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Daily Ramblings – Workout Routine – Week of March 16, 2020. – Updated

16 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Workout Routine

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Cardio training, Consistency, Discpline, Eat and Lift BIG, full body workout, Hard Work, healthy living, Planet Fitness, Sauna, Workout Routine

***Both of my gyms have closed. I’ll be moving all of my workouts into the home with my exercise bands.*** 

Here’s my routine for the week:

  • Monday – Cardio.
  • Tuesday – Full body.
  • Wednesday – Cardio.
  • Thursday – Full body.
  • Friday – Cardio.
  • Saturday – Full body.

I hope each of you has a great week. If you are in an area where there is a prevalence of cases of the coronavirus, take extra care when you are out and about. If your gym has been closed, you can find some great routines on YouTube and other sources. Do whatever you can to get your exercise in. It’s that important!

Well, here’s to a great week, folks! Happy Monday!

See you at the finish line!

Dave

 

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Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Empowered vs. Disempowered People

17 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Wisdom Wednesday

≈ 1 Comment

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change, Disempowerment, Effort, Empowerment, habits, Hard Work, Initiative, Persistence

“Consider how hard it is to change yourself and you’ll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others.” – Jacob M. Braude

I have had to learn this lesson many times throughout my life. I run across a friend. I see them struggling with a challenge, neglecting their health, or giving up on life, and I want to jump right in and try to show them the error of their ways. Then, after a few weeks or months, realize that they are not going to do anything about their situation. Have you ever run into this?

You see, people are who they are. Deep down, all of us know our weaknesses. Some people ignore them. Others have tried to make a change and realized that they are too weak to change ingrained habits. They have settled with these weaknesses and literally given up. The pain of change is too great a price for these folks to pay.

If you have a friend or colleague that has glaring weaknesses that are ruining their life, you have two choices: Remain their friend or colleague and accept these weaknesses in their character or cut them loose. They will not change because you want them to. They will not change because it is in their best interest. They will only change when the weakness they possess becomes so painful that they must change themselves.

Regardless of your opinion, people are happy with the lives they have chosen to live. You may think to yourself, “God, how do you live like that?”, but this isn’t your life—it’s theirs. Happiness is defined by each of us. What makes you happy will not necessarily make your friend or colleague happy.

You also have to examine whether the person you are dealing with is empowered or disempowered. Empowered people believe they are in charge of themselves. Disempowered people believe they are ruled by outside influences and circumstances. The empowered person is the champion who conquers adversity and overcomes their weaknesses. The disempowered person is the victim who gives up and lives with their weaknesses. See the difference?

If you are empowered, you will have very little in common with people who are disempowered. In fact, disempowered people will frustrate you to no end. Empowered people learn, apply the learning to their current circumstances, and alter themselves to improve their performance, their career, and their productivity. Disempowered people have given up; they are convinced that outside circumstances and other people our “out to get them” and blame their failure on these outside elements. Disempowered people have given up on taking action or trying to change—they have made quitting a habit. Empowered people keep trying out new ideas, new options, and look for solutions—they persist, because they know they will win if they keep trying.

Change is hard. It is hard because the habits we have built for ourselves are hard-wired in our brains. To make changes, you have to learn how to unravel these knots in your brain and create new wiring; wiring that will serve you better now and in the future. To do that, you need to know how to exploit the same processes in your brain that created the bad habits in the first place. You also need to be self-aware enough to identify which of these hard-wired scripts no longer serve you.

One of the best books I’ve ever read on making changes is Mini-Habits by Steven Guise. The Mini-Habit is simply a habit that is so small that you would have to be on your deathbed in order to fail to do it. Steven’s first mini-habit was a single push-up every day. After he had managed to master this habit, he added writing 50 words a day and reading 2 pages a day in a book he chose to tackle. The genius behind the mini-habit is that it is so small, you can easily accomplish this habit without too much thought, stress, or willpower. In fact, this is the reason Stephen is such an advocate of the process. He researched willpower and motivation and found that both aspects of our makeup are too weak to overcome the hard-wired habits in our brain, especially when you consider all the other stressors in your life and how they eat away at your willpower and motivation to begin with. There is one warning he provides, however. Mini-habits, even though they are small, must be meaningful. One push up a day is meaningful towards improving your health. Writing 50 words a day is meaningful toward writing an essay, a blog post, or even a book. Reading 2 pages a day will help you finish that book in a shorter period than not reading a book at all or reading a bunch of pages one day and then failing to touch that book for a month before reading it again.

The real benefit of mini-habits is the ability to get started on something. Once you get started on a mini-habit, you will build momentum. Once you build momentum, you will be motivated to do more than one push-up, write 50 words, or read 2 pages. You’ll likely do more exercises, write 100 words or more, and read an entire chapter of your book. This momentum will build and build, particularly if you add rewards at critical milestones.

