Chugging Along

The theme for this week is "Chugging Along." Not very splashy or exciting, but I believe most of us are doing exactly that: chugging along. What I mean is that we go through extended periods of time where we just keep executing our plan. If the plan was to walk, we are walking; if it was doing varied workouts through the week, we go through our workout routines. No-one is really watching. No-one is throwing us a parade.  No-one is writing about us in the newspaper.

We are chugging along with our wellness or fitness plans, sans fanfare. But that is perfectly fine. I would coach people to stock up on encouragement from their fitness buddies, and develop the attitude of diligent, self-governed action. You work on your fitness plan on your own, as it were. Once in awhile, you might pass some cheerleaders, but the more you can do your thing - chugging along, not needing regular recognition for your effort - the better off you will be. Or, at least, the more self-sufficient. While I believe encouragement is critical for all of us, my observation is that constant encouragement creates dependency. Appropriate, well-timed encouragement along with proper skill instruction and as-needed corrective feedback creates self-sufficiency and confidence. And that, more or less, amounts to good coaching.

Back to chugging along. This is the non-glamorous, real-world side of building and maintaining your wellness and fitness. Here are some examples of chugging along that have inspired me in the past week or so:

• a friend training for a running event and he's not feeling the love
• my Mom, who is still walking, in spite of Parkinson's Disease
• another friend who did an amazing number of pushups to support a good cause
• a high school student who joined cross-country to improve his running ability
• even I have found myself chugging along, alternating between a couple of different workouts through the week
• two ladies who meet regularly to improve their swimming strokes
• a guy and his young family, who all participated in a 5k run last weekend

Rest assured, you will probably spend much of your life in between "parades" which celebrate your amazing and inspiring example. In other words, you will simply be chugging along. I hope that you are inspired by a vision. I hope you have plan to follow.  And, I hope you get enough periodic encouragement to keep you chugging along.

Parkinson Superwalk 2016

I got a text message recently from my brother. The message included a picture of his whole family who were participating in one the Parkinson Superwalk events. This was a new event to me, but I got a few take-aways from his message and from what I learned about the event.

First, very cool to see a whole family participating in an event together. What a great way to build family memories - you're having a great time and supporting a good cause.

Second, it is encouraging to see learn about another event supporting Canadians living with Parkinson's Disease. Since getting involved in the 10,000 Kettlebells for Parkinson's challenge last February, I've been paying more attention, and have heard of golf tournaments and other fund-raising projects.

Above all, I see that even youngsters are realizing how they can contribute to a cause. They are leveraging their abilities to generate money to support a cause. If you think about it (I hope you will, especially if you are a parent), that is a pretty powerful lesson for a young person to learn. I have seen a lot of apathy these days, but this might be an antidote: Get your kids (or students, or young friends) involved in an activity where they spend or - maybe more accurately, invest - their talents and abilities. Realizing that their efforts, combined with the efforts of others and the resources of still others, can accomplish amazing things is a powerful lesson. Effort plus collaboration leads to greater accomplishment. And that is agency - the ability to make things happen. If you learn, especially at an early age, that you have agency, your chances of becoming apathetic drop.

So, when you hear about an event where you can participate at your own level, but you can leverage your abilities (your participation) along with others to achieve a greater result, you don't need me to tell you to GO FOR IT!

By the way, I have 18 more days of 22 Push-Ups to go in the challenge Alex threw at me last week. Email me if you are also willing to contribute to the 22 Push-Up Challenge. It will be encouraging.

Vision and Goal-Setting Update

The Vision and Goal-Setting project continues, thanks to some feedback and ideas from the test crew. I will keep you updated and let you know when the resource is ready to release.

By the way, I just got challenged to do the 22 Pushup Challenge. Thanks, Alex. I think. Your great video demo sold me. Then I read up on the idea and I think it is a worthwhile way to support Canadian Armed Forces members, veterans, and First Responders.

You can read up about by clicking the link above, or Google "22 pushup challenge".

Don't forget to keep working on your vision and goals. It will guide you forward.