Another long string of days without blog updates. This will be a catch up post to review all of my activities over the past 5 days. I have just completed a very long weekend at Harv Eker's Millionaire Mind Intensive seminar with my wife Jessica.
Intensive is the key word here. We started the training on Friday morning at 8am. We did 12 hours of training on Friday. Another 12 on Saturday and Sunday was planned for 10 hours but we had to leave early to attend a party for my sister's birthday.
It is an excellent seminar and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in gaining control of their financial future. It promotes personal power and positive financial habits. My wife and I have a bunch of new plans and systems to implement for our family financial situation. Its all about systemizing!
The most difficult part of the entire weekend was fitting in some time for a workout. I will explain that in a second but first I will summarize my fitness for days 80 and 81.
Day 80 was Wednesday. I had a very full day of work from the minute I woke up until about 5:00pm. I then had only 45 minutes to drive to the gym, do a cardio workout and rush home to prepare for a business presentation for our Healthy Chocolate Home Based Business
Day 81 was another fun session of Thursday night basketball. I have never felt so exhausted after exerting such minimal energy. Usually I am running up and down the court all evening without much effort but the longer this challenge has gone on, the worse my long term endurance seems to be.
Then came days 82-84. Because I was at the Millionaire Mind seminar, we would be up at 6am to get ready and drive an hour to the event. As I said earlier, we spent 12 hours at the seminar (for each of days 82 and 83) and then another hour to drive home. So both Friday and Saturday night, I did not even return home until about 11pm feeling TOTALLY exhausted.
In order to keep my committment, I did a short 15-20 minute workout each night. The same workout. I did 6 sets of interchanging pushups and situps. 30 pushups immediately followed by 50 situps (crunches) followed by some leg stretching. It was not an intense workout but it was extremely tiring because my low energy levels after such long and intensive days of training.
As for Day 84, it was yet another very long day. Up at 6am to get ready for the last day of the seminar. An hour drive to the seminar. Training from 8am until 1pm. An hour drive home to get ready for my sister's birthday. Spend the afternoon at my sister's party. Drive home and get my sone ready for bed. Then head to Sunday night men's league basketball.
Our team won tonight!! We moved to a record of 2-3 and again, I felt extremely exhausted from the very beginning of the game. It effected me to the point where I do not think I played as hard as I could. We did not have enough bench players to allow for enough rest, so I had to sacrifice some of my usual intensity. It was an amazing workout nevertheless and I was very happy that we won.
All in all, the past 5 days were very enlightening, very physically tiring but mentally enhancing. I feel like I have moved to a new level of committment and understanding. My wife and I are also very excited to have taken financial education training together. It is going to have a very positive effect on our relationship from a money perspective. I recommend this to all couples...and all people for that matter.
The final working week of my challenge begins tomorrow
Today was the kind of day I always look forward to. I had the opportunity to speak to 60 high school students about personal development, goal setting, positivity and life direction. It was my 4th time going to this particular school and it was a really great experience. I had the students working in pairs to discuss some of their passions, wants as well as short and long term goals. As usual, I heard some very interesting ideas that I have not heard before. It seems that every time I conduct a workshop like this, I get some new ideas...it was awesome.
During my presentation, I was talking about the power of habits and I actually ended up sharing this 90 Day challenge with the students. It was an interesting personal experience because it was the first time I talked about this challenge in a public presentation. It is something I would like to share with audiences but it just hadn't come up until now in my talks. It is always easier to earn your credibility when you not only say the message but also "do" the message. Just the fact that I had personal stories like that back up every point in my presentation helped the students relate to the ideas.
The other thing I really enjoyed about today was the fact that many of these students have big dreams for their life. One student wanted to try out for Canadian Idol and he is very serious about it. Another student wants to be a professional guitar player. There were others who want to make a profession as someone who travels the globe. Very refreshing to see people dreaming big and following their passions.
After today, I realized that I would like to add a high school program to my regular speaking schedule. Ideally once every couple of weeks. It helps me stay in touch with the youth and the issues they face today, and it is a whole lot of fun. I also feel that I am able to help them think about their life differently and I think more adults need to do this to inspire the youth.
