Hamenopi

Having 3 kids, a wife with long work hours, long commutes, and many other 'things' coming at me proved problematic for living a healthy lifestyle. Or so I thought in January 2016. On the surface, there was no way I could fit an hour of 'gym time' at night. By the time Anne Marie got home, I was exhausted! But Looking back, i realized I was giving up before I even started. Why not? I believed I would fail if I tried. I had no hope! Of course, the person with no hope of succeeding isn't even going to try. But, the only sure way to fail is to not try. I was making excuses . I was content enough with being discontent, I didn't 'care enough' to fail. "Care enough to fail." - Seth Godin I believed my work would be of poor quality because I had no time. But isn't poor quality better than nothing? How long must we starve our goals in anticipation of the perfect solution? And what good is the perfect solution if it is never executed? For we ...

Most of us know drinking salt water is bad. ( And for those who don't, the salt dehydrates you more than the water hydrates. ) But in many aspects, we continue drinking from the dangerous wells of life and wonder why we aren't being satisfied. One aspect is weight loss. Dangerous Wells Junk food is a dangerous well. When you drink ( or in the case, eat ) from the dangerous well of junk food, you are selling your self short term. Stop forfeiting your future for fleeting fixations! You are trading what you want most for what you want now. The junk food looks good now, but the dangerous well of junk food will leave you with less then whence you arrived. It looks good now but it always looks better before than it feels afterward. You know this. Struggle I know it's tough. I struggle too. But the only way we get tough is by getting tough. Declaring no to dangerous wells toughens you so you can fixate your gaze on your goals. Stop compromising on your goals, stop selling yo...

In January I wrote about Doing Less to Do More . I look back and wonder how I managed so many different hobbies and how little effort I put into each one of them. I was juggling! The interesting thing I found out about jugging, nothing stays in your hand long enough to grow, change, or evolve you. Everything is always in the air. You don't have time to dedicate to the ball in your hand. Another ball, another hobby, another facebook group or post, another video game or youtube video is falling fast towards you. And you just can't have the falling 'thing' drop. No no no! You can't have that, can you? I remember so many times I'd drop all my important things. I'd forsake critical things for one distracting ball descending, because it was shiny. What shiny balls are you chasing? What hobbies are you so fixated on, you drop your other balls in your life? Oh wow I went somewhere with that. That message was for me 10 years ago and I missed it for 9 of them. H...

I love when blogs inspire creative juice within me. Stuff unconnected yet link magically from the wisdom of others. A shout out to Pfit blog which inspired this post. Even God rested on the 7th day. And I don't think he needed to rest. I think he did it to remind us we needed to rest. You see, God wasn't done on day 6. He still did stuff on day 8 and he's still doing stuff today. I think he wanted to model a strategy for us. One that WORKS. It's like gardening which I found I'm horrible at (but that's a different story). I think we can agree working 1 day and resting 6, the weeds will overtake the garden. But what if you tend to your garden 14 days in a row? 21? 28? How much better, how much faster will your garden grow? Where do the diminishing returns start to kick in? Another thing I realize is God didn't just rest on the 7th day. He sat back and relaxed each evening too. "It was good" He saw. I imagine after a good day of work, he pro...

Motivation won't get you far if you don't have direction. Imagine your foot planted, pedal to the medal, tachometer redlining, in the fast lane of a super highway ... but, your car is in park. How far do you go? And how long can your survive like that without blowing your motor? No amount of motivation will help you if you are not willing to take a step in a direction. Without direction, motivation is wasted. So, get out of park. Shift goals into gear and start moving toward them. It's scary. I know. I feel you. But what is more scary? Taking taking step, or remaining where you are? Terror You see, taking the step might seem terrifying, but it's the anticipation we really fear . That's why there's so much build up in scary movies. Alfred Hitchcock said "There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it." Many of us are so scared to 'fail' we never try in the first place. We aren't machines. We aren't perfect. We ...

Imagine a cup front of you. It's a nice cup, 20 oz container with a catchy logo on on it. As you come close to it, you notice it is filled with dirt. As hard as you try, you just can not seem to empty the cup. Perhaps it is bolted down. Now as you ponder this cup, a stream of muddy water begins to flow from above and down into the cup, filling it up to the brim. Now it's overflowing. You hear the question behind you, "How do you clean the cup?" .

"We are what we repeatedly do" - Aristotle But what do you repeatedly do? What are your habits? And... How are those habits working out for you? Do you have a habit of eating junk food? I did! Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were my willpower's cryptonite. I would see them lying about my mother in law's house and I could tell myself no... But with each hour there... My head would keep turning toward them. And she wonders why I never want to bring the kids over. Woman has chocolate everywhere! Out Of Gas! Well, Eventually the fuel that powered my willpower would run out and the gravity of my addictions would draw me closer and closer. I'd feel the urges. Taste it on my tongue from across the room. Feel my skin warm in anticipation of the sugar rush. Can anyone testify on this with me? It's painful repeatedly resisting the temptations of treats! Of course, it doesn't help having your kid plop down next to you with a handful of Andes mints. But each week,...

It was Spring 2014 and I was carting my 9 month old son through a Half Priced Books in his favorite stroller. I we there to scour obscure RPG supplements to breathe more life into my campaign. I sat sprawled, books circling me as people walked past toward more popular genres. A plastic motorcycle flies by, missing my head, followed by a mischievous cackle. I smirk, grab the toy, and return it to John as I mine the tome for literary nuggets of golden inspiration. But there was no gold that day and John was ever increasingly demanding for my attention from his buggy. The anxiety was also creeping back into my mind as my mouth dried from dehydration. I needed a cigarette. Returning the books to shelves in no order, I cart John outside, 25 feet from the entrance to the edge of a covered area. I then proceed to pace 10 more feet away, deftly producing cigarette and lit lighter in motion. By 9 feet, I was already devouring my first drag. Not Immediate I turned and glanced at John who c...

I've recorded my meals for over a year now. Yeah, it sucks in the beginning but it gets kinda interesting for a week or two when you get a few meals saved. It's not glamorous. But the results are. It's not immediate, but it's inevitable as long as you keep the faith. Some Weeks I recorded my meals for over a year now. The thing is, I haven't recorded 52 weeks worth of meals. Not even close. What I did was log my meals until I found a few I enjoyed which also helped me reach my goals. Once a had a few days worth of nutritious meals, I'd get nutritiously repetitive and schedule my nutritious days. I didn't need to log them. I knew they were already healthy. That way, I only needed to focus on the other days of the week. And even if they weren't perfect, I knew I could trust the days I already scheduled to be nutritious. There were even weeks I don't log any of my meals because I know what I'm eating will help me lose weight. It's not glamo...

Do you start reading a book at Chapter 5? Chapter 5 may be where the hero wins but without Chapters 1-4, Chapter 5 loses context. Chapters 1-4 The shining sword the hero used to slay the dragon. You know, the weapon he found in Chapter 4. That's the reward for overcoming his final obstacle. The one which enabled him to face the dragon in the first face. The sturdy shield which saves his life during the epic battle. You know, the gift he received in Chapter 3. That's from saving another's life with the skills he learned in Chapter 2. The tome the hero reads which exposed the dragon's greatest weakness. You know, the book he discovered in Chapter 2. That's from relentlessly scouring the streets, seeking until the right information was revealed. The scared child afraid of the vile dragon. You know, the boy from Chapter 1. That was the hero. Chapter 5 You see chapter 5 is great. It the great victory. But Chapter 5 would have never happened without Chapters 1 - ...