Great Parent = Great Leader?

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“No idea is born fully formed. It emerges a little bit as a child is born – kind of messy and confused – but full of possibilities. And it’s only through the generous contribution, faith and challenge that they achieve their potential.” – Margaret Heffernan

I need to treat ideas (my ideas and the ideas of my team) the way I plan on treating and raising my children. Ideas and children need to be surrounded with positivity, love, respect and all that other fluffy stuff. Yes, they need the hard stuff – the discipline, the management, the planning, the analysis, the strategery 😊, and the “sweat equity”. But I am a huge believer that “all the HOWs [hard stuff] will be meaningless, until your WHYs [fluffy stuff] are powerful enough.” – Darren Hardy

I’m not a father just yet, but here’s a thought/idea: I could only imagine that if I am a great father, I will be a great leader for my team. I think that the exact same behaviors are needed to be successful in both roles.

But hey, we’ll see – I’m not a father just yet. This idea may change after a few years of fatherhood. But IF this idea does hold up to be true and I am able to raise my team the way I raise my children, I am excited to see what the future looks like.

 

A Hero

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“A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

When was the last time you were a hero? How much heroics will you display today? Believe it or not, it doesn’t take much to be a hero. It doesn’t take much to be a hero, yet being a hero and doing something heroic adds so much love and positivity into this world. And we need this, right? We need more love and we need more positivity, which means we need more heroes. And you know we’re all heroes right? So, IMO, all we really need to do is: (1) be ourselves and (2) allow others to be themselves. Seems simple, when I break it down to these two things, but don’t be mistaken. A lot of things (good things) need to be present for us to (1) be ourselves and (2) allow other to be themselves. And I won’t go into these different things, but I will talk about one component that I think is something we can focus on today.

In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote, the thing that separates the hero from the ordinary man is what? Time. Yup, time – five minutes to be exact. So if we want to be a hero today, let’s all pay closer attention to devoting more time to the more important things that make up our day. And for me and the work I do at the Y, what this looks like is me having a conversation with a member or one of my staff for at least five minutes. And it won’t be about work stuff, it’s going to be about life, something they’re passionate about, their family, something/anything that isn’t work related.

And so much good comes from this. I am strengthening the structure and the foundation of our team. And our foundation, our core values at the Y are: Caring, Honesty, Respect and Responsibility. And this is important because IMO, strategy follows structure. Meaning, we need to make sure that the basics are mastered, that our foundation is strong and that our core values are alive and well before we do anything else. We can create the best strategy this world has ever seen, but if our structure isn’t sound, that strategy will fail. With that said, I also see the need of a sound strategy for a team to follow – all teams need a game plan to be successful right? It’s all about balance.

Ok, so now what?

Think about your family, how will you be a hero for your family today? What does it look like – what is it exactly that you will do? How will it make your family stronger? What about work – how will you be a hero at work today? What good will that do for your team and your organization?

Being a hero is all about adding more love and positivity in this world. And sometimes being a hero means caring and listening for five more minutes. And remember: “we can do no great things in this world, only small things with great love.” Thanks for reading this J

 

 

FMT 3: Week 1

3rd Time’s a Charm

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FMT 3: Week 1

FMT 3: Week 1

“There are two types of pain in this world: the pain of preparation and the pain of regret.” – Dr. Cellini

I now have two marathons under my belt and I am extremely grateful and blessed to have been healthy enough to complete them both. If you told me two years ago that I would have completed two marathons before my 29th birthday, I would have thought you were crazy.

There comes a point during a 26.2 mile run that your brain tries its best to make you quit. It tells you that you won’t finish, it tells you to stop at the next water station, it calls you stupid for not training as hard as you should have, it tells you that you don’t need to be running right now, that you could be at home sleeping instead. There comes a point during a 26.2 run that giving up seems to be the best and only option. During my first marathon, that point came at about mile 17. For my second marathon, that point came a lot earlier around mile 13.

When I think about my first two marathons, I can’t help but hear Dr. Cellini’s words “… the pain of preparation and THE PAIN OF REGRET.” By no means am I saying that I regret running these marathons. I have become a better person because of these marathons. What I am saying though is that I regret not training to the best of my ability; I regret not preparing.

My training always starts off well, but then I fall off. I have so may reasons (excuses) why this happens and quite frankly, I’m tired of thinking about these reasons (excuses). I am determined to stick to my training program for my third marathon. All I have to do now is, “GET IT DONE”

A Beautiful Combo

Chia!

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A Beautiful Combo

A Beautiful Combo

 

You want to lose weight? Stop drinking crap (soda, diet soda, Monsters, etc.) and start drinking more water. Even try this beautiful combo: Green Tea and Chia seeds! Weight loss is ALL about Nutrition! Your workouts definitely speed up the weight loss process, but nutrition is 85-90% of the battle.

1 Tbsp. of Chia has 70 calories (40 from fat), very little sodium, 6 grams of fiber (makes you feel full longer so you don’t get hungry and eat more than you need to), 2.9 grams of Omega-3s (this is the ‘good & healthy’ fat that our body NEEDS, as opposed to the bad fat found at fastfood restaurants), 1 gram of carbs, and 3 grams of protein. I get my Chia from Trader Joe’s and my Green Tea from Target. I also put chia in my yogurt (the few times I eat yogurt), in my protein shakes, and other shtuff.

 

No more excuses fam, let’s get to work! Start paying more attention to your nutrition and you will start seeing the results that you work so damn hard for! Ch(ia)eers!!

 

“What you eat in private, you wear in public.”

 

Flaxseed

What the Flaxseed?

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Flaxseed

Flaxseed

It reduces your risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. It may help protect you against breast cancer, prostate cancer and colon cancer. It helps you lose weight and it helps clean your GI tract. You could add it to pretty much anything that you eat and it doesn’t really taste like anything so you wouldn’t even notice. And it doesn’t cost much. You can find it for less than $4 online or just get it at Trader Joe’s for a little more than that. If those aren’t reason enough to start adding flaxseed to your diet, I’ve added a few facts about it’s three main components (Fiber, Lignans and Omega-3s) below.

FIBER:

There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Flaxseed has both!

  • Soluble fiber is good for us because it attracts water and together they combine to form a gel. This gel helps slow down our digestion which means that we have that feeling of ‘fullness’ for a lot longer. Soluble fiber also helps lower our LDL blood cholesterol levels by interfering with the absorption of dietary cholesterol. LDLs collect in the walls of blood vessels and causes blockages and blood clots that may cause atherosclerosis (plaque buildup in the arteries) which in turn may lead to a heart attack, a stroke or even death.
  • Insoluble fiber is considered ‘gut-healthy’ because it has a laxative effect and prevents constipation. Because it’s insoluble (it doesn’t dissolve in water), it goes through our GI tract and grabs on to all the crap in our body and then we poop it out.
  • How much fiber do we need?
    • 35-40 grams a day for men
    • 25 grams a day for women

Lignans:

Lignans are a chemical compound found in plants and have antioxidant qualities. Just like fiber, lignans help lower our LDL levels. The lignans found in flaxseed help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke because they have been shown to reduce atherosclerotic plaque buildup by up to 75%.

Omega-3 Fats:

Omega-3s act as an anti-inflammatory by helping block the release of pro-inflammatory agents. This reduction of inflammation associated with plaque buildup in the arteries may be another reason that flaxseed helps reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. And because there is less plaque in our arteries, our heartbeat and blood pressure normalizes.

Give flaxseed a shot! What do you got to lose?