What can you do in 120 Days - the 120 Day Challenge

Image - Chazz Vader on stage in Dallas, Texas - interviewed about my weight loss by Kent Cras during conference.

Motivation:

"Dreams are goals with deadlines" - Napoleon Hill

Diary:

last week I got the opportunity to work on a Habitat for Humanity house. It was one of the best things I could have done. First of all, working outside on siding, putting up and taking down scaffolding, and getting muddy, dirty, and bruised in the summer sun - it is a blessing to be able to work with your hands and build something. Two highlights were

1. building a stairs for the front porch - cutting and nailing wood together to create something real! (not that writing documents isn't real, but typing on a computer is creating bits and bytes and pixels - which has it's value, but isn't physical). I was so proud of my accomplishment - I so much wanted to bring someone to show them what I built. I felt like Tom Hank's character in CastAway. After working SOOO HARD to get a spark to light and then accomplishing this tasks, but having no one around to share the excitement. He yelled out "I have made FIRE! I HAVE MADE FIRE!!" to his only friend at the time, his Wilson volleyball. I felt like this a little - I felt like I did such a great thing - building and producing, and wanted to drag my friends to see "Look what I built." I guess I just will put it in my heart as something "you had to be there" to know what I mean.
   
2. I ran into the brother (Nick) of a good friend of mine (AHon) who was also working on the house that day - it was a real coincidence thing. The look on his face was priceless. He didn't know who I was - I mean, when was the last time we talked? AHon's wedding I saw him, but we didn't really talk very much, as it was a busy day and he was rather pre-occupied. He stood staring with his mouth open, asking questions and talking as if nothing had changed, and then said "Listen, I can't believe you have changed so much!" It was just wonderful. The look in his eyes for me was of encouragement and pride and I felt great. Thanks Nick for that little jolt of encouragement and awe. I needed that.
   

I received two great emails this week that I need to record here:

First I have had ongoing discussions with my friend Pat, who has been helping me sort out questions like "What is your purpose?" and "What makes people happy?" After a long discussion one evening, I got this email from him the next day. For some reason, it helps me to put in perspective what my intentions should be:

"One of my favorite segments from the TV show The West Wing included the following story:
A man falls into a hole and can't get out, a preist walks by and the man yells up to him 'Father I've fallen into this hole and I can't get out'. The preist takes out a prayer and drops it down to him and moves on. Next a doctor walks by and the man yells up to him 'Dr I've fallen into this hole and I can't get out'. The Dr writes out a prescription drops it into the hole and moves on. Finally an old freind walks by and the man yells up to him 'Joe i've fallen into this hole and I can't get out'. Joe jumps down into the hole and the man says, Joe why did you jump down here with me and Joe replies, 'because I've been down here before and I know the way out."

Sometimes we fall into our holes and feel like we are all alone. We can ask for help from "the experts", but sometimes we just need to be around someone who has been there before - not because we need them to solve our problems for us, but just to be there to listen to our struggles and remind us of who we are, our strengths, and the reality that we are just in a hole and there are ways out if we just take a breath and look around. They did it and are ready to serve as a model that it is do-able.

If you haven't already done so, I would HIGHLY recommend you find a support group - I don't even care what it is. I have several groups of people who I rely on and am accountable to with my weight loss, fitness, professional, and personal goals - and some have been in my situation before. Whatever you do, having someone to lean on and support is a valuable thing.


The second email I have cherished this week was from my Global traveling mate, Josh. He sent me a nice message about Habits that I would love to share with this group. Actually, you should read the article about Habits at the New York Times by Janet Rae-Dupree. Read that article, and then I will point out my favorite parts of it, if you care:

Brain researchers discovered that when we consciously develop new habits, we create parallel synaptic paths, and even entirely new brain cells.

We can direct our own change by consciously developing new habits. The more new things we try, the more inherently creative we become.

Comfort is the realm of existing habit. Stress occurs when a challenge is so far beyond current experience as to be overwhelming.

It’s in the stretch zone, the middle where existence feels a bit awkward and unfamiliar, where true change occurs.

Continuously stretching ourselves will help us achieve our goals! Do something different every day to get out of the routines that make us more aware of our lives.