The days seem to be flying by now. I am moving into the final 11 days of the challenge and it is amazing to me how fast the time has gone by.
For fitness, Day 78 and 79 were both weight lifting workouts. Monday, day 78 was a full chest/back weight workout followed by cardio on the stationary bike and about 20 minutes of pickup basketball with another guy from my gym. Then today, day 79, I actually had very little time in my calendar so I ended up doing a workout from home. I did a full arm workout (biceps and triceps) along with 5 sets of 50 for abs. It was a short workout but high intensity. I had a really good sweat going...so overall it felt great.
Tomorrow it will be back to my regular basketball routine assuming my legs are not too sore. They have been feeling pretty rough since my men's league game on Sunday night.
My workload is also increasing the next 2 days as I have a conference on the weekend and need to squeeze 3 days of work into 2 days. But, I am ready to go and stay focused to get the job done.
Weekends are always an interesting time when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet. Between visits with friends/family and the overall feel of a more relaxed mindset, it is definitely easier to come across food that is not the most healthy option.
This weekend was actually the opposite though. We had no plans with family or friends and really just had a dedicated weekend at home to spend family time together. I did have one business appointment on Saturday but it was only for a few hours. The time at home gave me a chance to properly plan out each meal. Other than some nachos on Saturday and Sunday night, I was really good at maintaining a healthy diet.
Another thing I have implemented for the remainder of this challenge is to remove all coffee intake. I have not had any coffee since last Wednesday. I was having as many as 3 cups a day and I did not like the habit I was getting into. I am already noticing a difference after a few days off the coffee. I feel like I digest my food better and I don't get the tired feeling after the caffeine wears off. Once the 90 day challenge is over, I will probably allow myself to drink coffee on the weekends only. Again, it is all about moderation.
For my fitness regimen, it was the same as previous weekends. I did a basketball workout on Saturday where I was able to do about an hour of running, jumping and jump shot practice. Tonight, Sunday (Day 77) it was game 4 of my Sunday Night Men's Basketball League. Unfortunately, our team lost once again to drop to 1-4 on the season. We played probably the best team in the league tonight and despite being up by 2 at halftime, we ended up losing by over 20 when all was said and done. Our team still has lots of work to go to improve our play as a cohesive unit.
Either way, I had a lot of fun and go a great workout for Day 77 of my challenge.
The final 2 weeks of the challenge are starting. I am going to kick it up a notch this week with a very strict diet and increase the intensity of my workouts. I also have my camera back so the daily photo of my upper body phsyique qill proceed starting tomorrow.
2 weeks and counting...
Whether you realize it or not, the way you choose to spend your day is ultimately a trade off. You are literally trading the minutes, hours and days of your life in exchange for your current activities. Most of us spend 40 (and often more) hours per week trading the precious moments of our life for our job. Two questions immediately rise to the surface:
1. Do you consciously recognize and appreciate each day of your life with the awareness that none of us know how much or how little time we have left?
2. If so, are you making a fair trade (i.e. are your activities worthy of your life energy)?
When I first understood this lesson at both an intellectual and emotional level, my honest answer to both of the above questions was NO! I was not necessarily taking my life for granted but I also did not truly appreciate my days. I was devoting my time to a number of things that did not make me happy and I was avoiding facing my fears. My mindset was ‘I will deal with it at a better time.’ Deep down I knew I was simply avoiding the issue altogether.
Specifically, I am talking about my professional career. Although I was quite successful, had a great salary, great security, excellent benefits and room to grow in the organization, I did not enjoy the work. I would start my day and look forward for it to be over. I did not work with any passion. Worst of all, I was trading my life for this career.
Because this was the only profession I knew and spent many years establishing myself, it never actually occurred to me that change was possible. I simply assumed that I would have to stick it out and hopefully do well enough financially so that I could retire early and THEN begin to enjoy my days.
Then I got involved in personal development programs. I started to learn more about life and more about the mind. I quickly realized that I had been operating my life following a set of beliefs and paradigms that were not necessarily ideas that I agreed with. I had always assumed that everyone disliked their job and it was just something we all had to go through to ‘earn our retirement’.
