Grateful

I will keep this one short as today is Thanksgiving Day. Today in my mind is one of the best days of the year for many reasons but the top three reasons that come to mind are...1) Family, Family, Family...without them in our life we are lost and lacking one of the most important support systems we have 2) Fitness/health...its one day out of the year where lots of people wake up (usually to cold temps) and get out of the house to run, walk, trot or crawl some sort of Turkey Trot 3) This one might step on the feet of number two but FOOD...I absolutely love the food that is served on turkey day. Maybe one of the reasons that the food is so good also is that it is prepped at home for hours and with lots of love instead of some store bought garbage.

Thanksgiving Day is also a day in which we should recognize how grateful we are for what we have in our life. Each year I love to put these down on paper as it reminds we of how special our lives are the rewards of all our hard work each day of the year. Its also important to tell those close to you how much they mean to you. Sometimes we can get so focused on the process that we forget to take a second to tell those around you THANKS for all that they do.

My list of things I am grateful for is to long for this blog so I will keep it to a top ten list today:

1. My three little ladies. Without them my life would truly be empty. They are hands down the most important things I have in this life and everything I do all comes back to those three very special little ladies in my life.

2. My wife. I know she should just be part of number one but she deserves a point all to herself. In ten years of being married to her she has not once complained about any of my antics. She constantly supports me 110% which I know can be hard at times. She works harder than anyone I know professionally with the sole purpose of providing for her family and I want her to know that the girls and I are so grateful for her.

3. Friends. I am not going to list out any individuals but I am grateful that life drove me towards this uber passion of running/triathlon. If you have never hung out with this crowd then you are missing out. This community revolves around support and always putting themselves second behind helping someone first.

4. Chiropractic. The reason I am grateful for my profession is that I get to go to work every single day and make an immediate impact in someones life. There is not waiting to see if surgery worked or if some medication will make a change. I get to physically work on a patient and make an immediate positive change. I have had patients come in with tears of joy that after years of discomfort I was able to provide them with the relief they were seeking.

5. Failure. Without failure in my life I would never be able to reach the next level of success. I love failure as it is the ultimate professor of success. I get to learn what I did wrong and adjust everything that is needed to make that failure a success the next time around. Don't shy away from failure but engulf the experience and learn from it.

6. Health. I can't say that I have always been focused on health but my education and personal desire to always want to be better has led me to leading a healthy lifestyle. I am grateful that my daughters would rather eat fruits and vegetables than a bag of chips. I am grateful for being able to wake up each day and press forward without anything getting in my way. I am not big on medication and believe that a lifestyle diet, exercise and positive mental thoughts are the most powerful medication we have. Take time now to make the right choices in your life as I can promise that they will lead you to a happier life later in life.

7. Family. I think I tried to invite about 50 patients/friends to my house this holiday season as I hate when people don't have people around them to spend this time with. I have been blessed with an amazingly supportive family base in my life. My parents never told me I couldn't do anything but knew I had to fail at times to understand life more. I appreciate everyone in my family as I know no matter how bad life can get they will always be there for me.

8. Success. Success has led me to keep pushing the limit of what I can accomplish. In my mind there is nothing that I can't accomplish in this world. Success allows me to experience many levels of joy and internal peace. Success has also allowed me to give back to those who are less fortunate whether in financially or words of wisdom success allows you the power to change someones life.

9. Humble. I purposely put this behind success as I think its an important concept for individuals to learn in life and something my wife and I are trying to teach our daughter after her recent success's in running (actually everything she does). Every once in awhile I look back on what I have done so far and it puts a smile on my face of the accomplishments I have obtained. I could use that and be very arrogant but that is a character flaw I am not fond of. I think it takes a stronger person to be humble and praise other peoples achievements instead of brag about yours.

10. Freedom. At the end of the day without freedom a lot of the previous 9 items might be more difficult to appreciate. I am grateful for everyone that wakes up in the morning whether over seas or on US soil with the main goal of keeping our country safe. I give THANKS to all military members who are waking up on Thanksgiving away from their families as they protect our freedom.

Make sure at some point today you share with yourself, your family or your friends what you are grateful for. If you have a hard time coming up with anything than at least starting from that point on you know that you can make your life that much more rich by starting to build you list.

