Day 411 - Information Is Insightful

Had a conversation yesterday that included some seldom used, unusual words. Basically this person was using 25-cent words to try and impress others, it didn't work. Does it ever?

That said, it can be fun to see some of these words, and wonder, huh? To convey that, you came up with 'that' as a word for it? Some of my favorites...

Tachyphagia, to eat very fast... I am definitely guilty of Tachyphagia, I know, it is tacky to eat fast.

Pyknic, to be short and fat... I am fat, not short, is there a word for that?

Farctate, to have overeaten & feel stuffed... been there, done that. I also tend to farctate when stuffed & blame it on the cats.

Callypygean, to have well shaped buttocks. Me not so much. You?

Tetrapyloctomy, the act of splitting a hair four ways. Really? Who does this?? I could see if it were a hare, but an hair?

So, fun & insightful?

Or fun & not so much?

I wasn't sure what image to use for this post, when in doubt, I figured it safe to bring out PBR man to save the day.


Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 212 - Judging My SEE

Today is day-1 of today's mission to be healthier, tomorrow will be day-1 of tomorrow's mission. That is what I posted to twitter this morning. It is true as cheese tastes better than chalk. Success yesterday doesn't bring with it a guarantee of success today. Yesterday's success does provide reason to believe you can succeed today, but not a guarantee.

In kicking off today's mission I am looking to the word judgement. This morning I sit here reflecting and judging myself, specifically my success over the past few weeks. Yes, I have made progress; but not at the pace I desire. In my reflection I believe that I can and should expect to achieve at my desired pace. The reasons I have not come from honest judgement of my actions.

In weighing the facts of my actions I honestly cannot find issue with exercise, I am getting that done. The bottom line is that my eating remain inconsistent. I write this at the risk of sounding like a broken KC and the Sunshine Band record; awful broken or not but terribly annoying to listen to broken as it skips the same line over and over.

It does no good to judge through the facts, and then not decide on a solution. And I have that, I stated it two weeks ago when the month started and I scripted how I will SEE November. In judging myself here I struck-through the lines on my plan where I have not executed consistently. I need to look no further than them for reason and solution. Here is that plan...

Set for November if a goal to Weigh-In on Nov. 30th (a special Tuesday w/i for me) at 249.5 or less. My scale reads in tenths, but I record in 1/2 pound increments and I round the tenths up to the next 1/2, so 249.6 will not cut it, 249.5 it must be.

Establish a plan could be as easy as just doing what I have been, here is my plan...

1. No Fast Food, Candy, or similar food as poor in quality
2. Exercise 5x week; 2x Cardio & 2x Strength & 1 Flexibility Workout (that will be new for me)
3. Drink 2 liters, or more, of water a day
4. Participate in #NovGTD, log my miles and tweet it up each day
5. Calorie intake will be no more that 2000 calories and carb controlled
6. Avoid inducing fasting response, eat 6x a day; 3meals and 3 snacks
7. Eat breakfast at home to avoid skipping it
8. Take fruit to work for snacks to avoid grabbing poor quality snacks at the office coffee shop
9. Every other lunch at work will be a visit to the salad bar which is a treat since it is a good one
10. Plan out evening meals to avoid creating last minute high-calorie dinners of convenience

Execute the plan.


I do not need a new plan.
I do not need to reinvent how to get healthy.
I do need to execute the plan I have.
I do need to remember that I know how to do this and I believe that I can achieve my goals at I desire pace.

Today is day-1 of today's mission to be healthier...

 

What is your plan for today?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 203 - Candy Go Away

Fruit Count: 129 - We have collectively eaten 121 pieces of fruit the past three days. Mandy and Lanie are leading the way having eaten 7 & 6 pieces respectively yesterday alone. Our goal of 199 is being reeled in slow and steady, excellent. Keeping reeling it in folks; in, chew swallow and shout out how many pieces you eat today!

