Thank Goodness It's Monday #414

HOW TO PREVENT A HOSTILE TAKEOVER

Ben Franklin observed: “Anger is never without a reason” -- dramatic pause – 

“But seldom a good one.”

Sure, in the heat of the moment our reasons for firing up the anger reaction seem, well, perfectly reasonable and good. To us.

• Irritated by that jerk who cut you off on the highway?
• Plotting your revenge on the simpleton at the meeting who took all the credit for your group’s accomplishments?
• Baffled by the mindset of the parents – let alone the kids – who walk around in public looking like that!?

Me too. On any given day we don’t have to wait too long to find an excuse to blow our top.

Sigmund sez: If you allow it, the mind easily fills with the most convincing, self-righteous, inner arguments for becoming indignant.

So maybe Freud didn’t say that specifically but … 

Contemporary psychologists agree: Dr. Daniel Goleman, pioneering writer on behavioral matters and themes of Emotional Intelligence, points out:

“Anger is the most seductive of the negative emotions. Anger is energizing, even exhilarating.”

It can also be incredibly destructive.

Fight-or-Flight Club. Anger’s physical manifestations are associated with the “fight or flight” response – largely the “fight” part. The universal trigger for anger Dr. Goleman says, is a sense of being endangered. Not only a menacing physical threat but also “it can be a symbolic threat to self-esteem or dignity, being treated unjustly or rudely, being insulted or demeaned or being frustrated in pursuing an important goal.” And –

It’s a killer. The infamous Type-A behavior, to be specific.

While anger defenders might argue that blowing your cork is a health-preserving emotional outlet, scientific studies identify the hostile, harmful traits of Type A as cynicism, anger and aggression. And that level of hostility can –

… magnify the impact of blood cholesterol levels thereby increasing the chance of clogging arteries

… weaken immune systems (never a good thing) and parasympathetic nervous systems, which act to calm the rush of fight-or-flight hormones

… make folks feel unhappy, socially isolated and more stressed

But please don’t be angry with me. Because TGIM is here to also bring you –

Good News: “Hostility is a habit that can change if you apply some emotional intelligence, combining being mindful of when it is aroused, regulating it once it has begun and practicing empathy – hearing the feelings behind what is said,” Dr. Goleman says.

“Trusting others goes a long way toward diffusing hostility,” he adds. “Practicing a variety of strategies can help you change biological patterns of behavior that you may have been born with but don’t have to die from.” 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Before the stress in your life triggers its next gnashing-your-teeth reaction and stages another emotional hijacking that threatens both physical health and relationships, try some of these anger-altering approaches to turn away from anger:

►Avoid venting. Despite the widespread belief that the best way to get rid of anger is to express it, it’s not. In fact, catharsis – giving vent to rage – typically pumps up the brain’s arousal leaving people feeling more angry, not less.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Prepare for a mindset of neither venting nor suppressing anger. Recognize when you feel anger coming on. But don’t jump to get rid of it. Aim for the middle. Acknowledge what you feel and become aware of the effects on your body. With luck that will take you out of focusing on what’s happening in your mind.

►Nip anger in the bud. Challenge the assumptions that fuel anger in the first place. The earlier in the anger cycle the better.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Here’s an easy one: That jerk who cut you off in traffic. Maybe he had to swerve out of the way of the jerk in front of him. If that’s so, wouldn’t your anger be unjustified. Might you not be grateful that his quick action prevented a three car (or more) pile-up with you in it?

►Quit the Master of the Universe job. Psychologists say that hostile and angry people feel stress when they have to let go of being in charge because of their cynical distrust of others. If that’s you in any way, begin to reverse the situation by relinquishing control in small inconsequential matters.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Let someone else pick the restaurant. Figure you’ll adjust your ordering accordingly. Let someone else drive (at least on the short-distance, local outings). Think of it as a cost-free cab ride. (Still, remember to buckle up.)

►Take a chill pill. Out of sight is easier to put out of mind. Remove the immediate reminder of what riles you. If it won’t leave, remove yourself. 

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Ease away. Walk, but probably don’t run. With an understanding of fight-or-flight, walk away from what irks you and keep walking. The exercise can’t hurt and it will also distract you as you pay attention to the changing landscape along the way.

