Day 390 - Leadership 199 / Trait 3 of 14: Courage

Leadership traits were on my mind last night while attending Honors Night at my daughters High School. As many of these young women & men were being recognized for their efforts they had the opportunity to step up and exercise their bearing in addressing the crowded auditorium. I was very impressed with how they conducted themselves with confidence and courage in a situation, public speaking, which is a challenging opportunity for most.

If you missed our previous posts in this series on leadership traits be sure to catch up on them here...
Leadership 199 / Trait 2 of 14: Bearing
Leadership 199 / Trait 1 of 14: Dependability


Let us see what our third trait has for us…

Leadership 199 / Trait 3 of 14: Courage

Defined: The mental quality that recognizes fear of danger or criticism, but enables you to proceed in the face of it with calmness and firmness.

Discovered: To understand courage you first must understand fear. When we recognize danger, fear is our innate survival mechanism that kicks in and prompts us to flee from or confront the present danger. The use of the word danger is a bit misleading because fear does not come over us only when we are in situations that are truly dangerous to our well being. Fear is also present when we face challenges which we believe we are at risk of failing at.

For the purposes of honing our self-leadership ability into higher degrees of effectiveness let us focus on those challenges we face for bettering ourselves. Weight loss,... training for your first marathon,... the treatments and recovery that lay ahead to care for injury or disease,... going back to school to get that college degree,... employment search,... starting your own business,... and so on. These are just a few obvious challenges many of us are facing now.

What other challenges are you facing today which will require you to address your fear of failure to overcome?

Books large and small have been written on how to overcome fear. I promise that this post will not run on into book length. Therefore I must cut to the chase on what gets us over what we fear. Courage!

Courage, like fear, is innate; we have it with in us. The funny thing is fear just pops out quickly in the face of challenge. While for many the courage within us has to be poked, prodded and sometimes pulled out.

However it is that you reach inside and get courage to come forward, do it. Courage enables your inner strength, your ability to stand up for what it is you deem right and necessary. Courage applied to challenge brings discipline to the task, provides you the required calmness to control fear versus fear controlling you.

Our challenges do not come with certainty of success. To succeed we must function effectively in our mission no matter how long, how difficult it may be. Along the way set backs may occur, the difficulty of the mission may rise. Fear will attempt to take back control with such occurrences. Perseverance comes from courage, our ability to persevere will ensure we endure through to the missions successful completion.


Da-Point: Respect Fear, Embrace Courage, Achieve Victory!

Is it hard for you to bring the courage within you to bear on your challenges?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 320-331: Hello & Happy Pi Day

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Hello friends... Happy Pi Day!

You do know that today is Pi Day right? Well if you do not, you are likely not a math geek like me. Even if you do know it is Pi Day you may not be a math geek. Math geek or not we can all enjoy Pi Day.

Today is March 14th, or 3.14, thus Pi Day; get it? When I was a kid in school we didn't do anything special for this day. Today it receives attention in school and is used to unwind a bit. Pie served in the cafeteria, something frowned upon in many of today's school cafeterias. Teachers and students alike will bring in pie for the class to share. Some teachers will piggy-back on the topic and actually teach a bit about this uniquely strange number. As well they'll salute Albert Einstein's birthday which happens to also be Pi Day.

Yes I have found my way back to my blog after nearly two weeks away. Thanks to all for the emails, posts, tweets and carrier-pigeon asking where I've been and wishing me well in my absence. I am here, amongst the living. As noted in my last post my schedule has altered a bit and I've had trouble finding time to blog. I also took some time off for a long weekend away to Albuquerque and then another weekend away to Milwaukee.

Now, while I have found my way back here I cannot in all honesty say that I am not lost. I fear and feel that I've gone off-road re: prioritizing my health. Over the past few weeks while time has been tighter and while away for fun in the southwest I've performed horribly. Finding time for exercise has been sporadic at best. And daily I've found reason to enjoy too much of the bad stuff.

It is alarming to see the inequity in effort required lose weight and gain weight. We can eat well and work out and lose 1, 2, or even 3 pounds a week on average when we are vigorously disciplined to our mission. When we are vigorously disciplined in the other direction, we can gain 5-10 pounds a week.

Speaking for myself a ten pound gain is what I've seen happen here over the past few weeks. Much of that I know occurred over my four days in Albuquerque as that was allot of fun wrapped around some ugly displays of gluttony. I have a handful of pictures to share from that trip and as well some other stuff going on in my world lately, but I will hold them to share later this week. Instead let me stay on the health & weight loss topic here.

While I am disappointed I've allowed my schedule change and vacationing to get the best of me I am not discouraged. I've learned allot over the past near eleven months and know just what I need to do. The only thing preventing me from re-losing that 10 pounds is myself; not knowledge of facilities. I know what to do and have all I need to do it.

Tonight I have a date with the elliptical and I'll be stoked and fueled for that workout as I know just what I'm eating today and when. Looking forward to it! Oh, and we do have a pie in the house for the kids to enjoy with their Pi Day celebration. But that pie is not in my plans for today, instead I'll celebrate Pi Day by recalling some Pi Trivia.

