Day 19. Still In The Game!

One of the easiest things for me to justify is quitting.  I am big boned, I am busy, I am....blah blah blah.  Normally, I would have already done that but this time, everything seems different.  Perhaps I am just too lazy now to rationalize!  So, here is my status:

After 19 or so days, I have lost about 13 pounds, I have exercised regularly, I am gettingh more rest and more water, and a new way of life seems possible.  I started with a 24 day challenge and a 90 day goal.  The 24 day challenge is almost over and for me, it has been pretty simple, and very doable.  Anything believeable works for me.  I believe I will continI and make some major changes for the better. 

Don't ya hate it when you put something off for like 30 years?  I never had a single bad year, just lots of slight errors in judgement.  A couple of pounds a year for 30 years and all of the sudden you look like a beached albino whale with a fat lip and a bad haircut.  Ok, maybe a little much, but that is what I have felt like lately. 

This is from the first day of my new "me".  See the # 1 finger?  That means day 1.  The cool jersey is a remake of an old bmx jersey that my buddy Stu Thomsen and Jeff Ruminer used to wear!

Ok, lets take a look at me after day 10 of the "herbal cleanse" portion....at least i was standing when the picture was taken....the empty box implies my completion of the contents which I actually did do in perfect harmony with the written instructions....really....I took some instructions...no, seriously!

Wow, I gotta stop taking pictures at 6:30 a.m. when my hair is such a mess. 

These are some of the new products/food choices I will be making from here on.  Most of this is from Advocare, a nationally known nutrition/research company that is wildly endorsed by Drew Brees, Colt McCoy, and numerous other famous people.  Katy sells this stuff and it seems to work.  You can see more of it at www.advocare.com/08044226   I tried this once before and lost lots of weight and my blood work changed almost miraculously.  I can say that I have been the science project that proves this stuff works and can work again!  But only if I apply myself...

Spark is the best food I have ever put into my body and I will take it forever.  It enhances my energy and gives me sharp mental focus.  It doesn't have any weight loss component, but I don't want to go through a single day without it.  The rest is nutrition related, etc.  I have replaced breakfast with a nutritious shake for the 24 days of the challenge.  (Purple box)  I am eating well, adding lots of planned snacks (almonds, fruit, nuts, protein bar, drinking more water, and getting more sleep.  This seems to be the right formula. 

Here is what I looked like at the age of 15:

That's me on the left.  All 145 pounds of me.  That picture was in a magazine under the title, "Oklahoma Legends", or something like that.  I have NOT felt very legendary in quite a long time. 

So day 19 was pretty good.  I still have lots on me right now, stuff I don't want to blog about or talk about so much.  There is much to do, much to be accomplished, and much encouragement around me.  I get up early now every day and love being "more awake" to my surroundings.  I feel like I just stepped out of the Matrix.  More later. 



Day 12

Ever just have a lousy day?  I had one yesterday, and was discouraged by life, and a gripey fat head.  In fact, it could be suggested that I was a double fooey fatty fatty fat headed fat head.  Ok, I have vented, and on with day 12.

Up easily at 5:30.  About to do my pushups and cardio stuff.  Eating well and taking care of myself seems to get easier as each day goes by.  I still have a strong love of popcorn and reeses peanut butter cups.  I am treating myself to once a week with a little popcorn and a reeses cup.  Right now, even that seems excessive.  I have lost a few pounds, but I am not giving much time or credence to weight loss being the predictor of health or wellness.  Good health is not just the absence of disease or weight, but something more.  I want the something more.  There are so many pressures on me with life and business, that good health is essential to survive. 

Today I am going to an Advocare "Success School" up in Fort Worth.  I am torn about going because I have so much to do here, but I need a break from the day-to-day activities.  AND, I need to sharpen myself and these Advocare folks seem to have a good grasp on the right way to build a life, a business, and how to live life on purpose.  I have much to learn. 

I have taken a stand for my health.  For the first time in a long, long,time, I feel pretty good.  This is nice.  Ok, pushups and cardio....

Day 10 Of Life Change

Actually, these go to 11.  Ok, this is the 11th day forward from when I decided to make a change in my life.  It has been awful and wonderful in so many ways. 

The Awful:  The regret I feel for not figuring this out much sooner

The Wonderful:  Almost every other part.  I wake up each day at 5:30 a.m., read a Proverb, read my goals, then spend some time on the treadmill.  So far I have been early to bed, and early to rise.....

When I figure out how, I will add some pics of this journey and perhaps a http://www.youtube.com/ link. 

