It's easy to look at my life and come up with all sorts of things that I should change. Because I'm not perfect (really... just ask my wife), there are always new skills I want to learn, and old skills I want to improve; new knowledge I want to gain, and old knowledge I should brush up on; new habits I should develop, and old habits I need to change.
Is it just me, or do you see a pattern there too?
It seems that my life is a constant battle between the old and the new, and I'm not always sure which one should win. For instance, old habits aren't necessarily bad, but are they helping me as much as they should? Would I better off tweaking the old habit or trying to drop it altogether and replace it with a new habit? The same is true for skills and knowledge. Do I work towards an evolution of my abilities, or should I be striving for a revolution? Steady change or upheaval?
When I read about people who have become very successful, I find myself longing for revolutionary change. I want to be like that person! The skills, knowledge, and habits that they've developed could propel me to success too! I should scrap the things I've been working on and make massive change! Re-engineer my life! Woo-hoo!
Luckily, the initial euphoria wears off and my common sense and better judgment prevail.
The skills, knowledge, and habits we need are the ones that support what's important to us. They are the tools we need to move us towards our goals and answer our calling, whatever it may be. If we come across a new skill, some excellent new knowledge, or a great new habit, and it would be useful on our journey, then we should embrace it.
That doesn't mean we need to scrap everything else... or anything else, for that matter. If it makes sense to exchange the new thing for an old thing, that's fine. If it ends up being a revolutionary change for us, then that's fine too -- as long as it improves our ability to answer our calling.
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Feelings Should Trump Emotions
I spent many years working with teens and had countless informal counseling sessions during that time. One of the things I often tried to help teens do was draw a distinction between feelings and emotions. Emotions are fleeting, flashes in the pan that come and go, changing with the wind. Feelings, on the other hand, run much deeper and are intricately tied to our experiences, our knowledge, and our basic beliefs and understandings of creation and the creator.
Remember the first time you held the hand of that special someone? Your heart raced and the butterflies in your stomach went crazy! You would have given anything to spend the rest of your life together!
That's an emotion... and it's fleeting. A month later, holding hands doesn't do anything except get your hand all sweaty. What you felt before wasn't love; it was some form of excitement, but nothing deeper than that.
After you've been married for 13 years, you argue once in a while (but quickly forgive), you hold hands without thinking when you're walking into the grocery store, you really enjoy just being in the same room watching TV or reading a magazine, and you can't even imagine what life would be like with anyone else... that's a feeling. It's love that runs deep, is based upon experience, knowledge of the other person, and an understanding of one's own beliefs. At some level, it is also based upon a conscious decision -- a choice -- and we continue to make the choice every day.
As I look at successful people around me, it seems that passion is an emotion, but it stems from a choice that people have made. And the more deep-seated the feelings behind that choice, the more likely it is that passion will erupt.
It is very rare to find someone who is passionate all the time, regardless of their "cause". But when they've chosen their cause in line with their fundamental beliefs, they will continue to succeed even during those times when the passion isn't there. They will keep moving forward, even when most people would lose energy and fizzle out. They will push, and push, and eventually something will change and the passion will return, for at least a while.
Passion is an emotion and is usually fleeting. But if you make your choices based upon what truly matters to you, then you'll have the drive to make it through during times when passion fails. And that is a critical key to success, because feelings should trump emotions every time.
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Remember the first time you held the hand of that special someone? Your heart raced and the butterflies in your stomach went crazy! You would have given anything to spend the rest of your life together!
That's an emotion... and it's fleeting. A month later, holding hands doesn't do anything except get your hand all sweaty. What you felt before wasn't love; it was some form of excitement, but nothing deeper than that.
After you've been married for 13 years, you argue once in a while (but quickly forgive), you hold hands without thinking when you're walking into the grocery store, you really enjoy just being in the same room watching TV or reading a magazine, and you can't even imagine what life would be like with anyone else... that's a feeling. It's love that runs deep, is based upon experience, knowledge of the other person, and an understanding of one's own beliefs. At some level, it is also based upon a conscious decision -- a choice -- and we continue to make the choice every day.
