Tag Archives: Challenge Yourself

Embrace the day

Yesterday might have not gone how you wanted it to.

Tomorrow can go either way, we don’t know.

However, we can create today and live in the moment.

Failures and successes from the past are just that. Failures and successes in the past. They do not have a direct correlation on how you will become successful today. Unless you plan to dwell on the failures and let them shape your view of the present.

Create the day you want. Live it with gratitude. Do not let yesterday dictate today.

Make it the best day!

-K

Surround yourself with greatness

Who you choose to surround yourself with matters.

Select friends who reflect your values. Surround yourself with people who will drive you to be better, support your decisions and challenge you to be a better person.

You will notice an immediate change in your attitude and outlook. Surrounding yourself with great people isn’t the same as having a bunch of ‘yes’ men or women. These friends will share your values but provide challenges to help you grow and learn.

Create the reality you desire and bring the best friends along for the ride.

Make it the best day!

-K

Goals

What is your ultimate goal? Is it to retire in 5 years? Sky dive everyday until you are 90?

Whatever that goal is, plan a route to get there. Create one big, huge goal. Then work backwards to find the best way to achieve it.

You will surprised by far you can break down a seemingly impossible goal and make it a reality.

As Bill Murray said in the hilarious movie – What about Bob? – “Baby steps Dr. Marvin, baby steps.”

Single out your goal. Plan the steps to get there. Put it on a timeline and make it happen!

Make it the best day!

-K

 

Snooze

The snooze alarm. Your favorite button on the clock or your phone?

What if you woke up feeling refreshed and didn’t hit that darn thing every morning?

Give it a try to see how you feel. Instead of staying up watching TV for the last half hour before bed, turn off all electronics and go through your nighttime routine.

The lack of artificial light will help your body get ready for sleep. When you fall asleep quicker you have the opportunity to get more rest.

Better sleep equates to more energy in the morning and waking up feeling refreshed.

Give that snooze button a rest and wake up when that alarm goes off.

Make it the best day!

-K

Explore

Explore your neighborhood, your town, your city and your state.

Have you done all that already?

Get out of the country!

With our finite time to roam and adventure around the earth make the best and the most of it! See what other cultures are like. Explore their food and the art. Take in a foreign city at midnight under the lights.

Life is about adventure. Packing up a tent and camping in the middle of anywhere!

Sipping a wine and eating a snack on the sidewalk.

Create adventure at every turn. Make the world your playground. If you can only go around  your town or state, explore places you have never been!

Take a step outside your comfort zone and your routine. Bring a friend or record it with photos.

Constantly create.

Never stop exploring!

Make it the best day!

-K

Fear of Failure

Confronted with a decision, our gut instinct is to choose the path that avoids failure. Which path is less likely to result in failure? That is not necessarily a good or bad thing in itself.

However, when we look at the decisions we make throughout the day, how many times did we take the safe path? How many times did we take the ‘riskier’ path that could have resulted in failure but also a greater reward in the end?

It is an instinct to choose the easy path to our chosen version of success. Nine times out of ten if we knew one path would give us less than modest returns, but require little effort. We would end up taking that road. What about the other road? A little more effort but instead of a 1/2 step forward it is a leap?! How do you get that reward? You have to be willing to accept failure.

Failure in itself it not bad.

If you fail, you will learn more from your experience and be able to move forward faster and with more knowledge.

We know this from famous quotes about failure being the first step to success.

“Failure isn’t fatal, but failure to change might be” – John Wooden

“If you don’t try at anything, you can’t fail… it takes back bone to lead the life you want” – Richard Yates

“You build on failure. You use it as a stepping stone. Close the door on the past. You don’t try to forget the mistakes, but you don’t dwell on it. You don’t let it have any of your energy, or any of your time, or any of your space.” – Johnny Cash

Rethink what failure is. Why have we classified it as bad thing? If your choices that you made throughout the day were down the ‘risky’ path imagine where you would be at the end of the day.

Leaps and bounds from where you woke up, instead of a 1/2 step from where you were.

Make it the best day!

-K

Multi-level touch points

In business or personal relationships there are many opportunities for touch points. They can range from personal (stopping in and saying hello) to impersonal (sending an email).

As we move through our life we consider the best way to reach out to others. They can hit any point of the personal or not so personal meter. Always remember there is more than one option and the touch point you use will be determined by your desired outcome.

Email has its time and place as does the stop in. However, we all know that there is a time trade-off with each of these modalities.

The next time you need to make a touch point with a client or personal relationship consider your desired result. Do you wan to be another email in the flurry of hundreds and be easily forgettable? Or would you rather make an impact and be the client or friend that goes the extra mile?

All touch points have their time and place. Be mindful of when and how you select yours. Craft it to your situation and the desired reaction and outcome you would like to achieve.

Make it the best day!

-K

Finding your zen and exploring your zone

What makes you happy and gives you the feeling of being at ease?

Today for me it was on the spin bike with the right music. I was flooded with feelings that made my Monday morning more enjoyable than I could have thought. At minute two my thoughts gravitated towards the following.

  • Being present
  • Setting an intention
  • Positive affirmations
  • Gratitude
  • Motivation
  • Clearing my head

Your happy place and space can be anywhere doing anything. Try to find it more than once a week. You will feel recharged and do things you didn’t think possible.

Make it the best day!

-K

Look up

Many times we get find ourselves looking down or looking behind. Rarely do we look up and forward to what lies ahead. Human nature leads us to think about the past and how we could have done something better or smarter.

Try looking forward and forgetting about the past. You can’t change what happened 2 days or 2 minutes ago. We have the power to change what will happen next. So let’s focus on that.

If we continue to dwell on the past or be bummed about our current situation, nothing will change. Something happened that you are not thrilled about? Don’t dwell on it. Pick your head up, focus on the next task and give it your best effort.

Always look ahead, do the best you can and the results will follow.

Make it the best day!

-K

Lift Fast

There is a comfort in going to gym and doing the same routine. Same weights, same reps, same amount of time on the treadmill, same gains or lack there of.

Your body needs challenges and adjustments to your routine. This can be achieved in many ways from lifting heavier, increasing reps, adjusting the sets. One method of training that most people overlook is speed.

As we get older our speed slows down. We are less active in sports and we choose more leisure activities (drinking beer, sitting down…you get the idea). A key component of training is keeping those fast twitch muscle fibers active. Even if you only lift for speed once a week you will see the benefits.

Lifting with speed is easy and it’s hard. Easy because the weight is about 50% what you would consider “heavy”. It is hard because you have to control the weight while moving faster.

I would recommend starting these speed sessions on machines. They are easier to control and you can limit your chance of injury if you lose control or move too fast.

Take your weight you can normally lift for 6-8 reps and knock off about 55% of that. Then do 4 sets of 10 at fast but controlled pace. The weight should be moving less than one second in each direction. Remember it’s about speed!! Take a minute break and do it again. After you have completed 4 sets of once exercise move to the next.

Don’t overdo it off the bat. Try this with a push movement, a pull movement and an air squat (you can load the squat with dumbbells if you would like)

Remember, our bodies like change. Let’s feed the body new movements and feel great doing it!

Make it the best day!

-K