One last point as I have been working towards it all month. November is also known as Movember and for those who are not familiar Movember is us males version of breast cancer awareness month. During the month of November men are suppose to not shave and grow facial hair with a mustache being the ultimate goal. The goal is to raise awareness for health issues that affect men in particular...i.e. testicular cancer, prostate cancer and even breast cancer. This is my second year in a row trying to spread the word and below you will find my most recent Movember photo.

So on this day of thanks go forth and enjoy everything that you are blessed with and realize that life is ever evolving so if you are not happy with your situation today then you have the power to make a change.

Make It Count!!!

Time

When the word time is used in our day to day language or thought process how is it defined in your world? Most people refer to time in regards to being stuck on Interstate 95 with only 10 minutes till work starts and they are an hour away. Some people refer to time in regards to how long they will wait at the local eating establishment to be seated. Then there are people who view time in regards to how many minutes are left until the weekend. Over the past year I have started to view time in a different manor. Time to me stands for making sure that each day I make the most out of my time on this earth as I have learned that nothing is guaranteed.

Above you will see pictures of the the man in which this whole blog started. I am bringing up Jimmy once again in my blog as one year ago on Thanksgiving my family had the joy of spending the day with Jimmy and his family. The day was surrounded by food, drinks, a touch football game and more important the sight that no one could tell Jimmy was dealing with brain cancer. His strength and will to fight the fight over powered the tumor that was trying to overtake his brain. He showed everyone that even when life just doesn't seem fair you don't have to give up and throw in the towel. Life is all about what you make it and Jimmy was going to make the most of what time he had. The picture on the bottom was 6 months later days before cancer won the fight but not the battle (just would like to note Jimmy was a die hard Bears fan all the way to the end...I knew there was a reason we bonded so well). He fought all the way to the end making the most of his days and trying to leave a lasting impression on the world of the great man that he was.

What can we learn from Jimmy and just about every person that has been given that diagnosis of Cancer? I think we can learn that each and every one of us has the strength and will to make life (time) count. My question to you is why wait until something negative in your life happens that forces you to change? Start today and build on the person you want to become. We all have goals or bucket list items in our life. Why wait and keep pushing off your dreams when the day may come where time is not your friend. Act today and forge ahead pursuing the goals you have stirring in your head.

Here is an action plan that works...pick a goal, skill you want to obtain, a dream vacation, potential new career and follow this strategy. On a piece of paper write down 30 days, 60 days and 90 days. Now under those headlines start filling in what you need to do in that time frame to conquer your goals.

Time is the one thing that will always be there but also can be pulled out from underneath us in the blink of an eye. Why wait to make a difference when we have the power to make the most of our time on earth. I will always guarantee to Jimmy that I will not waste what I have been given and I will keep pushing to make sure I prove to him and the world that I can make a difference.

Make It Count!!!

Escape

I know that there is no shock that I am once again using a picture of my daughter to illustrate my point. The thing is that the three of them are constantly teaching me values/principles in life even though they don't even realize it. The picture above is my little one and what the picture is showing is that with twisting/turning and pulling she is able to get herself out of the cribs harness. The days and comfort of knowing once you put her down she can't move and get into trouble are over. Your asking how this relates to my blog topic today and its pretty simple. She has taken it upon herself to figure out how to get out of a tough situation (situation being that she is tired of just laying around) and ESCAPE from the limitations or harness that life has placed on her.

I hear patients, coaching clients, family, friends and just about everyone at some point say they CAN'T do something. For some reason they have developed some type of doubt in their mind and put a limitation on accomplishing a task. These people believe that certain achievements are beyond their grasp and no matter the hard work put in they would not be able to succeed. People have built this idea in their head that if success is not an easy acquisition then why try. Everything now is the easy way out with fear of hard work or fear of the unknown result. Well let me be the first or maybe the hundred person to tell you that this is all garbage!!!

We are 100% capable of accomplishing anything we put our minds to. Yeah most of them will take lots of hard work, focus, determination and a thick skin knowing that failure is part of the learning and success process. I have failed many times over my life span but I have never once looked at it as a negative maybe thanks to my parents instilling me from day one that failure is fine as long as you take something positive away from it and LEARN.