As I look at successful people around me, it seems that passion is an emotion, but it stems from a choice that people have made. And the more deep-seated the feelings behind that choice, the more likely it is that passion will erupt.
It is very rare to find someone who is passionate all the time, regardless of their "cause". But when they've chosen their cause in line with their fundamental beliefs, they will continue to succeed even during those times when the passion isn't there. They will keep moving forward, even when most people would lose energy and fizzle out. They will push, and push, and eventually something will change and the passion will return, for at least a while.
Passion is an emotion and is usually fleeting. But if you make your choices based upon what truly matters to you, then you'll have the drive to make it through during times when passion fails. And that is a critical key to success, because feelings should trump emotions every time.
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Passion!
Passion. It's something you read about all the time. The small business owner who continues to thrive in this down economy. The athlete who does amazing things without the use of performance enhancing drugs. The missionary who braves jungles and armed militia to bring medicine to small villages. All of these people are passionate about what they're doing. They feel so strongly about their chosen endeavor that it gives them strength and energizes them every day when they arise, ready to take on the world all over again!
Passion! That's what we need in order to succeed at following our dreams!
Sounds awesome, doesn't it? Don't you wish you felt that way about something? If you do, that's wonderful, and I'm extremely happy for you. Unfortunately, most people don't have that sort of fire in their souls. And when they do find something to be passionate about, those feelings are often far too fleeting.
Want some concrete examples? Start randomly checking out the blogs available on Blogger.com or other blogging platforms. Go back to their earliest archives, and you'll almost always see a flurry of activity, with tons of posts, links and trackbacks. But as you continue through the archives, witnessing the evolution of the blog, you'll almost certainly see the posts become fewer and farther between... until the posts end altogether. Obviously the blogger started out with passion, but fizzled out in the end.
Is passion sustainable? Are there things we can do to stay passionate about something? Or is there something else that drives people, and passion is merely an outward expression of it?
A few things to think about until next time.
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Passion! That's what we need in order to succeed at following our dreams!
Sounds awesome, doesn't it? Don't you wish you felt that way about something? If you do, that's wonderful, and I'm extremely happy for you. Unfortunately, most people don't have that sort of fire in their souls. And when they do find something to be passionate about, those feelings are often far too fleeting.
Want some concrete examples? Start randomly checking out the blogs available on Blogger.com or other blogging platforms. Go back to their earliest archives, and you'll almost always see a flurry of activity, with tons of posts, links and trackbacks. But as you continue through the archives, witnessing the evolution of the blog, you'll almost certainly see the posts become fewer and farther between... until the posts end altogether. Obviously the blogger started out with passion, but fizzled out in the end.
Is passion sustainable? Are there things we can do to stay passionate about something? Or is there something else that drives people, and passion is merely an outward expression of it?
A few things to think about until next time.
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Through to Completion
One problem I have is that I can't seem to stay focused on a single thing for too long. It's not because I have Adult ADD. It's because I have RCIS -- Rampant Creative Idea Syndrome. Coming up with a single creative idea is never enough. I'll no sooner get working on implementing an idea when a couple more pop into my head. And then those ideas force my thinking onto different tangents, which generates even more ideas!
Of course, having a lot of creative ideas isn't bad in and of itself. The problem is that researching those ideas is just so darned easy when the Internet is at my fingertips. An idea will pop into my head and I'll think, "Let me just take one minute, while I'm thinking about it, and 'google' it." An hour later I realize I've gone 59 minutes past my original allotted time, and haven't actually worked on the project I was supposed to be focusing on!
