topics like immigration, education, taxation, and marriage. Great course! (Hillsdale.edu).

Western Heritage, Hillsdale College

Mini-Habits Course, Udemy

Documentaries:

I’m a Killer (Netflix)

Movies:

Ready Player One (Amazon Prime) – I haven’t watched this yet. My sister recommended it and it is on my hit list.

Fun:

The West Wing (Currently on Netflix)

Getting good at things, improving, evolving, and achieving your goals is all about continuous effort. If you just keep moving forward, you’ll get where you’re going.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

Tags

Goals, Perseverance, problem-solving, Problems, Weight Loss

“Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.” – Robert H. Schuller

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/robert_h_schuller_107067?src=t_motivational

I’m still tracking my weight loss. Today’s weigh-in: 217lbs. One more pound. Steady and slow, but steady.

Today’s exercise routine was a Back and Bicep workout, coupled with 26 minutes of Cardio. I’m eating 5-6 meals a day but focusing on minimal carb intake (between 20 and 50 grams). I’ve discovered over the last year that I lose weight when I can keep the carbs low.

We are all unique. What works for me, may not work for you. What works for your brother or sister, may not work for you. It’s taken me a while to understand this concept, but it does apply to the types of foods you can eat and tolerate, the type of exercise your body responds to, the amount of sleep you need, and even the types of supplements that work or do not work.

I used to spend a lot of money on supplements. Now, I stick with just a pre- and -intra-workout powder. My body doesn’t like whey protein but loves meat. I can eat as much as I want and my body grinds through it. I recommend two different brands for pre-workouts that have proven to be effective—JYM Supplements and Kaged Muscle. I’m using Kaged Muscle’s pre- and intra-workout (named Prekaged and Inkaged appropriately). You can find these and other supplements on bodybuilding.com.

I’ll be candid with you. There are some days that I absolutely dread going to the gym. Today was one of those days. The caffeine and other ingredients in my pre-workout provide me with a nice boost and helps me get through days like today. Once I’m in the gym, I’m fine, but getting there is sometimes a challenge—this is when the pre-workouts really help me.

When we are pursuing goals, mistakes will be made, doubts will arise, and our motivation will be tested. These problems are all nudges to adjust our plans or reset milestones. When we pursue a goal, we are traveling over untraveled territory. Just like the settlers of the American West, we too will face challenges we are not prepared for. Like Schuller suggests, we adjust. We change gears. We pick a new route. We do not quit, we reformulate.

My road to weight loss will continue until I’ve gotten off the fat I want to get off. It will not stop. It will not cease. I will persevere.

Keep these things in mind as you pursue your goals of writing a book, creating a business, learning a new language or skill. You will run into problems—it is inevitable. Just remember: problems guide us, they identify something we didn’t think about when we first laid our plans. Keep going, keep adjusting, keep moving—you will get where you want to go—just don’t quit.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday

Tags

Achievement, decisions, Goals, Planning, SMART acronym

“The way to work with Divine Spirit in our daily decisions is to consider quite honestly: What would I really like to do?

One must put aside thoughts of asceticism, thinking that God loves us more if we are poor. A business decision must be made using all input that’s available. What’s good for me, my family? It must allow one to grow.

Any decision is not without setbacks, for that’s the nature of life. What sets you apart is that you give it your best effort and more, staying open to the subtle nudges of Divine Spirit.”

—Harold Klemp The Language of Soul

When was the last time you gave some thought to your life? What are you doing? Where are you going? What goals you have set for yourself? I found this to be the most difficult thing to do—to really understand what I wanted in life and where I wanted to go.

It really comes down to deciding. Decisions commit us to something. They say, “I’m going this way or that.” Sometimes it is easy to second-guess ourselves into believing that we may have decided too quickly, but we must realize we have the flexibility to change our minds. The key: 1) decide and 2) stick with it for a bit to really determine if it is something you want to do. More importantly, is it something you are willing to pay the price for (sacrifice, money, time, etc.).

Once you make your decision, you’ll find that tackling the task at hand will be easier. You won’t have to think about what you are doing, because you’ve decided. The focus this brings is liberating.

With focus, you’ll also gain access to little insights that will help you pursue your goal more efficiently. Make sure you write down any ideas that come through, particularly if you’ve hit a roadblock. This happens from time-to-time as we pursue something new. Expect it.

