This is the tipping point!

So it's now half way through the first month of the year. The first of the year or perhaps earlier than that you sat down and wrote out some goals. Maybe you spent a few hours actually attaching dates and deadlines to these big goals. Maybe you broke them down further to "bite-sized" tasks and milestones so you would know you were on track. Now we arrive at this unofficial "tipping point". This is supposedly when the gyms start to thin out, and many people give up on their new years resolutions. Where are you with your goals? Still on track? Maybe you were good for first ten days, but fell off the waggon so to speak. I had some business goals that needed constant effort day by day and week to week, but I am no where near the milestones I set. Now I'm at a place where I think a lot of people find themselves at this time of year; not having the best start to the race and now focusing on the what seems like impossible distance to cover to catch up and win the race. How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time! This experience has taught me that you can plan all you want and spend hours doing it, but I think the most important things to keep in mind on your way to reaching your goals is to:
1. Always know where/what you want,clearly define your goal.
2. Have a FLEXIBLE Plan.
3. PLAN on having to recommit.
4. Do it. MASSIVE ACTION!

We still have 16 more days to the end of January, I am recommitting to my goal. Pass the hot sauce I'm eating that elephant!

Fear in Life's Equation

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

How do these guys process this? I just can't help thinking that ANYTHING is possible when you change the role fear plays in the equation. These guys have used fear not a mental block to keep them from jumping off these huge cliffs, but as a tool to keep them sharp and alert and keep themselves alive. These are human beings flying at will around mountains and roadways. There are not part a wushu movie, this is a fraction of what WE are capable of. Yes EVERYBODY has this in them. That's the cool thing about being human, for the most part everybody starts with the same parts and if you don't we have this incredible way of adapting to compensate. It's just the role we let fear play in our lives that seperates us from these guys. It's what seperates the great from the good. What role is fear playing in your life? Is it keeping you from jumping off the cliff? Is it keeping you from spreading your wings?

Economic Crisis?

So I had intended for this Idea to be a video post. Yes, you heard right I am going to make the leap into to Video Blogging soon. I just wanted to get this up because I haven't posted in awhile, trust me the first video post coming Monday will be worth the wait.

Anyway, it seems like every where you turn you see some kind of headline about a recession or the economy tanking. Magazines,TV, and radio are having a field day with this. It got me really thinking if I should start to freak out or not. Seriously the market tanks 4oo points, so maybe I should start putting my money in my freezer. So I was out and about yesterday running errands had to go to the post office and then thought maybe I should stop by the store pick up a couple of things. It kind of made me mad, because I had to park all the way out, it was packed for some reason. Then after that I went and got a bite to eat at Mcdonalds and again had to wait in line at the drive thru. Then I filled up my tank and it was hard to find an open pump. Finally I found myself at Best Buy and there were other people there spending money on video games and music. My point being that though out my day of running around I fought lines and traffic because there were OTHER people out SPENDING money just like they always have, and not just the bare necessities either. I think in the day where the headlines are screaming doom and gloom it's to guarantee the news channel viewers so they can protect their advertising dollars. It's my opinion that everybody can start to freak out when you go to the store and you're the only one there. It's when the consumer stops consuming, that's when we are in trouble.

A Slight Change...

After looking back upon my post on this blog, it seems to me that this blog has taken a turn toward very serious and intense. That would be cool if I were serious and intense all the time, but I'm not nor is my life or perhaps my outlook on life. So there will be a slight change in the scope and tone of this blog. As well as perhaps a name change or at the very least the graphic will change. I look forward to the future of this blog not only as a resource for the community that will eventually read it but as a place for a few laughs and good converstation.

10 Questions for YOU...

I have some questions for you, so grab some paper and a pen and follow along with me.

1)What are the top three dreams and/or goals that you have way up on the top shelf of your consciousness that are sitting there gathering dust?
2)Why have you yet to realize those dreams and/or goals?
3)When is the last time you really felt like you were WINNING at this game called LIFE?
4)Are you passionate about what you do? Would you do it for free?
5)If you aren't passionate about what you do, why would you spend the majority of your life doing it?
6)What is it that makes your heart beat fast?
7)What are you passionate about?
8)How could you bring value(product or service) to the marketplace(potential customers) with this idea that your passionate about?
9)Have made the decision to work your passion?
10) If you know that what your currently doing is not moving you closer to your goals and dreams and that you could bring value(product or service) to the marketplace(potential customers) doing what your passionate about and by doing this it would transform your life, enrich your relationships with family and friends, and help you realize your most lofty of goals and dreams, why on earth are you still sitting there?!?(I know that was a long question but that's how I roll.LOL)

Quick go now and act upon your passion, it will bring you riches that far out weigh fortune and fame.

