Personal Development;Life Enhancement;Achievement
Just for Fun
A New Year and New Beginnings
Jan 1st
“We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives… not looking for flaws, but for potential.” ~Ellen Goodman
Happy New Year! May this be a wonderful year for all of us! It is approximately 7 am on New Year’s Day as I am writing this entry. I actually tried to start writing this 2 hours ago, but with the recent death of my computer and the loss of all my saved passwords and shortcuts, the process of getting into my blog and website was considerably more challenging than in the past. I have been actively researching new computers and will make my selection soon – and then things will return to even better than normal – or so I hope.
For now, I wish you all the best. My intention is provide useful information in an interesting way that you can immediately use to enhance your life – come back often and let me know how I am doing.
Bye for now…Jack
“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Making Money Online and Writing Part Four
Aug 3rd
“The last of the human freedoms is to choose one’s attitudes.” ~Victor Frankl
So the story of my quest to make money from my own products online continues. My biggest challenge is finding the time to do the things that I already know work. My coaching practice is busy, I am gearing up for speaking more this fall, and I am continuing my quest to return to the lean, mean Jack machine of my younger years; so where do I find the time to write and also create the needed online presence to sell my own products? This is the question that haunts me.
I know that I have exactly the same amount of time that every other struggling author has had to make their deadlines – I might even have more. So, no more bellyaching. The bottom line: I need to stop doing some of things that I currently do, at least for awhile, and do more of less. In other words, I need to focus.
At the start of this year, I wrote down five words that I believed would describe the attributes and actions that I needed in order to achieve my goals for the year. Here are those words:
- Focus
- Self-discipline
- Self-promotion
- Courage
- Massive Action
I think those are still the right five words. Now I just need to do a better job of evidencing them! What would your five words be?
More about Minneapolis
I went to Minneapolis, Minnesota USA for a business trip last week. As always, I try and include unique food adventures and history with my business trips. The James J. Hill mansion was great, but I didn’t have time in my last entry to talk about food. As many of you know, I worked my way thru college cooking at various restaurants around Boulder, Colorado USA. In the many years since, I have become a fairly accomplished amateur gourmet cook; I even casually ran a gourmet food club for years – more about that some other time.
Al’s Breakfast
I watch the food network a few hours a week on television. I suspect this is one of the activities that I am going to need to stop for awhile in order to free up time. Still, I like watching shows about restaurants and cooking and I recently saw a show called “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” that had a short segment about Al’s Breakfast in Minneapolis. It looked like fun on TV and it was! I highly recommend that if you are in that area, plan a breakfast around Al’s. (Al himself passed on, at I believe 97, but when I found out that his last name was Bergstrom – well that sealed the deal for me!) Here is a link to the tiny, but mighty Al’s Breakfast in the Dinkytown area (yep – that’s right, Dinkytown) of Minneapolis near the University: Al’s Breakfast.
- The Front of Al’s Diner in Dinkytown
What am I Working on Today?
- Blogging homework from my coach (of course I have coaches, I am one!)
- My online business presence: My blog, Twitter, starting Facebook
- More writing on my first online product in intend to offer for sale
- Promoting myself to a couple of speaking venues in places I am already traveling
- Nonfiction reading ( I need to cut out that fiction reading for awhile – more focus!)
- Coaching work with some clients
- Exercise and diet – my quest to become less manly continues!
Till next time faithful reader…Jack
“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.” ~Mahatma Gandhi
Why Not Live Your Ideal Life Right Now?
Jul 15th
“The greatest dreams are always unrealistic.” ~Will Smith
Here is the promised update on the “Come As You Will Be Party”. Again, the idea for this comes from chapter twelve of Jack Canfield’s book: The Success Principles. The basic concept is this: you get together with a group of people of similar ambition and you completely pretend to be living your dream life from five years from now. All of you talk up your current life: Where you are living; how you make your money; the kinds of cars that you now drive; the trips you are able to take; the people that you now hang with; the books you have written; whatever; this is your chance to feel what it will be like to really be living your dream life. You don’t worry about how you got there. You don’t worry about seeming outrageous. You listen to each other tell your more exciting dreams as though you have already accomplished them and you be excited for each other.
