Today I Will Make a Difference -- by Max Lucado

Incredibly inspirational. What will you do today to make a difference?

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Today I Will Make a Difference
by Max Lucado

Today I will make a difference. I will begin by controlling my thoughts. A person is the product of his thoughts. I want to be happy and hopeful. Therefore, I will have thoughts that are happy and hopeful. I refuse to be victimized by my circumstances. I will not let petty inconveniences such as stoplights, long lines, and traffic jams be my masters. I will avoid negativism and gossip. Optimism will be my companion, and victory will be my hallmark. Today I will make a difference.

I will be grateful for the twenty-four hours that are before me. Time is a precious commodity. I refuse to allow what little time I have to be contaminated by self-pity, anxiety, or boredom. I will face this day with the joy of a child and the courage of a giant. I will drink each minute as though it is my last. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. While it is here, I will use it for loving and giving. Today I will make a difference.

Shaped by GodI will not let past failures haunt me. Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failures. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on. Victoriously. No failure is fatal. It’s OK to stumble… . I will get up. It’s OK to fail… . I will rise again. Today I will make a difference.

I will spend time with those I love. My spouse, my children, my family. A man can own the world but be poor for the lack of love. A man can own nothing and yet be wealthy in relationships. Today I will spend at least five minutes with the significant people in my world. Five quality minutes of talking or hugging or thanking or listening. Five undiluted minutes with my mate, children, and friends.

Today I will make a difference.

From Shaped by God
Copyright (Tyndale House, 2002) Max Lucado

Waitin' and Workin' -- for what yer be Wantin'

We've wanted it NOW for as long as we can remember, haven't we?
A little anecdote I pulled off Lyle McDonald's blog:

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A wanna-be martial arts student once went to the dojo and asked the sensei how long it would take for him to become a master of the art.

The sensei replied “First, you must learn patience.”

And the student asked “Yeah, yeah, patience. How long is that going to take?”
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I'm not big on patience myself. In fact, I'm pretty notorious for being impatient. There's little I detest more than unwonted slowness. I look for the quickest route through the maze of cars in traffic, and sometimes (though I probably shouldn't admit this) tailgate cars with my high beams turned on if I think they've been insufferable slowpokes.

During CrossFit WODs, I hate it when people dilly-dally between exercises while the clock is still running, or take unnecessary breaks to gripe and feel sorry for themselves. There's a distinct difference between being physically unable to complete another rep due to muscular failure, and dumping the bar just because your arms are tired. But I won't get too far off track.

Patience is closely connected to effort and reward. It takes time to achieve goals. No thanks to my short attention span, I frequently get sidetracked before I reach what I originally hoped to achieve. It's probably also because I get fed up when I don't seem to be making any apparent progress, and drop it for something else. The fact that the world today is pretty much founded upon principles of instant gratification doesn't help as well.

I've been thinking about some of the goals that I hope to achieve and I think the best way for me to remain committed to seeing them come to fruition will be to post them on this blog. Nothing works better than accountability (or public shaming, for that matter... haha). Hopefully this will motivate me to stay true to these goals, no matter how lofty or faraway they might seem at this initial point in time.

The first goal will be related to diet/nutrition and eating to achieve maximum performance, and I'll post it here. Most probably by the end of this weekend, once I've tinkered with all the necessary macronutrient ratios in the nutrition plan and tweaked it in accordance with my current activity level, as well as my goals, i.e. ideal body composition, and improved performance levels.

"The expectations of life depend upon diligence; the mechanic that would perfect his work must first sharpen his tools."
- Confucius

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Image courtesy of Inmagine.

The Phoenix Theory

The Psychology of Physical Rebirth

Some time ago, I posted in relation to another piece written by Chris Shugart over at T-Nation (read it here). Look past the blatant product advertising and the pictures of scantily-clad (and HOT) women on the website and T-Nation actually has quite a wealth of useful information about training and motivation -- not necessarily in congruence with what I believe or practice, but good to know and think about, in any case. I particularly enjoy Shugart's articles -- he's a FFB (Former Fat Boy)-turned-fit-guy and he has this uncanny ability of being able to place his finger on the frustrations that plague people who're seeking to transform their own lives.

Briefly, the Phoenix Theory of body transformation involves four key stages:

1) A traumatic event leading to a sudden realization and awakening
2) Anger and a firm decision to change
3) The physical transformation itself
4) Continued progress fueled by fear of regression

If the article and the decidedly unflattering picture of the "front-butted fuck" (as Shugart puts it) riding an electric scooter around a grocery store doesn't motivate you to achieve your own goals, I'm not sure what else will. This article definitely got me thinking about my own goals and what I ought to do to achieve them. Interestingly enough, the phoenix has always been a creature that has held particular symbolism for me (you see, the first character of my Chinese name, "feng", means "phoenix"), and it also proves to be an excellent analogy in this context.

I hope this helps you in pursuing your own goals and seeking your own personal transformation!

One of my all-time favorite quotes...

... which is also why it's the header for my other blog.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly.

So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

- Theodore Roosevelt