Personal Development;Life Enhancement;Achievement
Jack
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Posts by Jack
A Book 7 Years in the Making
Jan 3rd
“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” ~ Gloria Steinem
I talked last time about my big plans for this newly started year. One of these big plans is to finally get my first book out into the marketplace. I have needed a book for many years now, really since the first time I spoke professionally in front of an audience, and I am embarrassed that it has taken me so long to get to this. I shudder when I think about all of the extra money that I didn’t make because I didn’t have a book. I shudder even more when I think about all the lives that I didn’t touch – lives that I could have touched and improved.
Seven Years in the Making
I first became serious, well I guess only semi-serious given how much time has passed, about writing a book almost seven years ago. I remember the group and the room and the topic quite clearly. I had just finished a presentation, a presentation about Mastermind Groups, in front of approximately a hundred small business owners and twenty or so of them asked me if I had a book that they could buy. I could only respond negatively as of course I didn’t! (And still don’t – but that is changing!)
Something was Different This Time
I don’t know why it bothered me this time that I had no book – but it did. Speaking and referrals from existing and past clients had always kept me more than fully booked as an Executive Coach and Consultant and I had viewed having a book as unnecessary. Still, something was different this time and I went home pondering just what it might do for me if I did write a book.
To be continued…Jack
Juice Fasting / Feasting Update
This is day six of my juice fast and it has been going well. I am down ten pounds so far, my skin looks healthier than it has in a very long time and my energy is getting quite acceptable – indeed I have more energy than I did when eating “regular” food. Is my energy where I want it yet? No, but it is heading in the right direction. Is gout completely gone? No, but it also seems to be heading in the right direction and after all, I have just begun this juicing adventure. I intend to consume only juice for a total of 67 days and expect lots of very positive changes. More to come…
“Dreams get you into the future and add excitement to the present.” ~Robert Conklin
Happy 2012 – A Year of High Adventure
Jan 2nd
“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” ~Lewis Carroll
Happy 2012! Are you ready to make this your best year ever? I know I am. I’ve been planning this coming year for most of the previous month and now I’ve started. Wow! – do I have some great plans for this upcoming year:
I am finally, ready or not, going to release my first book. Look for lots of information here about this over the next 10 months or so and an official release date of Thursday, October 25th, 2012.
I am going to do whatever it takes to get back in great shape. I intend to lose, as quickly and delightfully as I can make it, more than 100 pounds of bodyfat. You can read and even watch this process right here. (As I write this, I am on the 5th day of an alkaline juice fast.) Much more upcoming about this entire adventure.
I’m going to start traveling and speaking again. I moved my family from Colorado to Iowa 3 years ago to care for my mom and that has occupied much of my energy. I have things arranged now so that I have more freedom – time to start doing much more speaking to entertain and educate at the same time – I love it!
I am going to start accepting new coaching clients again. I haven’t accepted any new clients since I moved to Iowa- I just supported and nurtured my existing clients. Now I have time to work with some new people – I love helping others to achieve their dreams. It is so fulfilling and exciting to be involved at such a deep level with clients!
I am going to get my website current and re-release my newsletter. I have neglected this more than long enough. Look for the first issue of my weekly newsletter the last week of January and look for updates to my website almost daily.
Enough talking about taking action – time to do something!
Bye for now…Jack
“Sometimes I can hear my bones straining under the weight of all the lives I’m not living.” ~Jonathan Safran Foer
Can Juice Fasting Eliminate Gout?
Jul 25th
“Leave all the afternoon for exercise and recreation, which are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary because health is worth more than learning.” ~Thomas Jefferson
Today is the 6th day of my juice fast. I committed to fast for at least 60 days – or longer if needed, in order to clear myself of gout symptoms. So how have the first 5 days been? Challenging but do-able!
Since I also stopped all coffee and tea and sodas 5 days ago, I imagine some of the headaches and general feelings of discomfort come from withdrawal from caffeine and other chemicals that I had been habituated to. Anyhow, I have not felt very well since starting the juice fast – but this was expected.
However, discomfort aside, Gout seems to be rapidly decreasing in severity! My left heel has been bothering me on and off for months and my last gout attack, just a few weeks ago, immobilized my right knee – both of these feel much better already! I am encouraged – I think this will do the trick. And as a decent side effect, I have lost 12 pounds of bodyweight in the first 5 days of this juice fast – a very nice side effect!
Till next time…Jack
“The first wealth is health.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Juice Fasting and Threshold Experiences
Jul 21st
“Everyone must choose one of two pains: The pain of discipline or the pain of regret.” ~Jim Rohn
I’ve had it and I’m not going to take it anymore! That’s why I started a juice fast, and properly used, this is why I will make the entire 60 or more days that I intend to juice fast. This is my second day on this fast and I am going to make it all the way!
Have you ever had a time when you just became so fed up, fed up with a situation, or job, or relationship or whatever – and you somehow mentally flipped a switch and committed to making a change and then you made it happen? All of us have had this experience at one time or another and in my terms you crossed a threshold. You, and I, had a “Threshold Experience”. Can you remember one now?
Till next time…Jack
“The best day of your life is the one on which you decide your life is your own. No apologies or excuses. No one to lean on, rely on, or blame. The gift is yours – it is an amazing journey – and you alone are responsible for the quality of it. This is the day your life really begins.” ~Bob Moawad
My Juice Fast Begins
Jul 20th
“Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions.” ~Edgar Cayce
I started my juice fast this morning. It took about an hour to clean the various vegetables and fruits, get them juiced, drink my first experiment, and finally get the juicer ready for tomorrow. I have made the choice to only juice once per day and make enough for 5 servings of 16 ounces each. If I juiced 5 times per day, as I had originally thought I might, all I would be doing is juicing and cleaning up the juicer. Although I have some spare time in my schedule, I don’t have this much extra time.
