Sunday Story…Year in Review

“Most people who talk about goals just say, “You should have goals.” They don’t tell you how to set them. – Craig Swanson

So you embraced your life, you know, the one you have created. And now, it’s that time of the year again. The end of the year. The time of year when we look back at what happened and look forward to what we want to happen. Most of us do this in some form or another in a formal or informal way. You might sit down and make a list or maybe just mentally go over your achievements. Hopefully you will make a list of what you might do in the coming year. Even better if you set SMART goals for the year (SMART = Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time orientated).

Let’s take the year in review first. You can’t set goals for where you want to go unless you know where you are before you start.

The two questions to ask yourself about the past year are:
1. What went well this year?

And

2. What didn’t go well this year?

Pretty simple questions that you should be able to get 6 to 8 answers to. So rule #1 in this process is that you have to write them down. I like to use real paper and pen but the computer is fine for this. Keep in mind you should only focus on the things you had control over. You couldn’t control the tornado that flattened the town but you could control what you did about it.

I suggest taking 2 or 3 days doing this process. You might get more than 6-8 answers but try to narrow it down to the not more than 10 really important things for each question. When looking back at the year you should get a sense of what kind of year it was and you might even have a nickname for it when you are done…the year of “change”, or “harmonic convergence”, or “tectonic shifts.”

When you review what went right and what went not so right some things should come into focus. It will be clear what the coming year could have in store. Let’s be honest…if you do what you already did you will end up with what you already have. Life planning will change so many things in your life, including your level of satisfaction or happiness. So now it’s time to look forward.

The second part of the process is to set the goals for the coming year. Again we look for the answer to 2 questions:
1. What do I really want to accomplish in the coming year.

And

2. What do I need to do to accomplish the things in #1.

We will explore this process more deeply next week. In the interim get cracking on this project. It is not hard but it is very important. Enjoy the process and be kind to yourself!

Namaste

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story...Your Life

“You are the star in the movie called Your Life. Why are you pretending it’s just a bit part?”¬¬--Unknown

You are living the life you have created. Whether or not you have created it on purpose. All too often our life ended up looking a certain way because we did what was expected of us, what we should do, and what the world had us pigeon-holed to do or be. You were supposed to go to college (and in some cases a particular one), get married (to a certain type), have children (a number), pursue a certain career (one acceptable to your family). Maybe you did all of those things. Maybe you did them well, and did them successfully. That was the life you created. What life would you have created if you were free from all those should-dos? You might have created the exact life you created. Then again, you might have created something entirely different.

I would invite you to look back over your life and shuck the shoulds. I am not extolling you to throw everything in your life away. I am inviting to step powerfully into the fact that you are living the exact life you have designed for yourself. And I am also inviting you to step powerfully into the exact life you want to lead.

So go ahead and look back. Look back with eyes of gratitude and hope and joy. Your life today is the aggregation of all those actions you took (and the ones you didn’t), all the expectations you accepted, all the shoulds, all the supposed-tos. You did it all to the extent and ability you could. So many things have gone right; so many things have been fun and good. Celebrate the victories, large and small.

Out of this joyous moment take a long look forward. Way, way down the road. Look at the end game, that moment none of us really wants to face, but the one we all know is coming. When the curtain falls and you gaze back over the life you lived, will the life you did create be the one you intended to create, the one you wanted to leave behind for the inspection of the ages? Or will it be the life you created out of other people’s expectations and desires? Or, and perhaps worse yet, will it be a life cobbled together by accident, by happenstance and kismet, a life that just happened like a piece of flotsam washed up on some unintentional shore?

When I think about that moment I know I do not want my life to have been determined by a pinball-like caroming of events. I want my life to look like I had some idea of what I wanted to do, some idea of what I might accomplish, some idea of intention and attention. Maybe you aren’t that way. Maybe you live in a different paradigm than I do. And that is all well and good.

You get to have the life you want to create whether by intention and on purpose or by accident. It is, after all, your life. If you want to create a life that might inspire or have purpose and meaning, you can do that. There are things to be done and done now, as in the right now.

For right now, though, let’s just savor the life we are living. After all it is the only one you are going to get on this go around. The next 2 weeks will explore the “what’s next and what’s possible” part of the equation.

From me to you, with gratitude,

Namaste

John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story...Be hard to kill

In other words why you should be fit.

When I look across the broad spectrum of life I see so many areas that I could make so many improvements…health, money, career, relationships (family), education, spirituality, and others. This looks like a lot of places to do work and frankly overwhelming. Many of us (OK, me) try to do too many of these things and end up doing none of them. Then I feel badly.