Steps:

• Decide which goals you want to pursue
• Make the best plan you can with the information and skillset you have
• Execute, adjusting your plan and resources as you go
• Mission accomplished, next…😊

These steps will help you accomplish anything you set your mind to. You’re probably saying to yourself, “Well, this is fine, Dave. What about multiple goals?”

The same steps apply, but you will have to allocate enough time to planning for each goal and executing toward each goal as you see fit. I would recommend picking the highest, most important goal you have and moving forward on that first. Once you have gained some traction, feel free to add more goals into the mix. One warning: Do not overwhelm yourself by pursuing too many goals at the same time or at least pick goals that contribute to one another.

Here are some examples:

Pursue a writing career (writing books), blogging, and freelance writing (all three goals align with another around the skill of writing).

Lose weight, get in shape, and eat right. Again, you can see the alignment between all these goals.

Each goal must be what is called S.M.A.R.T. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria

• S – Specific
• M – Measurable
• A – Assignable
• R – Realistic
• T – Time-related

Example Goal:

S – grow to 500 followers on Daily Ramblings by year’s end (2018)

M – 500 followers on WordPress.com

A – not applicable in this case

R – Yes, it is a realistic goal.

T – Yes, the time for achieving this goal is the end of 2018.

Well, that’s it for today folks. I hope you learned something and decide to pursue a goal you’ve been putting off.

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday

Tags

Achievement, Character, Dreams, failing, Goals, Your "why"

“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/h_jackson_brown_jr_101336?src=t_wisdom

This is such a great quote. I think we can all admit we have done things that we might not be too proud of when we think no one is looking. Aren’t all the great quotes the ones that demand a little more from us?

Character, like our minds and bodies, is a product of our experiences, decisions, and actions. What you are today is the resulting combination of these things. If you want to look at where people have the most difficulty in character development, look no further than online marketing ads.

Ads with the new magic weight-loss pill, the pill that will help you perform sexually, the pill that will add 20 pounds to your biceps and all the rest. Applications that will help you invest better, live longer, be happier.

Why do you think New Year’s Eve resolutions fail? The things we want are hard to achieve. They require us to be disciplined. They require us to stretch beyond our current capabilities. More importantly, they require us to commit, even when no one else is looking.

A buddy of mine approached me about exercise and losing weight a while back. Like most, he jumped right in with both feet. Then, after a week, he admitted he stopped exercising. He also admitted that he had 4 pizzas, two boxes of Cheese-Its, two bags of potato chips, and a family-sized bag of Fritos—in one weekend!

This is why you can only provide advice to people when they ask and let them do with the advice what they will. This is why you can’t compel anyone to do what they should want to do themselves. This is also why, YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE “WHY” behind your motivation to do something, whether it is to lose weight, exercise, eat right, meditate, write, or whatever.

I don’t care what goal you set for yourself. You will have a real challenge getting to the finish line if you do not know you’re own personal “why”. The “why” cannot come from outside of you. The goal must be yours and yours alone and you have to know why you want it.

I worked out with my brother for a few months a few years ago. The same result. He wanted to feel better, get into better shape, but he did not want to pay the price as badly as I did. He is eating better and avoiding foods his body knows aren’t good for him, but his exercise routine is drastically different than mine. That’s ok. He found the sweet spot for his personal exercise plan. The key is this exercise plan works for him and satisfies his “why”. His “why” was to just feel better and it is working.

If you really understand your “why” and you’re not lying to yourself, you will achieve anything you want. You’ll be willing to pay the price. Your “why” will be stronger than any price you have to pay. You will succeed. You won’t cheat on your diet, you won’t eat foods that are unhealthy or off your diet plan, you’ll do the exercise deliberately, and you won’t miss exercise days. You will be true to yourself because you have a compelling reason to do the work.

If you don’t have a “why” for a goal you are pursuing, put it aside for a while. Don’t torture yourself. Admit that you are not willing to pay the price it requires and feel good about that decision. You can always pursue it later. It is better to do this than attempt to do something you are not truly motivated to do. You’ll feel bad when you fail, you’ll beat yourself up, and you will still fail to accomplish what you set out to do. Leave it alone. If it’s important to you, you’ll discover your “why” and execute. If you don’t, that’s ok. Pursue another goal—a goal you really have a drive and the ability to complete. You’ll feel great and may be in a position to return to a previous “dream” and make it a reality.