Do you want to feel what it is like to be a best-selling author? This is your chance. Do you want to feel what it is like to own a vacation home for your family and friends to use on the Amalfi Coast of Italy? (These are two of my dreams, but you can use them too! 
)Feel that way now. What ever your dreams – come as though they are already real. Bring props, dress as you would, really be your future self; these are keys to making this exercise really useful.
For me, I thought this would be easy and feel very natural. I was surprised. I had a hard time at first really stepping into my future life. I had trouble really saying my dreams aloud to other people as though they had already happened – were already a part of my day to day existence. This was great information for me. I am not mentally ready yet for my dreams to happen. Wow! I am still reeling from that. I have some work to do on myself yet; this is not a surprise – I am just surprised how much work I have left to do!
Overall, this was a great experience. After the initial disorientation of living my future, I felt great! I could see and feel so many things that I had not even imagined and my motivation – Wow! I am completely committed now to doing what it takes to make my future life a reality and I gained lots of insight into what it will take to get me there. This was one of the most powerful exercises that I have done in years.
How about you? Do you know some like-minded ambitious people that would like to take a very powerful step towards making their dreams become real? Time to make some calls and schedule a party! Have fun and let me know how it goes.
Till next time…Jack
“Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.” ~Arnold H. Glasow
Fasting, Imagination and Dreams
Jul 13th
“All the things one has forgotten scream for help in dreams.” ~Elias Canetti
Protein Fasting
I am starting to protein fast again today. It was very effective during the 3 days that I protein fasted 2 weeks ago and I thought I would go for a longer period of time and see how I do. Please understand that I am not recommending that anyone start or go on a fast; this is a huge and challenging commitment and without training and support – likely to be a very unpleasant experience. If you have training and support and a trained medical specialist to work with well – then consider fasting. The health benefits are huge – the psychological challenges are great to overcome, and you will lose weight faster than any other diet.
So, I am going to protein fast for 8 days this time. I will consume only water, protein powder free of carbohydrates and fats, and one essential oil capsule per day. I am going to consume approximately one hundred and eighty five grams of protein each day and at least four liters of water each day. Wish me luck!
A Come As You Will Be Party
My wife and I are having a small “come as you will be party” today. It will be a hoot. We are going to dress and act and talk just as we imagine that we will once we have already achieved our goals for the next five years. I have never participated in this kind of event before and I’m excited. The idea for this comes from chapter twelve of Jack Canfield’s book: The Success Principles. I would put this one on your list of books worth the time to read. I’ll talk more about this event and how it went soon.
There is Power to Change in Dreams
I decided to write down some more reasons to lose fat and get back into optimal health. These are very personal reasons and they excite me. When I think about doing them and achieving them, I feel motivated and motivation is a very good thing indeed while fasting!
Some more things I want to do:
- I want to run with the bulls in Pamplona Spain.
- I want to climb Kilimanjaro in Africa.
- I want to learn to hang-glide.
- I want to learn to parachute jump.
- I want to compete in the Paris to Dakar race.
What do all of these have in common? Well for me, I better be in much better shape to have a decent chance of surviving any of them! How about you? What are your dreams and what do you need to change to make them happen?
Till next time…Jack
“Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions.” ~Edgar Cayce
A Worthy Cause, Making Money Online and Motivation
Jul 6th
“Did universal charity prevail, earth would be a heaven, and hell a fable.” ~Charles Caleb Colton
Hi all. We are going to talk just a bit about growing your online business in the this post, but first – Wow! I recently had the pleasure and honor of being recontacted by one of my personal heroes. I am still excited about this and my posting to this blog was the reason that I was found at all!
Just a Bit about HomeClub
Some of you have heard about my time at HomeClub and all of the wonderful, and awful, experiences that I had there. To recap in short, my first job out of college ending being at one of the fastest growing companies in American history – and I got to work with them from shortly after funding, thru rapid growth, thru massive cash struggles, thru their IPO, thru the death of a company president on the job, thru their acquisition by another company and thru the beginning of their death thru stupidity – and all of this in just a nibble over 5 years! Wow! Double Wow!!