I just finished a 10 day Herbal Cleanse.  This is a product of Advocare and is designed to make things "run smooth" and clear your system out pretty well.  I don't want to say how much tonage I dropped from just that, but I was very pleased with the results.  As far as the cleanse part of it goes, I will just say this:  "Looking back (literally), I don't see anything down there that would be better off inside me" so I will count all of this as a win!

Waking up gets easier.  I have been waking up before my alarm goes off.

Exercise gets easier.  I can now do 7 pushups instead of 5!  I am up to 3.3 mph on the treadmill.  Baby steps, right?  The one key that is universal was taking a step, getting started.  There is never a perfect time to do the right thing better than right now. 

Lots of work stuff going on, and lots of the daily pressures of life and business.  I have been discouraged a couple of times, but fought through it.  Not sure what is next......

Exceptions Are NOT Exceptional

Today is te 5th day of making a major life decision.  Somewhere in here I will finish my last post where I posted my daily intake of nutrition, etc, but today I wanted to jot down some musings on something I see that is a major stumbling block for me.  Being exceptional. 

Exceptional?  You mean super awesome?  Like, you ARE exceptional?  Like, NO.  Like, when you make exceptions to personal rules and codes, you are very NOT exceptional.  When you make excuses and believe them, you are on the pathway to destruction.  See, some people (my nickname) have made excuses for so long that they now actually believe them and accept this as a normal way of life.  Excuseism and Exceptionalism begins so easily and just latches on like a tick, sucking your future out of every pore but rarely causing much pain during the moment.  Here is an exception I made today:

"Oh, it is snowing outside, so I don't have to wake up on time".  It is just a small exception, but one that a real pro would never make.  And at the end of today, it doesn't have that big an impact on the outcome of anything.  The real problem lies in the fact that the next time I am faced with honoring a commitment or choosing an easier path, it will become easier to take the easy way out.  Winning, toughness, commitment, and success are not a part of the time thing, they are an all the time thing.  Did I make a huge error this morning?  Nah, if ever there was a great morning to sleep in and have my girls jumping on the bed, today was that day.  But if I am not careful, if I excuse my behavior over and over, then losing and excuses become the way of life and success becomes some mystery that appears to be cosmically awarded by the universe, and not to those who seek it.  I am in the battle of a life time in so many areas.  I want to win them all. 

I got back on the horse right after the girls tired of jumping on the bed bonzai style.  Today is a good day, full of lessons and possibilities.  I choose life. 

Wait. Weight.

So, back for my annual post where I share my brilliance with my keyboard and no one really notices!  Today is February 2, 2011 and I am happy to be here. 

It is amazing what we learn to put up with.  Mark Twain said, "You could learn to like a hot stove if you sit on it long enough".  Kevin Bacon said, "Thank you sir may I have another?"  Often, our lives become a product of slight errors in judgement to the negative or we win massively by exercising "the slight edge". 

Winners do the right thing.  Champions do what losers are simply unwilling to do.  Professionals know what to do, when and how to do it, and they do it, regardless of how they feel.  That is what it takes to live life to the fullest.

With that, I am looking forward to being a loser.  To be more clear, I am looking forward to loosing some bad habits and learning some new good ones.  I am looking forward to lossing worry and despair, and I am looking forward to a brighter day.  See, I have marginalized my health and let myself become a fat tub of goo.  Yep.  Goo.  Slime.  Chunky Monkey.  Rotund.  The Round Mound of Sound.  I am all of these AND a crate of Diet Cheetos.  I am too fat, and I am ready to make a change.

Just a few days ago, Sunday, January 30, 2011 in fact, I made a decision.  I decided to take control of my health and physical life and live on purpose.  On that day, I was 5 ft 8, I weighed 235 pounds, had a 40 inch waist and growing.  I am on high blood pressure medicine, allergy medicine, and I need to be on cholestoral meds as well.  I eat anything and everything I want.  So does my family.  I have been a lousy leader. 

There are so many changes I could make, but I am going to make a few changes right now that will make a difference.  I want to do something awesome, and more importantly, I don't want to die with the music still in me.  In fact, I don't want to die at all.  I want to live, live well, and live on purpose.  Here goes.

Day 1.  Monday, January 31.   Woke up at 5:30 a.m.  Wow this sucks.  This is where I will start my day from now on.  I am not on a diet, I am making a decided lifestyle change.  We waste too much time in bed anyway.  Here is how I see my average day working out for me:

Up at 5:30.  a.m.  No Snooze any more.  I've spent my whole life snoozing.  I am tired of snoozing.  The Bible says something like "a little more rest, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands, and a bad guy will take all of your stuff...." (Cash's paraphrase)  So, every day from now on, up at 5:30 a.m.