I wish all of you the very best in achieving your dreams, whatever they may be.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

Tags

Goals, Mental, Physical, Social, Spiritual, Systems and rituals, Your "why"

“Infuse your life with action. Don’t wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen… yourself, right now, right down here on Earth.” – Bradley Whitford

I’m going to give you some “inside information” about how I tailor my life. From all of the readings I have done, I believe there are four areas of life: Physical, Mental, Spiritual, and Social. Going forward I’ll be discussing my efforts in each of these areas, along with my goals. Then you can keep me honest!

Before getting into that (below), I’d like to say that you will only get the things you want in your life by going after them in a thoughtful and systematic way. ACT! You won’t get anything if you sit on your duff and dream about it. You have to get up, get moving, and do something! Before you commence work in any area, however, really understand why YOU want to do it. Never pursue a goal that someone else is doing or someone wants you to do. You pursue the goals you want to but understand why you want to achieve it. The WHY is really important. The WHY will help you pay the price your goal requires.

Physical:

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

My last weigh-in was this morning: 225 lbs.

I have a scale that I use to calculate body fat. It says: 36%

I just finished the Kris Gethin 8-week Hardcore trainer yesterday and lost 20 lbs. I weighed 245 lbs when I started and probably upward of 45% body fat.

This week will be a maintenance week to recover a bit and then it’s off to the races next week with another program. This one will be another Kris Gethin workout called 4 weeks to shred. I wanted to change up the routine a bit and this workout will do nicely.

Until I hit my target, my workouts will be concentrating on either weight loss workout routines or transformation routines.

Wish me luck!

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 17 so far.

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 368! If you know anyone that would benefit from my blog, please send them my way!

I am also going to a comedy show with my Sister this weekend in Detroit and enjoy interacting with folks at both gyms I go to (Planet Fitness and Cutting Edge).

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

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Self-Discipline

Tags

Accountability, Achievement, Goals, Self-discipline, What is your "why"?

“The further you go in the spiritual life, the greater becomes the responsibility. And the greater the responsibilities become, the greater becomes the need for self-discipline.” —Harold Klemp The Language of Soul

When you examine your life, you find that most of your challenges and problems have arisen from a lack of self-discipline. Self-discipline is simply doing the things that need to be done, regardless of how tired or unmotivated you are. Self-discipline like many things in life evolves over time. As we evolve our expectations and goals also change.

These changes require more self-discipline than we needed previously. This process is almost like a spiral. Once we reach the very top of a spiral, our view of the world changes, we realize we can do more than we did before, and we commence pushing for the next plateau. I have always felt a shift within myself when this occurs. These shifts are like little internal nudges that push you on to do more with your life.

Over the years the gym has become my haven. I consider exercise and proper nutrition and supplementation more of a norm now than I did previously. When I’m in the gym I feel exhilarated, accomplished, and even a little special. I feel special because so many lack the discipline it takes to continuously push themselves to great heights of fitness and health.

Self-discipline is interesting because it tends to “bleed over” into other things. Those of you who have experienced this know what I’m talking about. Once you attain a certain level of self-discipline it tends to grow. You find it easier to do things you disliked in the past. You find yourself anxious to tackle the next challenge. You gain a little self-confidence in yourself because you realize that you can handle more than before because the self-discipline you have developed has demonstrated that what you need to do will be completed.

I think the key to all of this is understanding your “why”. We all do things that are good and bad for us. When you really analyze why you do what you do, you’ll see the “why” everywhere. It is easy to do things we want to accomplish when there is a big, fat “why” behind the activity. I interact with quite a few of my friends in this regard. One of these friends asked me to help him out with his fitness routine. The very first thing we discovered was his inability to stick to his routine. He was always “outthinking” himself, coming up with every excuse in the book as to why he couldn’t exercise today.

I think this is about anything we set as a goal or New Year’s resolution. We start out strong, but then realize that we just don’t have the discipline or drive to keep it going. I think this is because many are doing things or pursuing things because of what the “other guy or gal” is doing. Or perhaps they are doing something because someone outside is telling them to. Neither one of these solutions is effective.