►Be assertive, not aggressive. Modulating anger doesn’t mean allowing your view to be stepped on or ignoring injustice. Assertiveness, rather than flat out aggressive confrontation, allows you to ask others to change a specific behavior without demanding it. KISS – Keep It Short & Simple. Also keep it concise and specific.

"Benjamin Franklin
Drawing Electricity from the Sky"
by Benjamin West (1738-1820)
Philadelphia Museum of Art 

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: So, for the floor-grabbing meeting room interrupter, a well-intoned, “Will you please let me finish what I’m saying?” should be assertive enough to establish your control. Preface it with a show of controlled understanding of the other person’s point of view – “I’d like to address all your points as I understand them before you react, Dave …” and you’ll gain respect as well as attention. 

And speaking of attention … 

Thanks for yours.

And with a nod to Ben, who instead of telling someone in anger to “Go fly a kite” actually did and made history –

I’ll bring this TGIM message to a close – happily.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com 

P.S.  BONUS ACTION IDEA: ►Write it off. Literally. Put some time and gain some perspective before lashing out in anger. Capture cynical or hostile thoughts as they arise and write them down. In this way you can reappraise and challenge their foundations in a reasonable and reasoned fashioned. 

Good enough for Honest Abe. Lincoln did this most famously. Civil War buffs know he occasionally wrote angry, piercing letters, had second thoughts and pigeonholed them in his desk, never to be sent.

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals chronicles a classic:

Later that afternoon, Lincoln wrote a frank letter to General Meade ... (stating) that he was “distressed immeasurably” by “the magnitude of the misfortune involved in (Gen. Robert E.) Lee's escape. He was within your easy grasp, and to have closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have ended the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely.” Before sending the letter, which he knew would leave Meade disconsolate, Lincoln held back as he often did when he was upset or angry, waiting for his emotions to settle. In the end, he placed the letter in an envelope inscribed: “To Gen. Meade, never sent, or signed.”

Thank Goodness It's Monday #413

SUMMER SLUMP?

LET’S GET TOUGH & LET’S GET GOING

Optimistic, but cautious.

 

In my recent travels I’ve been asking folks both entrepreneurial and “corporate” about their outlook and that’s what a great many of you told me.

And that’s true for matters both business and personal. 

Big "that’s-not-insightful" DUH? 

Well, it sort of depends. Frankly, at first a great many folks responded with a cheery, sugar-coated optimistic noise. Seems we all want things to be getting better.

We understand that a half-full attitude helps.

But there are lingering doubts. When pressed many of you reveal your cautious outlook. And I’m going on the record with it now simply because, for many TGIM readers, it seems there’s still a great deal of evidence of a less-than-robust climate in the days immediately ahead. 

You tell me: It’s evident when you look at your P&L, compare notes with your business colleagues, read the news, go shopping, or just talk with your neighbors.

 Still, times change. And somewhat predictably so.

Any economic prognosticator can produce charts showing that things financial rise and fall in cycles. Granted, just where in the cycle you or your company or your family might be at any particular moment is often a highly speculative matter.

But there’s still –

The universal given: Hard times will end – eventually.

TGIM Takeaway: Although no one knows exactly when the upturn will come for any particular segment, it will come earlier for you when you put some preparing-for-prosperity strategies in action today.

Bonus factor: If you’re one of the individuals or companies already prospering, if any ideas in this roundup are above and beyond what you’re already doing, implementing them in these harder times should prove extra valuable as the situation brightens for all. So --

Let’s take the upcoming Summer Slump season head on. Resist the urge to coast between Memorial Day and Labor Day. There’s plenty to do starting immediately that will pay off immediately and in the more prosperous future.

Here’s a roundup of –

Preparing-For-Prosperity

Summertime Strategies

● Keep it up. To be there at the recovery you must survive now. If you’re reading this, the odds are good that you’re at least doing something right. Keep at it. Keep striving. Keep an optimistic outlook.

● Challenge assumptions. Resist the urge to play everything safe by becoming ultra-conservative. Clearly nothing is carved in stone these days. So nothing can hurt a business or personal situation more than continued reliance on old assumptions that are now proven unreliable.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Failure to be open to new ideas will trap you in a dead end. So, even in difficult times (maybe especially in difficult times) test established “truths” for your life and your business.

Result: You’ll either prove that they’re still true or you’ll begin to discover today’s better way.

