Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Planning Ahead and Challenging Yourself


Thanks for all the feedback from my daughters blog yesterday. She was so proud of it and kept asking me the rest of the day to see her writing on an internet site. I am excited for what the future holds in terms of the determination and drive some of our youth are capable of. I know when I was my daughters age everything revolved around sports and anything outside that was a waste of time. My wife and I still want our girls to engage in athletics but their drive for the intellectual/leadership side of life is all driven from them.

The picture above is my middle child who when I step back and look at posts I feel she is left out due to baby bragging and her older sister involved in everything. The thing with her is she likes the fancy sports but at the end of the day she enjoys pushing her brain with activities. I know that I have written posts about her before but some things to reiterate in regards to her personality are: perfectionist, 10 steps ahead of you in thinking, 100 percent confident in herself and always pushing the envelope on what she thinks is the right way of doing something.

I have learned a ton from this child and to this day outside of always supporting her and giving her all the love I can I think she is smarter than her dad. Just the other day she called me into the other room and she said watch dad...she continued to read 3 pages of a book her older sister is reading and then sing a song in Portuguese. I should have known from the beginning though that she would be the one that always mastered an activity with little effort. She was our only child (although the baby is almost there) to skip crawling and when she turned 8 months started to walk. The goofy part of it is my girls are tiny so seeing an 8 month old walking at the store was a strange sight to behold.

So at the end of the day while her older sister is pushing the limits of the physical side of life Brynn is pushing the limits of what a 5 year old can do intellectually. She plans ahead in her mind of what she wants to accomplish by laying the foundation of ideas today. I can't say that she really understands that what she is doing now will lead to success in the future but I also can't say for sure that she doesn't. I mean what 5 year old really thinks about what effects their actions will have. She also challenges herself daily to be better. She may not have the physical gifts her sister has but she will not back down from any challenge. The girl doesn't want any toys for Christmas but wants a Kindle Fire so that she can read....I love it!!!

So that leads me to the topic of this blog....Planning Ahead and Challenging Yourself. With only two weeks left in the year now is the time to start thinking of what you want to accomplish in the new year. Your actions today will lead to building towards what you want to accomplish starting in January. If weight loss is the goal then don't go crazy during the holidays eating everything in site because you know Jan 1 things will be different. Instead starting today start making small lifestyle changes that will make that goal in the new year a little easier. I also ask you to start challenging yourself and living outside your comfort zone. The most successful people in life are constantly trying to push themselves to the next level. With this drive comes some failure but there is no success story that didn't encounter failure at some point in the journey. Don't let the word NO or I CAN'T be a part of your vocabulary. These words are common with people who tend to fall short of their goals. One way to push yourself outside of yourself is to play a game that my wife and I started to do this week. Each day we start the day with a challenge to the other person. The benefit of this is someone else is coming up with the challenge so almost instantly you will be pushed outside your normal thought process. I will say that after only three days of this routine my wife and I have seen a drastic difference in our view on life and the small rewards it has already given us.

I am grateful for everyone that takes a moment out of their busy days to read my blog. I 100% promise if you just implement a few of the random ideas I throw out that you will notice immediate positive improvements in your life. I know I constantly am searching for perfection in my life and most days I can tell you that I am just about there.

Enjoy the holiday season, tell the ones around you how much they mean to you and most of all Make It Count!!!


Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Give Back



So as I sat down to write my bi-weekly blog today, I was pleasantly interrupted by my 7 year old. With their creative minds flowing today due to their second snow day in a row she stated "Dad why don't you let me write the blog for you this week." My mind didn't even hesitate but blurted out almost immediately that I would be honored for her to do such a thing. So what follows is everything that she wrote so I hope every one enjoys her words.

Give Back....by Avery

Christmas is not about getting gifts or presents it is about giving to the poor and people who need because they need more then you because they do not have that much money, food, clothing, toys, books, games and other stuff. You should give to the poor or toys for tots this Christmas because they are looking forward to you.

What I am grateful for...by Avery

I am grateful for my family
I am grateful for my aupair
I am grateful for my school
I am grateful for my cozy home
I am grateful for my cousins
I am grateful for my sister
I am grateful for my friends
I am grateful for my grandmas
I am grateful for my dad
I am grateful for my mom
I am grateful for my carrigan
I am grateful for my brynn
I am grateful for my neighborhood
I am grateful for my relatives
I am grateful for my teacher
I am grateful for my uncle
I am grateful for my aunt
I am grateful for my bus driver
I am grateful for my religion
I am grateful for my coach

So there you have it...the two blog entries that she wanted me to post this week. I am blessed to have amazing little girls with wonderful drive and determination (must be from their mom).

Everyone stay safe this holiday season and make sure to always...Make It Count!!!!