Here you go, here's some candy! I got candy... come on, you know you want some. Ugh, wrong. Bags of candy like this popped up all over the office last week. Parents bringing in leftover halloween candy they didn't give out, or, the candy their kids brought home just to get it out of the house. A brilliant idea really, and one that works as people of all shapes, heights, colors and smells flock to these bags and empty them in no time flat. Hopefully next week this phenomenon will abate.
 

There is my caloric intake for Friday. Liking those percentages much better than earlier in the week. The total calories consumed are lower than desired, especially for an exercise day. And I had an hour'ish before bed of noticeable hunger. Usually when I hunger, I eat. But this time I chose to just accept that hunger in fear that if I went for a final snack to quench it I may over indulge. Not sure why I felt unsure of myself, but I'm glad I recognized it and made a decision versus ignoring it all and just diving into a vat of ice cream. Accepting hunger is definitely not a behavior I can embrace for a lifetime, that I understand.

Exercise, as I said I got that in. Put in a 2.25 mile walk after work on a crisp 40F late afternoon. Chilly! Didn't time time the walk. I just set out  to get in the miles, and enjoy the peace while I ran down the battery on my ipod.

Saturday already... on the docket this morning is weight training and maybe some more cardio. Then later this afternoon/evening a great date is planned with my wife. We'll be going to the rifle range and then out to dinner and perhaps a movie. Looking forward to it!

What does Saturday have in store for you?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 202 - Tagged With Enthusiasm

Going to keep it brief and fun today...

Fruit Count: 103 - We have collectively eaten 100 pieces of fruit the past three days. Just past /2-way to our goal of 199 now. More putting of fruit into our mouths people, let it drip all down your chin & arms; eat fruit with passion and shout out how many pieces you eat today!

Dr. Fat To Fit tagged me the other day with four questions. I am to answer them and then ask 4 others a different set of questions. I love a good game, so with Enthusiasm; my word for today; here we go... Here are her questions for me:

1) If you could be any animal, what would you choose?
Eagle - An amazing combination of grace & power that I can't imagine possessing. And the ability to fly - schwwinnngggg!

2) Name 1 thing you would NOT do, even if I payed you a million bucks?
Dishonor my marriage vows. they say everything has a price, but that is my exception that rule.

3) Name one big news event that made an impact on you other than 9/11. Why and How did it impact you?
Nixon's resignation. I was only 9 years old, but that event opened a young mind to not just the theatre that is politics, but more so to the wonder that is history. I am a political junky (though I won't talk it on my blog) and a history addict. I can trace that addiction back to Nixon.

4) Where did you go or would you like to go on your honeymoon?
Walt Disney World, my wife is addicted to WDW. We also went there for our 10th anniversary. And a few other times in between and since. Getting the picture?

Here are my 4 lucky bloggers...
Kimmi
TheHeavyMan
Keelie
Mertle

Please answer these here or on your blog and and then ask 4 others a different set of questions.

and their questions...
1- You are banished to a small island with seeds to grow one veggie, that's all you get to eat for eternity, which veggy do you choose?
2- Farthest distance at one time you have ever walked/jogged/ran/biked, etc. under your own power?
3- Do you consider Friday the 13th to be unlucky, lucky, or neither?
4- What was the last furry thing you touched? And did you eat it?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 201 - My Endurance Video

Fruit Count: 73 - We have collectively eaten 73 pieces of fruit the past two days. Nearing 1/2-way to our goal of 199. Let's keep eating fruit people, it's good food for you; shout out how many pieces you eat today!

Our picture riddle was a good one if I may say so. Anne our Carb Tripper came right out of the gate with a great guess; a ceramic cow moo moo pitcher that pours cream. Now I have seen such a thing, and not just pouring cream. I wish I had one (Ok not really, don't add that to my list for Santa please) for if I had that would've made a great pic-riddle.