After having experienced the same thing many, many times, I've learned to avoid the temptation of "just checking" on something immediately (unless I really don't have anything else to do). What I do now is always have a couple 6"x9" notepads on hand: one for my "day job" and one for my "entrepreneurial" stuff. When I'm working on something and find myself experiencing a bout of RCIS, I quickly pull out the appropriate notepad, jot down the idea in three sentences or less, and then get back to the task at hand.
Mary Kay Ash said, "Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless." Knowing how easy it is for me to fall victim to RCIS, I couldn't agree more! I can crank out creative ideas all day long... but what good are any of them if I don't drive them through to completion?
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Of course, having a lot of creative ideas isn't bad in and of itself. The problem is that researching those ideas is just so darned easy when the Internet is at my fingertips. An idea will pop into my head and I'll think, "Let me just take one minute, while I'm thinking about it, and 'google' it." An hour later I realize I've gone 59 minutes past my original allotted time, and haven't actually worked on the project I was supposed to be focusing on!
After having experienced the same thing many, many times, I've learned to avoid the temptation of "just checking" on something immediately (unless I really don't have anything else to do). What I do now is always have a couple 6"x9" notepads on hand: one for my "day job" and one for my "entrepreneurial" stuff. When I'm working on something and find myself experiencing a bout of RCIS, I quickly pull out the appropriate notepad, jot down the idea in three sentences or less, and then get back to the task at hand.
Mary Kay Ash said, "Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless." Knowing how easy it is for me to fall victim to RCIS, I couldn't agree more! I can crank out creative ideas all day long... but what good are any of them if I don't drive them through to completion?
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Monday, May 4, 2009
Dog Daze...
I had planned on dragging my butt out of bed around 4:45 this morning so that I could get in a good workout before heading to the office. I had my workout clothes ready to go, my new weekly workout sheet printed and on the clipboard, and the alarm set when I went to bed. It was going to be an excellent, healthy start to what promised to be a long week!
Unfortunately, our dog had different plans for me.
Murphy is getting very old, and his stomach isn't quite what it used to be. After dinner last night, my wife gave him some table scraps... and we paid for it all night. Our poor dog was up at least once an hour needing to go outside and relieve himself. Needless to say, by the time 5am rolled around, I was in no shape to workout.
Life is like that sometimes. We can have everything planned -- have everything all laid out -- and life throws us a curve ball and our plans seem to fall apart. When it comes to health and fitness, we need to be a bit flexible. I prefer to workout in the morning, but I'll compromise today and squeeze in my workout after the kids go to bed tonight. Not an optimal time for me to be sure, but it's far better than skipping the workout altogether (or bumping it a day, which throws off my entire week).
Planning is generally good, but don't rely so much on a plan that you become paralyzed or demoralized when it doesn't go the way you expected. Just shake it off, refocus on your goal, and make do with the situation at hand... even when an old pooch with a stomach ache keeps you up all night and leaves you in a 'dog daze'!
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Unfortunately, our dog had different plans for me.
Murphy is getting very old, and his stomach isn't quite what it used to be. After dinner last night, my wife gave him some table scraps... and we paid for it all night. Our poor dog was up at least once an hour needing to go outside and relieve himself. Needless to say, by the time 5am rolled around, I was in no shape to workout.
Life is like that sometimes. We can have everything planned -- have everything all laid out -- and life throws us a curve ball and our plans seem to fall apart. When it comes to health and fitness, we need to be a bit flexible. I prefer to workout in the morning, but I'll compromise today and squeeze in my workout after the kids go to bed tonight. Not an optimal time for me to be sure, but it's far better than skipping the workout altogether (or bumping it a day, which throws off my entire week).
Planning is generally good, but don't rely so much on a plan that you become paralyzed or demoralized when it doesn't go the way you expected. Just shake it off, refocus on your goal, and make do with the situation at hand... even when an old pooch with a stomach ache keeps you up all night and leaves you in a 'dog daze'!