Like...

If you have a circle the size of the known universe and calculated it's circumference to do so for that number to be accurate to within the radius of a single proton, how many decimal places of pi would need to be used?

Again - Happy Pi Day!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 67 - Peeved & Doomed

Not long ago I had lunch with a friend who was in a good mood when we sat down but quickly became irritated and foul. I took notice at how such a little thing got under his skin so quick, and in such a way that it ruined his meal if not for the balance of his day.

What set him off? The restaurant menu. He had a taste for a specific dish that wasn't on their menu. It was a simple if not common dish, grilled chicken with a sweet mango style salsa. There were other chicken dishes on the menu, some good ones too in my eyes. But he wasn't in the mood for substitution. Even when the waitress suggested another salsa they had on hand to go with a grilled chicken breast he would not budge on his dissatisfaction to their not having what he wanted. Yikes!

He ended up ordering a double bacon cheese burger. I've known him for a while so I had no reservations in asking him what on earth he was doing. He had just given the waitress a hard time over a menu whose content she had nothing to do with, and rebuffed her attempts to accommodate callously. So why the burger which couldn't be further away from his desire than Winnipeg is to Miami? His reply... "If I can't have what I want then I may as well just have what I shouldn't have!"

With great reservation I chose not to engage the debate that really should have taken place. This was my lunch time too and I didn't want to spend it in any more stress than he had already served up . So I let it go and we proceeded to get through lunch chit chatting about hockey, politics and other topics we usually enjoy. Oh, well I must say I did get one minor jab in. He ordered first, and after all he put this dear waitress through to then order a burger, well I took her up on her modified chicken with alternative salsa recommendation.

So where am I going with this? Peeves, do we use them as reasons to do damage?

We all have Pet Peeves, and I am sure at times we all have let them ruin our day. We are human, it happens, it will happen again. But, we ought to take stock here about what our reactions to them impact. If I had been in his shoes and had chosen as he did I would have ruined a day or two of healthy eating and exercise. When we the obese who are working hard to get healthy find ourselves in frustrated situations we must be conscious that the old obese mindset inside of us usually did react to frustration with such spiteful indulgence. This behavior of bad choice only fed our addictions and added to our size.

Hey, I am no psych major, what I say here seems to be common sense born from observation and experience. While knowledge and common sense are great, they are only beneficial if applied to good sense and action. So my friends, get frustrated, get angry if you must, it is Ok. But what is not Ok is choosing to act in a manner that will do harm, set you back, or awaken the old obese mindset within. We're better than that, we deserve to be better to ourselves, and we should never pass up on good salsa when offered it.


Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 53 - Shrimp vs. Moo

Good Morning, how goes it this fine day Bloggy People?

Who likes SHRIMP?

I like shrimp. We took the kids out to one of our favorite steak houses last night; Backyard Steak Pit. It was the final act in celebrating our youngest's graduating 8th grade. We had the huge gathering of the clans to celebrate a couple weekends ago. Last night's dinner was just my wife, our kids & I in a more intimate celebration over food. We've done this for each 8th grade graduation and the assumption is we will do so for each high school graduation starting next year as well.

Anyhow, back to shrimp. That picture is one of the gorgeous grilled shrimp on my plate. It, and all of the shrimp & scallops on it, were works of perfection. I tried to do it justice by immortalizing one of the shrimp in pictures with my cell phone but feel I failed to capture it's awesomeness. I don't know, looking at it makes me wish it were dinner time again.

Now you may be wondering, "Didn't he say they went to a steak houses - their favorite favorite steak house"?

Why yes we did, and, no I didn't order any steak. Pause... letting that sink in for a minute... I can't believe it myself. During the drive there I was struggling with what to order; we've been there so many times I have the menu memorized, literally. I was thinking of going with the smallest fillet on the menu, it is an 8 ounce hunk of heaven. But by the time we sat down I had convinced myself that I could do better, that I really didn't want to take any chances of voiding out the past few days of hard work (3 mile walk Monday & did the full dumbbell routine Tuesday before dinner).

You should have seen it. This healthy-alien currently inside of me who is firmly in control, I haven't come up with a name for him yet; have any ideas? Well he, or maybe he is a her, was going at it hard with the hungry-demon who has been in control of me for a couple of decades. The creature is not too happy about the new kid, alien, on the block let me tell you. The expletives were flying, bleep bleep bleep was heard throughout my head, the creature even tried the "don't you love me anymore" routine.

Too my surprise the alien won yet again, yes it does still surprise me; and the creature crept away with his head down to go moap behind a kidney for the rest of the meal. Grilled Seafood Kebab with wild rice and a garden salad is what I had. The old me would have had the 20 ounce hickory crusted ribeye with fully locked & loaded backed potato and that same garden salad with the croutons, bacon bits and super-duper fattening dressing which I omitted last night.

This morning, so glad the alien won!

Hockey Update: GAME SIX is tonight of the Stanley Cup, puck drop is at 7 p.m. Chicago (central) time on NBC. No this not a paid promotion. My butt will be glued to my recliner promptly at 6:59 p.m. - where will you be?
GO BLACKHAWKS!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 31 - Magic Fitness?

