Do you think you could learn something from your Sidewalk? I know crazy, right? Try to stay with me here. Day after day. Month after month the sidewalk takes a beating. It gets rained on. It gets snowed on. People walk all over the sidewalk but month after month, year after year that sidewalk takes a beating and keeps on going.
Did I lose you? Here’s the point. We need to have the mental strength just like that sidewalk has physical strength. We need to be able to shake it off when our parade is being rained on. We need to be strong when people are walking all over us. That’s my challenge for you today. When things aren’t going your way you need to be mentally strong like a sidewalk. You need to let those words melt off your back like snow melts off the sidewalk. If you do that you’ll be better. Join me on this path to a better me and maybe, just maybe a better you.
A Google search says Melody in its most basic sense is defined as a rhythmical succession of single tones producing a distinct musical phrase or idea. That doesn’t apply to anything more than music, or does it?
“The true goal of music—its proper enterprise—is melody. All the parts of harmony have as their ultimate purpose only beautiful melody. Therefore, the question of which is the more significant, melody or harmony, is futile. Beyond doubt, the means is subordinate to the end.” — Johann Philipp Kirnberger
Can we apply that to life? Can we use Johann’s definition of melody as it applies to our lives? If we’re aware enough we can see that the little things in life are part of our lives melody. If we pay attention to the little things, embrace the little things, cherish the little things then our lives can be more harmonious. Our lives can become more melodic. That’s my challenge for you today, pay attention to the little things. Smile at a stranger on the sidewalk as you walk by. Ask the store clerk how their day is going and mean it. Cherish the smile your 4-month old gives you when you get home. I challenge you to be aware of life’s harmony and when you do, your life will be more melodic. Seeing those little moments will allow you to see the greatness of your life’s melody. See you tomorrow.
It’s September and it’s time to start a new project. I’ve been journaling for over a year now and it has given me incredible insight into my psyche. To be honest, the journaling and some nudging from people close to me were the precursors to this blog.
The challenge that I gave myself was to post a video every day for the entire month of September. This sends a shiver down my spine. This is something that I’ve said I wanted to do but I would always put it off. I would always say, “oh I’ll do it tomorrow”. I’m sure you’ve said the same thing to yourself. What are you putting off? I’m sure there’s something that just popped into your head. Something that maybe gave you a shiver down your spine or butterflies in your stomach. That’s what this is about. Conquering my fears to get started. This is a challenge for you to conquer your fears. This is about a better me. On my way to the best me. That’s my challenge to you. Whatever you’re thinking about right now. Don’t put it off until tomorrow or next week. Start today. You’ll be better because of it.
Day 1 of 30: Check the first video out on YouTube!
Isn’t it great how the trees and landscape frame this morning sunset? My first thought as I took this photo is how great of a frame the shadowed trees and foreground make. My dad mentioned that he didn’t like the dark foreground for his version of the photo. This conversation got me thinking about our own perceptions. It got me thinking about how the morning can frame your day. Not only that but how each of us can experience the exact same things but view them completely differently.
My alarm going off at 4:50am is what gets my day started. For most that would ruin their day getting up that early. Everyone recommends eating breakfast but I do not. People think I’m crazy for not eating breakfast. People think these two things would ruin their day and they’re right, it could. These things ruin your day because of your viewpoint towards them. These things do not ruin my day because I choose to do them. I make the choice to do these things that in turn, frame my day in a positive manner. That’s your goal. Start your day with a routine that will frame your day for success. Remember, it’s how you perceive things that can affect your mentality. So choose wisely.
We all lose sleep. As college students, a good night of sleep is rare because you’re choosing to party. For most of us, a full night of sleep isn’t rare because we make the right choices day to day. We go to bed early or we try to sleep in. We change our schedule to make sure we get our full eight hours of sleep. If deep sleep is rare at this point in life it’s all about the choices we decided to make. It’s on us. We can’t blame anyone else. Sure, there can be extenuating circumstances that may cause a situation where a good night of sleep is rare, but for the most part, it’s on us.
As I write these words, more than four hours of sleep is rare. Yes, it’s because of the choices we made. More specifically the choice we made was to have another child. This is one of the best choices we’ve ever made. However, what do you do when you’ve been up twice in the middle of the night to feed your newborn? One of the answers is a take a cold shower in the morning but I’ve already written about how great that is. That’s not for everyone. Friends, family, clients all ask me, how do you get by when a good night of sleep is so rare?
What’s the answer? Sorry, there is no simple answer. You just figure it out as a parent. You know that this little human being is a gift from above and every exhausting minute is completely worth it. I know you wanted something more tangible than that but the truth is we just figure it out. Sometimes even all the coffee in the world doesn’t help because you’re so tired. The crazy thing is once you hold those little nuggets or get a hug from your son when you first get home, the exhaustion doesn’t matter. That elusive and rare eight hours of sleep that you wish you were getting doesn’t matter. The only thing in the world that matters is that hug. The love from your children really does wash away all the pain and frustration from your day. Parents get it.