One of My First Heroes
One of the founders of HomeClub was, and is, a man named George Handgis. When I met George, I was a newly hired temporary worker, the ink not yet dry on my Bachelor of Science in Business diploma from CU in Boulder Colorado, and George was the Vice President of HomeClub. George was already all of the things that I aspired to be: He was friendly and genuinely concerned about the happiness and well-being of his employees. (Thanks again for the box seat tickets to the LA Gran Prix, George!) He was creative and innovative. He was a massive business success – an expert at rapidly growing a business. He was elegant, he cared about his family and took good care of them, and of great importance to me at the time – he drove great cars! This may sound unimportant, but let’s be honest, I still love great cars – I expect I always will! George became one of heroes and my desire to be similar to George Handgis became one of the reasons that I was able to retire the first time as young as I did.
A Worthy Cause
When Zayre bought HomeClub, and began the process of destroying their new purchase (I expect this was not their actual intention, but it certainly seemed that way), George retired and moved to Hawaii. Of the many things that I am sure George is involved with, he runs a great charitable cause in Hawaii that has touched the lives of many people: The Jonathan Dale Miller Foundation. Here is an excerpt from their website:
The Jonathan Dale Miller Foundation
Jonathan was a very special boy who developed a terminal illness when he was 9 years old. Before passing away a year later, he was asked if he had any wishes. He said, “I want to feed the hungry and give toys to children at Christmas that usually would not receive any.” His selflessness led to the formation of the Jonathan Dale Miller Foundation, which does just what he wished for.
Our Mission: The Jonathan Dale Miller Foundation will establish the benchmark of how small charities should be operated. We vow to honor the final wishes of Jonathan Miller of, in his words, “feeding the hungry people and giving toys (and clothes) to kids at Christmas that wouldn’t usually get toys.” There will not be any administrative costs and 100% of contributions received will be used exclusively to help others consistent with Jonathan’s very specific wishes.
(Jack writing again: Now that is a worthy cause – real people directly helping real people)
“True charity is the desire to be useful to others with no thought of recompense.” ~Emanuel Swedenborg
Consider a Contribution
Some of you, after visiting the website of the foundation, could make a money contribution. Please consider doing so. (George did not ask me to make any contribution at all – I am just making my kind of contribution, at least in part, thru this blog post.) Many of you will not currently be in a position where you can make a financial contribution. I understand. Consider this instead: In today’s world, it is critical to be very visible to the online world. What does visible mean? For me and I hope for you, it means top of page ranking on Google and Yahoo for the search terms that most directly relate to you and your company. For Jonathan’s Foundation in Hawaii, I would argue that high organic search engine ranking for the term: Great Hawaii Charitable Cause would be a beautiful thing. (If that makes no sense to you, no worries, we will talk about it one day soon.)
Consider giving an Inbound Link
Here is a gift you can give almost anyone, anyone that has an online presence, give them an inbound link. The more real inbound links that point towards a site, the better – the higher that site ranks organically. So, for example, for Jonathan’s Foundation, the next blog entry you make or tweet that you post, consider adding this little piece: “Here is a nice charitable cause that you might consider reading about: http://jonathansfoundation.org/” Chain that link to the website and move on. You have made a charitable contribution. Use the terms “great Hawaii charitable cause” and you have made an even better contribution. It’s as simple as that. Consider doing that for any cause that you feel strongly about – it will make a difference for them – especially as the ranking of your own site increases.
What does this have to do with making money online?
It has to do with motivation. If you, and I, are going to build a significant business online, it is going to take work and probably a significant amount of thinking – perhaps the hardest work of all. Most likely, you will need to keep your “day job”, perhaps for an extended period of time, as you grow your online business. Most likely, you will need to give up some activities that you enjoy, at least for awhile, in order to free up the needed time to grow your online business. Most likely, you are going to need to move well beyond your current comfort zone, your vision of who you are and what you can do, and this will likely need to be a permanent change. The energy to do all of this – the motivation – your why – this needs to stay in front of you where you can easily see it and stay in touch with it. The motivation to do more, the motivation to make each day an investment in your future is key. You will find this motivation in worthy causes – your own causes and worthy causes of others that touch you deeply.