When I found out that there were many people who loved their work and had found a way to make a living based on their passions, I was very intrigued. I was also wary of the idea because it sounded too good to be true.
As I started to study some of these people and learn about the inspiring lives they were living, I realized a very important distinction between them and myself. Unlike me at the time, they DID appreciate the value of each living day and they also structured their life in such a way that they were trading their days for a purpose worthy of them and their true values.
When I compared them to myself, I was trading the days of my life for something that made me unhappy. When I dissected it further, I was choosing this lifestyle because I was too afraid to change. I was afraid to give up the salary and benefits, afraid to give up the position that took so many years to obtain, afraid to admit to others that I was unhappy and afraid to decide what I truly wanted out of life.
The more I thought about it and the more I studied personal development teachings and success stories, the greater my desire for change became. I started to reprogram my mind so that the pain of remaining status quo was actually more intense than the fear of change. I know many personal growth programs advocate positive thinking, but negative motivators inspire action for all of us. It certainly worked in my case.
Not only did this new mindset drive me to find my true passion and true calling in life (speaking and coaching), it helped me establish a sense of personal freedom that can best be described as liberation. There came a point where my self image literally shifted and I saw myself safely and confidently walking away from the career that I had so desperately held onto for many years.
The days of my life were far too important and valuable to be spending them doing something that had no meaning for me. After I resigned from that position, I made a personal commitment to dedicate the rest of my working days doing only that which I love.
I now love my work. I look forward to my days. I look forward to new projects and new opportunities. I never think about retirement because I never plan on retiring. When you do what you love, why would you ever want to stop?
If you are reading this article and can share a similar story, please contact me directly as I would love to put together a special edition of my newsletter to profile all of the inspiring and uplifting stories of people who are living their dream.
Justin Popovicjustin@igniteyouressence.com
As I move into the home stretch of this challenge, I am really starting to look forward to a break. While the actual workouts are literally part of my daily routine (without thinking about it really), the fatigue is becoming noticeable during my higher intensity activities.
For example on Thursday, Day 74, I was out to Thursday night pickup basketball and I was feeling it. I can normally run up and down the court all night and usually have more endurance than 90% of the other players. The last couple of games, however, I have really felt the fatigue kicking in. I was still able to play my game and work hard, but that exhausted feeling kicked in much earlier than usual.
I was thinking that this is actually a good thing because it is a perfect reminder to me about the value of rest. Once Day 90 has come and gone, I am going to workout 5 days per week and rest 2 days. That way, I can go harder during my workouts and then completely rest on my off days. It will also be a good balance because every trip to the gym is at least an hour out of my day. This is not always an easy thing to do with my crazy schedule.
As for today, Day 75, I actually faced a bit of a predicament. After geting a slow start to my day because I was up most of the night with my son, I lost a good chunk of my afternoon to donate blood. I had totally forgot that I was scheduled to donate until about an hour before my appointment. The problem was, I had not yet done my workout for the day.
After giving blood, I was actually quite light headed. I'm assuming it is because I barely had any sleep last night. The other problem was, it is STRONGLY recommended to not do any exercise until at least the following day. I did not want to ruin my workout streak but I also did not want to negatively impact my blood regeneration (its not necessarily a small issue).
What I decided to do was wait the minimum 6 hours and then do a light at-home workout. So at 11pm after a night at home with my wife, she went to bed and I stayed up to do some work and to do an ab and stretching workout. I took about 20 minutes and actually got a bit of a sweat going. I did about 10 sets of various ab exercises and a whole bunch of leg stretching.
Now that I'm done the workout, I am wide awake so I am going to use my energy to get some overdue work completed. I will probably pay for it in the morning because I am overtired from last night. But I will take some time to do a recharge meditation tomorrow morning and I should be good to go!
It is amazing to witness how quickly the time passes by when you are working on major goals and objectives. Here it is the early hours of Thursday morning and literally feels like the week just started.
I remember when I was working in my old career and was not super thrilled about the job, the week would go by SO slowly. Thursday afternoon was sort of a mental target for me. Once Thursday afternoon hit, I would get more excited and know that there was only 1 work day left until the weekend. Often, Fridays would be lighter in terms of workload so it was usually an easy progrssion to the weekend.
