World record speed climber Ueli Steck breaks the world record climbing Eiger with vision, discipline and massive action. Ueli recommends ‘Relentless Forward Progress’ in life. Don’t stop moving forward.

Passion, with Visions to a Purpose

We all have a unique dream and a unique talent with which to fulfill it.
How do we find our unique dream?

Passion and Vision: You must become passionate about something.

You have bills to pay? Yes, and there are other people you have to consider when you make your decisions. But you can start small. You don’t have to change your whole life around immediately. Instead, spend an hour a day researching what you want to do. If you want a different career, study it part-time; start putting money aside for it. If you want a better body, start working out and eating better. If you want a new skill, get a book or tutor and practice. Sign up for night classes. The first step is the hardest, that’s why many people don’t take it. Follow your bliss, and everything else will fall into place! It’s not hard work if you are doing what you love. You can give up an hour of TV or spend an hour less online. You’ll die inside if you don’t follow your passion. Is an hour of TV or internet worth that?


Two things that you can do Now to spark your passion are to find your life vision and to write down your goals.

1.Find your life vision
We all know the phrase, "Think BIG!" I'd like to propose another phrase when it comes to your life vision - "Think FAR!" People with a long term vision and a long term perspective tend to have a greater measure of success compared to those who don't. In life, we all pay the price for success or pay the price for failure. The price for success is far cheaper and easier than the price for failure. Think about what you want to see in your life 5 years from now. Who do you want to be? What do you want? When you learn to see and think ahead and live today with tomorrow in mind, you will know one of the great secrets to success.

2. Write down your goals
Writing down your goals is the next step in having a long term vision for your life. Writing down your goals is important because it makes your goals REAL. It turns your visions and dreams into something concrete. You take the step from wanting and hoping into doing: ACTION. It's not enough to write them down and then forget about them. You need to take those goals and turn them into a plan of action. List every task you need to complete to bring you from where you are now to where you want to be, and that's your plan of action. DONE!

I have my daily workout and food log in several places around the house and at work so I constantly see them. I never have an excuse that I forgot. they constantly remind me of my vision and goal.

Simple and VERY HARD!

Todays workout:
1:00 Bike - Intervals
0:30 Run - Transition

There is no easy way. Just do it. Never give up!
E

Tags: Vision, Dreams, Goals

Big Juju for the stubborn mind

or, how I learned practical meditation to change my perspectives

So, I’m running along the canal trail for what feels like forever. I’m 5 miles into a 9 mile run. My quads and calf muscles burn and my breathing is so heavy that I can’t follow it. All I can hear is my wheezing lungs trying to suck in some of the much needed oxygen. I continue forward into my future of pain. Then, a few more steps later, it happens. I cross that glorious threshold of runner’s high and everything becomes illuminated. I no longer feel the pain in my legs. I feel great. My mind is clear and light and I am running on air. Everything around me is beautiful and the future is filled with hope. I continue with my run until I finish 9 miles, wanting to go farther. It is a great day.

So what happened? I was meditating. I let go of my random, daydreaming thoughts and became one with the moment. An awareness of the now. Sure, my body helped by releasing chemicals into my system numbing the pain and helping me focus, but it works.

How to reach this state without the release of chemicals is the true question.

Meditation.
I'm not talking about sitting in the lotus position for hours on end.
No incense. No deep, booming drums. No guttural AUM's or OHM's. No closed eyes. No monastic monk robe.

First, some knowledge ...
The word meditate stems from the Latin root meditatum, i.e. 'to ponder.' Contemplate. Think about. It is a form of practice where the practitioner (you and me) trains his/her mind or self-induces a mode of consciousness to gain a benefit. Basically, to calm your wandering thoughts and think about only one thing for a period of time. Focus.

I think when most of us hear the word meditate, we instantly think of the Buddha, or a yogi, or some scantily clad skinny bearded guy sitting in the lotus position, criss-cross applesauce, eyes closed, not moving a muscle for hours. Who can do that? Not me! Of course the next thought is: "I'll never be able to meditate." But you're wrong.

Practical Meditation
I meditate when I run and swim.
If you examine all the varieties of meditation practices from around the world, the common denominator is awareness of the breath. The breath is universally honored as an object of meditation. It is always with you and can always be altered. Perhaps that is why running, swimming or working out is a good time to practice meditating. I ponder something over and over, using it as a mantra to fill the rhythm of my pace.
You can meditate in almost any situation. If you focus your thought and control your breath, you are meditating. The amount of time you do it for doesn't matter. It could be one minute. Just like working out, you can train your mind to meditate for longer and longer. Eventually, with some practice, you too could be meditating through a 9 mile run. Or a board meeting. Or a children’s birthday party (seriously?) Yep. Thats some big juju.

Todays workout:
01:10 run (about 6 hot, sticky miles)

There is no easy way. Just do it. Never give up!
E

Tags: Meditation, Mind Games

This is one of my favorite Zen stories. It helps remind me to not get too attached to outcomes.

We'll See...

There is a Zen story of a farmer who used an old horse to till his fields. One day, the horse escaped into the hills and when the farmer's neighbors sympathized with the old man over his bad luck, the farmer replied, "Bad luck? Good luck? We’ll see!”
A week later, the horse returned with a herd of horses from the hills and this time the neighbors congratulated the farmer on his good luck. His reply was, "Good luck? Bad luck? We’ll see!”
Then, when the farmer's son was attempting to tame one of the wild horses, he fell off its back and broke his leg. Everyone thought this very bad luck. Not the farmer, whose only reaction was, "Bad luck? Good luck? We’ll see!”
Some weeks later, the army marched into the village and conscripted every able-bodied youth they found there. When they saw the farmer's son with his broken leg, they let him off. Now was that good luck or bad luck?
We’ll see!