Dawn of Fixing Myself Thinner was first to touch on what it is with her guess of 'plastic horse toy or something'. Ann who is Livin' Large immediately followed up with her guess of  'a chess piece'. Then not long after that yet another Anne, Anne of How I am Losing It finished off the completeness of our riddle with her guess of 'a Knight from a chess set'. As you see there, that is indeed what it is. Good Fun. Well done!

Yesterday I got in my second of two committed cardio sessions for this week. My son & I returned to Lake Andrea where I set a challenge for this visit of jogging 1 mile of it's 2.25 mile loop. Not 1 mile consciously, that would be nice, but I am not there yet. Previous visits I jogged .85 of a mile, so I was looking for a slight challenge up for me to make it a mile.

Different from those previous attempts as well was the length of the jogs. Before, most legs were .125 miles; now for this challenge I mapped out four .25 legs; thank you Google Earth. As well as actually completing those four .25 mile jogging legs without stopping (my primary challenge here) was the added challenge to try and complete the loop in less than 29:32, my previous best. Here is the course I mapped out...

Away we went and the skinny on our result is this...

• The four .25 mile jogs: Achieved, all four loops jogged without stopping!
• The loop time: We completed the loop in 29:46 minutes, oh so close but no PR (Personal Record) today.Oh Yeah!

Andrew ran ahead of me at the end of the loop & took a short video of me finishing. Enjoy at my expense ;-)

The heavy breathing you hear is him, the cold air tickled his asthma. The heavy dude in black coming towards you, that's me. As I neared the line & saw him shooting I let out what was supposed to be a laugh but instead sounded like a goat giving birth to a pregnant-moose; a moment to visualize... I also blurted out 'Enough' although I am not sure why. Probably glad the the end was achieved. I'll give myself an Oh Yeah!

Endurance, that is the word for the day. This trait to me speaks to the ability to overcome the stress and fatigue that can come with the effort needed to be better than obese over the span of a lifetime. Sure, it applies to smaller spans too, such as my Lake Andrea challenge there. I've had to build up my endurance to be able to do that. Six months ago, no way. Eating better and Exercising better allowed that to happen. Now six months from now, whether I just maintain what I have now or improve my ability to do better; either way I'll have to endure the effort needed to do so. If I stop putting in the effort, then my endurance recedes and I recede back towards greater obesity. That's not going to happen.

Quickly, this post is way too long already; but here is yesterday's food intake...

Note to self; the "Red Robin Fajita Fiesta Pollo Salad" that appeared to be healthy and which was my dinner actually accounted for 910 (F54, C57, P49) of those calories; ugh! I should've known better, and I do.

Give me your FRUIT and give me your latest OhYeah! moment!

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 200 - Take A Swag

Wednesday seems like a fine day to have a bit of riddle with our good eats and exercise. So there it is, it is a thing or thang, maybe it is a this or that, perhaps even a what or huh... you tell me. Give us a guess. No idea what it is, the give us some swag (silly-wild-ass-guess). Tomorrow we'll see is any have nailed this riddle to the wall or knocked a nasty hole in it.

Fruit... yesterday we had a bit of fun on my 199th day here where we called out here, on facebook & twitter to see how many pieces of fruit we could eat. Thanks Lanie for the idea! I counted FIFTY pieces of fruit, including the four I ate. That is about a trio of fruit for those who stepped up to play, I'd call that a huge success. But it is not 199, so lets keep piling up apple cores, banana peels and grape vines on this thing; hit me up with how many you eat today and we'll keep this going until we get 199.


Decisiveness, a trait we have all embraced at times. Question is, are we decisive consistently? In April I decided to lose weight. That fine spring day, April 18th, I took prompt and determined action to do get healthy. Decisive behavior and a serious decision goes together like socks and shoes. No, like Laurel and Hardy. What, you don't know who they are? Hmmm, Mike and Molly?

Nope, not going to say that I am always consistent in being decisive. Certainly I feel I am more often than not. And in being honest there are some aspects in life I am more decisive than others. Family gets my decisive side quickly. Self needs I have been more reserved in being as decisive. That is a fault I have come to believe, one I am working to correct. Getting my butt in gear on getting healthy is proof of that.