Now, I honestly can not differentiate between a Saturday and a Wednesday. The concept of 'weekend' doesn't really apply to me anymore. I work every day of the week. I also have the freedom to not work any day of the week so it is a new mindset altogther. For the record, the new way of living is WAY better :)
I just published my latest article that touches on this topic. I really enjoyed writing this article because it allowed me to reflect on some of the personal development I have done on myself.
Here is the article: http://www.igniteyouressence.com/trading.html
As for my 90 day challenge, I was back to the gym again for days 72 and 73.
Day 72 was the first time in a long time where I focused only on muscle development and weight lifting. I did not do any cardio (my legs needed a break). I did about 40 minutes of medium weight arm exercises followed by a number of sets of abs.
Now that is Day 73 and I have had a chance to recover from that workout, I am surprised that my muscles do not really hurt at all. Having not really worked them out in a few weeks I was anticipating at least some soreness. I guess my recovery rate is much higher now that I am on this 90 day program.
As for fitness on day 73, I did about a 30 minute basketball workout. Shootingm running and jumping drills. I definitely did not push myself as hard as usual but I also noticed I was running out of steam faster than I typically do. I'm guessing it is more a sign of fatigue than anything else. The other factor is that is extremely cold and snowy in Ontario and the cold air sometimes takes a few workouts to adapt to.
Day 74 will be back to my regular Thursday night men's league basketball so I am looking forward to that. But it also looks like I will have at least an hour of snow shovelling to take care of before I do that (it has been coming down for a few days now).
OK. So that was a much longer delay between blog posts than I had planned. The past few days have been among the busiest in a while. Then, I took a few days away from the computer altogether to recharge my mind and body.
As a summary, here is what I did on each of the days.
Day 66 - Wednesday. I continued my streak of basketball workouts by headning to the gym for an early afternoon run. It was my typical shooting and running drills and I also did a huge number of sets of abs. I rotated between pilates abs crunches and swiss ball crunches. My abs are the strongest they have ever been. It is an awesome feeling!
Day 67 - Thursday. I was so extremely busy planning for a large presentation I was conducting for a University in my area. I had a lot of content to squeeze into a 45 minute talk so I spent most of my time refining the content, the jokes, the delivery and timing. It was a huge job but so incredibly rewarding.
Because I was so busy with the project, I did not have any time to go to the gym. In fact, it was the first session of Thursday night pick-up basketball that I had missed in maybe 3-4 months. Instead, I did a great arm, chest, ab workout in my basement at about 10pm at night. It turned out to be a great decision because it gave me the energy I needed to work into the early hours of Friday morning.
Day 68 - Friday. The day of the big presentation. I love speaking to university audiences and this group was especially positive and energetic. Very friendly people and all had amazing attitudes towards school life and their own success. I was very happy with my presentation and I received a lot of really positive feedback at the end. I know I made an impact on a number of people which is why I got into speaking in the first place. I'm so pumped for my next presentation now!
By the time I drove home (over an hour drive) from the university, it was getting quite late. Jessica had been on her own for much of the week with Thomas without much of a break, so I did not want to go to the gym and leave her on her own again. Instead I helped out with Thomas and stayed home. I did a quick shoulder/ab workout in the basement which was surprisinly exhausting. I think the fact that the week was so busy with my presentation and other projects that I was just short on energy. I slept really well on Friday night!!
Day 69 - Saturday. The first day in recent memory where I did absolutely zero work. I spent the day with my family and enjoyed every minute. Had an afternoon nap which was awesome!! I did get out to the gym in the evening and did my standard basketball workout. I did not have time to do abs because the gym was closing.
Watched the movie Talladega Nights with Will Ferrell. It was on TV. It was actually quite hilarious but all Will Ferrell movies are so I was not surprised. I recommend it if you like his style.
Day 70 - Sunday. Another non-work family day. Jessica had her curling league Sunday morning so it was Father-Son day together with Thomas which was AWESOME! He is at the best stage of his life so far. He is sooo interactive and a real show off. Everything he does makes me laugh out loud. He also copies almost every word I say so I have to be very careful what I say around him (if you know what I mean LOL).
