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Tag: #goalsetting
What the 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?
What Are Your Top Three?
- My Top 3 Priorities
“If you have more than three priorities, you don’t have any.” – Jim Collins
Do you agree with this Jim Collins quote? Also, what are your top three priorities? And are your actions aligned with these top three priorities?
Create Something
Thinking For A Change
Skill #3: Discover the Joy of Creative Thinking
- “The joy is in creating, not maintaining.” – Vince Lombardi (97)
- “Originality is the art of concealing your source.” – Thomas Edison (98)
- “To stay ahead, you must have your next idea waiting in the wings.” – Rosabeth Moss Kanter (99)
- “The most valuable resource you bring to your work and to your firm is your creativity.” – Annette Moser-Wellman (99)
- “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso (100)
- Characteristics that creative thinkers have in common: (1) They value ideas, (2) explore options, (3) embrace ambiguity, (4) celebrate the offbeat, (5) connect the unconnected, and (6) don’t fear failure. (101-104)
- “Highly creative people are dedicated to ideas. They don’t rely on their talent alone; they rely on their discipline. Their imagination is like a second skin. They know how to manipulate it to its fullest.” – Annette Moser-Wellman (101)
- “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” – Albert Einstein (101)
- Creative thinking works something like this: THINK > COLLECT > CREATE >CORRECT > CONNECT
- An essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail. (104)
- “anxiety is the essential condition of intellectual and artistic creation.”(104)
- Sometimes creative thinking lies along the lines of invention, where you break new ground. Other times it moves along the lines of innovation, which helps you to do old things in a new way. (105)
- “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use it, the more you have. Sadly, too often creativity is smothered rather than nurtured. There has to be a climate in which new ways of thinking, perceiving, questioning are encouraged.” – Maya Angelou (107)
- If you cultivate creativity, you will become more attractive to other people, and they will be drawn to you. (107)
- “Creativity is the joy of not knowing it all.” Ernie Zelinski (108)
- Creativity is teachability. It’s seeing more solutions than problems. (108)
- The status quo and creativity are incompatible. (108)
- Wrong questions shit down the process of creative thinking. (111)
- “The uncreative mind can spot wrong answers, but it takes a creative mind to spot wrong questions. (111)
- Negative environments kill thousands of great ideas every minute. (112)
- A creative environment, on the other hand, becomes like a greenhouse where ideas are seeded, sprout up, and flourish. (112)
- A creative environment: (1) encourages creativity, (2) places a high value on trust among team members and individuality, (3) embraces those who are creative, (4) focuses on innovation, not just invention, (5) places a high value on options, (6) is willing to let people go outside the lines and (7) appreciates the power of a dream. (112-116)
- “Studies of creativity suggest that the biggest single variable of whether or not employees will be creative is whether they perceive they have permission.” – David Hills (112)
- Creativity always risks failure. That’s why trust is so important to creative people. (113)
- “Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.” – Rita Mae Brown (113)
- Creative people say, “Give me a good idea and I’ll give you a better idea!” (114)
- Look at more stuff, and think about it harder… That’s the formula all of us can learn to embrace if we want to become more creative people.
