Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 14, Doing Things

Today is my sister Cindy's birthday. It seems like yesterday we were children skipping around the coffee table on Easter morning with our Easter baskets in hand (we have some unusual family traditions). Time passes much quicker than we expect. Except, perhaps, when it comes to our goals and dreams.

It sometimes seems like time stands still when it comes to things we desire. We often don't know in which direction to turn or what to do next. But the truth is, you do know. You simply think of what you want to accomplish and do it. If you focused on what you wanted and sought to accomplish it, your life would change.

The founder of Southwest Airlines, Herb Kelleher, said the secret of his and his airline's success was just "doing things." He started from a plan on a napkin and built one of the most profitable and successful airlines in history by doing things that crossed his mind. He acted on what he wanted and his dream came true.

So, when time seems to stand still in the accomplishment of your goals, take a minute and think. Then, do what you already know you should do. It is subjective and personal and don't let others talk you out of it. There is real power in action and momentum.

"He who every morning plans the transaction of the day, and follows out that plan, carries on a thread which will guide him through the labyrinth of the most busy life."-Hugh Blair

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 13, Live As If You Were Dying

Almost a year ago, by good friend and neighbor, Hopie Eubanks, passed away. It was a shock to me. I had just talked to him the night before his death; I had called him on my way to the airport and asked him to look out for a package being delivered to my house. He sounded his usual upbeat and cheerful self at that time, but he was hiding his pain and sickness. The next morning, he was gone. He was 80 years old. He had lived 29,227 days.

I am sure Hopie had not planned on April 2 being his last day. He was a religious man, so I am sure he was ready when that number arrived. Are you? The old cliché "live this day as if it were your last" is often spoken with little thought to it. What would you do differently if your numbered days were up? Would you complain about the weather? About your work? About how messed up the traffic is in your town? Even your health? I don't think you would. In fact, you would probably appreciate all you have and have been given. Somehow, the things we worry about would no longer matter.

To live your life as if it were the last day (for one day it certainly will be) is tough. It is contrary to how most of us live. Because living as if your days are numbered takes discipline and courage. It requires a new mindset. With this new way of thinking, you would probably see life not as a process, but one of acceptance. In short, it is about perspective.

Our goals and our lives should have perspective. You should look at the big picture and strive for what is good and pure and excellent. Create your own life statement and define what is true for yourself. Surround yourself with people that matter and celebrate with them often. Be grateful for the number of days you have been given; make each and everyone count if you can. We each have been given great gifts; please don't squander them. Make a difference and live all your days as if they were your last.


" ... taking the long way home through the market I slow my pace down. It doesn't come naturally. My legs are programmed to trot briskly and my arms to pump up and down like pistons, but I force myself to stroll past the stalls and pavement cafes. To enjoy just being somewhere, rather than rushing from somewhere, to somewhere. Inhaling deep lungfuls of air, instead of my usual shallow breaths. I take a moment to just stop and look around me. And smile to myself. For the first time in a long time, I can, quite literally, smell the coffee." ~Alexandra Potter, The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 12, Just Say No

Distractions and setbacks are a normal part of life. They are often exasperating and can slow us down; the goal is to minimize them and move on. External factors are always present, whether they are people, untimely events, or acts of nature. They greatly influence the way we behave.

Perhaps the most powerful influence is from people. Your friends and associates, by their words and expectations, often affect how you act and react. Most of us want to be good and please others; so we go along to get along. Unfortunately, people pleasing can prevent us from achieving our goals and desires.

In the 1980s, there was an add campaign against drug abuse that featured the First Lady at the time. In it, she made famous the words "just say no." It was catchy in its simplicity and straight-forwardness. "Just say no" to outside influence. These three words returned the power of control to the individual. Saying the words and obeying them prevented unwanted consequences.  In a like manner, you can use these words stay on track toward your goals.

You don't have to let others side track you from achievement. You have the power to decline invitations. You have the ability to associate with whom you like. You have the power to make your goals a priority. In the end, you can't please all people. Seek those that support you and just say no to the rest. Make your time count; be true to yourself and goals.

"I don't know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody."-Bill Cosby

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 10, Gratitude

By now, you should be noticing some changes in your life, and hopefully they are for the better. And for those changes, you should be grateful. Yes, grateful. Gratitude is an often-overlooked habit and one that can be developed.