I’ve used mini-habits since I read his book a few years ago. In fact, I’m such a huge fan, I re-read this book each year in December as I build out my goals for the next year. If you want to make changes in your life and you just haven’t been able to find anything that will help you build a new habit or make these changes, give Mini-Habits a try, you won’t be disappointed. Here’s a link to Mini-Habits on Amazon: Mini-Habits by Stephen Guise (I am not an affiliate for Mr. Guise, his book, or Amazon).

To conclude this article, I’d like to remind you that changing yourself is hard, but not impossible. You have to be persistent, utilize a strategy that will work, and monitor your progress. Don’t worry about your spouse, your friends, or your relatives. If they want to make a change, they will. If they don’t, no level of complaining, arguing, or harassment will make them change; in fact, they may stick to their guns even harder when pushed. Believe me, I’ve been down this road with a few of my friends and you won’t win. People will only make a change in their lives when they are ready. They will not change because you want them to. Take care of yourself and make the changes you decide to make in your life. It will be difficult, but you’ll get there. I wish you well on your journey.

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Ambition and Hard Work

11 Monday Feb 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

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Achievement, Ambition, Dedication, Discipline, Hard Work, Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”―Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have you ever wondered about what you wanted to do? I remember when I was in high school and wondered about this very question. How did people end up where they are? Why did people choose a job of doing his or that? This question haunted me for a few years until I came across the idea of enlisting in the Army.

When I enlisted back in the 80s, my first few years weren’t that great. After a short while I began to doubt my decision. Then I had a revelation. I asked myself, “Why not put all you have into this?” From the moment I decided to put everything I had into being the best soldier I could be, my military career took off.

I knew in high school that I wanted to do something I liked. I learned in the Army that what I liked is what I chose to dedicate myself to. In other words, everything I thought had an order to it, was backward. Obviously, you need some driver to get you to act. For me, the Army represented a full-time job, benefits, and the ability to support myself.

After I had decided to join the Army, it was now up to me to embrace that decision. I could have just messed around during my first enlistment, doing the bare minimum, but my thinking at the time drove me to do something worthwhile. Why waste my time in the Army, when I was going to be there anyway? So that’s what I did.

Each of us comes to a crossroads in our lives. We know we want a certain end-state. We then began scanning our environment to find the means of alleviating the dissonance between where we are and where we want to be. Our ambitions drive this part of us.

Once we have decided what we want or where we want our lives to be, we must work. We take advantage of our opportunities and do the work. Doing the work, we slowly begin creating the future we have envisioned.

When do we win? We win when we have worked hard enough, chiseled away enough of our current situation to achieve the life we want. Imagine the life you want and begin scanning your environment for ways to get yourself to that point. What do you have to do? What actions do you need to take? Once you understand what your life will “look” like it is nothing more than working your butt off to get there.

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Thinking Thursday

17 Wednesday Oct 2018

Posted by Dave Gardner in Thinking Thursdays

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Changing, Colin Powell, Exercising, Hard Work, Improving, Learning, Success, Writing

“Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.” – Colin Powell

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/colin_powell_386437?src=t_learning

I really enjoy learning new things and doing what I can to improve all areas of my life. I have learned over time that it’s the little things that lead to big things. A consistent effort in small chunks delivers huge results.

I run across people all the time that struggle with improving themselves. Once I begin asking questions it is easy to see why they struggle. They are not vested in change. They are unhappy with their personal circumstances but fail to act. Why? They want reality to change for them.

We cannot affect change outside of us. We must change ourselves to achieve different results. If you want to lose weight, eat right and eat less. If you want to get in shape and feel better, get consistent sleep, eat right, and exercise (cardio and strength). If you want to do something with yourself, take the time to brainstorm, formulate a plan, organize your time around that plan, and execute. This is the same thing you will read about in book after book after book.

If you want your life to change, you must change—that’s it. Nothing outside of you will bend or adjust to you. The outside reality is what it is. Accept it and live with it or change yourself and alter your circumstances.

Below are the things I’m doing to improve and change. I hope all of you have a great week!!

Exercise Program:

Jim Stoppani’s Shortcut to Size – (www.bodybuilding.com) – I’ve done this workout before and returning to it because it is just a good all-around weight routine. It’s 8 weeks in length, a 4-day split with 3 rest/cardio days mixed in.

Books:

Armor, Steakley – Recommended by an Army Buddy. A terrific book so far.

Ethics, Aristotle – Almost done with this one.

