Quotes- Shake Them Haters Off

Don’t focus on the one guy who hates you. You don’t go to the park and set your picnic down next to the only pile of dog shit.
-Shit My Dad Says

There are 6.4 billion people on this earth. It would take you 292,327 years and some change to meet all of them. So why worry about what one person thinks? You shouldn't. Allow those you love to offer their criticism because they care about you. They want what's best for you, but don't for a second worry about the criticism of those you aren't close to. Chances are (read 100% chance) they don't have your best interest at heart.

Quotes- Patience

Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.
-Proverb

I hate waiting, A LOT. If I want something I go for it with aggressiveness. Sometimes though good things are worth waiting for, and when you finally get it; it's o so sweet. I have to remind myself begrudgingly of this often.

Quotes- Attitude Part 2

I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there is no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.
- Charles R. Swindoll

You ever recall an event with someone and they have an entirely different perspective? To the point that you can't believe they saw things that way. Perception is everything. The lens with which we view our world becomes our reality. Things are never black and white. We choose what we see and how we see it. Do yourself and everyone around you a favor. Look at the world as half full and share that joy with others. Good feelings and vibes beget more good things in our life. We attract what we perceive.

Quotes- Coco Chanel

Jump out the window if you are the object of passion. Flee it if you feel it. Passion goes, boredom remains.
-Coco Chanel

There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time.
- Coco Chanel

Don't spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.
-Coco Chanel

How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.
-Coco Chanel

Success if often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.
- Coco Chanel

A woman should be two things: both classy and fabulous!
- Coco Chanel

In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.
-Coco Chanel

I used to write a quote email for some folks that I worked with. One of the girls shared her favorite quote which came from Coco Chanel. I thought it was funny and collected a few more. She actually has a really interesting story and worked very hard to get where she did (are not all great successes this way).

Quotes- Rising Above Mediocrity

Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds. The mediocre mind is incapable of understanding the man who refuses to bow blindly to conventional prejudices and chooses instead to express his opinions courageously and honestly.
-Albert Einstein


Only you know truly what you are capable of. To achieve something great requires you to perform above average. If you are just doing what everyone expects you to do where is the growth or the challenge. Rise above your expectations. Greatness is achieving what others said you could not.

How to Lose 30 Pounds of Fat Today

So my post on losing 30 pounds of fat was one of the most popular post I have ever had. Therefore, I wanted to do a follow up. What would I do if I wanted to lose 30 pounds today? Note that this is the biggest permanent lifestyle change I have ever made and therefore I feel that having gone through it I know what it takes. Note that this method would apply to any dramatic change.

Mentally Commit

This is often the most overlooked item and yet it is the most important. I would know that the journey is not easy by any means. In fact, I’ve gone 28 years with the same eating habits. That doesn’t change overnight. First I would make a list of why I want to lose 30 pounds:

• I want to look better
• I want to feel better
• I don’t want to die from heart disease the number 1 killer of Americans
• I want to be able to run around with my kids one day
• I want to feel confident in knowing that my body is at or near its best

This is important because my initial energy in losing weight will wane after about two weeks. So I have to have thought this through. Your want for something has to be defined and the core of why has to have been explored. I will also write out affirmations and post them on my bathroom mirror/computer/car to read every day because I know for such a dramatic change I will need the help. Examples include:

• I will lose 10 pounds in the next 6 months.
• I will not for the next thirty days (count this down). It’s not a big loss because I know at the end of thirty (count this down) I can have as many as I want.
• A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

Identify a Big Win

Next what I would do is identify for me what is the easiest thing to cut out that I know I want to change and will have a meaningful impact. For me this was soft drinks. Let’s assume I have three soft drinks a day. That adds up to 3,255 calories a week. A pound is 3,500 calories. So I decide I will remove cokes from my diet and instead drink diet sodas with zero calories. This is my big win. Just in doing this I will lose almost a pound a week and lose little. I will now focus on this big win for a month. Whatever else happens I will commit to this for thirty days. Other possible big wins:

• Two healthy food days a week
• No alcohol during the week
• Walking two miles a week

None of these changes are dramatic. For me eliminations in diet always worked best, but for some slowly adding in exercise has worked. In my opinion diet is easier because you just don’t buy it so you just have to not do something rather than exercise which requires you to do something.

Assessment

After two weeks I will assess how I am feeling. Am I missing the cokes I have given up? This is my weakest point because the motivation and excitement has diminished, and I haven’t quite developed a habit. I consult with friends for encouragement and feedback on my progress. If this big win is just too painful then I may need to consider something else. Before I decide to quit I will read my goals and my affirmations and then realize that I only have to do this for 15 more days.
If I don’t remember what it is even like to have soft drinks and I don’t miss them at all then I add in another small change and reset my thirty day counter. Be very careful not to do too much too soon. We only have so much willpower and we don’t want to knock our path completely off course.

There are a few things I don’t recommend as well:

Just starting. The mental aspect is the most important thing you can focus on. In fact if you spent a week thinking about this and making notes I am not sure how possible it is to fail. You have to commit to it because this goes against the way you have lived your life up to this point. That is A LOT of time to reverse and it’s not something that will happen on a whim.
Doing too much too fast. This would be a fad diet or acquiring a trainer. This is the number 1 reason people don’t lose weight and keep it off. Lifestyle changes are what lose weight not fad diets. Diets are useful if you are at or near your ideal weight and want to hit a new maintenance calorie level. I tried diets when I was obese and I couldn’t make a complete 180 lifestyle change and stick with it. I was out of my comfort zone and the change was too much to maintain.

Keeping this a secret. The more people that know about your goal the better. This puts pressure on yourself to accomplish your goal. I highly recommend telling people that you know care about you because they will offer you words of encouragement.

Giving up before 30 days. You have to give something a thirty day period. The great thing about thirty day periods is that the end is near and it’s not really that far away. Once you identify your big win you really need to give an all out effort for thirty days.

Conclusion

I hope this has encouraged at least one person to give it a try. Most of the time after thirty days I no longer want what I had given up. I know after giving up soft drinks I felt better than I had ever felt. As for the journey overall, I will tell you first hand that it is extremely hard to do, but if you decide that you want it you can do it. Slow and steady will win the race.

Quotes- How to be Great

If you're thinking that the average person won't do this, you're right -- that's why they're average.
-Steve Pavlina

I remember thinking that if I found that one thing I was good at then I would be good without trying. It's the moviesque story isn't it. The phenom who just gets it. That doesn't exist. Michael Irvin was a great receiver and considered by many to have a natural talent, he just had it. What people don't talk about is how when he was growing up he would run every single day in a forty pound weight vest. A quote from Jason Garrett on a night with Irvin:

“So I meet him at the complex at 7 p.m. It’s 100 degrees. No one there but the two of us. I’m wearing grays (t-short and shorts). Irvin’s wearing his helmet, his shoulder pads, this big heavy weight vest he wore in practice and these hot rubber pants. We run metabolics, which are position-specific exercises. For receivers, that means running routes. And he’s running them.

“We do five sets of ten of these things. Not a lot is said. He runs a route, hard, catches the ball, walks it back, does it again. Stops after a set to swig some Gatorade. We’re doing 50, 60 throws, and after about throw 35, I’m sweating, I’m thinking, ‘I’m getting a little tired.’ He’s out there in his rubber pants and his big freakin’ weight vest running more routes. And I remember thinking, ‘This is why this guy is so good.’ And there’s not a soul there to see it.”

Gladwell, Godin, and a host of others have all said it. Being great at something isn't a gift, the mentality to pursue something so hard that you become great is the gift. Experts are made, and the road is not easy.