Focus, Focus, Focus
Thinking For A Change
Skill #2: Unleash the Potential of Focused Thinking
- “He did each thing as if he did nothing else.” – Spoken of Novelist Charles Dickens (77)
- Focused thinking can do several things for you: (1) Harness energy toward a desired goal, (2) give ideas time to develop, (3) brings clarity to the target, and (4) take you to the next level. (80-82)
- Focus can bring energy and power to almost anything, whether physical or mental. (80)
- “To be able to concentrate for a considerable time is essential to difficult achievement.” – Bertrand Russell (80-81)
- A good idea can become a great idea when it is given focus time. (81)
- “knowledge is power only if a man knows what facts are not to bother about.” – Robert Lynd (81)
- One of the most important things about golf is the presence of clear goals. (82)
- “The immature mind hops from one thing to another; the mature mind seeks to follow through.” – Harry A. Overstreet (82)
- Be selective, not exhaustive, in your focused thinking. For me, that means dedicating in-depth thinking time for four areas: leadership, creativity, communication and intentional networking. (83)
- Identify Your Priorities (84)
- “a conclusion is a place where you get tired of thinking.” – Edward DeBono (84)
- Discover Your Gifts (84)
- if you’re going to focus your thinking in your areas of strength, you need to know what they are.” (85)
- Develop Your Dream ((85)
- “You will become as small as your controlling desire, as great as your dominant aspiration.” – James Allen (85)
- “The real path to greatness, it turns out, requires simplicity and diligence. It requires clarity, not instant illumination. It demands each of us focus on what is vital — and to eliminate all of the extraneous distractions.” – Jim Collins (86)
- Wherever you are… be there! (87)
- The mind will not focus until it has clear objectives. But the purpose of goals is to focus your attention and give you direction, not to identify a final destination. (89)
- “If you can’t write your idea on the back of my business card, you don’t have a clear idea.” – David Belasco (89)
Always Think “Big Picture”
Thinking For A Change
Part I of this book had some really good shtuff in it, but I wasn’t able to make time to write about the key points that stood out to me. I will do a better job for Part II: Eleven Thinking Skills Every Successful Person Needs. I will actually use these types of posts as my “notepad” when I complete the assigned readings for my Leadership & Critical Thinking course. As most of my posts about the books in my “Bookshelf,” I will just report (in bullet form) the more interesting points that I found in each chapter. Hopefully these bullet points serve a purpose for you; whether they be good conversation starters or even serve as “thought provokers.” Definitely, comment on any of these posts with your thoughts and we can have a discussion 🙂 Enjoy!
Skill #1
- “Where success is concerned, people are not measured in inches, or pounds, or college degrees, or family background; they are measured by the size of their thinking.” – David Schwartz (59)
- “We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.” – Konrad Adenauer (61)
- How many thousands of people had seen what Eratosthenes saw and never made the same connection? (61)
- When somebody like Jack Welch tells a GE employee that the ongoing relationship with the customer is more important than the sale of an individual product, he’s reminding them of the big picture. (62)
- Spend time with big-picture thinkers and you’ll find that they: (1) Learn continually, (2) Listen intentionally, (3) Look expansively and (4) Live completely. (63-65)
- Big-picture thinkers are never satisfied with what they already know…. they often are able to connect the unconnected. They are life-long learners. (63)
- If I’m going to learn and grow, I must know what questions to ask and know how to apply the answers to my life. (63)
- Big-picture thinkers recognize that they don’t know lots of things. (64)
- Big-picture thinkers realize there is a world out there besides their own, and they make an effort to get outside of themselves and see other people’s worlds through their eyes. (64)
- You can spend your life any way you want, but you can spend it only once. (65)
- [Big-picture thinkers] experience fewer unwanted surprises, too, because they are more likely to see the many components involved in any given situation: issues, people, relationships, timing and values. They are also, therefore, usually more tolerant of other people and their thinking. (65)
- Leaders must: (1) See the vision before their people do, (2) Size up situations, taking into account many variables, (3) Sketch a picture of where the team is going, (4) Show how the future connects with the past to make the journey more meaningful, and (5) Seize the moment when the timing is right. (66-67)
- “He that is everywhere is nowhere.” – Thomas Fuller (67)
- “You’ve got to think about the ‘big things’ while you’re doing the small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” – Alvin Toffler (67)
- One of the most important skills you can develop in human relations is the ability to see things from the other person’s point of view. (68)
- see what other see… that is a powerful thing. (68)
- The better the grasp team members have of the big picture, the greater their potential to work together as a team. (68)
- The person who forgets the ultimate is a slave to the immediate. (69)
- With preparation, the most important things will be done well. (69)
- If you want to cultivate the ability to think big picture, then you must get used to embracing and dealing with complex and diverse ideas. (71)
- Learn from Every Experience: Failing Forward (71)
- Teachability is an attitude, a mind-set that says, “No matter how much I know (or think I know), I can learn from this situation.” That kind of thinking can help you turn adversity into advantage. It can make you a winner even during the most difficult circumstances.” (71)
- If you want to be a big-picture thinker, you will have to go against the flow of the world. (73)
New Year’s Day 10K!