What if there was one area where I could get more bang for my buck. One area that would lead to improvement in several others, if not across the board in all of them. We often see this all boats rise with the tide phenomenon in other arenas but it is also true in the arena of personal development.
The one place, the one area where you will improve your life across the board is in your physical fitness. Admittedly I am biased. However, after over 20 years in the fitness and personal growth business I feel confident in making the following statements:

Transforming your body transforms your whole life

When your fitness improves your brain works better

Fit people are harder to kill and easier to love

Improving your fitness improves your attitude

Being fit improves how you see the world

I have seen research that says being healthy in your body means your brain is more able to learn. I have seen research that claims working out improves your ability to focus and stay on track (A.D.D., A.D.H.D. people perk up); there is no doubt that being fit improves your attitude. Your brain produces endorphins during exercise that you can’t get any other way and these endorphins make you feel better physically, mentally, and emotionally. Fitness could get you a better job. You will be more attractive to employers if you are fit and healthy, your attitude is positive and you give off a healthy energy. To be blunt and honest there is weight discrimination out there. Your relationships will improve as your energy goes up. You can spend more time with your loved ones and be more positive about it.

The area that will most improve and the most underrated is in your confidence. When you are fit you will gain in self confidence. That self confidence derives from the self discipline it takes to get and maintain fitness. When you are living in a body you love your mood is soaring and your confidence is off the chart. If I had to pick one thing that every person on earth should have in abundance it would be self confidence. One of the easiest ways to increase self confidence is increase your fitness. And, really, won’t we all feel better knowing we look good naked?

You can want to make more money, you can want to be a more spiritual person, you can want to be a better spouse or a parent, you can want to be more successful in your career and not have any idea where to start. If you start by getting your physical body in better condition those things will start improving with little to no effort on your part. In other words being more fit will make you happier and have you enjoy life more fully.

“Fitness is a game-changer. It just is. Once you get to your best physical condition, your focus soars, your mood elevates, your resilience grows, and your stamina flows. The Perfect Human is like a hunter on the plains—knowing only the fittest survive. And yes—when you get fit you’ll get giant goals done (so your life gets good). But also get ultra-healthy so you’re of improved service to our world. (We all need you to shine).” Robin Sharma

Namaste

John

www.crossfit-odyssey@gmail.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story…YOU CAN

Unless you have been living under a rock for the last week, you know that Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa and the man who led the fight against apartheid in that country has died. Many writers and talking heads will memorialize his achievements much better than I ever could. I invite you to read and listen to them.

For me and many other people the message from his life rang clear:

If you want to change the world, YOU CAN.

It is that simple. YOU CAN.

You can stand up to seemingly insurmountable opposition.

You can do what’s right even when under pressure to do what’s expedient or what’s expected.

You can respond with compassion and still be seen as strong and be strong.

You can change the world and preserve yourself.

You can tolerate much more pain and suffering than you think you can.

You can change the world if you realize the journey is going to be longer and harder and more trying than anything you ever imagined.

YOU CAN.

Maybe changing the world isn’t on your short list of things to do this week. Maybe you just need to get through another holiday season with a minimal amount of stress and pain. Maybe you just need to get back on track in some aspect of your life…diet, exercise, career, family, or? YOU CAN

It is attributed to Archimedes the saying that “if I had a lever long enough I could move the earth.” If your lever is long enough you can change the world. You can also change your life. You can also improve the lives of those around you. You can do what you set your mind to do.

Nelson Mandela spent years in a physical prison locked up. Why are you locked in a prison of your own making? Who sentenced you to living the life you are living? Who is your jailer? You are. And you are your liberator. You are the one with the keys to unlock the doors of your prison. Why aren’t you using them?

Unlock the doors and step into the light of the life you want to live.

YOU CAN
But you have to want to. You have to want to be free. You have to want to change. You have to be willing to tolerate the pain of transformation. You have to be willing to be the grey mush of the cocoon in order to become something new and fresh. You have to step up to step out.

YOU CAN
Be the one we are waiting for.
Change the world. Change your neighborhood. Change your house. Change your life. Change the people around you.

YOU CAN CHANGE YOURSELF

YOU CAN
Grab the end of that lever and don’t let go until the world moves. Believe, be passionate and steadfast in your conviction, be the change you want to see in the world.

YOU CAN

YOU CAN

YOU CAN

If you won’t…Who?

