Like a Bigfoot

Motivation, Mindset, Positivity, Endurance, Adventure, Perseverance, and Possibility

Month: February 2016 (page 1 of 2)

Goal Setting

Show up.  Be consistent.  Be persistent.  Get shit done.

I keep talking about goal setting, hard work, the obstacle being the way, and the PROCESS of achievement.

But I feel as if, through my writing, I haven’t fully connected  to my own goals.  My bad.  I will get better I promise.  (Part of the beauty of being consistent- You slowly but surely get better!)

So here are my current goals:

  1. Write every single day (whether this is a paragraph or thousands of words).  The plan is to write, write, write.  And SHARE MY WRITING (the scary part….my resistance).
  2.  Gratitude Journal– Jot down three things I’m grateful as soon as I wake up.  AND extend this idea into family dinners.  Ask wife and daughter “What are we grateful for tonight?”
  3. At least 15 Minutes of Yoga nightly- When I’m in a good yoga routine I feel like Superman!  It calms me down, helps my muscles recover and creates even more strength.  I think every single person in the world should practice at least 15 minutes of daily yoga.  I did awesome at this for about a year but have recently fallen off the wagon.  Time to get back on!

These goals will challenge me.  They will take HARD WORK to accomplish.  There will be mornings when I don’t feel like writing (like right now) and there will be nights when I just want to skip yoga and go straight to bed (probably tonight).

Trust the process.  Understand that the more you do something, the more likely that something will become a habit.  You may not see improvement right away, but the act of DOING SOMETHING eventually transforms into the results you wanted to see in the first place.

Don’t have a goal?  Forming goals comes down to this simple statement:

  • What good habits do you want to form?  What bad habits do you want to break?

Figure out the answer to those questions and you got yourself the beginning of a goal.

Then, you have to figure out how to make the goal specific:

  • Instead of “lose weight” say “lose 10 pounds in the next two months.”
  • Instead of “write more” say “write every single morning at 5:30 am.”
  • Instead of “learn guitar” say “learn how to play ___________ song in the next two weeks.”

You get the point.  The more clarity you can apply the easier it will be.

And lastly, WRITE THE GOAL DOWN.  Post it around your house.  Literally see the goal every single day.

My friend writes his goals on his bathroom mirror in dry erase marker.  He sees his goal every morning when he brushes his teeth.  It’s a clear reminder of what he is meant to accomplish.

That’s all for today folks.  See I didn’t want to write initially and ended up writing a good little post!  Just the act of sitting down and being consistent ended with me accomplishing my daily goal. Yay!

Thanks for reading!  Go get ’em!

You are Malleable

You create this version of yourself.

If you don’t like the “version” you have become or if there are aspects that you think need improvement, then there is good news: You are malleable.

You can change the version of yourself.

Create some better habits, strive towards a new and better you.  You know what’s right or wrong for you; you know whats healthy and what’s unhealthy.

But you have to do it.  No one is going to do it for you.

No Pain Free Way to Achieve Your Goals

There is no pain-free way to achieve your goals.

So stop looking for one.  You aren’t going to find it.  Don’t let pain be an excuse.  Let pain be a motivating factor.

My goal is to write every single day.  This could be a paragraph or this could be 2000 words.  I want to develop a routine that promotes writing and to send my writing out to the world.

The last part is particularly difficult for me.

It is painful to hit publish every time I write a blog.

Sharing my thoughts has always been a road block.

The resistance starts.  “You’re not special.  Why would anyone care what you have to say?”

LIMITING BELIEFS: Beliefs that are holding you back.  The resistance to your goals.

Accomplishing goals is a painful process because it is uncomfortable to break free from limiting beliefs.

“You won’t ever be skinny so why even try?”  “You aren’t smart enough to get a master’s degree.”  “You aren’t musically talented enough to play guitar.”  “You’re not good at small talk so you shouldn’t go to the party.”

You have become so used to these beliefs that changing them can seem excruciating.

Luckily, these are ONLY beliefs.  These are not reality.  You can choose to believe them or you can choose to defeat them.  You get to choose what you believe.

Set a routine.  Be consistent towards accomplishing your goal.  Fight the resistance when it rears its ugly head.

Eventually those limiting beliefs start to fade.

And it gets easier and easier to hit…publish.

Thanks for reading.  Happy Friday!  I wish everyone the best of luck and remember to enjoy the journey of accomplishing your goals not just the goal itself.

Thursday Gratitude

On Tuesday I posted about my New Years Resolution to write in a gratitude journal every morning.

Today I thought I would share what I wrote:

  1. This morning I’m grateful for the upcoming summer and all the adventures I am planning.  It will be a last hurrah in Virginia and I am planning to make the most of it.  I’m going to spend a lot of time exploring the Appalachian Mountains with family and friends.

Below is a link to a documentary on the Appalachian Trail- The Long Start to the Journey.  The full movie does a pretty good job showing what a thru-hike would be like (and is WAY better than A Walk in The Woods- the movie not the book)

2.  I’m grateful for all the rain we’ve been getting because it has allowed me to practice running in the mud.

3.  I’m grateful that the sun is staying out longer at night and that the temperature is getting warmer. This means more walks and more playgrounds with my daughter (she’s two now and two year olds NEED the time to get out of the house!)