“If you haven’t got any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.” ~Bob Hope
Come visit me again soon. You are going to be watching me grow my online business live – day by day – as I convert from a 100% coaching and speaking driven income to an income that is largely driven by online business. Watch, learn and please comment!
Thanks again George Handgis – wishing you and yours the very best!
Till next time…Jack
“Charity should begin at home, but should not stay there.” ~Phillips Brooks
Protein Fasting Results
Jun 23rd
“Commit to be fit”. ~Author Unknown
So I did complete my 3 day protein only fast. I ended up losing 7 pounds of bodyweight in those 3 days. My energy was pretty good during those days – I was able to walk and workout and function at a fairly high level. Today was my first heavy workout since I returned to more normal eating. I will be curious to see how sore I am tomorrow. In the past, when I would water fast, I would be quite sore after my initial workouts. I expect to see some different results with this protein fast. The really intriguing question will be anwered over the next week: What did protein fasting do to my set-point? Or to say it another way: how much of that 7 pounds do I keep off in the next week?
Stay tuned for more adventures in returning to optimal bodyweight!
Bye for now…Jack
“A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise”. ~A.A. Milne
Fasting and the Next Step
Jun 17th
“The best of all medicines is resting and fasting” ~ Benjamin Franklin
I am going to fast for the next 3 days. This will be a little different than the fasts that I have done before – my longest water only fast was 24 days – for this fast I will be exercising and taking vitamins and consuming protein – only protein. I am not going to be eating any carbohydrates. I am not going to be eating any fats – with the exception of the fats that I am going to supplement thru flax seed oil and fish oil. I am only going to be consuming protein. How much protein? Well, for this short experiment, I am going to consume approximately 180 grams of protein per day. This works out to about 1 gram of protein for each pound of what I would like my lean body mass to be.
So, why am I doing this? I am doing this because I am ready for the next step in returning to my ideal weight. I’ve made great progress this year. I am wearing clothes smaller in size than I have been able to wear in nearly 7 years. Still, I have a long way to go and I am anxious to get there.
So, why a protein fast? I want to see how well I feel while protein fasting and I also want to see how it affects my set-point. I think that water fasting has a natural tendency to raise my set-point…the natural weight that my body tries to maintain. I want to see if exercise and protein fasting will achieve a similar result in quick weight loss without raising my set-point.
I have water fasted before and experienced great results. Water fasting is a wonderful way to heal yourself from serious injury. Water fasting is however very challenging mentally and ultimately, the weight that you lose comes back. I’m going to see how protein fasting works instead…just for three days! Stay tuned and see what happens. I will be blogging and tweeting about this daily.
Till next time…Jack
“Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon”. ~Doug Larson
What Do You Do When You Don’t Succeed?
Jun 4th
“Fall seven times, stand up eight”. ~Japanese Proverb
Last time I started to talk about what I do when I have set a goal – a result with a deadline – and I fail to achieve it. I might have achieved part of the goal – within the time that I had allocated, or perhaps I didn’t achieve any of the goal. Either way, what I do next is critical.
I’m going to start first by talking about what I don’t do.
- I don’t beat myself up.
- I don’t tell myself that I’m a failure.
- I don’t make myself feel terrible.
- I don’t make excuses (although I do look for reasons and patterns).
- I don’t quit.
- I don’t blame anyone else (even if they were involved).
All of these items involve negative motivation and although I recognize and use the power of negative motivation – moving away from something that you don’t want, I don’t start here when I am looking at goals that I failed to achieve in the time that I had given them to be achieved.
So what do I do and what do I coach my clients to do? Come back next time and we will start to give you a nice clean and highly effective pattern to model. Bye the way, how many of you have seen the Disney movie Meet the Robinsons? If you haven’t, go find it. I you have seen it, watch it again and look for the empowering beliefs and great self-talk that is nested into this movie. I just love it!
