Posts Tagged ‘just do it’

Monday Mojo: Life is a jar of marbles

By Tom Tognoli | January 2nd, 2012 0 Comments

Happy New Year!!!!!!

Wow…where did 2011 go? Don’t the years just seem to fly by? I don’t know about you, but and the older you get the faster they seem to go. Kind of like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end the faster it goes…right? J

As we put another year in the book of years past and start a fresh one, let’s take a minute and really think about our life and what is most important.

Take two jars:

  • Fill one with 80 marbles and put a label on the jar that says “Years Left.”
  • Take the second jar that is empty and put a label on it that says “Years Past.”

Now take the number of marbles out of the “Years Left” jar that equals your age and put those in the “Years Past” jar. For example, I transferred 47 marbles (my age) from the “Years Left” jar to the “Years Past” jar. Now, if you are over 80, start moving the marbles back each year. Those are bonus years.

Even if you don’t physically do the exercise, take a few minutes right now to close your eyes and visualize the marbles in each of the jars. How many are there in each?

So frequently we think we have forever to accomplish the important things in life. This exercise will really open your eyes and is a great thing to keep in front of you every day. It will remind you not to take today for granted. It will slap you right in the face every day and get you into action regarding your F5 – Faith, Family, Friends, Fitness and Finance. It will pull your head right out of the proverbial sand very quickly.

How can we make the marbles in the “Years Left” magical and how can we add extra marbles to the “Years Past” jar? It is actually not that complicated but incredibly difficult for most people to do. Spend time every day focused on making a slight improvement in all the areas of your F-5. Because if you are not improving in those areas a little bit everyday you are slipping back a little bit in each of those areas every day. We never stay the same.

You can do this exercise with many different aspects of your life. For example if you have kids, put 18 marbles in a “Years Left” jar when they are born and then each year take one marble out and put it in the “Years Past” jar. That will get you to go play catch with your kids and not take them for granted.

Yes, we can always say I will do it tomorrow, next week, next month, or next year. The question we have to ask ourselves is how many marbles do we have left and should we wait or quit procrastinating and just do it.

Don’t wait…Just do it!!!!!!!!!!

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Tags: , , , , , , ,      Categories: Monday Morning Mojo

Are you a talker or are you a doer?

By Tom Tognoli | June 13th, 2011 0 Comments

My assistant Kelli and I were having a conversation earlier this week about the difference between the two.

Talkers…you know who I am talking about. The people who are always talking about all the great things they are accomplishing, holding court and wielding authority. They are the people telling everyone else how to do it. They talk about spending hours at the gym, but how much of that time was actually spent breaking a sweat, and how much was spent messing around gabbing with everyone? They talk about spending more time with their family, but how many times have they failed to prioritize and allowed “emergencies” to overtake quality time with the people they love? They talk about the cold calls they are going to make, but how often do they let fear of rejection in and talk themselves out of it? They talk about all the great things they are going to accomplish, but time and time again, they throw up a bagel on the follow through. We all are guilty of this at one time or another. No one is perfect, but there are those people who constantly make excuses. Do you ever notice that the talkers usually end up being the know-it-alls? I think they act and talk like they know it all because of their insecurity, and when they talk, they don’t have to DO. Maybe they should stop ranting about how to do it and just take the steps necessary themselves to make it happen.

On the other hand, you have the people who fly under the radar and just get shit done! Doers – you know who I am talking about here, right? They may not be fancy, they are not the flashy ones, and they don’t act like the authority on everything. They do not brag, they do not boast, they do not complain. These people tend to be humble and don’t waste time pontificating on what needs to be done. They already have a clear plan. It is simple with these people. As Nike says, they JUST DO IT! And because they “Just DO IT”, they JUST GET IT!!!!!

So, which one are you? Are you a doer or are you a talker? The challenge for us this week is to look and be honest with ourselves and ask: Which one are we? If you are a doer, great job and keep up the doing! On the other hand if you are a talker, stop and let your actions speak for themselves.