Kaizen calls for tiny, continuous improvements! (Now WHERE have you heard this before?)

“You cannot have innovation, unless you are willing and able to move through the unknown and go from curiosity to wonder.”

Wow, excellent article. A "must read" for anyone ready to make a life change.

SIMPLE IS NOT EASY

The last weekend, while in Dallas Texas, I had a chance to "reveal my identity" a little and announced that I have lost considerable weight while using Nutrilite vitamins, XS Energy Drink and TrimAdvantage protien snacks. (You can purchase these items here, by the way - or just contact me for more information.) I digres - It was a good weekend, and I heard words like "momentum", "integrity", "dreams", "goals", "strategy", "techniques", "actions", "milestones", "partnerships", and "edification". The best two things that I gained from the weekend were the following:

1. The first thing I retained from the weeekend was about setting our Goals and Dreams. The thought behind setting our goals = Don't put all your eggs in one basket. It is interesting that just as I have been telling myself to not base all my focus (in the last blog) on the success of one thing, I was getting this same message from the speakers at this weekend conference. If you are to measure your success or failure based on a few events or in my case, a few people you meet, you will statistically fail already - as likely you will be rejected or not succeed to your liking. However, if you spread out your efforts to lots of possible options, you will find that one failure doesn't affect you, and one success may not be as big of a high as it would have if it was your "last ditch effort", however overall you will be better off and have a better chance of succeeding at your effort. Also, and perhaps more importantly, by spreading out your options of success, you might find that what you thought you wanted isn't what makes you happy in the end. Perhaps you will find that, as the Rolling Stones said, "you can't always get what you want" (or what you THINK you want), "but if you TRY sometimes you just might find you get what you need." (or what you REALLY wanted, but just never thought of it)
2. The second thing, after thinking about our Goals and Dreams is then thinking about how do we get them in todays busy society, when after all is said and done, we don't have the energy to consider our dreams. Dreams and goals take more than thought - they require some momentum. Momentum is difficult, becuase it seems to happen in spurts - even using Kaizen, we don't always improve ourselves, sometimes we just stagnate. So is there a way that we can spark some momentum into our hecitc lives? The concept brought up this weekend may not be new, but it hit me at the right time and in the right way - What can you accomplish in the next 120 days? What can you do for 120 days straight without worrying about results? By putting yourself into something - fully engaged, no half-way commitments - for only 120 days, should show you some results - if it doesn't, maybe you were not fully committed, maybe your technique was wrong, or maybe you decide that this dream is not something you truly want to do or have. Either way, you haven't lost a lot of time (4 months?) and you may learn something valuable through the effort. I KNOW this works with weight loss and fitness - by taking 120 days and focusing on what you need to do every day to make something happen and you are doing it correctly and consistenly - it just works. When it hasn't worked for me is when I wasn't true and focused during the 120-day period. If I cheated or let myself stray, then I failed. It is ossible to stay committed for 120 days, because if you really hate it, you have the ability (I give you my blessing on this) to say that after the 120 days is over "I will never do THAT again." But until 120 days is over, stay committed, keep your internal integrity to honor your commitment to that dream and goal for just 120 days. After the 120 days is over, review your actions and measure your path. Then you can decide - am I better off by doing this test? Do I feel better about me and my world? Sometimes hindsight can be a valuable tool when setting the goals and dreams for the next 120 day push....

With this energy, I will be getting back to the basics of "what I need to do" for the next 120 days - eat and drink right, excercise daily, sleep well, and continue to improve my mental and social skills.

This next 2 weeks will be busy for me with a huge report due, my clients from out of the country coming to visit, and my other clients are adding and moving around a bit. So I will by working my tail to get everything done - nothing new for Chazz, and I feel pretty good about the whole thing. (Especially the fact that I will be taking my out-of-town clients to a Twins vs Yankees game - front row seats!!!)

for the next posting in June - lets get back to podcasting (chazz-casting) as I have an interview with Kaptain Karl to finish, and talk about eating patterns - I am reading about fasting and am curious if this is something that real people do on a regular basis.

more later,

Chazz

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