I find myself struggling to appreciate where I am at in life and I am constantly thinking about what life would be like once I accomplish my end goal. If you’re like me, it is important to remind yourself that at some point in the past you would have done anything to be where you are today even though you haven’t reached what you think is your final destination; if you are in a worse spot than you were, then I am here to remind you to appreciate the wisdom you have gained. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Recently in my life I have been involved in more activities that can feel daunting, difficult, and in the moment sometimes redundant. Whether in the weight room, workplace, classroom, etc. I have noticed myself, along with many others, begin to approach these activities as a tedious and unfortunate chore that I just need to check off the list to gain a gold star to stick on my forehead. It has been an intentional effort of mine to begin to feel grateful for all these moments, and feed on them going forward and here is why: “Anyone can love a flower, but it takes a certain mindset to love a leaf. It’s ordinary to appreciate the beautiful, but it is beautiful to love and appreciate the ordinary.” Some examples in life that I have noticed when I have appreciated the ordinary, and considered it a blessing: -What a blessing to get to wake up this early -What a blessing to have to get to sleep early -What a blessing to be this busy -What a blessing to have a drained social battery -What a blessing to get to learn this much -What a blessing to be able to complete this difficult workout -What a blessing to feel bloated from overeating -What a blessing to have this many people to miss -What a blessing to be exhausted after a long day of work -What a blessing to feel scared about the future Some of these may feel rough in the moment, but realizing the reasons for which you are doing these things can remind you why they are so worth while, and why for that reason you are so blessed.

I am working on a couple strategies for improving how we approach New Year’s resolutions. There’s more to come, but here’s where we begin: You want to create better habits. It’s New Year’s, and you want to start something new. You know most New Year’s resolutions fail within weeks. Change is hard. There’s resistance. There’s effort required. How do we make it easier to get the ball rolling? Momentum is everything. Pick something extremely small and trivial. Something you have are so confident in your ability to do that it might sound embarrassing to tell people. It’s the first step in your New Year’s plan. It could be something like brushing your teeth twice a day, taking your vitamins, deleting Netflix, etc. Very small, very achievable. Now we take this and we make a contract to do it consistently for two weeks. 14 days. Less than 4% of the year. Anyone can do something once, but change takes place when habits are formed. The purpose of this exercise is to demonstrate to yourself that you have the capacity for discipline. To be consistent. To make change. It’s like a warm-up. A stretch before a workout. If you tried to set a PR as your first set of the day, you'd know it's a terrible idea. You'd either get hurt or fail. So don’t try to enact and elaborate New Year’s resolution that requires discipline planning before you stretch that muscle. Finish the two weeks by whatever means necessary. Timers, phone reminders, sticky notes. During that time, feel how a habit forms, what conscious and concentrated effort feels like, and how good it feels to do hard things. Then we can start on the real shit. Comment below what you guys are choosing as your spark. Mine is deleting my personal Instagram profile off of my phone!

This is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it once so far, but I think it will be great to revisit. It is great for people who are searching for challenge or adventure in life, but who are afraid to leave the safety of normalcy. The symbolism creates the magic of the story itself, but leaves the reader with the feeling of courage and inspiration to take on the world. Has anybody else read The Alchemist, and if so what did you think? I am considering doing in depth video book reviews of some of my favorites, from personal finance to fiction. Let me know if you guys would find this helpful, and feel free to request book reviews for your favorites!

A quote that was dropped on me from a customer when I told him the reason I hadn't returned his call in over a week was because I was doing a solo travel adventure. His first and only text back reads: "Not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost the world, do we begin to realize where we are and the infinite extend of our relations". Something to chew on -Henry David Thoreau -Robert from DANNAR "