We also had a HUGE snowfall overnight on Saturday so he was looking outside all day in bewilderment. He had a pretty good cold/flu on the go so I did not take him outside. He got to go out later in the day when the temperature was higher so he was really happy about that.
In terms of fitness, it was Sunday night men's league action in the Orangeville Rec league. Our team lost by about 15 to drop to 1 Win, 2 losses on the season. We have a brand new team this year and none of us have played together before. I think it will take a few weeks for us to gel but we actually have a pretty competitive team. I was really happy with my play even though I did not score much. My defence was high intensity and I moved the ball well from the point guard position.
Day 71 - Monday (TODAY). Back to work day. I had an absolutely huge to-do list that I am currently about half way through. I actually enjoy having a big list, especially when it is filled with business building activities. I was pretty motivated to get back to work after a nice break over the weekend. I will be writing more frequently so I am looking forward to seee what I come up with. Articles will be my primary focus for writing so keep an eye out on this blog for new updates.
It was back to the gym today and I had a pretty long workout. I shot hoops for about 30 minutes. Played 1 on 1 with a guy who I know from the gym. I played really well actually. Hit every shot I took! Then it was over to the weight room to do chest/back weights. I also did a pretty decent ab workout at the end. I came home feeling pretty exhausted phsyically so we will see how I feel tomorrow. I anticipate sore muscles since I have been avoiding weight lifting for the past few weeks.
The new work week brought on a fresh feeling of motivation for my 90 Day Challenge. My focus this week was to gain tighter control of my diet and eating patterns. I have been relatively healthy throughout this challenge but I wanted to manage my quantity of food more carefully.
Day 64 and 65 were good days. I ate a very well balanced set of meals and was able to eat about 5 small meals each day (rather than 2 or 3 larger meals). I also reduced my coffee intake to 1 cup per day. I had been drinking 2 and 3 cups per day up until that point.
Overall, it is actally quite easy to maintain a more controlled diet, I just had to make the mental decision to be conscious of it. I think that is a big part of all our lives. We literally have to become conscious of an activity in order to control it and make it work in our favour. Because I wasn't observing my food intake, I was not noticing how often I was over eating. A simple shift in awareness seems to have solved the problem.
This has also been a very busy week for business. It is Tuesday night and I have already had 4 big meetings and I am also preparing for a large presentation for Wilfred Laurier University this Friday. This will be of my largest speaking opportunities of my career so I am very excited to see what I can put together for the audience. I have, in my opinion, a really fun and interesting presentation that will get them all thinking about their life in new ways.
In terms of fitness, I have made a decision to just focus on basketball. I am going to work on the various aspects of my game every day. I will track my progress on Thursday and Sunday nights when I play in my men's leagues. I am also using some time after each basketball workout to do some upper body strengthening with the exercise ball. It actually feels great to take a break from weight lifting for a while. The next idea on my fitness list is to get into Pilates. I have heard amazing things and my mother is an instructor so I can get first hand training!
One of the tasks I had given my self on my 90 day challenge was to take a picture of my upper body every single day so that I could monitor the progress of my phsyique as I implemented the new super-healthy lifestyle.
Well, on Saturday, my wife and I were conducting a presentation and we ended up leaving the camera at the event. Thankfully, my cousin who was also at the event, happened to pick it up for us and take it home. The unfortunate part is that we will not be able to get the camera back for at least a few days, maybe even longer.
I have a cell phone camera that I will attempt to use but the quality of the photos is mediocre at best. The photo task was lower priority than the fitness and healthy meal component so I am not overly concerned.
From a fitness perspective, I had another back to back set of days of playing basketball. Saturday night I went out to my gym just before closing for a 30 minute run. I did a number of high intensity shooting drills and was really happy with how hard I pushed myself. I felt like I made some good improvements in my game.
Then tonight was week 2 of my Sunday night men's league. I have a new team this year with only 1 player remaining from the team I played with last year. I am actually quite happy with our roster and we work well together as a squad. He had a great 102-50 win over a team that normally plays much better than they did tonight. They just seemed to have an off night and we were fortunate enough to be making most of our shots. Peter, the newest player in the league and one of my new teammates, scored 50 points himself! I am quite happy that I recruited him to be on my team haha!
