Sunday Story…Where’s Your Lane?

Most of us drive from here to there and we do it often. We know when the best time and the route are to get where we want to go as quickly as possible and with a little stress as possible. But, invariably, things can go wrong. There’s an accident, a slow down, an obstacle in the road that impedes everyone’s progress. It’s unpredictable and unfortunate.

It would be nice if I had my own lane. I could just cruise to my destination and not worry about who else is traveling in the same direction. Smooth sailing the entire trip! Nice!

What’s my point? If I just want to go along and get along I can hit the tollway along with all the other cars and deal with all the “stuff” that goes along with that choice. If I want to make a difference, if want to make an impact I am going to need my own lane. It is way too hard to stand out, to move with alacrity and deftness, and get real results following the crowd.

If I want to stand out I need to create my own lane of travel. I can take my team, other people can follow in my lane but I am going to need my own lane, not the one most traveled.

Make your own lane and then use it.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Like a Moth

To Flame. Drawn to the light or the heat or? Moths (all of them) have no agency in that process…they will go to the flame. It’s an automatic response. Turn on your outdoor lights and boom! Bugs flock to the light. No choice.

You have a choice. You are drawn to things that give you the “hit” you want or need. Is it some endorphin drop? Is it a hedonistic hit? Is it a danger? Is it safety? It doesn’t matter what it is, what satisfaction or drive you derive from the activity you are going to do what is takes to get there.

You aren’t a moth. We are all NOT driven to the same thing. But we are driven. The question is whether you are driven to something that serves you well or not so well.

Be driven to the things that will give you what you seek. Not the things that give you what you want. There is a difference. The trick is in knowing what that difference is!

Drive is important but aimless drive is self defeating. Be a moth to the flame you choose.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Competition and you

Have you ever wondered why after McDonald’s builds a restaurant on one corner, it won’t be long before there is another fast food restaurant on the corner across the way? And then another will pop up, and then another until the area seems saturated with every flavor of food. The same thing happens with gas stations, restaurants, hotels and lots of other things. I can’t remember the last time I got off the freeway for gas and only had 1 choice of filling station.

Yet the biggest competition is none of the above. Inaction, not getting off the exit means I won’t be choosing any of the restaurants or gas stations. Inaction is a choice. No competition means fewer results.

Competition is a choice. It is a healthy choice when managed correctly. It isn’t winning at any and all cost. It is a mechanism for improvement. Choosing not to compete is also a choice. Unfortunately the baggage that comes with that choice will hold you back from realizing what brought you here in the first place.

You don’t have to win but you do need to compete. It’s healthy and it’s one of the mechanisms that help us improve and get better.

Choose to compete.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Portion

Control.

When we talk about nutrition, one of the most important elements is “portion control.” You can try to “eyeball” the size of your portions but that is completely inaccurate. You can guess or estimate but then you are probably going to be wrong there too. You could just fill your plate and then eat until you are done but that’s a recipe for disaster!

Weigh your food. That is the only way to know exactly what your portion is. You weigh 8 ounces and you eat 8 ounces. You can use a smaller plate if you think that will help but, really, just weigh it out. The portion is the portion is the serving size. Control comes in before…when you decide you are going to eat the exact amount of food. Control comes in after…when you decide not to eat more than the amount you determined was the correct amount.

Portion control is less about portion and more about control. Control is about discipline. Discipline is about holding yourself accountable. Control is about making sure you have your gym clothes ready when you leave in the morning. Control is showing up to do the work. Portions are just an arbitrary measure.

Where else do you need more control over your portions? Because this isn’t really about food is it?

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…The Other

Marathon.

Most of the time, when we think about running a marathon, we think of a crowd of people, getting a bib number, planning for months or years in advance, training daily, weekly to get ready to run. On race day we show up, get corralled with scores of other intrepid souls, wait for the starting gun and then ALL of us head off on the same route. At the finish, we are celebrated, photographed, and commemorated for our accomplishment. Along the way, there’s water, food, and encouragement in abundance.

The Other Marathon is more common. This is the one most of us are doing most of the time. Alone. No fawning crowds, no roadside assistance, no way stations, no medals hung about the neck, no starting gun, no fans at the finish line…Alone.

A marathon is hard. It is a big goal, a mountain to climb. The Other Marathon is harder. It’s still big but it has the additional burden of loneliness. When you embark on your fitness journey, a new career path, a new nutrition regimen there is no crowd to clap you across the start line and very few people to cheer you along your route.

Strap your shoes on. Start your clock and take that first step. It may be hard, it may be lonely but it will be worth it in the end. You are enough.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Muscle Memory

Is not really a thing. I talk about it like it is a thing. I act like your biceps have a brain but, really, it doesn’t. It does what it does when you tell it to do what it is you want it to do. Then it stops doing that thing until you tell it to do another thing.

So, what am I saying when I talk about muscle memory? What do I want you to “get” about that phrase? I want you to internalize your movement. In other words, I want you to understand, to be so comfortable and habituated with that particular movement that you no longer have to consciously engage your brain to accomplish the task at hand. It happens by heart.

This is the process…I learn a new movement, task, method…then I repeat it…over and over and over…until, finally, I no longer have to say to my body do this, then this, then this…it has become part and parcel of my doing. When you have done that, the thing will become you.

Know things by heart. In other words, know them so well that they become part of you. What stories are you telling yourself that have become part of your heart? Are they the stories you want to have be you? If not it’s time to go to work and learn some new stories…by heart.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412

Sunday Story…Weather

Changes. We all know and expect this. The song I am listening to now will end at some point and another will start. The storm will pass but there will be another at some point.

When your children are babies and you are changing diapers all day long, you know there’s a point where that will stop. But you will exchange that status quo for another…the fearsome fours, the angst-ridden teens, the rebellious young adults.

The normal is change. It has always been the usual state of affairs. There is no point where everything stops changing. There is only the calm before the storm and then there is the respite between the storms.

Change is the chaos of now. Change is usual and normal. Change is neither good nor bad, it just is.

Embrace the chaos of now, of change, of new beginnings, of the normality of shift.

Shift happens. Deal with it.

John Mariotti
www.crossfitodyssey.com
www.sunday-stories.blogspot.com
775-338-2412