● Be guided by numbers. Numbers are emotion-free indicators of where things were, are, and may be headed. Even if you’re more of a “people person,” it’s now more important than ever to use numbers to plot, compare, and analyze the effectiveness of decisions.

Caution: This is not a call to cut and chop and freeze and slash prices, expenses, and people across the board when things like budget numbers don’t work out to the penny. 

● Put on bifocals. Don’t neglect the need to look long while you look short. The challenge is to objectively assess the current health of your situation, then conform the actions needed to pull through the immediately difficult times with those necessary to keep moving toward long-term goals.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: When short-term results aren’t satisfactory, don’t counter simply by freezing up or knee-jerk reacting in the next short term. Instead, study and attack the underlying problems and plan to cure them for the long term.

● Don’t undervalue advertising, marketing or PR. Because immediate results from investments in these “promotional” areas are sometimes hard to measure, they often get short-changed when money is tight. Yet this may well be precisely the time when enhancing a product or an image becomes more important, not less. Dramatize your unique aspects and make them known and, at least, you’ll gain top-of-mind awareness.

● Attract and keep good employees. The future belongs to those who are ready to seize it. It’s practically a universal truth that there’s a shortage of skilled workers for any job worth doing. So putting a little effort into acquiring and motivating good employees or “partnering” relationships now is hardly a risk. 

Good folks are out there now. And they’re looking for good partners. Be proactive in your outreach. On the other hand, not letting valued partners know, by word and deed, that you understand how their success and yours success is linked most definitely is a mistake.

● Trim fat, and then toughen muscle. No business or individual can survive in tough times (or good times) supporting people or relationships that aren’t doing the job. But that doesn’t mean you should cut more than the marginal performers (who should be set free in any circumstances). 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Set standards and stick with them. Don’t leave room for poor performance. Tell people, “Let’s get tough and let’s get going.”

● Build skills. Now, when you may have the time, make productive people more productive. Make the most of their existing talents. Work at keeping engaged and keeping morale high. Give people the training they need to build a solid base of skills for future expansion. Make everyone more sales minded and customer conscious. Build discipline and leadership skills across the board. 

● Add to your skills. Use any slowdown to personal advantage. Skills and knowhow you acquire now, while you have more leeway with how you structure your time, will enhance your success when business activity begins to build again.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Add to your existing strengths but also allow some time for shoring up weaker points. But most of all, keep current with evolving new technology. The future belongs to those who are prepared to live in it.

● Lead yourself first – and you automatically prepare the way to leadership in a prosperous tomorrow.

Getting tougher. And getting going. 

See you in the winner’s circle.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com  

P.S.  “[Good men] should not shrink from hardships and difficulties, nor complain against fate; they should take in good part whatever happens, and should turn it to good. Not what you endure, but how you endure, is important.” Seneca the Younger (5? BCE – 65 AD) suggested that in a treatise of Moral Essays as translated by John W. Basore in 1928, another period of particularly difficult times.

Thank Goodness It's Monday #412

SPOILER ALERT:

THIS “MAN OF STEEL” PREVIEW

REVEALS 10 SECRETS OF SUPERMAN

The next Superman movie -- “Man of Steel” opens this Friday.  

It cost $200+ million to make. It’s intended to inaugurate a Batman/Dark Knight-sized series. Like that 21^st Century interpretation the newest Superman is supposed to be darker, more brooding, introspective, and conflicted than previously.

At one point, early reports say, the Man of Steel sports a long beard which has given rise to much speculation about the secret of how he shaves.

And the red shorts over the blue, uh, long johns? Gone.

 

Spoiler alert: I care … but not that much.

 

Here’s why: It’s a movie. It’s real life that has real lessons about real issues.

 

Certainly there are movie “touch points” that serve well as shorthand to better communication and understanding. And as I often do in TGIMs (and as I’m doing now) they’re a useful bridge or default to make a connection or a point. 

Like this: An early and significant writing collaboration with my friend Eric Taylor was a chapter on “Heroes” in a volume entitled 101 Ways to Improve Your Life. It’s about a real Superman who also brought a distinct grace and character to the portrayal of the character Superman. 

Christopher Reeve

It’s primarily Eric’s story.

Based on his experience.

Told in his voice.

The outline version I’ll share below is one of the earliest recountings. I know it underpins Eric’s being. Today I simply want to add that, in the nearly a decade I’ve been a part of it, it has become a great influence on my abiding philosophy as well. 