Here is what I put into my first batch of home extracted juice: Kale, Spinach, Lettuce, Cucumber, Celery, Red Pepper, Carrot, Lemon, Ginger, Granny Smith Apples
So how did it taste? Interesting and do-able. I can’t call it great because it wasn’t. I can’t call it terrible – I have drank worse concoction in college in attempt to achieve a cheap alcohol buzz. I think I will have to stay with interesting and do-able. As I experiment and try different mixtures, I will let you know how my opinions.
Bye for now…Jack
“For every promise, there is price to pay.” ~Jim Rohn
A Public Commitment to Juice Fasting
Jul 19th
“In spite of the cost of living, it’s still popular.” ~Kathy Norris
Tomorrow morning I am starting a juice fast. For at least 60 days, or until I have gotten clear of gout symptoms, I will be drinking only freshly extracted juices and water. No coffee, no tea, no sodas – just fresh juices and water.
Why am I doing this? Because I’ve finally had it! I suffer from gout and when I say suffer – I mean it! Gout has been plaguing me for almost 10 years now and has become the defining characteristic and limitation of my life. (for those of you that don’t know – and you should be very happy that you don’t know!; Gout is a excruciating swelling of joints – typically toes or ankles. My last attack immobilized my left ankle and my right knee – until you can’t move them you may not realize just how much you use ankles and knees! I was left with a walking gait not unlike the recently reanimated dead so popular in horror films.)
I’ll talk much more in the upcoming entries about exactly what I am doing and why. For today, I wanted to get this commitment out to my readers and myself – I believe in the extraordinary power of public commitment.
Bye for now…Jack
“Living involves tearing up one rough draft after another.” ~Author Unknown
Creating Your Ideal Life by Time Traveling
Feb 14th
“I can not travel into my past, without consent of the future me.” ~Toba Beta
I was doing a bit of time traveling earlier today. Sorry, I haven’t invented any new machines or physical technology, but I have made time traveling a regular part of my life for many years – and I am going to strongly recommend that adopt this habit as well! So what am I actually doing when I “Time Travel” and why should you do something similar? I’ll tell you next time – I promise…Jack
“His older self had taught his younger self a language which the older self knew because the younger self, after being taught, grew up to be the older self and was, therefore, capable of teaching.” ~Robert A. Heinlein
Muse Part 2
Dec 3rd
“One reason I don’t suffer ‘Writer’s Block’ is that I don’t wait on the muse, I summon it at need.” ~Piers Anthony
Last time I mentioned that I am creating a muse for myself. This time I will begin to go into that process in greater depth. Strap on your safety belts…here we go!
Project: Create the Ideal Muse (Creating a Great Muse in probably good enough for now and I can evolve it over time)
Deadlines: Created by January 1st, 2011; Tested, de-bugged, installed in myself and fully operational by February 1st, 2011.
Resources:
- My memory of great writing sessions and what that felt like.
- My memory of poor writing sessions and what that felt like.
- The readily available information (thanks to the internet) from other famous writers about writer’s block and what they did about it.
- The readily available information from other famous writers about what it was like when they were in a great writing place – what I am going to call for now: a place of connection and flow.
- NLP and my ability to model excellence in other people.
- That fact that I am really fed-up with not being more productive in my writing.
- My compelling vision of how my writing and speaking business life can be once I am writing freely, consistently and well.
Definitions of Success: How will I know that I have successfully achieved my result? How and what will I measure to know that I have a created a great muse for myself?
I’ll talk more about this next piece more next time.
Bye for now…Jack
“For hundreds of years people have talked about artists having inspiration, but often, some persons would say, write us a symphony or write us a song, on commission. The artists would come up with a masterpiece without waiting to have their muse inspire them.” ~Tom Glazer
What Does Your Muse Look Like?
Nov 30th
Muse…Noun: The spirit that is thought to inspire a poet or other artist; a source of genius or inspiration. ~ from Ancient Greek Mythology
I have been spending an every greater part of my business life writing. This is certain to be a permanent change and I have been working diligently, sometimes intelligently, to make myself a better and especially quicker writer. Some days I am great. Some days I would need to improve quite a bit just to be terrible. It is well past time to make the great days much more common and the terrible days mostly a thing of the past.
Over the next few entries I am going to talk about creating an ideal muse…in some NLPish terms, creating the perfect set of nested and related emotional states and beliefs and I am even going to create an artificial entity – an ideal muse. Once I create it, then I will start to use it, to use this newly created muse on a daily basis, and then share my results with you…I expect it to be fun and effective!
For now, read this article from the Washington Post, written by Stephen King, where he talks about his muse…just excellent!
Till next time…Jack
When his life was ruined, his family killed, his farm destroyed, Job knelt down on the ground and yelled up to the heavens, “Why God? Why me?” and the thundering voice of God answered, “There’s just something about you that pisses me off.” ~Stephen King
Lessons from Julia Child Part One
Sep 27th
“Learn to cook–try new recipes, learn from your mistakes, be fearless, and above all have fun!” ~Julia Child
I recently had the pleasure of reading “My Life in France” written by Julia Child and Alex Prud’homme, the grandnephew of Julia’s husband – Paul Child. Wow! I had a great time reading this book and there were many wonderful life lessons that jumped out of this autobiography at me. Come back soon and see how you and I can improve ourselves by learning from Julia Child’s incredible life.
Till next time…Jack
“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.” ~Julia Child