Namaste

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story…It’s my Party or My Funeral

Whaat? Party or Funeral? I know wakes are kind of like parties but let’s be honest, having a party because someone died is not really all that much fun. After all the guest of honor is still dead.

The real question I pose to you here is this: How are you living your life? Party or funeral? We all get a choice every day. That choice is simple…how are you going to live today? You are going to go out and greet the world in some fashion. What is your choice?

Maybe you got out of bed and weren’t really feeling it. You said to yourself, I’m cranky, tired and just not looking forward to the day. Guess what? That is pretty much how your day is going to go. You are going to be tired and cranky and just not into it. On your way to a funeral (yours).
If you look out at the world and start looking for all the ways that it sucks you won’t have to look very far or very hard. On the other hand, no matter how bad your life sucks it could always suck worse. It makes no sense to me to decide that life sucks and start living out of that box. It can always get worse no matter how bad it is. So why live like your life is 30% suckitude? Are you trying to get to 70%? Really? Why would you want to do that? Even is your life is 98% funeral it is still 2% party!

Get up in the morning and force yourself to say it’s going to be a great day. I feel great and I am only going to get better. I am way better off than most people and way way better than the guy in the funeral home. It is time to party today because I am up and going to run through life.
Maybe that whole thing is a stretch for you. Maybe your life really does suck. It is still better than some lives. And for most of you reading this…Your life does not suck; especially when we compare it around the world. Your life looks like one big party to about 90% of the world’s population.

The only freedom you have, the only freedom that can never be taken from you is the freedom to choose your attitude. You can be locked up, put in chains, have everything and everyone taken from you but you get to determine how you will react to those things and what attitude you will adopt. This is a truth many of us forget in our quest to be negative. You don’t have to do it. You don’t have to go down that road. Choose to go down another path!

Every day you get to choose: do I go to a Party (woohoo) or a Funeral (oh no). This is your life. A party can be messy and stuff gets spilled and it isn’t always as much fun as you thought it was going to be. But it sure beats the alternative of sitting around and moping and complaining about stuff you can’t change anyway. Complaining and bitching and moaning never brought back the dead and it isn’t going to improve your attitude either.

So let’s get this party started! Woohoo!

Namaste
John Mariotti
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com

Sunday Story...I'm FINE

Fine…Freaked Out, Intense, Neurotic, Emotional

Stress is a funny thing. We need stress to perform well. Too much stress will degrade our performance. There is a fine line between too much and not enough. This is true in so much of our lives.

Pressure creates diamonds from coal. Stress gives us champions and heroes, ordinary people doing extraordinary things. As the old saying goes…when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Stress helps us by giving us deadlines and standards to measure ourselves against. Living a life with no stress would be boring and mundane.

Stress will also kill you. In a very bad way. Heart attack, stroke, or mental breakdown can easily be imminent in high stress situations. At the very least stress will cause you to do and say things you would not do or say under normal conditions. Too much stress affects your life negatively across all aspects…sleep suffers, exercise is less effective, food doesn’t digest well, your mental attitude is confused, and you are prone to getting sick (which adds even more stress).

So what to do about stress? How do we know when enough is enough and too much is over the top? Most of us don’t have built in stress meters. Or do we? When you aren’t sleeping well your stress meter is going off. When the food you eat all tastes like sawdust your stress meter is hitting the redline. When you catch a cold at the drop of a hat or you seem to be sick too often your stress levels are getting out of hand. If the simplest things create a huge off the hook reaction in you…ding ding ding!

So whatcha going to do Willis? Because if you don’t get out of that funk, that funk is going to kill you. I recently went through one of the most stressful times of my life. It was one of my own doing, but that’s a story for another time. Stressor #1… I moved my business after 5 years in the same location (moving is always stressful). Stressor #2… I put people in charge of that business since I was going to move to Dallas TX. This was a sudden decision for everyone. Stressor #3…I moved 1600 miles out of the area I had lived in for 25 years and the house I had lived in for 5+ years (that whole moving thing again). Stressor #4…I was opening a brand new business in a new town in a new way with a business partner I had never worked with before. Stressor #5…in the month leading up to the move my diet got worse due to time constraints, my rest fragmented, again, due to time constraints and finally my workout program started to break down. Stressor #6…I drove for 3 days, eating the best I could on the road but it wasn’t good. This is a fair bit of stress, all at once. When I arrived in Dallas I was sick, really sick. My digestion was a mess. I needed a root canal. I was tired, bone tired. I was off balance, I didn’t feel grounded. It took 3 weeks to get things under control. It has taken about 3 months to get back to where I feel 100% and back to myself.