And there you have it!  Five minutes later and paid respect to the fact that life isn’t so bad.  It’s that easy!

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!

The Cycle of Failure

Change your mind about failure.

Failure is a good thing.  It means you are trying something.  It means you are in the arena fighting rather than spectating.

Failure is the only way to grow something.  Its a cycle; a process.  Try something, fail at it, determine why it failed, try again.

You WILL fail at anything worth learning.  In fact it’s the way; the path to learning something new.

I always tell my students that “Failure is just a First Attempt ILearning.”  That’s all it is.  It’s not bad or something you should feel shame about.  It’s simply a tool to help you accomplish whatever it is that you want to accomplish.

Failure is uncomfortable only because we’ve been raised in an environment that does not promote it.

But you know what else is uncomfortable?  Growth.  Any growth.  Growth is a shaky, awkward, painful process.  Growth is difficult.  Growth takes repeating the failure cycle over and over and over again.  Growth is the opposite of “hacking”, it knows no shortcuts.  It is hard work.  

This is why so many people shy away from growth as they age.  They get comfortable in their habits.  They repeatedly take the EASY PATH.  They stop growing because they stop failing.  They stop failing because they stopped creating opportunities to fail.  They stop creating opportunities to fail because they become complacent.

Do NOT get hung up on the path of complacency; this path of stagnation.  It is a path that will ultimately lead to an unfulfilled life.

Take risks, try something new, purposefully fail.  Accept that personal growth is going to be difficult.  Accept that failures will happen; that obstacles are expected and embraced (another reminder hanging in the front of my classroom- from The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday)

Accept that the cycle of failure is the path towards personal growth.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this.  This blog is an attempt at something new for me.  An attempt to overcome certain fears I have about sharing my ideas publicly.  I appreciate each and every one of you!

Gratitude Journal

Wake up, meditate for a few minutes, and then write down three things that you are grateful for to start the day.

It literally takes 3 minutes.  It’s easy to do.  Sometimes I do it in the time it takes to cook my oatmeal.

I started keeping a gratitude journal on January 1st and it has become a habit.

The purpose is to fine tune the brain muscle that looks for ALL the good things around you.  Every single day you are surrounded by positive beautiful interactions, moments that will bring a smile to your face. These moments are easy to miss, but if you are capable of being perceptive to them your life will improve.

The gratitude journal acts as a simple reminder that I am surrounded by wonderful beautiful people, places, blessings, moments EVERY SINGLE DAY.  If I tune into that STORY than I become a more positive happy person.

Don’t fall down the path of constantly tuning into the “life is hard” STORY.  Life is not as stressful and “horrible” as your narrative can make it sometime seem.

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Fuel

Be aware of the fuel you are putting in your body.

Are you getting enough?  Too much?  The right kind?

Is it the right fuel to help you accomplish your athletic goals?

One thing that has always bugged me was the idea of “you run a bunch so you can eat whatever you want!”

That is completely wrong.  Trust me I’ve tried.  When I run a bunch AND eat like crap my body hurts…badly.  When I run a bunch and eat a clean and healthy diet my body feels damn good!

Right now I’m in the down time between big race #1 and training for big race #2 (the serious training starts in March) and this weekend I let myself gorge on birthday cake, oatmeal cream pies, chips and dip, french fries, and pizza.  At the time it was wonderful and I’m a big proponent in not being unbelievably strict ALL THE TIME (helps keep the sanity).

But, as a result I feel really sluggish this morning.  If I continued down the route of “eat whatever the hell you want” then workouts will be more challenging, I will wake up much more sore, and I will probably get sick a lot easier.

So while I’m training hard it’s actually EASIER to eat healthy because I know my body needs FUEL.

What I Learned During the Holiday Lake 50k

A week out from the Holiday Lake 50k and I’m already looking towards my next big event- the Grayson Highlands 50k.  You can read my race report here.

Today I wanted to do a post-mortem on Holiday Lake and breakdown what went right, what went wrong, and how I can improve next time.

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Podcast and Blog Recommendation

“You are more powerful than you think.  Act accordingly.”‘

-Seth Godin

If you are looking for an amazing conversation to listen to than check out Seth Godin on the Tim Ferris Podcast.  He drops some knowledge bombs that will change your perspective on how you are living.

You can also check out his beyond fantastic blog where he shares his daily insights.  The man is a bonafide genius and has become one of my new role models.  He is a factory for inspirational gems.

“Make mistakes, own them, fix them, share the learning.”

-Seth Godin

 

When to Reevaluate Goals

What are your goals?

This is a question to think about often.  It is beneficial to make a list of your goals.  What are you trying to accomplish in the days, weeks, or months to come?

Some goals will be major and other goals will be so teeny tiny you ask yourself “should I even list these?”

List them.

Write down all of your goals regardless to size.

Look at them.

Ask yourself “are these leading to my ultimate goal, HAPPINESS.”

If they aren’t leading to happiness, you need to reevaluate.  If they are, keep striving.

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