 

It’s that important. So, before you head for the multiplex and shell out for tickets, popcorn and a jumbo drink, read this … reflect … and, I hope, relate.

10 Life Lessons I Learned from Superman

(and How They Changed My Life Forever)

For many, the actor who epitomized the character “Superman” is Christopher Reeve, and as millions know, at the height of his career he suffered a tragic accident that left him totally paralyzed, unable to care for himself or, initially, even to breathe unassisted.          

With the support of his wife, Dana, Chris persevered and battled back, becoming a vigorous advocate and the public face for research that develops treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury and other central nervous system disorders. The foundation that now bears their names has awarded hundreds of millions in research grants to the world’s best neuroscientists and Quality of Life grants worth over $15.7 million to nonprofit organizations that help improve the daily lives of people living with paralysis, particularly spinal cord injuries.          

Christopher Reeve redefined courage and hope. His strength, determination, and compassion inspired the world, but what I think is the superhuman part of the story has not been fully told. There’s more to this story for me and greater lessons for us all.           

It was my distinct privilege to produce Chris’s last public appearance in New Jersey. I’ll never forget it—or him. He died on October 10, 2004, just 11 days after the event. He is my hero.          

Christopher Reeve taught me 10 lessons that day. I know that they apply to you, and that when you decide to take them to heart and act on them, they will change your life, too.

1. Empower yourself first! The only way to truly connect with another human is to connect with yourself first. Compassion, rapport, and caring all come from allowing, understanding, and knowing yourself first.

Action Idea: Take time out of each day (even if by self-appointment) to reflect on the day, week, month, or year. Evaluate the words you chose to speak and the actions you chose to take. Ask yourself the critical question, “Am I being congruent with what I truly believe and value?”

2. Refuse absolutes. Anyone who says “that will never happen” doesn’t understand faith, persistence, and belief. There are few, perhaps no absolutes. The world was once thought to be flat; Christopher Columbus debunked that myth and created a paradigm shift for mankind. Christopher Reeve should not have survived as long as he did and accomplish as much as he did after his accident. 

Action Idea: Have you embraced false absolutes with “security thinking?” Remove all self-imposed limitations and boundaries that you (or someone else) have placed in your mind. 

3. Become a respected and feared competitor. Respect and fear are equally important. Have the respect of your peers, but be sure that they are aware that you are playing to win every time!

Action Idea: Get close to your competitors, and let them get close to you—but only in physical proximity! Treat them with kindness and respect, but keep your eye on the prize. 

4. Get moving as soon as possible. If you allow yourself to procrastinate there will never be “enough” time for getting ready. So, when you set a goal … make a decision … experience adversity; get moving immediately. 

Christopher’s tragedy was something for which he could not have prepared. Chris knew that if he didn’t take action immediately to find a cure and to move toward walking again, he might begin to think that death was a better alternative. 

Action Idea: Decide! Once you make up your mind to achieve a desired outcome or goal, never let anything or anyone stop you.

5. You have more talent and gifts than you realize. You possess all of the resources to lead an extraordinary life. Accept the gifts, and use them to serve. 

Action Idea: Ask “What if …?” questions. “What if I could discover the cure for AIDS?” “What if I could run a three-minute mile?” “What if I give love first without expecting anything in return?”

6. Give yourself a chance—you are worthy. Let the people who love you, love you. Share your dreams and desires with those who can, will, and want to help you. Don’t beat yourself up when you fail.

Action Idea: Everything is an experience, not a test. The events that take place in our lives are not a thermometer to gauge our self-worth. The most important opinion you must possess in your life is the opinion you have of you!  

7. Nothing is impossible.  Use your personal power and have faith that you can overcome and achieve anything you set your mind to. A mindset that replaces the negativity of impossibility with that can-do positivity of what IS possible is a mind-set each of us should embrace. 

Action Idea: Faith equals persistence. If you believe you can, you can. Walt Disney said, “You will see it when you believe it.” 

8. Ignore your own feelings of inadequacy. There is almost always someone doing better than you are. The grass always looks greener on the other side, and that, as we know, is almost always a false assumption.

What‘s more important is what you are doing and what your goals are. If you honor self-promises and stick to your dreams and goals, your time will come. The real truth is that that legendary glass is always half full, and that partly cloudy is also partly sunny. These small distinctions can pay huge dividends in your life. 