We all get the same amount of time

I was reading a magazine article the other day and it said that we all get 168 hours every week. I don't know why that sounds so amazing to me. It's just in the business that I am in I hear alot of "oh, we are so busy!" or "I am always at work!". These are lies that people tell themselves, me being no different. I have wasted so much time, doing stupid stuff. It's even more painful I think when you know that your wasting time and you still spend an hour picking the color scheme on your outlook program(that's ironic!). So I was on a cross-country flight and DID have the time to kill, so I spent it adding up all the hours that up the average Americans 168 hour week. Here's what I came up with:

Sleep-56(8hrs per night- like anyone ever gets that!)
Work-60(According to the US Census in 2003 the Avg Commute was 24.3minutes)
Eating-17.5(1/2hr for breakfast,1hr for lunch and dinner)
TV- 30(Yeah that's right, I just averaged it out. For the exact numbers go Here.)

If I stop right there that leave John Q. Public with 4.5 hours left in a week. I know this isn't everybody out there and there's a lot of activities that I left out but this is the average. Can you image what the average person could do if they cut 5 hours a week in TV time? That's 6.5, 40 hour work weeks. What could you do with that time? How different would your life be if you focused that time and energy on improving your self? How better would your family life be if you used that time to make memories with your family?

There are so many theories on what it takes to really win in life. Is it Quality or Quantity? In your work life, home life, or spiritual life I think Quantity brings Quality. There have been some great moments that I have had with my oldest daughter, Kayla, moments that have afforded me the opportunity to shape her very character and look into her soul and see how she ticks and I would never have had them if I hadn't invested the time in just being with her. How do you get good at your job or business? You have to train and put the time in, not only to learn the technical aspect of what you do, but if you do something long enough you get that quality insight and understanding that only someone that has put time in could know. I can't tell you how cool it is to know my wife so well and so see how she has grown and adapted to life. Don't waste anymore time. The people out there that have the wealth and live the lives that you dream about all get the same 168 hours every week. The only difference is that they used them just a little different. I promise you that if you use your time differently that you and your life will definitely not be Average.

Forgive and move on

Last year around this time I was training pretty hard for the Chicago marathon. It was my first marathon and besides some cross country in high school and a couple 5K's locally it was my first taste of competitive running. I signed up with a charity organization and raised about $2500 for pediatric cancer, held a charity luncheon and felt really good about things. I was still nervous but excited. Leading into the race it would almost bring me to tears visualizing the last 200 yards to the finish line with spectators cheering me on to a fitting end of months of training. Race day came and I started the race. I can't tell you how fun the first 10 miles were. You could actually feel the energy in the air. Everybody was having a great time. We got to the first water stop and there wasn't any water. I thought to myself, no big deal I'll just catch the next one. The next water stop didn't have any water either. I quickly realized that with the temperature rising and no water for the first three miles and no guarantees that the future water stops will be any different than the first two, I did what any resourceful guy would do-I stopped at Burger King. No I didn't get the quad stacker although that did sound pretty good. If you had told me prior to this day that I would run in the middle of the street downtown Chicago with a super sized BK cup full of water, I would had called you crazy. I remember the six mile mark was right around a park that had a fountain and runners were getting water from it. That's when I knew the water situation was problem. Mile fifteen was when I started cramping up and had to start walking every so often. It was so hot and the volunteers at the water stations couldn't keep up with the demand. That's when I noticed alot of runners on the side of the road being attended to by medic's. I think it was after mile eighteen when I noticed that I hadn't seen a mile maker for awhile or even a kilometer marker. It was my first marathon in a city that I only go to for a baseball game or shopping. I didn't know the course very well. Right about then I heard some other runners saying the race had been canceled. I didn't believe them, I thought they we just joking. Then we ran past a police officer on a horse and said the race had been canceled and that they we re-routing us via a short cut back to the start/finish area. We were walking at this point. I was so pissed off. When you run a marathon it's not the first half that matters because you've trained and you are used to running 10 to 15 miles at a time. It's the last half that is really the race. The last 6 to 8 miles is where you see if you have what it takes to run through the pain. To see if you have what it takes to control you mind and body to not quit and to take you to the finish line. I was robbed of this chance. I like to think that I had what it takes but until I run another marathon I won't know for sure. I was so disappointed and hurt that I was robbed of this opportunity. I now realize because I was holding this grudge after we got home I recovered and started to run for about a week or two, but I just didn't have the drive that I had before. I even made plans to train and run another marathon, thinking I just needed a goal, but the time came and went to start training. I made excuse after excuse. Now I am back where I started. All the benefits of the training for Chicago last year are gone. All the confidence that I had from pushing myself in training and realizing a goal are gone. In his book "Wild at Heart" John Eldredge says this about forgiveness. "Forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling, but an act of will". In order for me to move on I need to decide to. Author Neil Anderson said this about emotional wounds we suffer at the hands of other people, but I think it is fitting in any experience that hurts us, " We acknowledge that it hurt, that it mattered, and we choose to extend forgiveness". I have made that choice. I have also made a choice to move on and try again. I don't know the details yet but I need to know if I got what it takes to finish the race. I always thought that when you forgave someone or a painful experience, that you released them or it, but in the end you end up releasing yourself. Make the decision, it will move you towards your goals.