As for the eating component of the challenge, this is still an area I am working on improving. I did not always make the wisest decision with my food choices this weekend and I know that it is only a small act, but it still has long lasting repercussions in my own self confidence and personal accountability.
I know the solution is to design more of a system around my eating patterns. This will help me monitor my intake and keep on track with my overall goals. Tomorrow, I will examine what I eat nd begin to formulate an actual meal plan that I can follow. One that has some flexibility while still keeping me within a set limit of overall food quantity. I am confident this will be a huge step in the right direction!
As I move into the final 30 days of this 90 challenge, I am definitely noticing that I do not have the endurance I thought I would have by now. Before the challenge started, I was already consistent with my workout routine but I would also rest 2-3 days per week. At the same time, it is not surprising that my endurance is being affected because we have all heard how important it is for athletes to get their rest.
I'm actually interested learn how olympic level athletes train. It is my understanding that they practice their craft 7 days a week for years on end. If this is the case, I am guessing that their bodies just adapt to not having off days. As it stands right now, I am probably less effective on the basketball court on day 61 than I would have been on day 1. The reason is, I start feeling exhausted after about 30 minutes of hard running. My legs are still tired from the previous days workout and I am covered in sweat much quicker than normal. I know this means I am burning calories at a higher rate but that isn't necessarily the ideal way to feel to be an effective basketball player!
I am realizing that this challenge has been more about the act of discipline than it has about fitness results. I am now convinced that you cannot force yourself to be in incredible shape but you can create the lifestyle that promotes it. Once the challenge is over, I plan to go to a 5 day per week workout schedule with a much more controlled diet.
The fact that I have refrained from any kind of alcohol consumption is also a big eye opener. I wasn't drinking daily or over drinking by any stretch of the imagination, but as I said in earlier posts, the weekend beer or the beer after a basketball game were probably happening more frequently that I really needed. I still enjoy a nice drink every once in a while but again, this is something I will limit to maybe one evening a week after a nice workout.
So really, it is all about moderation, lifestyle and balance.
Day 60 and 61 fitness recap is simple. I played basketball both days. I was not happy with my level of play but I also did not have the same level of energy I think I would have if I had been resting once or twice a week. I have now effectively taken nearly 2 weeks away from weight lifting and it was a much needed break. I am excited to get back to the weights on Monday.
There has been plenty to talk about the past few days. Obviously, the hottest topic of conversation was the US election which finally took place last night. Even though I am Canadian, there was as much coverage, attention and discussion as anywhere else in the world.
While I do not follow American politics to the degree that some people do, I have been very impressed with Obama during this entire campaign. As a professional speaker, it is amazing to see him deliver one powerful speech after another with incredible poise, confidence and brilliance.
I have to admit, I got quite wrapped up in watching the pre and post election coverage that it was actually quite late at night before I made time to do some exercise. I was hoping to make it to the gym but it did not pan out. Instead I did a very brief home workout of pushups and situps. 5 sets of 30 each. Probably the most tame workout of this entire 90 day challenge.
The fact that I got to witness such a historical event was well worth it. I did not break my fitness streak and I am still going strong on the challenge which is the most important part.
AS for today, Day 58, I actually played some outdoor basketball. For those of you from Ontario, Canada, you know how rare of an occasion this is in November. Some years, we are covered with snow at this time of the year. In fact, there have already been a few days with snow on the ground. We just happened to get a spell of warm weather and so I took full advantage. I got a great run in even though it was dark outside. I had enough light to make it enjoyable. I basically just shot hoops and did some running drills for about half an hour.
Tomorrow night is my regular Thursday night basketball so I will get a much more complete workout at that time.
Aside from the fitness schedule, I have been doing a much better job with my overall food intake. The quality of food has been quite good all along but it was only this week that I have really made a concsious effort to monitor the overall quantity of what I was eating. I can already feel like this new awareness is going to have a significant impact on my overall "physique" goals since the changes to-date, during this challenge, have been quite minimal.