5:40 a.m.. I have chosen Advocare products to help me with the nutrition side of my life.  They fill in the gaps and enable me to feel and perform better.  Start each day with a glass of Spark (nectar of the gods!) and three Catalyst 

5:45  Daily Proverb.  I must exercise and feed my mind also

6:00 Advocare chocolate meal replacement shake.  I am told by my workout mentor, Robyn Pettinger of Bootcamp University, that I need to stimulate my muscles and feed my body with more protein.  This gets the job done and sort of ramps me up for the day.  For whatever reason, I am not starved nor do I feel famished during the early part of the day.

6:05 a.m.   Right now twenty minutes of treadmill, upper body weights (mild) and pushups.  I can do 5 pushups.  Barely!  Next week, I am starting P 90 x and converting my garage to a "man cave".  I am starting slow because I always over do it when I make large commitments. 

7:00 Shower, etc, spend a few more minutes with Audrey and Sarah and Katy, then off to conquer the world. 

Day 1 Diet:  Advocare Herbal Cleanse
                    Spark
                    Chocolate shake

snack           protein bar
                    water

lunch           

A Shameful Confession

Often i wonder what is wrong with me.  The Apostle Paul said something to the tune of, "I want to do right, but I go ahead and do wrong any way".  Well, dang it, I messed up today.  It all started at Dave And Busters a couple of years ago.  I will take you there now....

Audrey and Cash are enjoying "Daddy Daughter Audrey Day" and have decided to give Dave and Busters a whirl.  When you play games there, you win tickets, lots of tickets.  We began to collect these tickets and collect them in large quantities.  I was totally focused on winning tickets!!!  You've never seen good humor until you've seen a 48 year old man dive onto a single lost ticket on the floor of Dave and Busters.  Those 8 year olds don't stand a chance against me!!!!  I am king of the tickets.  Well, other than those chineese finger torture things, there isn't much good at D&B to cash those tickets in on. So we let them accumulate. 

48,000 Tickets later, we were ready to buy something. Never mind we have most likely spent a thousand or so bucks to get these tickets, we won them and winning something is much sweeter than earning something.  So, finally, two weeks ago, I use our tickets to buy an I Phone/Ipod Doc and two remote control boats.

The boats are the problem.  I played with them in the gorgeous pond/water feature right outside my new office.  I played with them like a child.  I love playing with remote control boats.  So, to me, this makes me sort of cool.  Older guy still in touch with his childhood values...while playing with the boats i would sing, "my baloney has a first name.....:"....see, i was being a child!

So the super cool people in the new office in the next building over (same water feature visible from their office) decide they want to play boats also.  Lots of boats.  They in fact brought out four big boats today and were making a tremendous racket.  Well, not really, but they didn't invite me to play so phoooooey to them those fatty fatty fat heads!

As i watched from my dimly lit office with the shades just barely open enough to see, I couldn't take it any more.  I ran out to my boat storage cabinent, grabbed one of the remotes and turned it on.  I run back to my office without these new boating enthusiasts able to see me because i had to know if MY control might control THEIR new shiny boats.  Yep it does.  It controls the yellow one. Another 49 mHz boat!!!  Horray for me, fighter of evil!

So they start racing their boats, and about every 10 feet, the yellow one just immediately goes in reverse and starts making violent circles, but just for a moment.  Then I cease my torture and it moves forward, but for only another 10 or so feet when it begins to go backwards and in violent circles.  Once again letting off, it starts to catch up to the other boats, and what do ya know????? It lurches backwards at the worst possible moment and goes into violent circles. They finally pulled it out of the water and began to work on it.  I was laughing to loud and too hard to stay and watch.

Mission accomplished, and I do blame myself.  I hope they come back tomorrow.  I love remote control boats, even when the boat I am controlling isn't mine!

Deep Well of Knowledge

Every post should start with a ridiculously cute baby picture. So here is mine. Sarah loves to be pulled around in her big sister's school backpack. When you hear her crying, it is usually because she is trying to fit inside and go for a ride. Ahhhh, the simple pleasures of life!

So it seems I post about once a year now, but I am using my brain what seems to be at least once every six months so I feel strongly that it is time to start writing again. Back in 2008 I sort of ran for president, I proclaimed that John McCain was a patsy and didn't really want to win, and that we needed to band together as conservative, proactive, Christian, patriotic folks. Notice I did not say Republicans.