Life's harness and restraints are everywhere we turn from fast food restaurants tempting those trying to loose weight, the snooze button allowing you to sleep in and miss that integral swim set, taking medication instead of taking time to figure the root cause of your problem which may fix the problem for good, fear of public speaking which may hold you back from giving that presentation needed to excel professionally or the hours of useless TV content distracting you from finishing your research needed to obtain your PhD.....I could go on forever with theses examples as they are present everywhere you turn these days.

Whether its the picture of my daughter figuring out how to succeed in ESCAPING from her crib or my other daughters not allowing anything to hold back their progress in life I have become so much more confident in the human spirit since having children. I have been trying to learn Portuguese recently from our nanny and its a tall task for me as something deep down is telling me that its to hard to learn...my daughters on the other hand don't look at it as hard but approach it more with a fun outlook and last night they where singing a songs in Portuguese...it was amazing!!!

I will let you know that ESCAPING the constraints in life is not an easy process but with focus, attention and a solid plan of attack you will be able to accomplish goals beyond your wildest dreams. I have seen people loose 200 pounds over time the hard way with nutrition and exercise...I have seen one of my good buddies cross the finish line of an Ironman (the amazing feat was at over 300 pounds society would tell him its impossible)....I have seen my wife push through constraint after constraint professionally with hundreds of roadblocks in her way only to succeed time and time again...I have seen my mom go back to college in her 50's and graduate with honors...I have seen my sister who at age 6 was given weeks to live only to overcome and live a life of success with two beautiful daughters (her only downside is she's a Packers fan).

So please if nothing else start today building your future. Pick a task or something that you have wanted to accomplish and start working towards that goal. If needed build a team or ask for help (coaches whether life or sport are great) if needed but know if you keep pushing forward I will guarantee you will succeed and in the end it helps me because the world will be a better place with people accomplishing their goals.

MAKE IT COUNT!!!!

Living In The Moment

Not sure where to go with this one as for most of my life this is definitely not something (i thought) I have been strong at. It may not come across sometimes and people may think that deep down I have everything figured out and that I am a very calm natured person but typically its the opposite...I guess I have just been great at hiding it over the years. I am one who desires immediate results and I was always so impatient waiting for what I wanted. Sometimes if I knew that the reward/goal accomplishment would take a long time I would keep pushing it to the back of my TO DO LIST. My first few years dealing with patients I would take it so personally if someone who had been suffering from an injury for years didn't get better after one treatment. When I started triathlon I had a large checklist of what I wanted to accomplish but would get very irritated that the accomplishments where not dropping from my checklist daily.

It wasn't really until this past spring that I woke up one morning and walked downstairs and looked at what life has given me that I realized anything worth while in this world takes time and patience. I saw my amazing wife and three princesses just belly laughing on the couch with not a care in the world. They didn't care what the day had ahead of them or what stresses presented themselves the day before...they were in the moment and living life to the fullest. It was then it hit me that what I thought was years of impatience was truly my way of being patient with all situations. I was overwhelmed with the thoughts of all the early mornings/hot lunch time hours/always smelling like chlorine which in my mind proved that I really had been patient over the years knowing that consistency and always trying to be better the next day was what made me the fittest I have ever been late into my 30's. I was overwhelmed from all the patient feedback that maybe I had taken for granted but now meant more to me than ever before...all those times healing people which allowed them to continue on with their goals in life made me a better person and maybe I presented my self with patience and confidence which gave them the trust in me as a doctor. I was overwhelmed with the now THREE little girls in my life look up to me every single day for guidance...for a shoulder to cry...for a tickle or a laugh...for a snuggle buddy...and most of all just to be their dad. Having three children at times can feel crazy but they look to you to be patient is situations and to help teach them whats right and wrong.

What I am trying to get out in this message is that nothing in this life of ours will ever be easy. If its easy than either you cheated or you didn't push yourself far enough into discovering what really lies deep inside of you. Greatest comes with determination, sweat, tears, injuries, an amazing team and most of all the PATIENCE to know that if you believe in yourself and wake up each and everyday giving 100% of who you are that nothing will stand in your way.