New Year’s Day 10K
Brazen New Year’s Day 10K. @chabeez finished 3rd in our age group with a time of 47:01. I finished 5th in our age group with a time of 55:46. I don’t know what it is, but both races I’ve run with Charlie have had some crazy hills! The first 1.5 miles was the same as my 5K on Saturday; it was smooth and easy with a few small hills, but once you get passed that 1.5 mile marker, the course becomes ALL trail. And from mile 2 to mile 3.2 it was all uphill! I tried my hardest to not walk up the hill but half way up I had to. Once you reach the top (the turnaround point) it was all down hill. My big take away from this race: schedule some hill runs into my workout from now on. This race was important to me for a few reasons. The main reason was my momma @ruelyn. She’s been so strong since her diagnosis and she has motivated me to be stronger, better, healthier, and more faithful. No more excuses in 2013. If my momma could fight and stay strong through all this, I should not have any excuses whatsoever. Keep fighting, stay hydrated and remember to take your meds mah! I love you! I also wanted to start the New Year the way I want the whole year to go. I literally want to “RUN” 2013. I want running to be my main thing this year. Ever since my Lola passed, running has been my “escape” and my “therapy,” and I love that I’ve gotten to that point with running. I’m not running to win the race, I’m running just to run; I’m running because it feels so damn good. The medals and the health benefits are just by-products. I share with you my “WHYs” because those are the most important things in life; WHY do you do what you do? Remember your “WHYs” and all the “HOWs” will be easy. If your “WHYs” are powerful enough, you can and will achieve anything and everything. I wish you all a very happy and very blessed New Year! God Bless #ypowr #health #wellness #fitness #run #running #brazen #10K
And check this out:
New Year’s Eve Medal
New Year’s Day Medal
NYE & NYD Medals combined!
I Was On the Radio!
HELLLLOOOO!!
It’s been so long since my last post, but I’ve been super busy! It’s not that I stopped caring about my “ypowr” or WordPress, I just had something else come up; something new and exciting! On May 21, 2012, I started my new job as Program Director for Health & Wellness at the Central YMCA in San Jose, California!!!! Woot woot!! It’s such an awesome position and I am very blessed to have been given the opportunity. It’s a lot of work, but I’m lovin’ it!! I’ll let you all know more about it on my next post, which will be a video post!
But this post is about my experience on KSFS: The Cycle. My good friend Mr. Conclara was (and I saw “was” because he just graduated, woo!!) a student in the Broadcasting and Electronic Communication Arts (BECA) Program at San Francisco State University and actually hosted a radio show (The Cycle) every Tuesday during his final semester. He asked me if I would be a guest on the show and I immediately said yes. So here’s is the recording, I hope you all enjoy it!
Sorry again for not posting much lately, but I’m back on it! I promise! Cheers!
Just click on this link and enjoy: KSFS: The Cycle
HMT: Days 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 & 36 “Just Around the Corner”
HMT: Days 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35 & 36
Day 30: 5 mile run
5 miles in 39 minutes; one of my best treadmill runs
This 5 mile run felt really good. I started with an easy pace and gradually increased the speed throughout the run. This was def. one of the best runs I’ve ever had on a treadmill. I have to thank my brothers Ant and Gordon for pushing me through this workout. For the past week or so, we’ve been texting each other each others runs, and these texts have served as motivation to keep pushing.
Day 31: 3 mile run or cross
Today was a very light day. I chose to do some cross training so that I could conserve my legs for the 10 mile run that I had scheduled for the Sunday upcoming. I chose to do 30 minutes of boxing drills with my brother Jeff. We did a few rounds with the mitts followed by a few rounds of light contact drills. Jeff has been training Muay Thai for close to 3 years now and has always been the go-to-guy for everything boxing. He’s really helped sharpen my boxing skills and has always given me a great workout with the mitts.
