Month: February 2023

We had snow in Oregon this week. A local news outlet published a reminder of how to drive in the snow. (It was necessary judging by the way many people were driving.)

I learned to drive in Pittsburgh in the ‘70s when cars were rear-wheel-drive (RWD). Purposefully skidding and sliding (and doughnuts in an empty parking lot) were par for the (driver’s education) course. I mastered driving in the snow living in Michigan for 10 years. I am the rare individual who likes driving in the snow. (I prefer it over driving in the rain—which is what we get through most of the winters here.)

Somehow (and I hear it from friends across the country) people always seem to forget how to drive in the snow. In Oregon, the excuse is: “We don’t get snow very often.” Perhaps, but we do get snow, and the principles are simple: slow down, allow extra distance to stop, avoid excessive braking, keep a constant speed going uphill, and use low gear to assist is slowing the vehicle going downhill. We don’t forget how to ride a bike. Why do we forget how to drive (in the snow)? Why do we forget the basic habits of successful living?

This posting is not about driving in the snow (but if you are one of those drivers…). It is about managing our healthy habits. It about not forgetting the lessons we learn in life.

Learning to drive in the snow requires failure—preferably planned failure. One of the first things I do every time it snows is to find a safe place to brake and accelerate hard. Years ago, I had a new Ford Escape (the original) in Michigan when we got about two inches of snow when I was working late. I came out to an empty parking lot that was white with untouched snow. I teenage self joyfully returned. I gunned it out of my parking space. No slippage. I slammed on the brakes. No sliding. I took some sharp turns. Minimal fishtailing. Minimal fun. The vehicle was just too good in the snow. (The Explorer Sport I had previously was RWD and did not perform as well in the snow.) Nevertheless, I always drove the Escape with decades of wisdom. I never forgot how to drive in the snow. I learned in the current “snowpocalypse” that my new Bronco Sport is even better in the snow—but can still slide if I take a turn too fast (semi-planned failure). Testing ourselves and challenging ourselves maintains and improves our habits. Testing our limits will result in some failures, but failure teaches us—if we are willing to learn (and to remember).

There will be many difficulties that we will face in life. Each will come with its own lesson. Frequent intentional challenge—having a growth-mindset—will keep us on top of our habits. We will continue to master the good habits and unlearn the bad habits. We should not have to relearn everything every time a challenge resurfaces. Learn from inclement weather. Be prepared. Plan your course. Take things a bit more slowly. Don’t let fear get the better of you. Proceed with the appropriate caution and wisdom.

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

“Your outlook upon life, your estimate of yourself, your estimate of your value are largely colored by your environment. Your whole career will be modified, shaped, molded by your surroundings, by the character of the people with whom you come in contact every day.”—Orison Swett Marden

Jim Harshaw, Jr. (“Success Through Failure” Podcast) calls it the “environment of excellence.

Jim Rohn tells us that we are “the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

We are a product of our chosen environment. (Note: chosen environment and not simply our environment.) We are dealt the hand we are dealt, but how we play it is entirely up to us. We will play the victim if we allow people to tell us we are the victim. We will play the victor when we elect to surround ourselves with a supportive team—when we choose to pursue success.

If you don’t like where you are in life, you have two choices: complain, succumb, or change. Avoid anyone who will devalue you and underestimate your worth. Find those who see greater value in you than you see in yourself. Seek those who will relentlessly push you—who will modify, shape, and mold you. At the same time, pull others up with you. Successful people reach down as well as up.

“While we are living in the present, we must celebrate life every day, knowing that we are becoming history with every work, every action, every deed.”—Mattie Stepanek

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!!

“I teach in my Physiology of Exercise course that ‘movement begins and ends with the brain.’ All action begins and ends with the brain. Therefore, all inaction begins and ends with the brain, as well. Whatever we do or don’t do begins with the motivation to act…or not. One simple choice—to act or not act.”

The above is a quote from a manuscript I am hoping to publish. I was rereading the manuscript the other day for additional edits and came across this. I was motivated to renew my efforts to find a publisher after a talk with my father about a pep-talk he planned to give my son prior to his district championships for wrestling. (My son placed 2^nd, by the way, and is off to the state tournament!) I was reminded of all the amazing things my father has done over his lifetime because he has little fear of failure (e.g., he made it to the Steelers training camp in the 1960s having never played high school or college football). It took me decades before I learned to not see failure as a negative. Failure is a learning opportunity—and something we should be doing more of. If we are failing, we are growing.

It is, indeed, a simple choice: act or don’t act. Like movement and action of any kind, inaction also begins in the brain. We may not choose the cards we are dealt in life, but we do choose how we play our hand.

If we want something in life, we must choose to pursue it. (Heck, even winning the lottery requires that we choose to buy a ticket—an action that must begin with the brain.)

“All action begins and ends with the brain” means that we must follow through with our thoughts. One criticism I have of the classic by Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich, is that it (at least in the title) implies that our thoughts alone produce success. The thoughts initiate the actions that lead to success. (Note: actions—plural—lead to success.) A thought that does not lead to action ends in the brain.

Action risks failure. Failure, however, feeds the brain with the necessary information to reformulate our action plan to try again. Quitting ends with the brain. Only persistent action/effort leads to success.

Action may never grasp the “golden ring”, but it will always bring us closer than inaction ever will. Persistent action always brings one closer to success—i.e., the completion of the goal. So….

Be your best today; be better tomorrow!

Carpe momento!

I don’t know the exact source of the image above* but it caught my eye this morning. I grew up with MAD, so, yes, it is old (I guess that makes me old, too), but….

It is the sentiment of “Yes, me worry” that strikes me. (For any reader who is not “old”, Alfred E. Neuman’s saying was “What? Me worry?”) For some, worry might be warranted. Personally, I don’t want my age to be a cause for concern. I want to be confident going forward into my sixties (less than 3 months away). I want others to feel the same as they age. (Here is where I share a shameless plug for The Aging Well Podcast that I cohost with Corbin Bruton—available where you get your podcasts [e.g., Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.].) To a great degree, how we age is a matter of choice. I believe that a central consideration in growing old successfully is “well-centered fitness” (i.e., our emphasis on Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social wellness). This, of course, is the central theme of this blog.

So, how do you perceive getting old? More than likely, that will be how you age? How do you want to age? Then start making the lifestyle changes necessary to age well. Invariably, “It happens” (Forrest Gump), but how we respond to the negative stuff in our lives has a significant effect on how we survive it. We can’t affect some circumstances in our lives, but we can affect how we respond. And there are things we can do proactively to age well. In short, I would include don’t smoke (quit, if you do), get more physical activity, exercise (especially exercise that supports muscle mass), maintain a healthy body composition, eat a healthy diet, build a strong social support community, and limit or abstain from alcohol consumption.

Yes, I am old, but I am young for my age. I have goals to do things at sixty that I couldn’t do at 50, 40, and even 30. Many of these goals (personally) revolve around weight training (e.g., squatting—now favoring the Zercher squat–and deadlifting), but I also want to continue to pursue a life of kaizen Spiritually, Physically, Intellectually, Emotionally, and Socially for as long as circumstances permit.

Yes, you are old, but….

Be your best today; be better tomorrow.

Carpe momento!

*https://www.facebook.com/groups/2230711268/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=10158971945296269