If you wanted to learn more about muscular flexibility then you clicked on the wrong post. This has nothing to do with that and everything to do with mental flexibility. This is all about your self-awareness. Have you ever thought of being flexible mentally? Have you thought about self-awareness? Think about a time when you’ve been so angry that nothing will calm you down. Another example could be you trying to plan every little detail of your day or your week. Think about that type-A person that you work with or maybe it’s you who is the control freak. It takes one to know one that’s for sure. There’s nothing more frustrating than planning your day out perfectly and then something happens to blow up your plans. Has that happened to you? I’m sure it has because it happens to me on a regular basis. I’m not talking about choosing not to workout or choosing not to do an item on your to-do list. That’s a choice. We’re talking about something different.
This is some external event that happens to you that you have no control over. For example, you have a work presentation that you’ve been working on and it’s the day you need to present it. That morning your son falls on the playground and the next thing you know you’re on your way to the hospital. That can have a jarring effect on your psyche so much so that it could ruin your day. As it should! Most of us know how we would handle that situation. Fortunately for most of us, those type of emotional jarring events do not happen often. Let’s talk about the smaller moments that can really throw us control freaks off our game. These little moments could be as small as hitting every stop light on the way into work when you know you’re already running late. Another example could be the battle I have writing these posts while having a young child and dogs run circles around the house. These are the moments in life that we need to have mental flexibility.
These events can even affect those that are not type-A or a control freak. Think back to a time when something didn’t go your way. Can you remember it? How did you react when you didn’t get your way? Think about it. If it didn’t ruin your day then you already get it. You already have mental flexibility. You’re already self-aware. Not many people are that aware of their emotional mindset to be able to recognize it and then change it. That’s the hard part. How can you recognize it and then switch to a more rational state of mind? I’ve already addressed one way which is meditating but that’s not for everyone. You need to be able to be in the moment and be aware of your thoughts. This can be incredibly difficult when you are seeing “red”, as I like to refer to it or you may know this feeling simply as being frustrated.
Frustrated is a slight level below being angry, for me at least. We all know frustration is one of the main precursors to being angry. Can you think of the physical feelings you have when you’re mad? Think about it. Do your palms get sweaty? Does your heart start to race? If you think about it hard enough some of those physiological symptoms may have just hit you. Why is this important? If you can notice these symptoms before they take you over then you can have control over your emotions. Then you’ll be able to notice the situations which cause those physiological symptoms. This new self-awareness will allow you to control your emotions. Self-awareness is the main building block on which you can build mental flexibility. It’s the way you learn yourself. If you do not have that self-awareness then you will not be able to practice mental flexibility.
I know you’re telling yourself it’s not that easy and you’re correct. There’s one more step to recognizing those physiological symptoms. There’s a great way to develop self-awareness, wait for it, meditation. You knew that already didn’t you! I know it’s impossible to find time to meditate, especially in the moment when you’re seeing “red”. So, what should youdo in that moment? It’s not what you should do but what I challenge you to do is focus on your breath. Whats changed my self-awareness is a breathing method where you breath in for a four count and exhale for an eight count. Do five cycles of that and see how your mentality has changed. I don’t guarantee much but I guarantee that by breathing like this you will develop better self-awareness. Don’t get me wrong, the breathing technique may not actually make you less mad or less anxious but it will clear your mind. It will allow you to see why you’re angry. It will allow you to understand those feelings. Remember what I wrote in the last paragraph. To develop self-awareness you need to recognize the physiological symptoms first. Focusing on the breath will do just that. Take me up on my challenge. Challenge yourself to build better self-awareness and see how your life changes. Do it today. Don’t wait until tomorrow. You’ll thank me later!
Even though this is not technically a meal, the idea, came from the same place, Pinterest. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. The most fun part of this is Liz finds a recipe and then adopts what we have in our kitchen to make it happen. This recipe is so easy to make and I’m sure you have the ingredients in your kitchen right now as you read this. The original recipe called for muffins and not bread. Since we only have a six cup muffin tin we decided to make a bread for efficiency purposes. This recipe might be even better in muffin form than bread from. On the surface, this might look like something that will not fit into your dietary goals. That’s where you couldn’t be more wrong. This recipe has no flour and no white sugar. The only sugar comes from the bananas and a small amount of maple syrup! Check out the instruction video here!
Well Dusty, what do the macros look like?