Day 32: 5 mile run + strength
5 miler
Today’s run was just an ok run. I wasn’t really feeling it today, so instead of forcing myself to run a good time, I listened to my body and took it real easy. I would run a mile, then walk a quarter mile, run a mile and then walk a quarter mile and continued this for the entire run. It’s getting real close to my Half Marathon and I don’t really want to push too hard during my running days if I’m not feeling up to it. It took me 55 minutes to complete these 5 miles and I was absolutely ok with that. After this run, I did some back, shoulder and tricep exercises.
Day 33: Rest
If you ever come to my neck of the woods, you MUST visit Little Lucca . On this rest day, all I did was watch the SF Giants game and consume this bad boy (I did not eat the remote. I just placed it in the photo to show you how ginormous this sandwich is.)
Crab Sandwich from Little Lucca... MmMmMmMmMmmmmmmm
Day 34: 60 min cross
Ok, I approached this cross training day a little differently: I just hit the “Start” button on my iPhone stopwatch and did anything for an hour. I do not remember exactly what I did, but there was jump roping, burpees, lunges, pull-ups, bicep curls and much much more.
Hit start and get to work
Day 35: 10 mile run
Oh hell yes, my first 10 mile run! And this wasn’t just any 10 miles, it was 10 miles around Lake Merced. Gordon and I started off with a very easy pace, but then picked it up every mile. At Mile 4, I had some water and walked while I drank instead of running while trying to drink. I tried to run while drinking during my 10K, but that did not turn out well; water in my nose + water in my eyes = not good. At Mile 8, I was about to reach into my pocket and pull out the GU packet that I had but I decided to push through, but I don’t think I’ll do that during the Half. I think I will have water and Mile 4, GU at Mile 8, and water and/or GU at mile 12. Here’s the break down of our run
My first 10 Mile run, I loved it!
Day 36: Stretch and Strengthen
Today I spent a lot of time with the foam roller. I took the knots out of my IT Band, adductors, quads, and calves. I also did a good amount of static stretching for my hamstrings and hip flexors. For my strength training, I did 2 chest, 2 bicep and 2 leg exercises. I didn’t push too hard today; I really want this week to be an easy week because my FIRST EVER HALF MARATHON is just around the corner! Holler!
I hope all is well with you all! Cheers!
HMT: Days 24, 25, 26, 26 & 28
HMT: Days 24, 25, 26, 27 & 28
Day 24: 3 mile run or cross
I did my 3 mile run on the treadmill at Crunch. It was a very very very light and easy run. I ran at 6.5 pretty much the whole time and just focused on my breathing and staying relaxed. I think I’ve said this before, but my 3 mile runs are getting really really easy and I love it. I can’t wait til my 5 and 6 mile runs feel like nothing.
Day 25: 5 mile run & strength
5 mile treadmill run
This run felt really good (as you can see by the happy face). I started this run at 7.0 and finished the last 2 miles at 8.0 and 8.5 respectively. I’m happy to know that I was able to run at those speeds for the last two miles. As much as I like running on the treadmill, I think I will make all my runs from now on outdoor runs. Of course if the weather is bad, I will have to use the treadmill, but there’s been some beautiful days recently and I’ve been choosing to run on the treadmill. From now on, outdoors for me; I’m excited!