My good friend and coach (and Olympic torch bearer), Chris Janzen (www.triathletemind.com), introduced me to the daily habit of thinking about five things for which I should be grateful. At first, it took a little work and practice. But I soon learned there is plenty in life for which to give thanks. Simple things like food, breathing, and health came easily to mind. Then I expanded it to what I had learned in life, what friends had given me, and how blessed I have been with a wonderful, caring, and loving family. Now, every night before I fall asleep, I easily think upon the good things given to me by God that day.

Why is being grateful important in habit building? Because it builds a feeling of happiness and contentment; it can give a sense of pride and comfort. It helps maintain feelings of calm when you think the odds are stacked against you. Reminding yourself of how fortunate you are with the little or big victories in life is inspiring. And most importantly, that reminder comes from within and is not dependent upon the external world.

So, this week, take my friend Chris' advice, and start thinking of how you have been blessed; before you fall asleep at night, write down in your journal, or simple recall, five things for which you are grateful. Give blessing to God for the wonderful things in your life. Think on the positive and uplifting, and congratulate yourself for the progress you have made so far.


"I am grateful for what I am and have.
My thanksgiving is perpetual...
O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches.
No run on my bank can drain it
for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment."
-Henry David Thoreau

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 9, Drifting

I don't know how you perceive the headlines news, but to me it appears to be more negative and designed to persuade rather than inform. Watching or reading most of it tends to raise my blood pressure and leaves me questioning its accuracy. Very little of it is neutral or objective reporting; the talking heads or newspaper reporters seem to interject their personal views more often than not.

We are greatly influenced by what we read and see. Whether or not you agree with the way stations or papers report life around us, they greatly influence many of us on how we see the world. The media's hidden agendas often tend to bend your thoughts away from the neutral and toward their way of thinking.

However, if you have a clearly developed set of goals and work on them day-in-and-day-out, you can avoid being set adrift in the news media's, or other’s, own world. Personally defined goals and destinations prevent you from falling in line with false aims and goals that are not your own. Your goals provide legitimate ways to improve yourself and prevent others from persuading you toward their ends.

This week, renew your faith in you own goals and then turn off the TV news, stop reading biased reporting, or being persuaded by other people’s concerns. If you are serious about improving and making positive change for yourself, don't listen to others, but concentrate your efforts on self-improvement and building your own potential instead. You can transform your world and you don't need others, especially the news media, to tell you how.

“Every day you spend drifting away from your goals is a waste not only of that day, but also of the additional day it takes to regain lost ground."
- Ralph Marston

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 7, Course Corrections

"Everyone has a plan — until they get punched in the face." - Mike Tyson

Your goal, like a travel destination, requires movement in the right direction and lots of corrections to arrive at the final point. When a pilot takes to the air flying to a destination, the flight is not a perfect line. Instead, due to weather deviations, wind, other traffic, controlling agencies, and lots of other outside factors, the plane and the pilot have to make corrections. These corrections can be little or large.

In a similar manner, when you go off course seeking your goal, you must correct back. That requires making adjustments in attitude, enthusiasm, and methods. You wouldn't want a pilot to turn around and land as soon as he took off because he encountered normal winds that shifted his course. Instead, you rely on him to make attitude adjustments to get you to your destination. Likewise, you encounter factors that will shift your course. Don't quit with the first signs of a threat. Instead, shift your path and continue onward.

Deal with the threats as they arise and have a plan to correct back toward your goal. Much like flying, these adjustments require forethought and planning. If plan "A" doesn't work, then resort to plan "B". Contingencies are better thought up ahead of time than in the middle of flight when the threat appears. Each threat is an opportunity to grow and change course, adapt and rework your plan.

The shifts will require adjusting your energy and attitude. Try to stay fit and healthy. Staying up late, overeating, getting drunk, skipping meals all force you of course. Tack back to the right direction with healthy living. Look after your mental, spiritual, and emotional energy as well. Take time to relax and enjoy life; too much pressure to achieve often prevents its accomplishment. Find the right mix of energy and continue on toward your goal; when the winds blow strongly, get back up there - upwards and onwards.

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 6, Planting seeds

Robert Lewis Stevenson said, " Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant." Movement toward our goals requires constant action- a planting of seeds, so to speak. We can't sit ideally and expect big things to happen. We must move and adjust.