Had another good day yesterday. My eating was good and I believe a bit better than the day before. The fat percentage was much better. I'd like to flip-flop those carb & protein numbers, I'd have to change things up further to do so. I take in a great deal of fruit and salads and veg which are primarily carbs. And it has been that way, what you see in that chart, for the most part since April. Those, I think, are high quality carbs so the numbers as you see them here should be fine for the long haul; please do share your thoughts if they differ.

Exercise was part of my day yesterday as well. The home gym routine was owned and as well push ups and sit ups were done. Oh, yesterday I meant to share this photo of me getting home after my walk/jog on Monday evening. It was a cardio session worthy of an Oh Yeah! I crushed my 2 mile loop where my PR of 29:03 minutes fell hard to an awesome late evening walk/jog effort. A new 2 mile 26:41 minute PR reigns and as well my new 1 mile PR is now 13:05 minutes. November has left the station with a full head of steam.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 199 - Vote & Fruit Me 199

Lanie shared this comment with us yesterday, "Tomorrow is day 199 of responsibility 199. I think we should throw a party. A fruit party. Maybe we, as a Patrick's fans & friends should eat a total of 199 pieces of fruit minimum. Who's with me? Then on Wednesday we can have a potty party." YES, Today is Day 199 of Responsibility 199...

Ok, I am game - spread the word to all that if you eat fruit today let me know and lets see if we can get 199 pieces of fruit consumed. I should be good for a trio myself.

BEARING is my word for today.

Setting forth with purpose and certainty in the direction I have chosen to proceed.

In my post yesterday I outlined how I will SEE my way to achieving my goal for November.

 I believe this has me set on the bearing I need to do just that.

In support of my November goal I have chosen to count calories for a few days just to reinforce my belief in my bearing. Those of you that follow me know I do not regularly count calories. The fact that I have chosen to do so should signal that I am determined to succeed in November and that I also am not leaving anything to chance, not even my comfort with not needing to count calories as a rule.

Up top there you see my dinner; a broiled salmon salad w/ stewed tomatoes & chilies. Dinner is often a tough challenge for me as I am usually at my most hungry at night and that meal is usually the most tempting to go over board with. Having shared that on twitter last night, how cool is twitter, Carla (MizFit) wasted no time jumping in to help me with that. At the end of out tweet chat I walked away with a tip from her, Thanks Carla! Oh, Carla shared some exciting news with all of us yesterday, if you missed it, then get on scoot'n over her way and check out one of Austin’s Fittest Mamas!

Her tip, simply since I usually cook dinner, and since I tend to nibble a bunch of extra calories as I cook; she suggested that if I must nibble to nibble away at the veg. Such a simple solution but yet one that has evaded me. Last night I chomped down a raw carrot while the salmon was cooking and I whipped up mashed potatoes for the rest of the family.

My daily target is between 1800 & 2000 calories a day on average. Yesterday I was pleased to see my days eating did just that; I calculate it all at the end of the day so I do not know for sure the numbers as they add up through put the day. Here is what I did yesterday calorie-wise using FitDay as a reporting tool...

The error in yesterday would seem to be too much fat. That is simply going a bit heavy on the almonds and also almond butter. If I cut that almond butter snack out then I'd have been at 40/35/25, which would still be too heavy in fat. All good to know, today I get to do better!

It is Election Day in the USA... Jody reminded all of us yesterday to get out and vote today. I scribbled this comment back at her and figured I'd link to her and re-scribble my own words here today as further reminder to all Americans to vote in this election. My scribbles, "I voted a couple of weeks ago, I love early voting. Yes, VOTE people. My friends in Chicago, I know you will vote often too. Have fun with it, when filling in the circles on the ballot use your non-dominant hand and see if you can stay with-in the lines. Or, if you vote via touch screen take a rubber band with you and see it you can shoot it from a foot away accurately at your preferred candidates; be careful, you wont want to miss. And if you still vote with a punch card, laugh out loud when they hand you your ballot and shout Viva 2000! Just Vote People!"

