Stepping with Care and Tack, A Balanced Act, How to Make a Habit, The Four B’s of Life
"So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains."
— Dr. Seuss (Oh, The Places You'll Go!)
5:08 a.m., We’ve returned to our mountain top after a few days away, coffee in hand, fireplace burning to my right, it’s quiet here, this is my time. We left Winter Park about 10:30 a.m. in the middle of a snowstorm; the roads were treacherous, we drove about 20 mph for about 40 miles, before the sky opened up, turned blue and the sun followed us home.
I’m noticing a lot of folks sharing inspirational messages on social media. I love it, but wonder why we only seem to focus on change this time of year. We should be constantly improving, not just the first week of the new year and then returning to our old bad habits and routines. I challenge you if you are making some changes, make sure you keep those changes for 30 days, once you do something for 30 days straight, you have a better chance of continuing the activity.
I want my work moving forward to try and push my readers to be better, maybe look at the world with a different set of eyes, maybe offer a few life hacks that will make life a little easier. My friend Doug has a program focused on four main areas of life, body, being, business, and balance. I like the simplicity of his work; I’ll use his framework occasionally to get you thinking about your personal goals.
Starting with the body, I’m not sure why, but everyone wants to change their bodies on Jan 1. The rotund want to be less rotund and the fit want to be more fit. I’ve seen this over the last 25 years as a regular at various gyms, this time of year we regulars get to meet the “I’m going to change my lifers” and those relationships last about a week before the new folks are never to be seen again. Again, if you are going to start changing your body or nutritional intake, start small, do the same thing for 30 days straight and then add a little more complexity to the habit.
I don’t think it necessary to go to a gym to get fit. There are thousands, if not millions of short workouts on Youtube; you can do pushups, walk inside or outside, don’t use the excuse you have to join a gym to start changing your health habits.
Regarding being, try and connect with something bigger than yourself. Some people go to church; others find their own unique spiritual path. I don’t think it wise for one man to dictate to another their faith path; we all have different experiences but I hope we can all realize that we are all connected, that connectivity is the basis for my being. My gift to my community is my daily writing, sometimes I hit I strikeout, but sometimes I hit a double and on the rarest of days, I hit a home run.
If you never get up to bat, you will never get the opportunity to strike out, get a single, or hit a home run. My wish for you this new year is that you begin stepping up to the plate in some manner. Don’t worry about the results, show up, be present, connect with others, and swing the bat, you never know when or if you will connect with a magical spiritual ball.
I love my business, but not everyone has been successful in starting or owning a business. If you are one of my entrepreneurial brothers or sisters, this one is easy. But if you work for someone, try and be the best teammate or team member you can be. Communicate with clarity, document your work, educate yourself in your field of work, and finally follow up, own your work, make sure you see it through the finish line.
Balance is the idea of making sure that each area of your life is in a good place. We as humans tend to focus our attention on the areas of life that are working and neglect those that need attention. Make sure that all key areas of your life are in balance giving each area equal attention. Making sure you are connected to your significant other, giving them what they need is very important. But so is being a good friend to those that count on you for support, love, or connection.
Be a good member of your community, and remember we all have many communities we engage. You live in a community, give some time to those people that you live with and around. You may or may not go to church, show up, get involved, use your gifts. If you are a member of a group, take on a new role, ask for a job and do it well, every group has needs and you can use your talents to help move your group from where they are to where they want to be.
If you want to break life down into four simple buckets, use the body, being, business, and balance model. It’s a simple breakdown of the human condition, and I think a key to keeping life simple, focused and moving in a positive direction.
The key to change is small steps, not radical changes in behavior. You don’t go to the gym and rack the bar and lift as much weight as you can, You start small, lift, work on your technique before slowly adding plates to the bar, make sure as you begin your transformation, you start with small basic changes, and you do those for 30 days, if you can do a behavior for 30 days, I promise it will become a habit, not just something you do for a few days or weeks.
Once you add a positive habit to your life, add another habit. I recently read that it helps if you stack new habits to old. As an example, I get up and write daily, I have my coffee, and then clean up my email. If I stack 20 minutes of movement, yoga, or stretching after that work is complete, every day for 30 days, that 20 minutes of movement will become a normal part of my day as my cup of coffee and morning work.
Well, day two of this new decade. I hope this message finds you well. I thank you for stopping by my free internet soup kitchen. I’ll offer you soup for your mind, body, and soul, and you can spit it out, but if you sip a few bites daily by joining me on my journey, I might help you on your journey. I’m here to help, my second mountain is a mountain of personal and societal improvement, there are many of us here to help, reach out, find a person that you can learn from, engage, grow, and be your best self.
"So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains."