This article from the Wall Street Journal is a wonderful example of how exercise (running in this case) can be a part of your lifestyle-the nutrition too. It's not about perfect or Olympic size endeavors (as the profiled runner speaks to).
We're doing all that we can at Epic Living to address your Total Life. Start somewhere, start small and see success follow.
The following is a quote that describes my pursuits-every day:
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat." – Theodore Roosevelt
Just returned from a great time away on the East Coast of the United States. It was the longest holiday my family and I have ever taken and it is the main reason I've been silent from blogging.
I've been reading Simon Sinek's book, Start with Why and I took it along with me on my sabbatical. The book is great, but more importantly it has ignited some discoveries that before were question marks in my Epic Living journey.
When I started Epic Living, when I wrote the book, when I truly committed to entrepreneurship as the portal for my mission, I couldn't (still can't) explain my motivations for doing my work other than; "I have to do this" or "God placed this in my heart to come out." Crazy or not, that's pretty much how things unfolded-still do.
In Sinek's book, the essential question is "why?" I have answered that question in head, but more importantly in my heart. Maybe you already know this.
Epic Living is about helping people find and keep breakthroughs in the following facets:
The activities that are impacted range from career, physical health, personal finances, leadership/personal development, and more. To be sure, this story has not been fully unfolded. In the coming days and months this will happen.
Here are some things to look forward to:
More to come…
I have sometimes fallen into the trap of thinking that I needed to create a big splash in-order to bring home the winning run. Or even the illusive search for the fictional "silver bullet." I don't do that anymore. Call it age and wisdom, but now I'm comfortable with small things. I'm focused on changing what sphere I've been given to influence. It's not what Seth Godin or Stephen Covey have authority over. However, I share a common landscape with both of them. And that is to change the world-seen or unseen.
It's that seen/unseen stuff that drives us humans crazy. We want something to show for our toil. Reasonable, but maybe it's time to turn that desire upside-down.
The following is a speech from Rory Sutherland at a recent TED event. He's onto something.
A great exercise (The Alphabet Plank) courtesy of my friends at Runner's World.
Found a great piece from Harvard Business Publishing (Does Your Work Matter To You?) regarding the endeavor we call work.
The results should disrupt you some-the healthy part of the process.
As painful as it can be (believe me, I know), our endings are the best start for our beginnings.
Here's hoping your Thanksgiving will be full of much happiness.
I am infinitely thankful for you.
Giving a speech next week about the death of sales. I'm looking forward to illustrating the importance of connection and community, over selling. No more going through the motions, but saying with subtle force "this what I was born to do."
One of the key ways to measure your level of connection and community is your passion level. Specifically, are you passionate about what you offer the world? Are you someone who sees the dollars as a byproduct of what makes you come alive? I find it sad that many organizations start with profit or create a product/service and then think passion is a given.
By the way crises are refiners and purifiers. The question is whether you are willing to let it play out.
Here some clues to measure your passion:
Take a look at this video to see someone who is very passionate about their craft.
If you want to know what your leader(s) are made of, now is the time to find out. Who we really are is revealed in crisis. If your industry/work is not experiencing a crisis now, don't worry you will and it will present the same opportunity.