Did you Vote America?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 195 - Depend On Me

Continuing on the fashion show here, today I bring you this marvelous blue checkered short with tan'ish trousers. I have no idea if they are tan, or beige or whatever. Sort of like when you buy paint, it looks tan on on the paint chip card but the real name is Grand Bagel Delight - WTH is with that? Why do I have to be tempted with hunger while shopping for paint?! Oops, sorry, I got off topic. So anyhow, there is another new clothes picture for you.

Yesterday after work my wife & I decided to meet at Target to do some grocery & party shopping for the weekend. I arrived a good 30 minutes before she did so I decided to wander the store for a bit and saw a few items that I haven't purchased in years but brought back memories...

Silly Putty, this stiff was in my Christmas stocking every year. And like most stocking stuffers it was played with for 10 minutes at most before joining the rest of the small toys in the bottom of the large toy box. But for those 10 minutes my favorite thing to do with silly putty was rip off small chunks, pat my sister on the head leaving them in her hair...

Baseball cards, I owned thousands of these. I recall they cost about 25-cents for a pack of 12 or 15 cards. My mom wall papered a wall in my bedroom with several hundred, that was cool! This pack is $2.99 for 4 cards, yikes; not cool!...

Allow me to day how much I really do believe in today's word; Dependability. What does this word mean to you? Performing as required, that is what it means to me. Yes, a bit of Marine is coming though in me in that meaning...

When we think of dependability we usually think of it in the context of others we rely on being dependable. How often do we have those same thoughts focused back on ourselves?

Who is the primary person we have to depend on to get healthy? Simple question, right? It is ourselves. Your success is dependent upon your ability to perform as required.

Believing that as I do, is very comforting to me. I am most at ease when I am in control of myself. When my fate is not in my control, not only am I not at ease but I am not at my best.

Please don't get me wrong, we need help, we need others to stand arm-in-arm with in our mission. But if we can't depend first on ourselves then we ought not expect others to make being-healthy happen for us. It just doesn't work that way in personal health & fitness.

Responsibility 199, Gotta Do It!!

Day 194 - Courageously Burning Lettuce

To shed the darkness of obesity for something better is Courage necessary? If you consider embarking on a mission to get healthy to be very challenging, to be unknown in some respects if not many, or to be one where you success is at risk from the start; then you likley also consider courage to be a necessary attribute to embrace. If you disagree, please share with the class.


Good day yesterday, no great day. Had a follow up visit for my cheek scar and all is healing as it should at this point so says the doc, excellent. Got in the cardio I mentioned yesterday in the morning and followed that up with solid eating through to the end of the day. Let's see if I can follow that up with a repeat today.

For those that asked to see the new clothes, I am here to make your requests reality; feast your eyes to the right... clashes withe sea-foam'ish green walls doesn't it?

How many are a fan of the show Burn Notice? My kids love the show so I see it on from time to time, thus I am familiar with it. I win't go as far as to say I am a fan as if there aren't goals being scored or checkered flags being waved I have a hard time giving the television time.

That said, this not a post about a television show, rather it is sort of about calories. Each day we take in calories and burn off calories. Most if not all reading here understand how the math works. Knowing the math is important. No, it is critical for understanding the basics of health if I may dare say so.

Breathe easy, I am not going to bore you with a caloric math lesson. If you want that, there are a zillion websites, try this one. Or better yet, Allan over at Almost Gastric Bypass has written some great posts on the math, give his site a search.

Knowing the math, I am interested in how to make it a fun ride on the caloric teeter-totter? Why make it fun? Well, because I like it fun, and fun it will be. If that is not reason enough then consider my (or maybe your) dozens of previous missions to get healthy. Myself, many times I just plodded through focusing on the math, and just the math. Sadly, I quit each of those missions.

