Hi folks. I absolutely promise you that I will be writing more and more about fitness and nutrition. However, there are things that are way more important in the long run, and they totally relate to fitness and health programs, because they have everything to do with COMMITTING to things like exercise and eating plans.
I had sort of an epiphany today. May not seem like much to most people, but it's big for me right now, at this time in my life. I suddenly realized I am a "crammer." In school, I "crammed" for tests. In my piano lessons I "crammed" three hours of practice into the day before my lesson. If I missed a workout I've been known to do a double or triple workout, or do something for four hours. If I eat poorly, I might fast the next day. If I did poorly in a semester of school, I'd sign up for 21 hours the next semester. Does any of this sound like a good idea to you?? Right!! It does not work!!!! I have been told the correct thing to do for 30 years, but never really followed it. I'm not 100% sure I'll follow it now, because it only just struck me as INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!!! My poor piano teacher, God rest his poor depressed soul, told me that even FIVE minutes a day would be better than five HOURS the day before my lesson. How can that possibly be??? You have to make up for all that lost time, don't you???
Well, the answer, much to my very sad realization, is NO! You cannot make up all of that lost daily consistent time by cramming it all into one big session. You might "score" in the short term with a good grade on a test or one good performance at a piano recital, but in the long run, you would be WAY better off by taking what I now call the "Slow-Fast" approach. Seemingly insignificant, consistent, daily actions are way way way more valuable to improving your life than short, massive bursts of effort. I implore you to look at the previous posts here and take them to heart. You have to set goals, and you have to make daily choices that support those goals. And most importantly, you simply MUST take consistent daily actions towards those goals, whether they be health and fitness related, financial planning, career, personal development, educational, etc.
Please, if you are a "crammer" like I have been, I beg you to work on taking a different approach to life. Instead of trying to "make up for lost time" by cramming in crazy, unrealistic activity plans, simply start where you are right now, set very small DAILY consistent and achieveable goals and plug away. In the long run, like the tortoise and the hare, you will win the day. Today is a day of epiphany for me!! I'll keep you posted about how well I use this new awareness!!!
Peace and Joy and Slllllooooooowwwwwww consistent blessings to you my friends!! Jim
Friday, September 3, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Choices
Good day friends! Hope everyone has had a spectacular day! Yesterday I talked a little bit about setting goals. Why is that important to physical fitness, health, and lifestyle creation? Well, basically, in many ways, a person without goals is like a boat without a rudder or paddle. Without those key elements, the vessel goes where the wind or current takes it. Same with people. Now, some people have just been so perfectly trained by their perfect parents that they breeze through life on autopilot, almost unconsciously making perfect decisions, leading to a perfect life. However, for the other 99.9% of folks, some direction is useful. Hence, setting goals as the basis for our fitness plan, our health plan, our financial plan, etc.
Today I want to say something about choices. This piggy-backs very well with goal-setting, because it has to do with the day to day implementation of our goals. For instance, say it's the first day of the month. You just set some great goals last night and today you're ready and raring to go. Today you're going to eat healthy and exercise. You head out to the kitchen and look in the fridge for something "good" to eat. Your plan calls for some nice egg whites, perhaps, but there on the top shelf you see some leftover cheesecake from your restaurant visit Saturday night. Decision time!!! Then around lunchtime, you're on the road and short on time. Maybe you've got some carrots in a baggie, but you're really hungry and there's a Chick-Fil-A right there, and come on, it's only one chicken sandwich, and you'll get the grilled one. But the sandwich is one price, and the "meal" is only a buck more. Wouldn't that be more financially responsible?? So there you are chowing down cole slaw and a soft drink, after that fine cheesecake breakfast, and BAM, the day is "ruined"!!
Okay, that's overly dramatic, but the point is that no matter how lofty our goals are and how grand our intentions may be, they are given wings only by the actions we take in pursuing them. And this is the KEY POINT - every single action is the result of a relatively simple choice made immediately before it: "do this or do not do this." To a large degree, humans cruise through their days on autopilot, with much of our activity driven by past programming, muscle memory - in short, habits. If we want to achieve those great goals that we set for our health, fitness, finances, etc., we have to make the choices that take us in the right direction. It's easy to do and easy to NOT do!! I encourage you to examine the choices you are making each day, to determine whether they are taking you towards your desires.
Here's a great resource that you need to get your hands on, read, re-read, and utilize: "The Slight Edge", by Jeff Olson. In this great little book, the author goes into detail about the subject I've touched upon here today. Pick up a copy and get your life going in the direction of YOUR CHOOSING today! Peace to you, friendly reader!! Jim
Today I want to say something about choices. This piggy-backs very well with goal-setting, because it has to do with the day to day implementation of our goals. For instance, say it's the first day of the month. You just set some great goals last night and today you're ready and raring to go. Today you're going to eat healthy and exercise. You head out to the kitchen and look in the fridge for something "good" to eat. Your plan calls for some nice egg whites, perhaps, but there on the top shelf you see some leftover cheesecake from your restaurant visit Saturday night. Decision time!!! Then around lunchtime, you're on the road and short on time. Maybe you've got some carrots in a baggie, but you're really hungry and there's a Chick-Fil-A right there, and come on, it's only one chicken sandwich, and you'll get the grilled one. But the sandwich is one price, and the "meal" is only a buck more. Wouldn't that be more financially responsible?? So there you are chowing down cole slaw and a soft drink, after that fine cheesecake breakfast, and BAM, the day is "ruined"!!