Ok then, fast forward nearly two years and see where we are. The word "ugg" in my life is a simple expression I use to describe a situation that I find distasteful or a moment where I just don't want to take time to formulate a well thought out response. So, politically, UGG. Here is a quick update since the election back in 2008. I've had a couple of tepid posts since then, but really have been in the "ugg" mode.

September 9,2008: Sarah Grace Matthews is born. I am a daddy again at the age of 47. She is 1.6 years old now and I am 48 and a half. God has such a wonderful sense of humor. I love it when people walk up and ask to hold my granddaughter. I punched an old lady at Cracker Barrell last week. Well, not really, but I think I could have bested her in a punching and running contest. Me? A Grandfather? Not just yet. I am still learning how to be a daddy. God sure knows what he is doing! Which is exactly why he never gave me that flamethrower I wanted as a kid.

November 5, 2008: I decided to take our business, The Solomon Group, on a national basis. This isn't an advertisement for me or my biz, but I want to take action. Take action. That will be the remainder of my first post back from the darkside.

August 17, 2009: I opened our new National Education Center for The Solomon Group. It is a 6,000 square feet masterpiece of luck and perspiration. From this launching pad we intend to help affect change in a positive way.

The view from my office!

September 9, 2009. Sarah turned 1. I was a week away from 48. Wild. Assuming that most people start their success journey by age 18, I have had 30 good years at being an adult and I am taking stock of what has happened during those times.

So, where from here? Not sure. Tomorow our politicians will be forcing the vote on healthcare. Somehow they have taken the position that goods and services have become rights, and I disagree with that. But that is for another time, there isn't much we can do right now.

Frequently I get emails from friends who have gotten so amped up that they just have to send all of their friends their thoughts in the form of an email which clearly states their position, usually on a political subject. I mean, I get between 3 and 10 emails a day from good friends whom I respect and love and am thankful for. However, most of these emails is a bunch of phooey because they are not backe up by actions. It is time for America to take action. Sending emails to people who already believe like you do is NOT taking action. Sorry, but it isn't. We need to take action on every level and eliminate our areas of weakness. Here are some things I am asking myself, you, and the rest of the country to work on. I am not a great leader, and I don't know if anyone would ever believe the way I believe, but I am taking action. We have put it all on the line so that we can make a change. Which side of the line are you on? There is no middle ground in a war.

The Things We Should Work On:

1. Healthcare: It is a good and service, not a right. You want the government to help you? Do YOU help you? Do you take care of yourself? I am guilty of not doing this but it isn't the govs job to jump in and save me from myself. Heal thyself!

2. Social Security. What a ripoff, but it is mandatory so deal with it. Do you take care of your own savings and retirement? Is it a priority? Here is a simple test: Add up how much you spend on internet, cell phone, cable tv, and eating out. Now, add those numbers up. Okay, do you save at least that much into a savings account some where? So, those other things are your priority, not retirement.

3. Debt. We gripe about the government being in debt. Are you out of debt? At least out of "bad debt"? Lets get with it America. Proverbs says "The borrower is a SLAVE to the lender" (the Bible didn't capitalize slave, that was me). Are you a slave to a bad financial situation? Let's fix it. The governement is NOT going to help you, I am quite sure. Let's all get to a point where money is not the biggest object on our plates each day.

4. Charity/Public Giving/Welfare: Let's do this through the church. Lets get serious about sharing with our fellow man, but lets do it through an established framework where we don't feel guilty about every panhandler we pass buy. Let's create some little instruction sheets to put in their hats about where they can access our charitable funds.

5. Life/Well Being/ Happiness: Ha! You thought I was going to share the secret of happiness? I can tell you that the people I know who live commited lives of excellence seem to be the happiest. Be excellent, be awesome, be a student of the game. When I meet new employees of The Solomon Group I like to ask them what books they are currently reading. I like to ask them what educational courses they are taking either on their own or through the church. This really rattles people! Behind every door is not necessarily another open door. It is time to wake up America!

We have the greatest country on the planet, but we are in disrepair. It isn't the governements job to fix it, it is your job, my job, our job. We are "the people" mentioned in those early historical documents that posed the questions regarding our freedoms.

May God bless your every step, my you find peace and confidence in knowing that God loved YOU so much that he gave his only begotten Son that He should die for our transgressions. That is an excellent reason to feel special, to feel loved, and to feel like you are part of something really big. And in America, we the people must wake up, right now. We have been given much, and from each of us, much is expected.

I am awake.

Sarah's footprints on my hands, September 9, 2008. A very good day.