This week we have to keep moving and do something that makes us uncomfortable. We can't be afraid to try new actions. So, you must to pick something you haven't done before and attempt it. Take a step outside of your comfort zone. I have. I got Invisalign braces for my teeth. Although they were recommended by my dentist to correct an alignment problem, I could have talked myself out of it.

Excuses like: I'm too old; my teeth look good as they are; it's really not a big problem; I can live with it; and, it will take too long. I came up with lots of excuses not to do it, and most of them were out of fear. But, I went ahead and got them even though I was a little scared (I was the oldest patient in the Orthodontist's office when I visited, but not his oldest patient overall). Now, I am moving forward in correcting that problem and achieving another goal. I feel very good about my action.

What are you afraid of in moving toward your goal? Scared of joining that spin class? Panicked about submitting your novel to an editor? Are you afraid of going back to school? Don't want to hire that trainer to help you lose weight? How about playing your musical instrument in front of others? The list of excuses is enormous as are our fears. So, this week, just do it. Action is the key. Plant the seed and you will enjoy the future harvest.

"When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." -Confucius

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 5, Moving On

Are you still with me? Please, hang in there as you build upon your habits and keep your commitment to yourself and others; don’t get frustrated or give up now. Your momentum is slowly building and soon it will be unstoppable.

A big part of achieving your goals is doing what others will not do. In essence, you must form habits that others don't like to do; you must have the mental stamina to develop the small, daily steps that will achieve your goals. It takes mental strength, but like all strength, you build it by repetitive use. Your mind is a powerful tool and can used to build your goals.

For your mind and body to perform at a higher level, you must let go of the old and replace it with the new. We must throw away things we no longer use, clear time in our schedules, let go of negative people. We can't do it all at once, but we can take the little steps every day to clean house. To move forward with your new goal, you must close up the loose ends of your past and replace them with the ideals of the future.

This week, start replacing and finishing up things that slow you down. Write down your list of things that aggregate you. This list can include, among many things: unpaid debts, promises not met, disorganized rooms, people that you need to forgive or forget, bad food choices, poor time management. The inventory is endless, but each one of us has a "list of aggravations." It is time to confront it, close it up, and then replace it with something better.

Moving toward your new goals is a lot easier when you are free of worries and concerns that cause resistance. As you build on your plan this week, actively work to replace or eliminate bad habits and thoughts. The momentum toward achievement will start moving faster and faster as we rid ourselves of the things that hold us back.

Press forward and continue to climb. Better things are coming your way.


“Even though you may want to move forward in your life, you may have one foot on the brakes. In order to be free, we must learn how to let go. Release the hurt. Release the fear. Refuse to entertain your old pain. The energy it takes to hang onto the past is holding you back from a new life. What is it you would let go of today?” — Mary Manin Morrissey

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 4, The Way You Think

One of our biggest challenges is to control our own thoughts. Have you ever listened to yourself think? Our thoughts often jump from idea to idea, much like a monkey in a cage. In fact, Buddhist refer to man's mind as "monkey mind" because most of us have unsettled, indecisive, uncontrolled thoughts most of the time.

Without control, your thoughts are often your own worst enemy. They can prevent you from starting or even sabotage the best of plans. They can actively work against the achievement of your dreams. They don't even require the help of other people. We often convince ourselves, before we even start, that we are a failure or don't have what it takes to accomplish a goal.

We believe the stories we tell ourselves, whether they be good or bad ones. When you think you can't do something, the mind conjures up reasons to support it. We build a great story of failure before we even try. But there is an alternative. We can tell ourselves good, powerful stories of success if we so decide. If we have been telling ourselves negative lies over time, like everything, it takes work to change for the better.

Whatever occupies our mind usually becomes our reality. To change our thoughts requires that we use our imagination. If you want improvement and achievement of your goals, your mind needs to focus on improvement and achievement, not destruction and failure. An idea that exclusively occupies your mind usually turns into reality.

So this week’s challenge is to focus on the good, and the pure, and what you want to accomplish. Learn to replace the negative stories with positive, uplifting ones. It will take willpower and determination. Overcome the self-conflict and build a strong story of success for yourself. After all, as my dad has always told me, you are what you focus upon.


“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” ― Henry David Thoreau

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 3

Habit: a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.

Have you noticed how many people make New Year's resolutions and fail to follow through with them? By this time of year, merely three weeks into the new one, most people have already abandoned their new goals. Many have never even started.

