This week, I’d like to share some lessons I’ve been learning from Buddy, our 14 month old Golden Retriever. I’m sure the Dog Whisperer would have lots to say about these things, but here goes anyway.
A cute little 2-month old puppy soon becomes a large force of nature, rivaling even the strongest willed and most energetic 3 year old child. In fact, it’s pretty much like having another 3 year old, without the vocabulary. When you see “cute”, unless you’re committed to the long haul, turn around and run.
Human Lesson: Nothing will ever be as easy as you think it will be. (It’s still worth it though).
PUT YOURSELF IN A POSITION TO SUCCEED
Posted: June 10, 2014
“You have to put yourself in a position to succeed.” We used to hear this all the time from Dad when we were growing up.
He said it when I was getting tired of school. He said it when I didn’t want to go to piano lessons or practice my violin. He said it anytime I wanted to quit anything.
Once I made it into college, he never seemed to mind when I changed majors, even after the fifth time. He said whatever I wanted to do was fine, as long as it was legal. But he always insisted I be as prepared as possible, so I’d be in a position to succeed.
ALL AT ONCE, OR A LITTLE AT A TIME?
Posted: May 20, 2014
So you’ve decided you need to make some changes to your diet, and add some exercise. Do you go ahead and just totally revamp everything? Knock out all the junk, quit the pop, clean out your cabinets and refrigerator and start fresh? Do you throw yourself in a total fitness program? Or do you do these things incrementally, one thing at a time?
Just like everything else, it depends who you talk to. Some experts recommend just doing a big reset, and starting over, so hopefully several things stick. The idea is that you may backslide in some areas, but you’ll have some other positive changes still working for you.
Other experts suggest it may be more beneficial in the long run if you start with something simple first. The idea here is that it’s easier to implement something small, and then something else, so you slowly gain momentum. Small changes add up over time, and also become habits.
WHEN “I WANT-TO” BECOMES “I HAVE-TO”
Posted: May 13, 2014
Why can some people stay in shape while others struggle with their weight? And why can some do it for awhile, but only awhile?
I’ve spent years watching people come and go. I’ve also spent years watching the same people keep coming back for more.
Some people just “have to do it.” They love the process. They love working out and getting sweaty. They come to love the challenge.
INSPIRATION CAN BE FOUND ALL AROUND US
Posted: May 08, 2014
It’s easy to get tunnel vision sometimes, especially when we get busy. But if we’ll take a moment to pay attention, inspiration can often be found all around us. Here are a few things I’ve found noteworthy in the last couple of weeks. They’re in no particular order; they just happened to catch my eye, and impressed me.
Last Saturday, a friend of mine named Roy won his first MMA fight in the 1st round by a technical knockout. This means the referee stopped the fight because the other guy wasn’t intelligently defending himself anymore.
That’s probably because Roy had taken him down and was hammering on him pretty good. I think what impressed me the most, was that a couple days earlier, Roy told me how he saw the fight going. It went exactly that way. Now that’s working your plan!