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Thursday, April 23, 2009
New Life and Transformation
Spring is a time of growth and new life. The long, cold, lifeless days of winter are becoming a distant memory, while mother nature is busy bringing forth buds, blossoms, and blooms. With the world around me bursting with vitality, it seems like the perfect time to begin the next phase in my own personal transformation.
In August of 2008, I was tipping the scales at 258 pounds. About 3 months after that, I had only managed to lose 10 pounds and was basically stuck. That was when I stumbled upon Craig Ballantyne's "Turbulence Training" program... and what a difference it made! Here we are, 5 months later, and I've managed to drop another 30 pounds without a whole lot of focus and effort. (I'll spend more time in later posts explaining exactly what I did so that you can do it too.)
Now, you may look at that and say, "Wow! You've lost 40 pounds! You should be proud of how far you've come!"
Well, I don't know if "proud" is the word I'd use; "pleased" is probably a better choice... but that doesn't mean I'm satisfied or finished. In fact, the progress I've made has given me even more motivation to do better!
The Easter Season is Perfect for Transformation
I look back over the last 8 months and I know that I wasn't very focused. I know that I wasn't very disciplined. I know that I didn't train anywhere near as hard as I should have. Sure, I've had some good results. I look a lot better and I feel great, but I KNOW that I could've done much, much better than I did. But rather than beating myself up for sub-optimal performance in the past, I've decided to look ahead to the future.
For Christians, this is the Easter Season; a time when we focus on the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of new life. It is the perfect time to begin a physical transformation through improved nutrition and increased activity.
Some people have argued with me about this, claiming that the season of Lent is better because it's a time when we remember the suffering of Jesus, and then our "transformation" coincides with Easter and the resurrection. I absolutely disagree with this because I completely disagree with making temporary changes in order to get fit. I strongly believe that we need to make gradual changes to our nutrition and activity that will be permanent. And if those changes are going to be permanent, I certainly don't want to associate them with suffering! I want those changes to be associated with resurrection and new life! I want those changes to be associated with good, positive things so that my subconscious mind helps me and isn't working against my conscious mind.
A Change in Presentation (Posts That Are Personal)
I started this blog with the idea of sharing my knowledge and ideas regarding improving ourselves so that we can better build God's Kingdom on earth. Until know my posts have been relatively impersonal (though I hope you've considered them well-written). From here on out though, these posts are going to be a lot more personal (but still well-written, I hope). I've decided that the best way to share my knowledge and ideas is to document my own attempts at training the temple and give you a glimpse of the thoughts and information that motivates and drives me along the way.
It's not a change in direction; just a change in presentation. I think you'll enjoy it!
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
In August of 2008, I was tipping the scales at 258 pounds. About 3 months after that, I had only managed to lose 10 pounds and was basically stuck. That was when I stumbled upon Craig Ballantyne's "Turbulence Training" program... and what a difference it made! Here we are, 5 months later, and I've managed to drop another 30 pounds without a whole lot of focus and effort. (I'll spend more time in later posts explaining exactly what I did so that you can do it too.)
Now, you may look at that and say, "Wow! You've lost 40 pounds! You should be proud of how far you've come!"
Well, I don't know if "proud" is the word I'd use; "pleased" is probably a better choice... but that doesn't mean I'm satisfied or finished. In fact, the progress I've made has given me even more motivation to do better!
The Easter Season is Perfect for Transformation
I look back over the last 8 months and I know that I wasn't very focused. I know that I wasn't very disciplined. I know that I didn't train anywhere near as hard as I should have. Sure, I've had some good results. I look a lot better and I feel great, but I KNOW that I could've done much, much better than I did. But rather than beating myself up for sub-optimal performance in the past, I've decided to look ahead to the future.
For Christians, this is the Easter Season; a time when we focus on the resurrection of Jesus and the promise of new life. It is the perfect time to begin a physical transformation through improved nutrition and increased activity.