The Shariyat Ki Sugmad, Paul Twitchell – This is my bible. I finished it and will re-read again. This book is a permanent fixture on my reading list.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe – Still plugging away on this one. I’ve put it on hold, not because it is a bad book but due to the nonfiction reading, I’m taking on (I love nonfiction books more than fiction).

The Science of Success: What Researchers Know That You Should Know, Paula Caproni. I just started this book in conjunction with the author’s course on Coursera – This is a nice read. I don’t know if I’d buy the book by itself. It is the companion book for the Science of Success course below and it’s well worth it if you take the course in conjunction with it. It’ll run you around $5 for the Kindle version.

Classes:

Web Development Path – Codecademy – Currently learning HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Mindfulness Course – Coursera

Documentaries:

Inside the Free Masons – Netflix – Good documentary, but you’ll want to be interested in secret societies and such. It’s a very interesting documentary.

Movies:

Venom (Another Marvel Movie) – I saw this on my birthday. If you’re a Marvel Comics fan, this is a must see. Lots of action and terrific effects.

Fun:

Ozark – Netflix (in the cue) – Re-watching Season 1 to remind me what’s going on. I’ll kick into Season 2 when I’m back on track with this one.

Madam Secretary (Netflix) – I’m enjoying this one. I’m on the third season (there are four). Each season is about 20+ shows. If you like political dramas, you’ll like this one. Great cast and great writing.

Interesting Apps:

Codecademy – I’m currently pursuing a bucket list item and learning to code. I’m starting with HTML and having a great time so far. The first coding project is creating a blog from scratch—how ironic, right? The interface is awesome! You’ll need to be prepared to pay the $19.99/month to truly enjoy this one. The $19.99 version allows you to work on projects, take quizzes, and offers a whole bunch of bonus material not available in the free version.

Weight Watchers – I’m still on a quest to lose weight. After reading some research in an e-book published by Scientific American, this was one of the diet services that they believed were effective (mentioned in more than one of the enclosed articles). It runs $19.99/month and you are obligated to 3 months minimum (there is a penalty for quitting early). You can look up food, get your daily points (they use points for the types of food you eat), and have access to recipes, and all kinds of bonus content.

I truly wish the very best to all of your pursuits to improve and change for the better. Have a great, rest of the week!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote – Thomas Jefferson – Luck

08 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by Dave Gardner in Quotes

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Divine Spirit, Hard Work, Luck, Thomas Jefferson, Work Ethic

Today’s Quote:

“The find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson

Work ethic is one of the golden keys to success. It is the action we take to accomplish something. When we work hard at what we are doing we will accomplish something.

How do we motivate ourselves to do the work of the day? We must be motivated to do it. We must have that internal drive to do the work of the day and just get things done.

Now, Jefferson was not just a hard worker. He was well-read and intelligent. He was a thinker and a person that kept a journal to record his thoughts and learning.

I think the key to achieving things is to pursue things that interest us. When we work in a job field we love the “work” really isn’t. It is a joy to go to work and get things done for our respective companies. If I am pursuing a goal that I am sincerely interested in pursuing, the work I do to achieve that goal is easy. The payoff is greater than the price of time and effort I have to pay. As the quote says, the more effort I put toward a goal, the more luck I’ll have in achieving it.

Sometimes we have to do some work that we really don’t want to do. This is the nature of work. There will always be one or more drawbacks of working within a particular industry. There will also be certain tasks we have to perform as we pursue a goal that just isn’t that exciting. There is a little drudgery in anything that will make us better.

Part of the drudgery is making mistakes. They are a part of the learning process. Making mistakes causes us to change the route we are taking toward a goal. Making mistakes causes us to look for answers to our problems. It causes us to investigate things. Once we think we have the answer we try that out. If it works, we continue on. If not, we go back to the proverbial drawing board and start anew. This process is endless and unavoidable.

So, work hard. Push yourself to do the very best you can every day. The harder you work, the more you learn, and the closer you get to achieving the goals you have set for yourself. Once you’ve done everything you can on your end, Divine spirit steps in. This is the “luck” I see in my everyday life.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

23 Sunday Jul 2017

Posted by Dave Gardner in Quotes

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Hard Work, Luck, Thomas Jefferson

Today’s Quote

“I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have.” – Thomas Jefferson

This is true in so many aspects. The most important aspect is the ability to out work bad luck. When you are working in any business where sales are involved, there are so many variables that you cannot control. If you fail to work hard enough, the variables will overwhelm your ability to meet quotas and achieve your sales goals. Conversely, if you work extremely hard the external variables become irrelevant because you have discovered that the more people you interact with, the more chances you have of making a sale. Subsequently, in sales anyway, if you work hard enough, you will out work bad luck.

Hope all of you had a great Sunday!!

See you tomorrow…

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