It has been about six months since my wife's cousin Jimmy passed away from brain cancer and there is not a moment that goes bye in which I wish his life was not ended by such a terrible disease. It has also reminded me that the little things in life only matter if you give them the energy to grow and take over your life in a negative fashion. We live in a much different world than when I was a kid in which mom basically said go out and play and come home around dinner time. There is more going on in this world of ours that constantly tries to occupy our attention for the worst. Most of it is out of my control but what is in my control I make sure I push forward knowing that I will overcome.

MAKE IT COUNT!!!!

Time Management

Being a physician and coach the most common excuse I get towards rehab or a training plan is a lack of time. When it comes to accomplishing most goals in life I am a believer that everything comes back towards time management. If your goal is to qualify for Ironman Hawaii then you need to put in the time with no zeros...if your goal is to be a successful sales executive (seen it first hand from my wife) then you have to put in the time as there is no easy road...if you want to become the greatest pianist of our time then you guessed it right you need to put in the time perfecting you skill. I was not always the best with my time growing up. I can remember in college starting in-depth research papers the night before it was due. Early on I was not as committed to my training because I thought just because I was a good athlete that long course triathlon should be easy. When I started out in private practice I thought just by showing up to work that patients would start flooding my clinic. I think I also at one time fooled my thought process into thinking that balancing all that and raising children would be a walk in the park. Well as you can imagine following all these principles would lead to a failure or a lack of accomplishing any goals in a repeatable fashion. I think that finally at 37 years of age I am a master of time management. With three kids, busy practice, coaching, a wife that travels extensively and trying to fit in training for triathlons people ask me all the time how I do it. My first response is usually one of "It's Easy". I really do think from a time management respect its not that hard and when you are limited on what time you have people tend to be more productive and more successful. Its when you have to much time or you don't structure you day to day life that inconsistency and a lack of focus takes over. If you find yourself in dire need of a time management make-over then follow me in a basic skill I learned a few years ago. First of all draw yourself a chart listing the days of the week and then from here you need to start filling in the blanks as far as activities that you can't budge...i.e...work schedule, class, time with kids, community meetings, etc. From this chart you can start filling in the blocks of free time you have available and trust me there will be free time. In a given week I am usually always up at 4:30 to 5:00AM to get some sort of training in...I typically make the most out of my lunches and train then (this will also allow you to plan lunches ahead of time which means packing a healthier option than always eating out)...all of this gives me the extra FREE time I need every night to spend with my little ladies. I have heard this block called a BASIC week in the past which is something you can repeat week after week so it becomes routine and then the excuse of lack of time becomes a weakness that is no longer part of you. So at the end of the day its always easier to do nothing and keep complaining how its a lack of time fault. You will also see that its harder to obtain your goals or dreams in life. Although if you just break out a pen and paper and follow the simple steps in the previous paragraph then I promise you that you will come close to if not exceed any hurdle that has been in your way. So look at this blog entry as a challenge to be better and let me know when your life's goal sheet starts being checked off. Make It Count!!!!!

Self-Identity

I feel that most of the stuff that I have learned over the past couple of years about people comes from observing my daughters growth and interaction with others. As adults most of us have developed some preconceived way of viewing the word whether its negative or positive. We wake up in the morning and proceed through our daily activities always following these ideas in our heads. Unfortunately most of us follow the first way of viewing the world...in a NEGATIVE way. The mind is constantly viewing interactions as negative and sees the way the world interacts as being negative. When one is in that mindset we also fall into a trap of following the latest fads, worrying to much about what people think of us, worried about what the future holds and most importantly fail to develop our own SELF-IDENTITY.

My middle child Brynn lives her life to the beat of her own drum and always has. She doesn't care what the world thinks of her and if something doesn't agree with her she is always the first to respond "WHY?" Living with four amazing woman you better believe that the one thing that my girls don't lack is clothes. This summer at camp while my oldest was living the life of glamour (in her mind) each day Brynn had what we called the uniform. The same Justin Bieber T-Shirt and pink Justice shorts. In her world this outfit made her feel right at home and comfortable. Everyone at camp must have thought we only cared about our oldest and not her. At the end of the day she didn't care what people thought (I will say that we washed that outfit almost every night and it has since been retired).

