Aren't Kids Sneaky Inspirations?

A great weekend for my wife & I. We went to see Ashley at college & got there just in time for her soccer game. They won, but she did not play. Being one of two freshman on the team playing time has to be earned. She played in their first two games. Go figure that the game she gets zip time is the game we drive 4 hours to go see. Oh well, we went to see her much more than we went to see her play.

After the game we went back to her dorm room; not as neat as it was when we dropped her off there a month ago. We met some of her new friends who were on their way out to go bowling. We took her to dinner somewhere she loves to go; Olive Garden- yuck! There we chit chatted for a couple of hours and just hung out. All seems to be going well with her at school. She adjusted much quicker than we expected. Not that we expected her to have any serious issues with the transition. It is very pleasing to know that your kid was able to leave home and take flight in a big way. Oh she has a long flight ahead of her, but so far she is soaring.

Here is a fun picture I snapped on the way home yesterday...

A tanker truck filled with coffee; wonder how many cups that equals?

We didn't take too  many photos on the trip, and I don't have anymore to share here right now; but there is one photo that I wish I had taken but didn't.

When we were in Ashley's dorm I was reading what she had scribbled on her white board. Allow me to note here that her white board looks marvelous as it was expertly hung by a master of stuff hanging a month ago. Ok, the hanging bit was not really the marvelous part. What was marvelous was what she had scribbled. Any guesses what she had written there?

Nope, not how much she misses us.
Nope, not when she is coming home next.
Nope, not even what she is going to buy us for Christmas.

She had goals writing on her board. Those objectives she considers so important that she wanted daily reminder of them. Huh, what a novel idea...

Decide what is important to achieve, commit it to writing, and display it in a place that when you wake everyday, you remind yourself of what is important to you.

Aren't kids sneaky inspirations? 

I'll be buying a white board today after work.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 416 - What, Need A Kick Of Inspiration?

Having trouble sticking to your plan?

Having trouble seeing what success looks like when you finally get there?

Having doubts you can actually do what needs to be done for the long haul to succeed?

If you said Yes, I know the feeling; I said Yes too.

It is hard to come up with a mission and actually commit to it.

It is hard to face the difficulties of our mission each and every day and stay on plan.

It is hard to recognize set backs and lift ourselves up and get back on plan again.

Yes, it is hard, plain and simple, so accept that fact and step up to the challenge. 

Success will happen when we are harder on the mission than the mission is on us.

Since seeing is believing, see for yourself...

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 238-242 Read, See, Watch & Be Inspired

Hello one and all! Been a few days since I dabbled into the blogs including my own. This past weekend was a working weekend for me. Every so often we release new or changed technology into our business. When we do part of the zillion things I do is oversee such releases. The good news, we kicked @$$!! The bad news, it killed my weekend time with family, friends and our pets too.

The ugly news, I have felt semi-ill and off-game Monday & Tuesday. I wasn't sick to the point where I stayed home sick. Rather my gut was churning and burning and with it my attitude and mood has been sedate and quiet. I started coming around yesterday afternoon and just in time too. My wife wanted to go out to dinner and the hit some stores to all but finish our Christmas shopping. By the time the work day was done I my mood was well on the rebound and we had a great date night.

A few of you posted/wrote emails asking if all was well; very kind of you to check in on me and make sure I hadn't slipped face first off the health wagon and into a vat of bacon wrapped sausage ice cream. I can assure you I remain committed to getting healthier each day and the scale has been smiling back at me. But more inspiring than the scale are NSV's. It has been a while since I've had one that I felt worthy to share but today, well I have an excellent one...

Take a look at the picture up there, do you see the NSV in that photo? No, not the V-8, Protein shake and fruit I brought to work today. That stuff is all good and minus the shake it is a part of my daily feedbag; these shakes I drink 2-3x a month when so moved and today is one of those days. Back to the NSV, it is my watch! Or more accurately my wrist. My weight loss has made it to the point where my wrists have shed enough girth that my watchband is not only no longer snug on me but it is so loose my watch spins around on my wrist. While this is a very cool NSV, it is also a bit irritating. So I shall soon celebrate by having a link removed from this watchband. Can I get an Oh Yeah!