I have been working a crazy number of hour this week so this willbe the end of the blog post for tonight. I look forward to my next update when I plan to be well rested, refreshed and ready to go for a big, exciting weekend!
I can't believe it has already been 2 days since my last post. Time really tends to whiz by when you are busy but it is even more interesting to notice how quickly the time passes when you are keeping track (i.e. someone doing a 90 day challenge).
Day 56 and 57 were both cardio routines via basketball. On Sunday night, it was the first regular season game of the Sunday night men's league in Orangeville where I live. It was a lot of fun but kind of disorganized. I did not have a team together this year so we ended up picking up some random players and forming a team. I guess one of the items on the to do list for this week is to recruit some players!
As for Day 57, after a long day of work I finally made some time for a workout at around 9pm. Once again I opted for cardio by working on my jump shot and doing some running and jumping drills at the basketball court. I plan to cut out some of the weight lifting for a while. My joints and a few muscles have been feeling the strain due to this 90 day challenge, so I am going to keep active in other ways.
One thing I am going to implement now that I am well over half way through this challenge is a more structured approach to the mental side. What I mean is that I want to apply some of the latest personal development ideas that I have been studying from John Assaraf. Particularly on the idea of food intake. The main idea with this challenge was fitness and healthy eating...and I have stuck to both for the most part. What I have been unsatisfied with is my food quantity. I have been overcompensating for all the exercise by eating more than I believe I need. I therefore feel like I might be hindering some of the physical results that I set out to achieve.
I think these eating habits were established through repetition many years ago and have become ingrained beyond the point of this 90 day challenge. What I plan to do to neutralize the over-eating situation is to focus on brain conditioning techniques described by John Assaraf. This will include meditations, personal affirmations, visualization techniques and a process called Neural reconditioning (which I will not explain in this post).
I am so thoroughly convinced that this will improve my results that I plan to use it for every area of my life so that I can teach and coach others on it. I think this could be a life transforming concept and I'm sure Mr.Assaraf would love partners out there spreading the word about his great teachings.
With that, I will sign off for the day with eager anticipation for the next leg of the journey
A very exciting end to the week with my favourite sports team, The Toronto Raptors, getting back into action. Last night was the home opener and I had tickets to go see the game live.
We had excellent seats centre court and had a perfect view of the entire game. I did not leave my seat once the entire team. It was an excellent game, the crowd was energetic, lots of exciting plays, it went to overtime AND.... the RAPTORS WON!
Thanks to my good friend Mark for inviting me to the game. What an awesome gift!
I live over an hour away from Toronto and we had to meet up early before the game. So I ended up cutting my work day very short. By about 3pm, I had closed my laptop and went into Raptors mode. This meant that I had to get a lot of work done in the morning and early afternoon. I was happy with how much I accomplished.
In terms of my workout, I simply did not have enough time to go to the gym if I wanted to make it to Toronto on time. I did, however, find 20 free minutes in my already busy day to do a great shoulder routine in my basement with free weight dumbbells. It is amazing how much you can accomplish in a short period of time if you have no choice.
It actually reminds me of something I learned when I took Success Coaching with Brian Tracy. He says that "work expands to the amount of time alloted for the task." This is a beautiful truth because I have seen it in action and I have been able to use this idea to increase my productivity in many areas of my life.
So Day 54 was a quick home-gym routine. This meant that I definitely wanted to make sure I got out to the gym today on day 55 (which I did). I went to the gym an hour before closing time. It is my absolute favourite time of the week to workout because I essentially have an entire fitness facility to myself. There were literally 4 people there. 2 staff and 2 other members. I was playing some bball so I had the entire court to myself. I got in a good 45 routine of practice shooting and some running drills. I did not go too hard as I am still letting my knee recover from the tweak I did last week. It is feeling much better now so I am hoping I will be 100% for my Sunday night league tomorrow night.
Aside from fitness, Day 55 was all about spending quality family time with Jessica and Thomas. I played games with Thomas all day and he was his usual hilarious self. Jessica and I were also able to get quite a bit of work done for our healthy chocolate home business. We launched a new version of the website that has much more information. Check it out at www.chocolatylation.com
See you on Day 56