Carpe Diem!

"Get action. Seize the moment. Man was never intended to become an oyster." - Theodore Roosevelt

Every day presents an opportunity to: 

• Achieve daily goals
• Make progress in achieving your weekly, monthly, long term goals
• Learn something new
• Meet somebody new
• Be a positive impact on somebody's life
• Be a better you

Are you "seizing the day" and making the most of it? Or are you so focused on the future that you lose site of the present? 

Goals are great. You won't find many more people that are bigger on goal setting than me: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, 5 year, 10 year, 20 year...but too much future focus can quite easily make you lose site of the achievements and successes around you on this present day (including your family/friends around you). 

Make sure that you work the above bullets into your daily and weekly goals/tasks/things-to-do lists. Happiness studies show that people who achieve goals, connect socially, and/or are a part of something bigger than themselves are happier and more fulfilled than those that don't. 

Don't let the obstacles or failures of the day get you down. If you look at obstacles and failures with positive optimism and a "bring it on" attitude you'll make the most of them by learning and growing to be a better, stronger, smarter person.

Every day is an opportunity. Make the most of it - ENJOY IT. 

Who are you to judge?

"If you judge people you have no time to love them" - Mother Teresa 

An article popped up online Saturday in my local newspaper about two teen girls that died in a car accident literally blocks away from where the North Shore WAC is located. They were 15 year old girls that were driving together at 2am and when a police officer went to pull them over for a broken headlight they took off and wound up crashing a short time later. What would be your first response to hearing that two 15 year old girls tragically died in a car accident? (you can read the article here if you would like)

As I read the article and scrolled to the bottom where the comments were I was shocked to read that the first handful of comments were all filled with hurtful judging. Not hurtful for me, but for the families and friends of the girls involved in the accident. (the comments are no longer on the article from what I've seen, maybe due to the heated arguments)

Yes, these girls should not have been out at 2am driving together on just a learner's permit, but to show no remorse and instead attack the parents of these girls for not being good parents and keeping a better watch on them and comment about alcohol, etc is inexcusable. The story just broke and there were no details except the story above. Being who I am, I came to their defense and commented back on every one of the negative comments (and through the power of Facebook was able to find out none of the people with negative comments had children...imagine that). How awful would it be for those parents to come across this article and read those comments? (and due to the power of social media many friends and some family did unfortunately come across the hurtful comments)

Details later unfolded that alcohol was not a factor and the mother of the girl that was driving was out of town with no idea of what happened. 

Who are we to judge people? Are we so perfect and without fault that we have the right to look down upon others? Let thee who is without sin cast the first stone...there's a reason nobody threw the first stone. 

Judging others is a bad habit that fills the mind and heart with negativity. When the mind and heart contain negativity there's less room for the positive. If you wish to be truly positive you have to rid yourself of the nasty habit of judging. Try, in all situations, to see the good in people. This takes practice, but if you find yourself judging or talking bad about someone, catch it and end it right then and there. If you aren't careful to pull the weeds out of the flower bed, soon the weeds will overtake the flowers and you're left with a bed of weeds. 

Have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the time with your family

Don't Quit

I'm preparing for a goal setting workshop I'll be presenting for all of our North Shore WAC members and a few days ago was looking for a motivational piece that people could turn to when they hit obstacles.

I've heard this poem before and had to share it with all of you. I hope this motivates and inspires you to not give us and keep working to overcome whatever mountain you're currently climbing or whatever obstacle lays in your path. [YouTube version]

DON'T QUIT

 

When things go wrong as they sometimes will, 

When the road you are trudging seems all up hill; 

When funds are low and the debts are high, 

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh; 

When care is pressing you down a bit, 

Rest, if you must, but don't you quit. 

Life is queer with its twists and turns, 

As every one of us sometimes learns. 

And many a failure turns about 

When we might have won had we stuck it out; 

Don't give up though the pace seems slow - 

You may succeed with another blow. 

Success is failure turned inside out - 

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt. 

And you can never tell how close you are. 

It may be near when it seems so far; 

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit - 

It's when things seem worst that you MUST NOT QUIT

The Secret to Dealing With Difficult People

Great article from the Harvard Business Review on dealing with difficult people.