Some people have argued with me about this, claiming that the season of Lent is better because it's a time when we remember the suffering of Jesus, and then our "transformation" coincides with Easter and the resurrection. I absolutely disagree with this because I completely disagree with making temporary changes in order to get fit. I strongly believe that we need to make gradual changes to our nutrition and activity that will be permanent. And if those changes are going to be permanent, I certainly don't want to associate them with suffering! I want those changes to be associated with resurrection and new life! I want those changes to be associated with good, positive things so that my subconscious mind helps me and isn't working against my conscious mind.
A Change in Presentation (Posts That Are Personal)
I started this blog with the idea of sharing my knowledge and ideas regarding improving ourselves so that we can better build God's Kingdom on earth. Until know my posts have been relatively impersonal (though I hope you've considered them well-written). From here on out though, these posts are going to be a lot more personal (but still well-written, I hope). I've decided that the best way to share my knowledge and ideas is to document my own attempts at training the temple and give you a glimpse of the thoughts and information that motivates and drives me along the way.
It's not a change in direction; just a change in presentation. I think you'll enjoy it!
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon
Friday, April 10, 2009
Understand the Value of Your Work
If you ask someone how they think people define spirituality, they will most likely tell you that people's definitions will vary widely, because that is the conventional wisdom on the subject. Most of us assume that spirituality is something extremely personal and thus our definitions are situational and individual.
Interestingly, the few studies that have been done on the subject indicate that respondents tend to have a very similar definition and understanding of spirituality. In the book A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America, author Ian Mitroff uses the results of one such study to offer this definition of spirituality: "[Spirituality] is the basic desire to find ultimate meaning and purpose in one's life and to live an integrated life."
Given this definition, I think it becomes pretty clear that there is a significant difference between spirituality and religion. Obviously, spirituality will be strongly connected to religion because the focus is on living an integrated life, but it's important to acknowledge the distinction between the two. Because of this distinction, I would argue that spirituality is a very appropriate topic within the workplace even though religion is not necessarily safe ground.
But how do you find ultimate meaning and purpose in your life? If you work 40+ hours a week at a job, doesn't that job need to enter the equation? In fact, don't you think that the work you do during the bulk of your waking hours should play an extremely prominent role in helping you discover that ultimate meaning and purpose?
The fact of the matter is that understanding the greater value of the work you do gets you one step closer to living an integrated life.
Action Exercise (10 minutes): Think about the work that you do on a daily basis. What value does it create? How does it help others? How does it make the world a better place? If it's a small part of a much larger system, then also think about that larger system. How does it create value, help others, and/or make the world a better place?
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon Jubar
Interestingly, the few studies that have been done on the subject indicate that respondents tend to have a very similar definition and understanding of spirituality. In the book A Spiritual Audit of Corporate America, author Ian Mitroff uses the results of one such study to offer this definition of spirituality: "[Spirituality] is the basic desire to find ultimate meaning and purpose in one's life and to live an integrated life."
Given this definition, I think it becomes pretty clear that there is a significant difference between spirituality and religion. Obviously, spirituality will be strongly connected to religion because the focus is on living an integrated life, but it's important to acknowledge the distinction between the two. Because of this distinction, I would argue that spirituality is a very appropriate topic within the workplace even though religion is not necessarily safe ground.
But how do you find ultimate meaning and purpose in your life? If you work 40+ hours a week at a job, doesn't that job need to enter the equation? In fact, don't you think that the work you do during the bulk of your waking hours should play an extremely prominent role in helping you discover that ultimate meaning and purpose?
The fact of the matter is that understanding the greater value of the work you do gets you one step closer to living an integrated life.
Action Exercise (10 minutes): Think about the work that you do on a daily basis. What value does it create? How does it help others? How does it make the world a better place? If it's a small part of a much larger system, then also think about that larger system. How does it create value, help others, and/or make the world a better place?
Train hard and pray harder,
Brandon Jubar
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