From 120 Pounds Overweight to MMA Champion
How To Drag Your Ass Out of Bed (Post 9)
Most of us probably use our cell phones as alarm clocks so we get to choose what sound we wake up to instead of that “Screech, screech, screech…” that most old school alarm clocks make. So; we got that going for us! I like to start with a positive. There are apps out there that will let you wake up to gently increasing chimes all the way to an actual drill sergeant type of guy yelling at you. Choose wisely.
Look, getting out of bed early before work to get a work out in sucks! Or even worse, on the weekends! Don’t I know it? I have a job and a family and I train to run some pretty crazy races. Currently I am signed up for the Triple Lakes Trail Race in Greensboro, North Carolina. Stupid me, I signed up for the 40 mile version. This will be the furthest I’ve tried to run yet.
Obviously, if I am going to be successful in October, I need to do the work now and everyday in between. This means on days where I cannot run during lunch or after work, I need to drag my ass out of bed. And I do. This all ties in to the first tip. Sign up for something. It could be 5k race or one of those obstacle course races, what ever floats your boat. Even recreational sports like soccer or softball, it doesn’t matter, as long as you put yourself “in training”. Then tell everyone you know about it. Once your friends and family know that you are signed up for something, you will feel obligated. Want to up the ante? Do something for a charity. Now you really have to get it done. That get’s my sorry butt out of bed every time.
If you can find someone crazy enough to exercise with you at that time, make a date! Knowing that you have someone else relying on you can be a great motivator. Assuming you actually like this person, you may actually look forward to it. You can also do a little socializing while you’re getting after it. Just make sure you get after it MORE then you socialize.
Have a plan. Each week on Sunday, normally after my long run for the week, I plan out the next week. Knowing that I hate the mornings, I look at the calendar and the mileage I need to do each day and I try to plan as much as possible for the times that I like. Lunch runs and early evening are my favorites, but not always practical. If you follow me on Strava, you’ll see that the weekend miles can get pretty big. After that is done, I finally look at the days where I need to get up to squeeze my run in prior to work and I schedule it. Simple as that. It is not an option, it’s on the calendar!
Life is a choice. Don’t work out because you have to, do it because you want to. Make it your time. I always feel better after my run. Many times, problems that I have been struggling with suddenly seem small or a solution pops in to my head. A lot of ideas for the blog just materialize when I’m running. It’s my therapy, and it allows me the seldom indulgence. I like beer and I like to eat! I deserve my runs, and I earn my beers and food.
If all else fails, just suck it up. Sekou Andrews is an amazing poet and one of my favorite lines of his is: “You must want to be a butterfly so badly; you are willing to give up being a caterpillar.” I am not a great poet, so this is what I’ll say “Own your shit.” How bad do you REALLY want it? Bad enough to get out of bed? Tell me your tricks for dragging your butt out of bed in the comments section, as I am sure that you have better ones than I do!
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Just Jump! (Post 8)
Mission Statement (Post 7)
Surfing around Instagram the other day, I came across this little bit of wisdom: “If someone ever tells you that you are putting too much peanut-butter on your bread, stop talking to them. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life.” Can I get an “Amen!”? Everything on the internet seems to be negative right down to the way people treat each other in the comments section. Why are people so quick to push people down instead of lifting them up? I understand that no one clicks on a headline that says “Man Went to Work Today, Kissed His Wife, and Then Played with His Kids”. But THAT’s the kind of story I want people to read. Well maybe not that boring, but positive!
Everyday I come in to contact with ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Some examples are already posts on this blog, but other examples of people that I know are as follows:
- A couple that decided to open their own business despite having successful careers
- A teenager that decided to give a TEDx talk
- A young person that decided to bungee jump for the first time
- A woman who started her own record label while still in university
- People who have stepped up to the challenge of parenting someone who is not their own child
- Friends that are living DESPITE terrible diseases or injuries, refusing to let the disease define them
- Kids that made decisions that impacted their entire life, that quite frankly, no kid should have to make
I even know this one guy who just up and started a blog because he was sick and tired of all of the negativity in the world. (Wink, wink!) This world is a beautiful place, with beautiful people, lets hear about some of that for a change. So, here is my mission and my vision.
“Our mission is to help people realize that they are capable of more than they think by creating a global community where people share their stories and provide support to each other on their journeys.” No one is allowed to tell anyone else that they are putting too much peanut-butter on their sandwich!
The way that I envision making this happen is right there in the mission statement. I want to create a global community, and to do that I really need your help. This blog is only going to be as good as its readers and participants. To create this global community, I need people to subscribe. It only takes a minute or two. You put your e-mail address in and then you will get a link sent to you that you need to click on to confirm your subscription. This step is to make sure you are a human being. That’s it. Done.
Why do I need you to subscribe? Well, the first reason is that you will get notified each time there is a new blog post, so you won’t miss any of the inspiring stories. (I try to be funny when I can, but the jury is still out on that one.) Secondly, when you are a subscriber and after I have approved one of your posts, you are then part of the community. You can leave comments and join discussions freely! And that is where the magic will happen. For our community to share ideas and provide support; there needs to BE a community! Who knows, I may even reach out to you to share your story! If all I write about is me, you will all get bored. In fact, I will get bored! I know me pretty good and I’m not that great!
Finally, have you ever wanted to be a part of something before it blew up? “I was part of “Facebook” when it was still “the Facebook”.” Well; here’s your chance! The blog is six days old and we have had 302 unique visitors from over 15 countries already. If things go well today, we will celebrate our 1000th hit! So jump on the bandwagon and let’s blow this thing up together! I’m not asking you to be my friend on Facebook; I’m asking you to be my friend. Join the community and be inspired, inspire others, and we’ll have some laughs along the way!
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P.S. I will not share your e-mail address, or sell it, or perform any other mischievous deed with it. I PROMISE!
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