A common and key learning from all of those attempts; if you don't enjoy what you are doing, your chances of success are a skosh above zero. Accepting the mission to become healthy is hard enough, particarly mentally; why make it harder still by accepting that it has to be boring? Not me, not this time. Here is one way I try and keep it fun...

I wake up, and while attending to the 3-S's I ask, What will I burn off today?

Yesterday, I committed to burning off not exercising the day before, at least 400 calories.
Today, I committed to burning off a piece of birthday cake since I will be avoiding three birthday cakes this weekend. I do not plan on eating any, not one bite, but I am going to burn one off anyhow!
Recently, I committed to burning off 10 heads of lettuce. Figuring 75 calories per; 750 was my target that day.
Once, I committed to burning off all the carbs I ate the day before. Figured a target burn of 200 carbs or 800 calories; the biggest culprit in that number were the 150 carbs of spaghetti with bolognese from dinner.

Sound goofy? To some it will. To others it won't.

Getting healthy ought to be fun! So get busy having fun & fit.

What will you burn off today?

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 192 - Bacon & Belts

Yesterday was a good day, woke up early and hit the weights for an hour before work. Salads for both lunch (with tofu & egg) & dinner (with venison medallions). Looking for some even more good today.

Today's word is STRIVE. Striving for a day that is as near perfection as I can deliver. Perfection is impossible in my mind, we are human and not capable of it. But we can come very close and when we do, we succeed.

In yesterdays post I failed to mention a cool NSV. Last May, about 1 month after I started this mission, my wife & I went to game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals. We also went this past weekend. In the nearly 5 months between the two events I've accomplished the ability to sit in that seat without smushing my hips against the armrest & I can cross my legs comfortably. I am giving that an Oh yeah!


Deb over at Deb Shrinks (who I also gave a shout out to this past Sunday) was first to guess yesterdays picture riddle correctly; a safe. I wasn't sure if I gave away too much of the safe door in the photo, but, then I never know how much is too much in so many aspects of life. Several others later guessed similar. Hmmm, I need to find a real doozy for the next time. Um, is doozy a real word? 

From our 2 deer we harvested the backstraps & tenderloins, the rest is being made into 48 lbs of sausage-stix (like slim-jims) & 97 lbs of bacon. My wife thinks I am nuts (out right ROFLAO nuts)  for having so much of it made that way. Then last night the garage door repairman came by to do his job. Thirty minutes of manly hunting talk later he took a check to cover the cost of parts & 10 pounds of bacon as payment for his labor. Nuts huh :-)

When was the last time you bartered for something?

New clothing that was made possible when I notched 40% of my goal.

Yes, long-sleeve shirt weather is here.

Belt, new belt - but how long before I have to take a punch to this one?

It came with 7 holes, and I am using hole 5, so just 2 more to shrink into.

The belt a size smaller would have had me using hole 1 but the tip wouldn't reach under the loop, odd.

I sound like a fashion driven socialite and I am so the opposite, too funny.

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 191 - Pic At This

Thought I'd spend today putting up some pictures. Why not start with a picture of something, something that you may or may not know what it is. If you think you do, offer a guess, otherwise, I'll come back tomorrow with what it really is. So take your best guess, it costs nothing and won't hurt a bit.

- - -

Our daughter Ashley turned 18 this week. It was just another day as a high-school senior for her in most ways with one exception; she got to vote for her first time. Thanks to early voting in Illinois . Her birthday cake was as she wanted, a stack of chocolate donuts with candles on top; and it was for breakfast. Hey, she wanted chocolate donuts before getting off to soccer practice.

- - -

Part of her day also included a trip to a couple of banks to close out her children's savings account and get her properly set up to bank as an adult. I wonder if she can spot me $5 until Tuesday?

- - -.