Okay, that's overly dramatic, but the point is that no matter how lofty our goals are and how grand our intentions may be, they are given wings only by the actions we take in pursuing them. And this is the KEY POINT - every single action is the result of a relatively simple choice made immediately before it: "do this or do not do this." To a large degree, humans cruise through their days on autopilot, with much of our activity driven by past programming, muscle memory - in short, habits. If we want to achieve those great goals that we set for our health, fitness, finances, etc., we have to make the choices that take us in the right direction. It's easy to do and easy to NOT do!! I encourage you to examine the choices you are making each day, to determine whether they are taking you towards your desires.
Here's a great resource that you need to get your hands on, read, re-read, and utilize: "The Slight Edge", by Jeff Olson. In this great little book, the author goes into detail about the subject I've touched upon here today. Pick up a copy and get your life going in the direction of YOUR CHOOSING today! Peace to you, friendly reader!! Jim
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Goal Setting
Hello peoples! I was going to kind of "tell my story" today, but I decided that since today is the first day of the month, I would sit down and write out some goals for the next 30 days. This is actually part of a much bigger process for me, involving a 5-Year Plan, designing my ideal life ahead of time, the Law of Attraction, and all that good stuff. But even though I have all these large goals for between now and 2015, I really have to begin right where I am.
I typically set my goals in six areas: spiritual, psychological (which includes emotional health, intellectual stimulation, growing in wisdom, etc), physical, social/relational, vocational, and recreational. I won't go into too much detail, but some of mine include reading the bible (Gospel of John for September), finishing three personal development books, swimming at least four days a week (had recent foot surgery, so can't do regular workouts) along with upper body strength and ab training, some business goals, marriage goals, home projects, etc.
Some people don't really believe in goal setting, or if they do, they still don't actually engage in it. But to me, not setting goals is saying to myself, "I don't really care where I end up, I'm just going with the flow." For me, "the flow" very likely won't take me where I want to go!! So I set goals. And I set a lot of BIG goals too. I figure that even if I don't quite reach them all, I will almost certainly achieve a ton more than I would if I had not set the goals.
Do you set goals? What are some of them? Can you name your top desires? Do you have them written down? How often do you look at them? I encourage you, friendly reader, to think ahead about what you want in life, maybe a few years into the future, WRITE IT DOWN, and then work backwards from there, setting smaller goals that will act as stepping stones to get you there. Then start moving! I also invite your comments about goals and goal setting here, and would be glad to discuss it further!
Blessings to you! Jim B.
I typically set my goals in six areas: spiritual, psychological (which includes emotional health, intellectual stimulation, growing in wisdom, etc), physical, social/relational, vocational, and recreational. I won't go into too much detail, but some of mine include reading the bible (Gospel of John for September), finishing three personal development books, swimming at least four days a week (had recent foot surgery, so can't do regular workouts) along with upper body strength and ab training, some business goals, marriage goals, home projects, etc.
Some people don't really believe in goal setting, or if they do, they still don't actually engage in it. But to me, not setting goals is saying to myself, "I don't really care where I end up, I'm just going with the flow." For me, "the flow" very likely won't take me where I want to go!! So I set goals. And I set a lot of BIG goals too. I figure that even if I don't quite reach them all, I will almost certainly achieve a ton more than I would if I had not set the goals.
Do you set goals? What are some of them? Can you name your top desires? Do you have them written down? How often do you look at them? I encourage you, friendly reader, to think ahead about what you want in life, maybe a few years into the future, WRITE IT DOWN, and then work backwards from there, setting smaller goals that will act as stepping stones to get you there. Then start moving! I also invite your comments about goals and goal setting here, and would be glad to discuss it further!
Blessings to you! Jim B.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
A place to start
Hi everyone! Welcome to my fitness and healthy lifestyle blog. I have been hesitating to post, waiting until the site was fully developed, until I had EXACTLY the right thing to say, until everything was perfect. Well, one can wait forever in that case, because perfect ain't comin'!!! Today, I watched a little video trailer and I suddenly realized I had a starting point. I'll post the video below. My friends, I'll post more of my personal story and what my vision is for this blog as time goes by. For now, let me just say that I am Fitness Coach for Team Beachbody (makers of P90X, Insanity, Shakeology, and other groundbreaking health products), and that I am starting to get obsessed with the idea that maybe, just maybe, there is still time to reverse this awful trend of obesity, poor nutrition, and weight-related diseases is our country, by getting people out of their chairs, exercising, and eating right. This blog will undoubtedly evolve, constantly knocking me out of my "comfort zone", and that's a good thing. I hope it will be helpful and entertaining to you at the same time!! Sincerely, Jim Blue, Independent Team Beachbody Coach.
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