Here is what we all need to do:

  1. Get those dreams and hopes out of our noggin and turn them into written goals on a piece of paper (yes WRITTEN GOALS)
  2. Create a WRITTEN list of activities that you need to do every day/week/month/year to accomplish those goals
  3. Take those activities and put them in your actual schedule (yes you need to have a schedule)
  4. Wake every day, don’t say a word and simply do what your schedule says

Do this and not only will you be a doer, but those dreams and hopes you turned into written goals will soon become accomplishments.

JUST DO IT!

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Tags: , , , ,      Categories: Accountibility, Aspiration, Monday Morning Mojo

Monday Mojo: Dog Bone…Live Wire…Gypsy

By Tom Tognoli | August 9th, 2010 0 Comments

After putting on full body armor and getting on a bike that resembles something from a Sci-Fi movie, they put you and your bike on a chairlift that brings you to the top of one of the highest mountains in Tahoe. You get off the chairlift, strap on a full face helmet and start down the mountain on runs with names like Dog Bone, Live Wire, Gypsy, etc.

My 13 year old son takes off attacking the mountain, racing down the trail, flying through the air, and going over boulders and around turns like they don’t even exist. He is FEARLESS and does it EFFORTLESSLY. As I try to keep up with him going down the mountain I am everything but fearless and effortless. As I squeeze the hand grips like I am trying to strangle them, the only thing going through my head is my mortality. “Just don’t crash.” With the exception of a few sore muscles and minor crashes, I am happy to say I experienced no major wipe outs or broken bones. Funny thing is my son never crashed once. I don’t think he even came close.

So what is the lesson of this extreme sport? Attack whatever you do with Passion, Fearlessly and Effortlessly. If you do, you will do better, go faster, suffer fewer setbacks and reach your full potential.

When we are young our lives are all about growing and going for it. It is all about new unfamiliar experiences. Every day you wake up as a kid you are being pushed and encouraged by your parents and teachers to go for it. However, at some point in life, society puts the brakes on all of this growing and going for it. It plants the “play it safe, don’t go for it, what if you can’t” in our brains. All too often as we get older we let our fears and caution hold us back from CRUSHING IT! Unlike a kid we get too worried about what happens if things don’t work out instead of focusing on what will happen if they do. So if we hold back and worry about what will happen if things don’t work out, we will experience major wipe outs and broken bones. On the other hand if we attack with fearlessness and do it effortlessly, we will fly and CRUSH IT!

So how do we do go back to having the mindset of a kid? How do we go back to being FEARLESS? Make sure we are spending more time with kids and with people who go against the status quo. Spend time with risk takers, people that go for it and attack life. Remember we are all the average of the people we spend the majority of our time with. Be aware of who you are spending your time with.

Make it a great week as you attack the Dog Bone, Live Wire and Gypsy of your life.

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Wednesday Wellness: All or Nothing…

By Tammy Parkinson | January 20th, 2010 0 Comments

Have you ever felt like if you can’t do it right…then why do it at all?  Usually when we get stuck in this mindset, we tend to do nothing.

Earlier last week in the middle of the night, I got up and stubbed my toe.  I know many of you can relate to this!  It is purple, blue and red now.  In fact, I am pretty certain I broke it!  I never knew how important one’s pinkie toe is!!

Very regularly I take a Monday night heated vinyassa class…which I love.  Tonight, I waffled on whether or not to go.  Mostly I knew balancing on my left foot might be a bit embarrassing and I would struggle in most of my poses…at least to an onlooker who would be watching me.  I almost bailed.

Instead of deciding if I wanted to GO, I realized what I didn’t want…and that was to go home without trying.  I simply didn’t want to miss yoga!  I realized I could go, and leave early, or I could go and do my own poses, or I could go and just laugh at myself as I fumbled.

So, I went, realizing I don’t have to do it “right”…I just had to do it!

When we decide to try something, it rarely needs to be “all or nothing”!  Usually there’s a middle ground that can get us closer to what we want, or maybe more appropriate further away from what we don’t want!

Consider this when you are struggling with a decision.  If you can’t determine exactly what you want, maybe focus on what you don’t want and find a half way point to get away from it!  That half way point might be your step closer to a healthier body, happier spirit and clearer mind set or maybe just a nicer evening!

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Tags: , , , , , , , , ,      Categories: Goals, Wellness by Tammy Parkinson