Day 26: Rest or easy run
I decided to rest on Friday because my 10-K trail run was actually on Saturday instead of Sunday. I spoke to one of my young clients a few day earlier and asked her for advice for my first 10-K. The reason I asked her was because she was a cross country runner and a very athletic person. She told me to have some spaghetti for lunch the day before and more carbs with some protein for dinner the night before; so that’s what I did. For lunch I had Lemon Pesto Linguini and for dinner I went to my favorite sushi spot: American Sushi House. And hell yes, I had the All-You-Can-Easy sushi. This is what I had:
2 orders of American Roll – Shrimp Tempura & avocado topped with 5 types of fish
American Roll mMmMmMmMmmmmmm (photo taken a few weeks ago, during my first run in with All-You-Can-Eat)
1 order of Bruce Roll – Shrimp Tempura, spicy tuna & avocado topped with 5 types of fish
Bruce Roll, my 2nd favorite roll (photo taken a few weeks ago, during my first run in with All-You-Can-Eat)
Day 27: Rest 10-K
The 10-K that I ran was the Diablo Trails Challenge by Brazen Racing. It was in Walnut Creek which is about a 45 minute drive for my place. The race was fun and that’s exactly how I wanted to attack the race; I wanted this race to be a “fun run.” As I continue to read Born to Run, I’ve been falling in love with running a lot more and have been trying to enjoy my runs. I’ve been looking at all my runs as “fun runs” as opposed to going on these runs with the mindset of beating my previous time, and this race was perfect for a “fun run” mindset. I did not expect all the “elements” that this race had to offer: the running through creeks where the water ran knee high, the mud, the pot holes, the high grass, and the 2 crazy steep hills. At the beginning, I tried to carefully step on the rocks that poked out of the creek so as to not get my Brooks wet, but midway through as I saw that there were going to be more than 1 or 2 creeks (there were about 15 total throughout the race), I decided to just get down and dirty and run in and through the water; and boy was it refreshing! Yea, my shoes felt heavy after and my socks were soaked, but I had a blast running! Just like I was a kid again, running through the “back woods” of my city with my cousins, jumping through puddles and shhtuff.
Like I did after my 5-K race, I think I summed up my 10-K experience best on my Instagram picture with my family after the race. Here are a few pics of me and Gordon before and after the race and a picture with my girlfriend, my eldest cousin and his daughter
After registering and receiving our bibs
I got to the start/finish line a little later than I wanted to, but it was just enough time to take care of everything. I used the bathroom twice, I was able to do a few lunges, put on some sun block and drink a cup of water.
Left: Gordon (1:01:04 = 9th in age group) & Right: JR (1:04:19 = 11th in age group)... Age group = 25-29
Gordon and I were pretty damn elated after the race! We both felt very accomplished after our first ever 10K and I’m so happy to have shared this experience with him. I think today was the start of our love and respect for the “running world.”
(Left to Right): my woman, me, my eldest cousin Jose, and his daughter Sheila
“My fam came out to support! I run because I have a family who I want to be healthy for. I run so that I could tell my nephews and nieces that they could do whatever they want if they put their mind to it; that if they want something bad enough, they could get it. I want to be an example for my family. I want my nephews and nieces and my own future kids to know that sometimes in life you’ll want to stop, you’ll want to quit but you MUST keep moving. Health and fitness is a lifestyle. It’s NOT about how much you can lift, whether you have a 6-pack or not, how far or fast you could run or how high you could jump; health and fitness is being supportive, it’s respect, it’s love, it’s compassion, it’s motivation, it’s teamwork, it’s found in others. So many times during this run I turned to someone who was struggling and said “great job, you could do it!” The look on their faces was priceless and the sound of their “thank you” made my heart smile. I run for my family and friends and I run for thise experiences; nothing else. Why > How. #ypowr”
Day 28: 10-K Rest
Today my mother took me to a massage place that offered a 60-minute massage for $20….. only $20?!?! I was a little iffy about going to this place, but my legs were pretty sore from yesterdays run so I was willing to give it a shot. Out of 5 stars, I would rate it a 3.5. I specifically told the front desk girl that I only wanted my legs to be worked on, but I guess she didn’t forward the message to the therapist. I didn’t bother to correct her when she started with my head and neck because: egh, its only $20. The upper body massage was just “aiiiggghhttt.” The lower body/leg/foot massage was……. $20 worth? One thing I did like was that she kicked my feets ass (does that make sense?). She worked my feet pretty well, but too bad it was only for about 45 seconds. To be honest, my legs felt pretty refreshed after, but I’ve had massages before and I’ve had better. Would I go back to this place? Probably not, unless my mom pays for it again 😉
ypowr 