Now, if that wasn't inspiring for you this fine morning, well then all I can say is watch this...

 

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 196 - OctGTD to NovGTD

Look at those geese. They are totally fearless, nothing disturbed them. Not even my presence. Do you think they somehow know I hunt deer and not birds? Yet, that is.

Big day today, party day for the six in the family (three that live under our roof) whom have birthdays in October. We'll have about twenty people in all grazing and drinking this afternoon. Good times, and, an afternoon of temptations.

October is all but done and that means the October Go The Distance challenge is winding down. For myself this challenge was to Walk/Jog 25 miles in October. I accomplished that with a weekend to spare. However, I feel I should've hit that goal at least a week ago. Having shared that thought with Robby (Fit Girl Vs World) she had a great counter thought, "I think it's an eye opener for a lot of people to see how much it takes to be consistent, to find the motivation, to do the work. I mean, try not to think of it as a finish line, but a launching point for other challenges."

She has an excellent attitude, even more excellent perspective. Fit Girl Vs World organized this challenge and her post HERE yesterday ask us participants to consider a few things as we wrap up. In appreciation for her fine challenge I've decided to dedicate those considerations to this post. Here are my thoughts...
How do you think you did over the course of the month?

• How do you think you did over the course of the month?
In a word; inconsistent. I accomplished roughly 1/2 my goal in the 1st week. From there I struggled to make the time to do the other 1/2 by month end.

• Did you overestimate or underestimate your capabilities? Why is this? Is this representative of a larger trend in your life?
Under; even though I got my mileage in by month end I know I had more miles in me. Why? I simply poorly planned for exercise time. Challenges, & anything goal worth attaining, deserve better planning rigor.

• Did you learn anything about yourself while doing this?
I learned, or validated, that I am capable of much more when I CHOOSE to go for it. I come away here believing that I need to either come up with a valid reason to not go for it, or, GO FOR IT.

• Can you apply what you've learned in #OctGTD somewhere else in your life?
Sure, we all have other aspects of our lives which need marked improvement. One such area for me is career planning. I've attained allot in my career, but, so much more is attainable and can be achieved soon if I put more rigor to going for it.

• Did you make any new friends through #OctGTD -- were you able to support each other?
Oh yes, especially through twitter & using the #OctGTD hashtag. I would not have met as many new fitness blog/tweeps had it not been for this.

• What was the hardest part of the challenge? (physical? mental/psychological?)
Hhmmm... I am going to say mental. It was purely my own mental 'greased-albatross-wrangling' which saw me barely achieve my goal versus exceed it. Physically, to walk/jog 25 miles for the month was not too difficult. Although when I set the goal I did think it would be more difficult as I was just starting to add jogging to my cardio mix.

• What do you think you did really well this month? (doesn't have to be about #OctGTD)
Follwoing through to see the goal was achieved. The old me would have seen my inconsistency and given up or cared less if I got to mile 25 by the deadline or a week late. My new 'determined commitment' saw to it that I succeed just as it has fueled my overall transformation for nearly 200 days.

• What do you think you could improve on? (again, doesn't have to be about #OctGTD)
Other than the previously stated plan to exercise better, I'll go with eating consistency. I've had some struggles this month eating very good day in and day out. More fair or even poor eating days in October than the previous five months.

• No matter the numbers you already entered, are you going to finish strong, or taper off?
I took up this challenge for added inspiration, a reminder if you will, to do the work needed to get healthy. Just because I have hit my #OctGTD challenge goal does not mean I have achieved good health. The need to keep going strong remains and actually never will end in my 'new' belief.

• Did you go the distance? And no, I don't mean did you hit 100% of your goal... did you put yourself out there and really try for it? Is 80% still something you can be proud of?
This answer is entwined in all of my above answers. In short; I left gas in the tank. But I am proud of myself, very proud. I shall not allow a moments negativity in my reflection here.

I'm ready for #NovGTD; are you?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!