Everything that seems on the surface to be bad may be a good in disguise. And everything that seems good on the surface may really be bad. So we are wise when we leave it to nature to decide what is good fortune and what misfortune, and be thankful when things turn out for good. Our mind makes notions of good and bad based on very limited information. If we could see the whole of a situation, then we might just say "we'll see..."

Am I going to kill it at Ironman Arizona? We’ll see ... haha.

Todays workout:
01:00 bike ride (about 17 miles)
00:30 run (3 miles and it was HOT!)

There is no easy way. Just do it. Never give up!
E

"If you want to do something you've never done before, you've got to do things you've never done before."

So your trying to change something about yourself for the better.

Perhaps your trying to eat better. Or workout. Or read more. Or spend more time with your kids. Whatever the change you are trying to accomplish is, when the going gets tough and the negative thoughts start arising, we falter, and that is when we usually quit.

The solution? Don't think, just go to your mantra.

So, what exactly is a mantra?
The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives this definition:
Mantra: a mystical formula of invocation or incantation (as in Hinduism)

Dictionary.com gives this definition:
Mantra (n) - A word or formula, as from the Veda, chanted or sung as an incantation or prayer.

Wikipedia gives this definition:
A mantra is a group of words that is considered capable of "creating transformation."

So, a mantra is a formula, like a short prayer, to create transformation.

But how?
Many religious and philosophical systems claim that speech is the essence of humanity. All of what we think and ultimately become is determined by the expression of ideas and actions through speech and writing. Everything comes into being through speech. Ideas remain unactualized until they are created through the power of speech.

In my last post I talked about how our mind is like a drunk monkey, swinging from thought to thought to thought. These thoughts we are constantly thinking are us essentially speaking with ourself. A mantra is a quick way, a shortcut, to disable the negative thoughts and quiet our mind to allow us to FOCUS on the task at hand. 

Choosing a mantra
When choosing a mantra, try to pick something that resonates to you and your goal on a deep emotional level. The more it means to you the better your chances of success. You are basically going to have a broken record of this thought in your mind when the task gets hard. So, making it a good thought is crucial.

My favorite mantra I use when I run is very powerful. When I was on mile 17 of my first Ironman marathon, legs hurting very bad, with about 9 more miles to go, I received a gift. I was running over the Mill Avenue bridge towards the turnaround to the last loop of the run when I noticed a man in a wheelchair cheering for us all like I have never seen. He was ecstatic with joy and happiness. I instantly made a connection with him and felt him feel like he was able to run through us . I still get teary eyed even as I write this. Anyway, I thought as I ran past him that he would probably LOVE to be able to have his legs hurting from running this far. The moment I had that thought the pain in my legs went away and I ran the last loop of that marathon faster than the first two. From that point on my mantra when I run became "sore legs are wonderful legs." Now, when the run is getting tough, I simply say that mantra and think about that man in the wheelchair. Works every time!
Your mantra doesn't have to be that deep, but it is better if it can be.

Some mantras I use for running
Just do it
Keep pushing. Fight. Fight. Fight.
Who do you want to be?
Pain is temporary, pride is forever
Pain is weakness leaving the body (from the Marine Corps)
I have unlimited energy
Relentless forward motion
I AM A MACHINE sent from the future to destroy this trail. I AM A MACHINE! (I actually use this one a lot, haha)
Keep going, keep going 1, 2, 3.


Some mantras I use to help stop overeating:
Nothing tastes as good as being thin feels
Healthy future, happy future
Food is fuel and I'm a hybrid


And lets not forget, there's always the great, universal mantra "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog-gone it, people like me." - Stuart Smalley

Todays workout:
02:30 bike ride (about 45 miles)
00:30 run (3.25 miles)


There is no easy way. Just do it. Never give up!
E

Tags: Mantras

Perspective (n)
the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance
<trying to maintain my perspective>;
a mental view or prospect;
a point of view.

I got on this train of thought because I watched this lecture from TED:
Washing machine perspective by Hans Rosling



It made me laugh because I usually run or ride while my clothes are in the washing machine. But, then it made me think. All of us who are lucky enough to be on the right side of the ‘air line’ (from video) are extremely fortunate. Even though these chores still take time, these machines allow us to do multiple things at the same time. Most of the time we ‘really’ don’t have any problems. I would call them inconveniences. Our perspectives on our problems are skewed too our present circumstances.

To choose a perspective is to choose a value system and a belief system that supports it. My belief system determines my course of action. If my goal is not coming to fruition, perhaps my perspective towards that goal needs to change. Or I need a new goal.

So how do I change my perspective about training/working out? (my goal)
An argument I hear from time to time on why working out and being fit is a waste of time is the “nobody lives forever’ theory. The point being since were going to die anyway, being healthy really doesn’t matter. When I subscribe to this theory, as I do every now and again, I usually drink a lot more alcohol than I should and I eat a lot of food I shouldn’t eat. I tend to do more ‘high risk’ activities.

But, from my ‘be here now’ perspective, working out makes my days here much more invigorating and enjoyable. I feel better, and in turn those around me are influenced by my ‘good vibes’ and because of that, more opportunities are available to me. So, by changing my perspective and taking a different point of view, I can shift my beliefs and values to be more in alignment with my goals and have a much more enjoyable ‘now!’

In Buddhism, they say that our mind is like a monkey swinging from thought to thought to thought. But, the monkey in our mind is drunk. So we jump from 1000’s and 1000’s of thoughts, usually negative, all day every day. That is the way our mind works. Our job is to insert *positive thoughts* into this process as much as possible to transform ourselves and realize our goals. So, tame that crazy monkey and get on with it.

There is no easy way. Just do it. Never give up!
E

Tags: Perspective, Mind Games