I was saddened to read today about the death of the American actor David Carradine. When I was a young man looking for role models, the show Kung Fu staring David Carradine was a favorite of mine. I still own much of my love of helping people and many of my empowering beliefs to this show. Thanks David (and of course the show’s writers and producers). You can read more about David here and here.
Till next time…Jack
“He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else”. ~Benjamin Franklin
Happy Easter!
Apr 12th
“Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time.” ~Martin Luther
I was raised Lutheran – hence the quote above. My wife was raised Catholic. Neither one of us is particularly devote about Christianity or religion in general. Still, we are raising a wonderful daughter together and needed to make some decison about her religious training. Should it happen at all and if so how? This is not a completely answered question yet, but we both agree that she will have some religious grounding as she grows up.
I was thinking about this last night when my daughter, 6 years old January 2, 2009, completely out of the blue, asked me what the Easter Bunny had to do with Jesus. I didn’t know the answer and set out on an internet journey of discovery. I had such a “hoot” during this learning adventure that I decided to share just a bit of what I learned.
Wikipedia has a great article about the origins of the Easter Bunny, it goes back much farther than I would have guessed, and you can read about it here: Wikipedia Origins of the Easter Bunny.
I ran across a competing explanation – from the animated cartoon series “Southpark.” If you are easily offended, then leave this link alone. Otherwise, enjoy! Southpark’s Fantastic Easter Special Original Air Date: 04.04.07 Stan starts asking his Dad some tough questions about the origins of Easter. The answers lead to an ancient and mysterious secret society created in the Middle Ages to protect the secret of the Easter Bunny. (You will have to click a couple of times to load the episode – I am still smiling!)
For me, I decided that the real meaning of Easter is life. Easter reminds me to really live my life, to come fully alive and enjoy this wonderful gift that I have been given. It also gives me another excuse to spoil and nurture my daughters and that is reason enough to honor Easter for me!
Till next time…Jack
“An authentic life is the most personal form of worship. Everyday life has become my prayer.” ~Sarah Ban Breathnach
Jogging Dreams
Jan 26th
“The greatest wealth is health.” ~Virgil
Jogging has been on my mind lately. Even though it is quite cold and icy here in Iowa and I am still far from being able to jog without needing a team of paramedics following closely behind, I keep thinking of jogging. I believe this to be a very good sign.
I was an athlete in high school and college. I played on the tennis team, the volleyball team (briefly) and the football team in high school. In college, I just played on the tennis team and was also a very active outdoorsman. I was also a cigarette smoker – a very consistent two packs per day. I can remember being so proud of my ability to jog four miles in under thirty minutes and then immediately lighting up a cigarette. I also found pleasure in beating others in tennis while smoking – literally holding a cigarette in my hand while I played.
Where and when I grew up, smoking was not discouraged like it is now. It was a badge of manhood and I gladly took it on. As the years progressed, and I learned more about the dangers of smoking, I decided that I needed to quit. Wow, was I in for a surprise – I was now a genuine drug addict! I had been smoking since I was in my teens and in the twenty or so years of almost exactly two packs per day, my body had really come to depend on nicotine (and the complete smoking ritual). I’m not going to talk in this entry about the epic steps that I took to become a nonsmoker. I’ll talk about that some other time – it is an interesting story. I will share that I added ninety five pounds of bodyweight in the four months after I became a nonsmoker. That’s right – in the four months after I finally quit smoking for good, my bodyweight went from one hundred and ninety five pounds to two hundred and ninety pounds. Wow! My waist went from thirty three inches to forty six inches. Wow again! I literally could no longer recognize myself in the mirror and I certainly did not need to worry about tennis or jogging at two hundred and ninety five pounds!
Well, more than ten years have passed now. I am still a nonsmoker and intend to remain one. Sadly, I still am carrying around those ninety five pounds from more than ten years ago (plus a few more!). It is more than time for this to change!
I will make it back to my ideal bodyweight in the coming year. After what I went thru to become a nonsmoker, I know that I can do anything once I set my mind to it – and my mind is very set indeed. Over the coming months you can follow here my adventures in returning to health and you can bet that jogging and tennis will be part of the process. I dream about them both everyday.
Till next time…Jack
“The difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank.” ~George Sheehan