Why is that? The easy answer is because it is hard. It is hard to break old ways of doing things and start new ones. And if you try to break old ways of doing things, you can simply fall back into past practices. It is just plain comfortable to continue doing things the old way. But change often involves discomfort; growth, however, requires it.

So this week, we need to be a little uncomfortable; we need to try something new to move forward. The uncomfortable feeling won't last for long if we build upon it. How do we do that? We make it a habit.

We have plenty of habits, some good, some bad. We are looking to replace the bad ones with new ones that will move us in the direction of our dreams. So take a minute now and think of your yearly goals. Are all of your habits moving you toward achievement of those dreams? Does watching TV for three to four hours a day move you toward being more physically fit? Does eating dessert after lunch and dinner help you lose weight? Or, does surfing the web over and over help you write that book?

We must start breaking bad habits and replacing them with good ones this week. Take small steps. Cut your dessert in half this week and try to cut it again next week. Start walking or jogging; a small distance at first, and increase the distance a small amount weekly. Don't check your e-mails as often; instead, write a few paragraphs. Look at you monthly benchmarks from last week and develop new weekly habits to achieve them.

It is the little things that are done consistently over time that will yield big results. New habits take time to become the normal. Before long, you will be new person with a new way of doing things. It just takes a little perseverance. Start now.


"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." -Aristotle

Fifty-Two Week Challenge: Week 2

Hopefully you now have a few goals and a system to hold yourself accountable. But merely having the goals and a system will not achieve your desires. We need to break the goal down into achievable steps.

The easiest way is by purchasing a yearly calendar (I like Moleskine). Write you goals down at the end of the year; then, break them down into twelve achievable, small steps and place each one in prior months. Sounds simple, but it takes some time and thought.    No big goal can be reached in a single bound, but it takes baby steps to get there; but, we have time on our side.

Each baby step is a benchmark. We simply need to meet our monthly benchmarks to achieve our big end-of-year goal. Consistency and discipline will turn our little steps into dreams come true. I have seen it with my own life time and again; from law school while working full time to finishing four full Ironman events, I have employed this method. You must be willing to do the little things daily, weekly, and monthly to achieve your end results.

Change the way you think; don't expect miracles, hitting the jackpot, or others coming to the rescue will change your lot in life. It is up to each of us to make our lives better, and, the lives of others in the process. What we do day in and day out makes all the difference. Make what you do with your health, business, personal life, and finances count for the better. Don't leave them to chance; break your goals down and start today. You will not be sorry at the end of the year.

Fifty-two Week Challenge: Week 1

Over the next fifty-two weeks of the new year (2013), I am asking that you join me in a challenge. It is a challenge to be our best and attempt things we have always wanted. Each week, I will attempt to post a simple task; a task that will move us in the directions of our dreams and goals.

We can accomplish a lot in a year. The secret is movement and time. We must commit to goals and action. The goals will be defined by you; they will be personal and only you have to know what they are if you so choose. I will simply give guidelines to assist in achieving those goals. If we each take the time, we can improve our world in so many ways. I hope you join me in the challenge, and with each small step, move closer to the life you desire.

 The first week is about motivation- what will it take to get and keep you moving toward your dreams. Whatever your dream, to lose weight, write a novel, start a business, you have to be motivated and accountable. This week we have to figure out how we can be held accountable. Some methods would involve hiring a coach, posting your written goals in a prominent place, keeping a daily journal, sharing your desires with like-minded people, or use an app to track your progress. The task this week is to devise a method of your own to hold yourself accountable for tracking movement toward your goal. Today simply choose one method you will use and start using it.

 An example of one of my simple goals is saving $1,378 over the next fifty-two weeks to donate to a charity. I posted the chart I will use on FaceBook yesterday to accumulate that amount. To hold myself accountable, I have placed a large stein with my Alma Mater's seal on it on my dresser. I can't help but see it daily with the dollar bills in it. In addition, I was also publicly challenged by a FB friend- this challenge, and the sight of the mug, will keep me accountable to reach the monetary goal.

That's it for this week- simple and straightforward. But it is a step in a new direction. A direction that will yield big results with small steps. The important thing is to get started- and started now. Today is the day to make a change. "

Desire is the starting point of all achievement...the first step toward all riches." -Napoleon Hill