You were dying to ask that question, weren’t you? We cut the bread into 12 slices.Per slice, there is 233 k/cal which is not bad for a breakfast item. There’re 21 grams of carbohydrates, 7 grams of fat and 5 grams of protein. These macros are exactly what you’d expect from a bread, but no what I would expect from a Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Bread.
You said it was fantastic, but why?
That’s another great question to ask. The short answer is, who doesn’t love banana bread? The problem for me is I try to stay away from white flour and white sugar. That’s the best part of this bread it’s based around oats. You don’t notice the maple syrup because you use such a trivial amount of it. Did I mention the chocolate chips? You had me at Chocolate Chip banana… That’s all I need to hear, to be honest.
So you wouldn’t change anything?
No, I wouldn’t change one thing. I mean we made this bread on a whim and it was so good we immediately made it again so we could share this recipe. If we want to get critical then I would say that the protein could be higher. I think adding a scoop of vanilla whey protein would do that easily. I’m not a great baker so I’m not sure what you would need to reduce in order to make it work with the protein powder. If I had to guess, I’d say just be prepared to add a little more milk if the mix seems too thick after adding the protein powder. I’m sure that recipe will happen in the DeGroff household before too long.
We made this bread on a whim. It was so good we had to make it again so we could share the recipe. Do you want to know the best part? It’s 3-year old approved!
Here’s our recipe:
3 cups rolled oats or old-fashioned oats
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
¼ cup pure maple syrup
3 Ripe Frozen bananas
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup 2% milk
¼ cup Oil of your Choice
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Cooking spray.
Preheat convection oven to 350.
Crack the 2 eggs into mixer bowl. Then add the maple syrup, mashed banana, and vanilla extract mix till the ingredients are combined and smooth.
Then mix in the rolled oats, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.
Slowly whisk in the milk and oil of your choice.
Slowly stir in the chocolate chips.
Spray a bread pan with cooking spray and add oatmeal mixture.
Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is slightly brown.
Let cool for 5-10 Minutes. Slice and enjoy!
What is the most fun thing I do? When I asked myself that question the thoughts of what fun means to me flooded my mind. I couldn’t think of just one thing. I take so many photos throughout the year I had many to choose from. Is working out the most fun thing I do? Is going to the Broncos game every week the most fun thing I do? After much thought, I found this photo from the end of our trip to grandmas and papa D’s. This walk started out as just that, a walk in the woods before we flew home. As we were walking back from checking out the dragon tree. Which by the way Carson loved the dragon tree because he loves everything to do with dragons. Seeing a 2 1/2 year old’s imagination run wild is an amazing site to be seen. You could see his eyes light up when we told him this was a dormant dragon. Sometimes fun is just enjoying the simple things in life.
That leads up to the main photo of my mom and Carson pretending to be airplanes. This moment was pure fun and enjoyment for Carson. It was for me too because it brought me back to playing imaginary games with my friends when all we needed to have fun was just pretending, letting our imagination run wild.
That’s my challenge to you. Try to embrace your inner three-year-old. Try to be in the moment and just find the joy of being in that moment. Adulting is tough and we forget to have fun. As adults, we feel we need something besides our own mind to have fun. Why can’t we just throw our arms out and pretend to be flying? Sure, there’s all sorts of things people may think about you, but who really cares? This is about you having fun “in the moment”. That’s the key. Try to live in the moment like our children. Try to let your imagination run wild without caring what’s going on around you. Challenge yourself, have fun and you’ll be better because of it. Let’s go flying!
The more I think about the idea of jumping into a healthier lifestyle, the more I started wondering about what it actually means. Obviously, the idea is to get back to a healthier version of you. That’s pretty simple, right? My mind as a trainer always goes to one simple question. Why did you stop? Ask yourself that right now. Why did you stop eating healthy? Why did you stop exercising? I’m sure all of you have had hiccups in life that can derail us from our goals. We all try to climb the mountain of good habits to only fall back down when those hiccups come up again. So, how can we jump into a healthier you? How can you find your ice axe to stop the freefall down the mountain? These are five simple elements for you to focus on and can become your ice axe. Hopefully, these are simple enough to get you started today, but also are easy to remember the next time you’re looking for motivation.
Just get Started: Simple right? Do you want to know the best time to get started? No not tomorrow. Not even today. You should have started yesterday. We need to break the mentality of telling ourselves whatever we want can wait until tomorrow. Stop that thinking and just get started. Is your goal to lose weight? Then the best way to do that is meal plan and grocery shop ahead of time. Stop! I know you were just thinking about going shopping this weekend which is exactly the mentality that got you here. No, I’m not saying go grocery shopping right now, but just get started today. Focus on your next meal. If your next meal is dinner. Is what you had planned for dinner helping you towards your goals? If not, how can you change it so it does fit your goals? Usually, one small modification can make all the difference. For example, if you were planning on having steak and mashed potatoes, swap out the mashed potatoes for a salad. What, you don’t like salad? Get over it! No, in reality, the easiest way to change that meal is to have smaller portions. This can be said for working out as well. Do not worry about how hard it’s going to be or how much you’re out of shape. Exercise can become addicting, but you’ll never see that if you don’t get started. Just focus on getting started as soon as possible.