Action Idea: Your mind and your body are your most prized possessions. Protect them by being cautious about what you allow to enter.

 

9. Negativity kills empowerment. Negativity drains energy, diminishes hope, blocks creativity, and steals faith and one’s ability to persist. Beware of negative self-talk and negative thinking and all the things and people in your life that are dream-stealers.

 

Action Idea: Just as empowerment begins with you, positivism in your world begins with you as well. You are a leader. Become a leader in your life first.

 

Surround yourself with everything and everyone that makes you feel good. Avoid negative people… negative news … negative thoughts. Life is too short not to be happy.

10. Giving up is not an option. You are not automatically entitled to everything in this life, but you are entitled to become your personal best. After his accident Dana told Chris, “I still love you, you are still you.” That moment, he said, his giving up was not an option. He knew that he had only one choice and one life to leave his legacy. 

What will your legacy be? What will you create? What is your purpose for being here? 

Action Idea: Winners have not quit. And, obviously, quitters can’t win. Quitting does last forever. If you have yet to discover your calling, get excited! It is about to be discovered. If you know your calling, go there with passion and serve.

Those, in a nutshell, are 10 Life and Leadership lessons Eric Taylor and I learned from a heroic real-life Superman, Christopher Reeve.

TGIM ACTION IDEA: Strive to live them every day.

Now, Go Forward!

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. There’s one more quote from Chris that, as Eric says, takes a bit of thinking to understand, but we’d like you to consider it. 

If there is no great glorious end to all this,

if nothing we do matters,

then all that matters is what we do.

TRAINING FOR

THE GREAT OBSTACLE RACE

OF LIFE

Greetings from the great Pacific Northwest. Once again I’m on a swing out of New Jersey and into a part of the country where much of the time life is lived, it seems to me, with a distinctly different attitude.

That’s not meant to sound critical or snarky (although on re-reading I can see it smacks a little of Jersey attitude. But, hey!) 

In fact, it’s kinda awesome. Amazing vistas, quite a different climate, a mindset (especially among the folks I’ve been hanging about with) that embraces the unique opportunities the area affords them.

Like Obstacle-Course Racing. Drawing on roots in expedition adventure racing, trail running, parkour and other outdoor opportunities easily available hereabouts, a race, it seems, is not a race unless it includes obstacles, contrived Fear Factor-style challenges, and, of course, plenty of sticky, gooey, slippery mud.

Not exactly my cup of tea. But I do “get it.” (And, yes, my more athletic and adventurous NJ friends, I know this is a nation-wide phenomena and it’s also taking place locally. It’s just that out here it’s x10.) 

Social media, it seems, has been a huge catalyst for the explosion. It seems everyone wants to post photos of themselves – preferably covered in mud –

 

... sometimes in outrageous costumes 

… crawling under barbed wire

… scaling greased walls

… climbing cargo nets in order to leap from 12-foot platforms

… shivering and smiling bravely with a buddy or two after wading that water pit fed by melting mountain snow.

And that last element, it seems, is a great deal of the point.

As it was explained to me: “The camaraderie and encouragement you get on the race course is the best part of an obstacle race. It’s the most positive atmosphere you’ll ever be in. Everyone is working hard, and everyone wants to help each other through the obstacles. There’s no negativity out there at all.”

 

Ah-Ha! Moment: Even for those of us who may never choose to participate in such Spartan adventure, training for an obstacle race is much like getting through each day of life.

I had a chance to peruse a magazine titled Competitor whilst cooling my heels in a bicycle shop here as friends investigated curiously configured trail bikes. In it an avid obstacle racer named Pete Williams shared a few insights about “how to prepare for your first or next obstacle race.”

As I read his bullet points, my unlikely-athlete’s brain clicked into TGIM mode with the realization that his training tips have wide application for each and all of us by simply be adding the thought –

… JUST LIKE REAL LIFE

Read ‘em and reap: Here’s an abbreviated version of Pete’s Points plus my reminder. 

►Be a Kid Again: Children are natural obstacle racers. They instinctively climb or leap to touch anything in their paths. They attack playground "obstacles," in a non-stop flurry of running. Instead of working out in a gym, play outside to train. You might find you enjoy it just as much as the muddy obstacle race itself.