Here are my biggest take-a-ways:

1. The problem with being a victim is that you cede the power to the influence your circumstances. 
2. You're not going to change them. The only person you have the possibility of changing is yourself.
3. Use the "reverse lens" and see things from their point of view. Walk in their shoes and try to understand why they feel the way they do. They have a strong conviction for their way of thinking and you of yours; why?

How you deal with difficult people can have a direct reflection on you and your attitude. A difficult person getting you off kilter for a few moments afterward is OK, but if you let it affect you for longer than that it's something you need to address within yourself. Do not give that situation or person power over your attitude!

Look deep within yourself and resolve that you will not let negative people or situations influence your day. Use self affirmations if needed - after dealing with that person, tell yourself that "I'm a great person and handled that situation to the best of my ability. Today is a great day and nobody will change that." Once you've driven this into your subconscious it will become habit and you will quickly and easily overcome these situations.

If there are problems reoccurring with the same person then try the "reverse lens". Everybody always think they're right and it's likely that you're both right, in your own mind, for different reasons. Examining it this way can help you remain calm and not let the situation affect you. However, if the problems continue time and time again you should have a one-on-one with that person and calmly, politely express your concerns over the relationship.

What are your thoughts from the article or in dealing with difficult people in general? I would love to hear from you!

Rapid Fat Loss Secret

"People are so worried what they eat between Christmas and the New Year, but they really should be worried about is what they eat between the New Year and Christmas." Author Unknown


No ifs, ands, or buts about it, nutrition is easily 80% of the weight loss battle. No matter how hard you work or what you do, if you aren't eating right you will not achieve your optimal desired results. Your body is a machine and machines need the correct fuel.

However, this isn't about nutrition, this is about utilizing the best possible workout method to help facilitate fat loss. You will actually work out less and achieve better, faster results than logging boring miles on the treadmill. The secret to rapid fat loss is something called interval training.

Intervals alternate a "work" time period with a "recovery" time period. Typical "work" periods could range from 10 seconds to 1 minute and "recovery" periods could range from 30 seconds to 3 minutes. The standard rule is the recovery period period should be 2-3 times the length of the work period to give your heart rate time to come back down.

The work periods will be at a very high intensity - anywhere from 90%+ of you max heart rate whereas the rest periods will be at a lower intensity. My personal rule of thumb when doing intervals is that I want my working heart rate to get up into the low to mid 90s and my recovering heart rate to get down into the 60s.

There are a variety of ways to go about intervals - running/biking outside, treadmills, bikes, stair machines, etc. I typically will do intervals on a treadmill going at the fastest speed I can maintain good running form at for anywhere from 30-60 seconds with a recovery period of anywhere from 90 seconds to 2 minutes. To hit my desired heart ranges, for example, I may do a 30 second period at 12.0mph with a 90 second period at 3.5 mph. Do this anywhere from 8-10 times and you have a tremendously efficient, calorie burning, metabolism spiking, fat torching workout done in less than 30 minutes (with a warm-up and cool-down).

Intervals are so effective because they cause dramatic heart rate highs and lows that shock the body and cause a metabolism spike similar to that of weight training. Jogging at a steady state, even for a longer period of time, may burn about the same calories, but it won't give you the metabolism spike. The metabolism spike is what helps you continue to burn calories at a higher level over the course of the next 24-48 hours. Over time, these continued spikes and excess calorie burning result in greater fat loss.

There are a variety of work/recovery options and interval methods you can use. Get a heart rate monitor, pick your favorite cardio method, and have at it. If you're not used to getting your heart rate into the mid 80s+ you may only be able to do a few intervals, and you may need to rest longer, but start there and try to add one more interval each week. Your body can do amazing things and you'll quickly notice that over the course of a few weeks, if you're doing intervals 2-3 times per week, your heart will adapt and you'll be able to workout at higher intensities for a longer period of time with less recovery between intervals.

This really works - studies have proven it and I can personally attest to it. I am NOT a distance/endurance athlete and over time these have done wonders for decreasing my body fat and increasing my heart efficiency. I had a physical when applying for life insurance and the person had to double check my resting heart rate because it was in the high 40s - similar to that of marathon runners (average heart rate is in the 70s)! Give it a try, monitor your fat/weight loss results, monitor your heart rate versus work/recovery times, and let me know how you do! I would love to hear about your success.

For any questions please contact me at amarkos@thewac.com and I would be happy to help.