How did I do it? By doing exactly what you would expect. I started eating right…good quality food, consistently. Getting to bed at a decent time. Getting my workout program back on track. I am fortunate enough to know that I re-charge my internal batteries by spending time alone. I also got back to my Tai Chi K’ung practice…a meditative movement practice I use to balance my breath and body into harmony ( I have a dvd available if you want it). I can’t imagine how long it would have taken to come back without these practices. This is why you must do these things now, in times of low stress so that they become habits. Then, in times of high stress, you will fall into good patterns because you are habituated to do so.

I keep my stress levels as low as I can. There are things I can’t control that cause stress, granted. But poor diet I can control. Drinking too much I can control. Not sleeping well I can control. Exercise and training I can control. Staying in balance and recharging my batteries I can control. Stress management comes down to this: Control the things you can control. Let the rest go, you can’t control them anyway.

I wish you a stress-free holiday season. Love people where they are. Wanting them to be something else isn’t going to work anyway. If you need nutrition or exercise help reach out to me and let’s get you on track in person or remotely.

Namaste
John
www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
john@crossfit-odyssey.com

Sunday Story...The Aging Athlete

I will admit it…I am an aging athlete. I am fighting tooth and nail to maintain muscle mass, improve speed, get healthier, move more easily, and do what I can to slow the aging process. What I am about to tell you is a distillation of what I have learned so far. This by no means the gospel according to John, it is what works for me and I believe it will work for you. That being said, listen to your own body, take into account the damage you may have done over the years, and above all, don’t do anything stupid. As a matter of fact that is #1…

Don’t do Stupid Stuff.
As much as I would love to get one of those flying squirrel suits and base jump off a cliff somewhere it probably isn’t going to happen. About 25 years ago I went scuba diving with a friend in Bodega Bay California. I had never been scuba diving before. The sea was rough and it took more than 15 minutes just to get past the swells and into the water. The visibility was about 3 feet and I had no idea what I was doing. Stupid. And if I wasn’t such a strong swimmer who knows what might have happened. Not a runner? Don’t try a marathon next Saturday. Assess your abilities, get help when you need it and think a little bit ahead. It will go far.

Get Some Sleep.
Many of us, me included, grew up thinking sleep was for sissies. I used to brag about being able to function on 4 or 5 hours of sleep. I also drank a couple pots of coffee every day. I was wound so tight I am lucky I didn’t explode. You need 7-9 hours of sleep every night. It is a habit and one that is easy to develop.

Work Your Butt Off.
In the gym. As I age I am fighting a couple different battles simultaneously. These are things that will happen if we don’t do the work. Hormonal changes and the declining muscle mass are battles waged both here and in the kitchen. The work in the gym is critical to maintaining both muscle mass and bone density…use it or lose it. And the 30 minutes on the treadmill at 40% of your max heart rate sort of work isn’t going to cut it. You need to get your heart rate up, your blood pumping and your breath gasping. You need to pick up heavy stuff. You need to move large loads over long distances quickly.
Mind what you eat and eat what you mind.

Eat real food.
It is simple. Don’t eat processed crap. If you eat in a restaurant eat in one where they source real food…this means non-gmo, no pesticides or herbicides, no added hormones or antibiotics, food grown in its’ natural state (do chickens live in small cages with no beaks or pigs with no tails?) This isn’t real hard but it does take some consciousness. When you eat, be mindful. Take your time concentrate on the food as it contributes to your health and well being. Stop texting and emailing for a few minutes and enjoy the company you are in…even if you are alone.

Learn new Stuff
Your brain is a tool to be used. You need to exercise it just like you exercise your muscles or it is going to atrophy and be less useful (can you spell dementia?) Spend time learning new stuff…new games, new skills, and new languages (no, you aren’t too old), make new friends, do things you have never done before (see rule #1 though!) Turn off the T.V., it is not your friend and it is not going to help your brain be healthy.

You are choosing, right now, how you are going to age. You are making decisions that will show up in 10 or 15 years in your quality of life. When you are 60 or 70 years old it is going to be exponentially difficult to make the changes and it is going to take a lot longer to have those changes be effective. On the bright side doing something at any age is better than doing nothing!

Get started today. Call me for class time or to get going with a remote coaching program!

Namaste

John Mariotti

www.crossfit-odyssey.com
www.martialartsnevada.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com