You must set goals for yourself that really align with your “why”. What is it? Is exercise something you want in your life, for the rest of your life or are you just trying to cut some pounds only to gain them back again. Fitness is one of those things that is really an all or nothing venture. If you want to change your diet, your exercise regimen, your sleep schedule, etc., you must really want it. Your “why” must be stronger than your excuses.

This discipline follows you everywhere. If you want to learn how to do something new, you have to pay the price. You have to read the books, do the tutorials, interact with people who are already doing what you want to do and find out what they do. Self-discipline is about taking care of your responsibilities. If you want to live a long-term, quality life, you need to begin doing things that will help you continue to improve or at least sustain the health you have. Do you really want your body to degrade so much that you need to be helped out of a chair or walk around with an oxygen tank in tow?

Sadly, a lot of my relatives, who are all in their 70’s has succumbed to their age much faster than they should have. Their minds have slipped, their bodies are brittle, their eyesight and hearing are failing, and the flexibility of their youth is long gone. Today, there are folks who are at this age competing in bodybuilding competitions, marathons, even triathlons. That’s who I want to be when I’m 70. Do you?

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wednesday Wisdom – You Must Pay the Price

Tags

Accomplishment, Discipline, Goals, Paying the price, Self-delusion, Success

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.” – Jim Rohn

Dictionary.com defines discipline as an activity, exercise, or a regimen that develops or improves a skill. But I think it is so much more than this. Discipline is about doing what is necessary or needed, regardless of whether a person likes doing what is necessary or not. I think this definition is much more accurate.

Discipline is nothing more than the price that must be paid to attain something. Nothing in this world is free. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that believe they can “cheat” the system. Lie to a customer, lie to your wife or partner, lie to yourself. Of these three, the most insidious of these lies is oneself.

Lying to yourself will bring you a lot of pain and suffering. You will succeed at everything in your mind, but in reality, fail in everything. What satisfaction is there in achieving something that is easy to attain? Nothing. There is no victory when there is no challenge, no risk, and no possibility of failure. The victory in these circumstances is empty–meaningless.

When we embark on working toward a goal or establishing a new habit we have to make a decision. Do I want to pay that price? If you are comfortable with doing that, then go for it. If you are not willing to pay the price your goal or new habit requires, drop it and do something else. If you are not willing to pay the price you will NEVER attain the goal or establish the habit you are shooting for. There are no shortcuts to meaning.

I like using exercise as a metaphor to explain myself. Exercise is the one area you cannot cheat. The gym, the equipment, and the weights do not lie. You can either curl a 25lb dumbbell or you cannot. You can run on the treadmill at 10 miles an hour or you cannot. You can squat 200lbs or you cannot. The gym will not let you cheat, nor will the scale when you weigh yourself.

If you want to lose weight, it’s simple. Eat less of what you are currently eating and eat nutritious and dense foods that are NOT processed. I don’t care what label you find on that cereal box or dinner. I don’t care if the meal is labeled low-fat, low-carb, or organic. Processed food is processed food. It is horrible for you. It will put chemicals into your body you can’t even pronounce and labeling today is such that most companies aren’t even truthful about what they are putting in your meals. That is one price you must pay. Eat healthy food. In other words, food that is not in a box.

If you want to be healthy, drink water, eat unprocessed foods, take your vitamins and other supplements, get enough sleep, and make sure you align your diet with the appropriate protein, carbohydrate, and fat levels. Is it easy to measure out your food? No. But it’s another price you must pay on the road to health.

Do you drink? Do you do drugs? Do you smoke? Again, all this needs to go away. You won’t be healthy doing any of these things. Your body will take it and one day you’ll wake up with heart disease, cancer, or maybe even a stroke. You drop these things and your road to health and weight loss are yours.

You want to make gains in the gym, track what you do. If you do not document what you are doing you have no idea where you are and where to push to. It’s like traveling in a foreign land without a map. You will not gain as much as you would have had you documented what you did.

These are just some of the prices a healthy body and decent weight cost. Are you willing to pay this price? If so, bravo. If not, do something else and save your time.

This may be harsh, but it is the reality of the situation. If you want something, look at what other people have done to achieve it. Follow in their footsteps. They have shown you how to do it, how much it costs in coin, sweat, and tears. You have all the information you need. Then it’s up to you. Do you really want to pay that price? If so, it’s yours. If not, don’t lie to yourself. You won’t achieve the same results. Find something else to pursue.

Discipline is truly the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

Until next time…

Dave