Brynn's mind works similar to the way a person gifted in the game of chess plays. She is always 5 moves ahead in her thoughts. Nothing she does happens by chance but is more planned out in her head ahead of time. At 5 years old she knows how people should be treated and she knows how people will respond to the way she acts.

It is important that everyone take time every so often to sit back and reflect on what type of person you have become. Or for that argument what type of person do you want to be. Time may get away from you in the busy life style that we live and you may loose sight of the person you want to be. I know at times if I get busy and let some of the minor stressers in my life take over that I start to loose focus of the goals I have in place in my life. Some of those goals are always having a positive frame of mind. If you start the day thinking about your goals for the day and slowly chip them away your outlook on life is powerful and the energy will spread to others. If you start the day in the dumps and don't focus on the days goals the stress of life will accumulate and soon you will be the one sapping those around you of energy instead of spreading the energy.

So my question to you is are you happy with the identity you display to the world? If not what are you doing to change that image that you portray? Its never to late to make an impact and I challenge you today to step up to the plate.

Make It Count!!!!

On a quick side note...I have been in the sport of triathon for about 15 years and have had many accomplishments during that time that I am very proud of. This past weekend at a triathlon not to far from the house I had the honor of pushing myself and finishing first overall in a triathlon for the first time in my athletic career. The admiration of other racers post race and the joy of being the top racer was a feeling that I could get use to. However the one thing I took away from the race is I love to compete and I love being healthy enough to get out there and try and make a difference.

Self-Confidence

Coaching athletes over the years and treating thousands of patients has taught me one thing about a common trend affecting most people in today's society....an overall lack of self-confidence. I have witnessed first hand people that are on the brink of greatness and the one thing holding them back is a lack of believing in themselves. Most of my patients that take awhile to get better or my athletes that train 100% according to plan but consistently lack execution on race is mostly due to the fact that they don't believe they have what it takes to truly succeed.

I believe that failure can be the cause of why some people can't get over that hurdle. The fear of failing over and over haunts these people to no end. One can have near perfect execution in training or learning but when the big day comes if you don't have the self-confidence in yourself all that hard work becomes hard to apply towards your goal.

I try and not let failure enter my thought process when I develop my goals and go through the day to day task of accomplishing them. The reason I don't give failure the attention that it sometimes steals from us is that I know its going to happen and there is nothing I can do about it from happening. What I can do is learn from my mistakes, bad training days, lack of focus and failures and build upon them in the future. I can take that failure and then apply what I have learned from it and hopefully succeed the next time I try which in turn builds my self confidence each day.

We all have the capability to accomplish anything we set you minds to. There is nothing that should stand in our way from succeeding beyond our wildest dreams. However lots of people fail to believe in themselves 100% and when we start second guessing all of our decisions then we start to fade away from living a life of faith in our abilities.

I recently picked up the book The Power of Positive Thinking and along with having faith the number one goal the author has for everyone that reads the book is developing a deep down believe in ones own self confidence. Without it we are just going through the motions each day and not truly taking advantage of how great we can be.

I have attached two photos for reference in this article. The first one is of me starting the run at Ironman Lake Placid this summer. Going into the race I didn't have the best training the last 8 weeks of training due to the birth of my beautiful little lady. However what I did have going into the race was 110% confidence in myself and my ability to get things done when needed. Coming off the bike I felt extremely confident and ready to drop the hammer on the run. In the end what I lacked in some top end running training was made up for in my confidence in getting things done on the run and I had my fastest Ironman marathon time ever.

The second photo is of my 7 year old at her second triathlon this summer. Anyone that knows her always comments on how confident she is in herself. There is nothing that she attempts that she doesn't go into thinking she will master with effort. She is not afraid of failure at 7 years old and knows that if she gives it her best effort that she will be able to accomplish anything eventually. This girl has taught me so many valuable lessons in her short 7 years that I have been searching for most of my life. As the supportive dad I always try and be there for her and teach her that everything comes from ones frame of mind. If you believe in yourself anything can be accomplished and I can say that she is following daddies words and making the most out of her life.

As always take advantage of what you have been given in life and MAKE IT COUNT!!!!!