… Just like real life. Turn down your adult censor. Unleash your inner kid at every opportunity. Navigate the daily monkey bars you encounter and the ups and downs of the 9-5 see-saw with the uninhibited enthusiasm of your youth.

►Run Off Road: Obstacle races take place off road. So why train on concrete or asphalt, which is harder on the body anyway? Even in urban areas, you usually can run on the grass along sidewalks, through parks, on gravel or packed sand, and along waterways. Challenge yourself to run as much as possible off-road, leaping over sidewalks and other paved areas.

 

… Just like real life. Sure most of the daily routine takes place in the equivalent of the asphalt jungle, and sticking to the clearly marked paved path may well be the correct and most efficient way to get through many, even most challenges and achieve many life goals.

But at some time or another – in fact, multiple sometimes or another -- we bang up against a detour … lose our easier way … are tipped off to the treacherous-but-outstandingly-more-efficient shortcut to the outcome we desire. If we’re not ready or ill-equipped, those options will slow us, rather than move us forward. So it pays to be tougher than average in advance. 

►Run Intervals: Long, slow distance runs have a place in some training programs. Interval training builds speed and is especially important in obstacle race training, which combines intervals of running and obstacles. After a warm-up run, alternate between intervals of work and rest, i.e. three minutes of running at 80 percent followed by 3 minutes of walking or light running.

… Just like real life. We’ve all heard similar everyday-world counsel such as this cached in running terms before: “Life is a marathon, not a sprint.” But only a few are capable of attacking a marathon full on from beginning to end. 

So isn’t the Marathon of Life actually intervals, requiring the ability to modulate and pace your performance to fit the obstacles at hand? Clearly then, when we’re not actually “racing” through our day at an adapted-to-the-conditions pace, we should prep for inevitable variables to come.

►Run Hills: Unlike the steady, paved inclines of road races or the run portion of triathlons, obstacle races feature short, steep, off-road climbs. Here, too, your local park can be a perfect training ground. Sprint uphill and take twice the time to walk down. Repeat several times. Be sure to keep your stride compact to prevent hamstring pulls.

… Just like real life. If we’re not prepared to confront the variety of hills (and maybe mountains, maybe even Rocky or Himalaya-sized mountains) we’ll confront in our lives, we’ll struggle more mightily at the first little incline and battle from that deficit for the rest of the life run.

But anticipating the range of uphill battles we’ll face and meeting them having prepared should ease and speed our way over them, unencumbered by that physical or mental charley horse.

►Mix It Together: Obstacle race training is not just about running, of course. Simulate the rhythms and challenges of a race by stopping every half a mile to do a dozen pushups, pull-ups, or Burpees. The key is to make it continuous, mimicking a non-stop obstacle race.

… Just like real life. Ah, Burpees. Begin in a standing position. Drop into a squat with your hands on the ground. Extend your feet back in one quick motion to assume the front plank position. Do a pushup. Return to the squat in one quick motion. Return to standing. Throw up your arms and jump as high as you can before beginning the next Burpee.

Q: Does that sound somewhat like your day from rising to returning to bed at day’s end?

Point made. If you aren’t prepared for the mix of challenges, the struggle’s all the harder. And all you'll be able to do is throw up your hands at the end. 

►Choose Your Own Adventure. Safety is always the primary concern, of course. But there’s no reason you can’t run up and down that mountain of mulch available to the public at your local park. Those huge concrete culverts along your running trail waiting for installation? Why not bear-crawl through them as you will in a race? Instead of avoiding muddy trails after the rain, embrace them. Use whatever you find: Hop up and down on a fallen tree, straw bale or stair steps.

 

… Just like real life. Are you more poet than athlete? While they’re not mutually exclusive, you can sense the aesthetic dissimilarity. So if you can’t relate whole-heartedly to Pete Williams, embrace the counsel of Robert Frost:

 

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I --

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

 

And now I’ve overcome the “obstacle” of writing a meaningful motivational message for today.

 

Hoping with Robert Frost that today’s TGIM makes a difference.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. More familiar with “Slurpees” than Burpees? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the exercise was named for American physiologist Royal H. Burpee. He earned a PhD in Applied Physiology from Columbia University in 1940 and created the Burpee Test as part of his PhD thesis as a quick measure of agility, coordination and strength. The exercise was popularized when the US entered WWII and the Armed Services adopted it as a way to assess the fitness level of recruits.