My wife and I went for a walk yesterday evening. Felt good to get out and walk for some exercise, first real cardio I've done in a week. All of the neighborhood trees planted along the roadside parkways are void of leaves. The rapid leaf loss this year has more to do with the high winds of late versus the temperatures which have been quite warm the past few weeks.

- - -

Good thing I saw this lawn decoration while it was still a bit light out. If I hadn't noticed it until one of my 4:30 a.m. walks I may have well been freaked out enough to run. Hmmm, that may not have been a bad thing. We used to go bonkers on the holiday decorations when the kids were grade schoolers. These days they could careless and participate less in such things. Thus we do not decorate at all for Halloween and my once Grizwold like Christmas display pales in comparison to a decade ago.

- - -

This past weekend my wife & I went on a date. We took in our first hockey game of the 2010-11 campaign.

The Blackhawks 2010 Championship banner looks great hanging from the rafters of the United Center.

Now we need to get another, and another, and...

- - -

Today's word of the day is ABLE.

I am able to rule this day and end it healthier than I started it.

How was your weekend?

 Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!

Day 188 - Today's Word Is

As of late I have noticed more and more folks using visual aids for motivation. More specifically the use of single words scribbled on cubical white boards, or on sticky notes slapped on their monitors, refrigerators, etc., or even up on walls in the form of vinyl letter applications. Others we know goes as far as to tattoo their fave words that inspire them on their arms, legs, chests or...

Giving the use of single words some thought, I have decided to not get tattooed. Just want to end any anticipation I have may have created in the first paragraph that I am about to ink up here. Nothing wrong with ink, just not going there; not today anyhow. Giving thought, I believe that whatever we can find motivation in that gets us to set goals and achieve them, them leverage whatever that is. If it is a word, a quote, a poster of the U.S. Constitution, then get it up before your eyes and feed off of it.

We wade into each day with differing levels of energy, intensity, desire (how is that for some rapid-fire motivational words?)... Some days we need a bump to apply ourselves towards what we desire. Sometimes that bump is a simple nudge of a reminder that there is something worthy to be achieved today. And sometimes that bump is a hard slap to the face that you are in a hole and need to stop digging and climb up, out and move onward.

Motivation is whose responsibility? It is our own, What we say to ourselves, that is what more often than not is what keeps us on mission. A word, just one, can be all it takes to provide the bump of motivation needed today. Tomorrow, the same word may be the right word for the day. Or, maybe a different word is needed to get the fire started, stoked and ablaze. Perhaps one words gets the morning moving and it is another that is needed to carry the afternoon. To each his/her own!

What is your motivational word for this moment you are in?

For myself, you see mine for the moment there in the picture of my own cubical white board: DARE
I know, not your typical word that inspoires. But today I find I need to remind myself to DARE to be better. Being better is not easy, it is not just going to happen; I need to be bold enough to DARE myself to do that which is hard and requires effort if I want to reap the rewards that are quite obvious.

Not sure what word it is that will amp you up today, that's ok. Nothing wrong with doing a little word shopping for the one that pops up and grabs you...

Accomplish ~ Achieve ~ Act ~ Action ~ Ambition ~ Attain
Attitude ~ Believe ~ Challenge ~ Commit ~ Confidence
Control ~ Conquer ~ Courage ~ Desire ~ Determination
Empower ~ Encourage ~ Endure ~ Energy ~ Enthusiasm
Faith ~ Finish ~ Fire ~ Focus ~ Goals
Happiness ~ Honor ~ Humility ~ Imagine ~ Inspire
Integrity ~ Joy ~ Knowledge ~ Laugh ~ Learn
Love ~ Mission ~ Motivate ~ Opportunity ~ Overcome
Passion ~ Perseverance ~ Positive ~ Pride ~ Risk
Satisfaction ~ Spirit ~ Spunk ~ Strength ~ Succeed
Trust ~ Value ~ Wisdom ~ Zest ~ Chicago Blackhawks

Responsibility 199 - Gotta Do It!!