Have you see an advertisement lately that sounds something like this... 10 foods that burn fat... Or this... Our pill, powder or drink slims & gets you ripped... Or...

I'm sure we've all seen ads like these in magazines or websites, perhaps even on some of our favotite blogs. I've peeked into the details of a few of these ads over the years; usually at times when I wasn't dieting or working at getting healthy. Just a few minutes hoping to discover that magic to quickly returning to the fitness glory of my youth. Each time I've come away unconvinced & unwilling to go there.

But, still these marketing marvels get me wondering. Just last week I read up on two such popularly seen pills. After 30 minutes of reading I had more questions than answers, unconvinced again. Plus there seem to be some serious law suits alleging neglegence that may have resulted in harm to health including death. Justified legal action or not, I have no idea. But the risk doesn't justify the lack of certain & safe reward as I see it.

Therefore as I write this I doubt there is any way to do this short of earnest discipline & effort.

If anyone has opinion or experience to the contrary I'd enjoy hearing about it; do you?

Today is work out day, I took yesterday off. Thinking dumbbells after work. Maybe a walk too if I can, hope so.

Responsibility 199... Gotta Do It!!

Day 7 - Exercise Discipline

That exercise promised yesterday didn't happen. Our plans changed for the evening and the time I set aside evaporated. Not that I am disappointed really since the change in plans was for a good time with the family. Another example that change is good. Yet change can also challenge discipline.

Exercise and what discipline I have for it was on my mind as I awoke this morning. The devil on my shoulder was telling myself I was supposed to feel bad I didn't find a way to squeeze in a work out before I hit the hay for the day. And the angel on the other shoulder was telling me to get over it and do something about it today. Then there was some other creature sitting atop my head telling me to just go back to sleep. When I was done listening to this trio argue I got up and the day going. After taking care of some necessary mumbo-jumbo I did get in a work out. Thirty minutes on the elliptical and three sets of sit ups on a stay-ball (I think that is what it is called; we bought a couple at the start of 2008 when we were to start that year getting healthy). That may not sound like much exercise but as this was my first work out since starting this mission 7 days ago it was enough to see me clawing about for air.

Having got that work out in I sit here typing away with a surge of confidence and 'atta-boy' inside. Now, the question is, when do I workout again? Tomorrow seems like the perfect opportunity as it is Sunday and we have nothing planned other than watching the Nascar race; Talledega time!

My challenge for today is to simply survive dinner without falling off this ship I am happily riding now. We have plans to have dinner with friends we haven't hooked up with in years. The reservation is at one of the better Italian/pasta places in the Chicagoland area; Maggianos. Great place and I love their family style service. But wow, if there ever was a place built to wreck a diet that is not also a buffet, this is it. Realizing that the plan is to enjoy myself and some of what Maggianos offers but behave myself as best I can. Better said, don't just eat eat eat until all plates are clean as I would have done had this dinner been eight days ago.

Responsibility 199... Gotta Do It!!

Day 5 - Bill's Pub Got Me

Yesterday I was on a roll. Ate great right up until dinner; recall my 'Evenings & Me' post. My son had a dentist appointment at 6pm. That was done swiftly thanks to a no cavity visit; whoohoo. We are both hungry when done, it is dinner time of course. As we drive west down Washington out of Grayslake what comes into view; Bill's Pub North (more of a restaurant than a pub really). Not good; not even close to good in terms of the effect Bill's Pub has on one's ability to think and act healthy. Forget that their pizza is the best on the planet. Speaking of the planet happy earth day to one and all! Forget that on each table is a never ending basket of peanuts which you can enjoy and toss the shells on the floor. Forget that when you drive by your hunger-o-meter jumps from 4 to 9 in an instant. Well, no, I couldn't forget that. Without any sincere effort to forget Bill's Pub was in sight my vehicle turned right into the parking lot and a minute later Andrew & I were working on that basket of peanuts.

Ho Hum. So a great day fell prey to temptation. About the only discipline I showed was avoiding the pizza and going for the Italian Beef sandwich instead. Bill's makes a good Italian Beef but it is no Johnny's (Elmwood Park) which are the best on the planet. Or was that a worse choice? Not sure, six of one and a half dozen the other I suppose. The lesson to be learned here; never drive west on Washington out of Grayslake anymore. Forget that part of the county even exists.

Today is a new day. Off to a good start. We have a hectic evening tonight with school and kid activities so dinner is not a well planned event tonight. Thus temptations will be there to choose a fast and easy way to eating; most of which are never healthy. So our challenge for today is to get through the evening without falling prey to temptation and convenience yet again. My wife, Cathy, & I discussed this briefly as we carpooled to work this morning; not for earth day just something we do as often as we can especially since gas is over $3 a gallon again. And we acknowledged that there is a bag-o-salad in the refrigerator. So if we can just get home without indulging elsewhere in our separate travels with the kids this evening, then that bag-o-salad is dinner for us.

That’s the goal for this day!

Wish us luck, fingers crossed.

Responsibility 199... Gotta Do It!!