Start Small: Most of the time we try to do too much all at once. We want the beach body and we want it now! But we forget about all the pieces that are involved in getting our body ready for summer. So, focus on small steps and start there. The best place to start is eating breakfast if you tend to skip breakfast. Or cut down your surgery drink intake. Start with that small change that could have the biggest benefit. Try to find something that you feel ok without . For example, soda was the first thing I cut out when I first was trying to get in shape. It seemed so daunting at first, but I can say that was the one thing that really jump started my healthier lifestyle. I say that because it was the first thing I did, then after that everything else seemed pretty simple to cut out. As far as exercise goes, start 10 minutes a day. Pick an amount of time you know you can commit to and do that. Everybody can exercise for 10 minutes. You do not even need to go to the gym. What does a 10-minute workout look like? Walk/run up and down your stairs for 10 minutes straight and tell me how you feel afterward. You’ll find if you make it to the gym for 10 minutes, more than likely you’ll want to stay longer to make it worth it. That doesn’t matter. Just get there.
Change One Thing at a Time: This is very similar to start small, but I felt it was important enough to have it as it’s own subject. With the idea of starting small, you also do not want to make too many changes all at once. For example, you do not want to cut out sugary drinks, dairy, start a fitness program, eat more vegetables and cut down on coffee. Start with the one thing that will give us the biggest benefit with the smallest amount of effort. That’s different for everyone. Some people it may be cutting out the sugary drinks and others it may be starting the fitness program. What is the easiest for you? That’s the question you need to ask yourself. It is said that it takes 21 days to form a new habit so take one one thing at a time for 21 days. Once you feel like you can go without that soda every day then start on the next item. If you ask me the diet is the most important part of jump starting a healthier lifestyle. With that said working out is a very important part, but it’s usually the biggest limiting factor for people because most people do not like to workout. People try to focus on all of the changes they need to make and before they know it they’ve quit all of the good habits and are right back at the starting line. Find your ice axe!
Live in The Moment: This is a great life lesson, but we’ll keep it within the realm of jump starting your healthier you. When you’re starting a new fitness program or diet program it can seem like any little thing can derail your progress. For example, you’ve been working out regularly four times a week and then you get sick. Before you know it you haven’t worked out in two weeks and now you’re contemplating canceling your gym membership. Take it day by day. You skip a workout for whatever reason and it’s no big deal. Get back in there the next day. Do not let one day defeat you. This can be said for the diet too. I’ve had times in my life where I had so many rules for my eating that before I knew it I was so hungry I would eat whatever I could find. Which usually meant breaking all my rules. So, all I try to do now is do the best I can from meal to meal. Yes, the easy answer to this is to meal plan, but who meal plans? We try to meal plan week to week but things change. Life changes. Be able to live in the moment and enjoy life. Do not let one thing derail your progress. Do the best you can do for each meal and then do the same for the next meal. If you screw up and have a doughnut, it’s ok, just make sure the next meal is the best it can be. I always say if your diet is 100% perfect then you should be showing off your body on stage. Find your ice axe.
Consistency: This is the number one thing I preach to my clients. Whatever you choose to do, you need to be consistent. Why? If you’re inconsistent how the heck will you know what works and what doesn’t. I think that’s the most important part you take away from this is to make sure your stay consistent. Consistency will breed results. Most people try to cut out soda but only do it for a few days. They never do it consistently enough to know if it’s working or not. Same thing could be said with other dietary changes. People do not do it consistently for a long enough period to see the results. Remember that it takes 21 days to form a new habit. This could also be said about working out. People usually start too intensely and become so sore they do not want to workout again. That’s why you want to start small. The goal is to start and never give up. Build it so next year you won’t need a jumpstart to a healthier you. You’ll be working towards even bigger and better goals! Find that ice axe.
Olympic athletes are the perfect example of what the 1% of genetic potential looks like. The conversation seems to be always about how great of athletes they are. Don’t get me wrong, they are great athletes. But is there something below the surface? Michael Phelps is a perfect example. On the surface, he’s a great athlete that has the body type of a swimmer. No one would argue that he’s genetically gifted or meant to dominate the sport of swimming. He’s the most decorated olympian of all time…but look at the other swimmers. On the surface, they also have the genetic build to be great swimmers as well. That begs the question. Why is he so dominant? Why does he have 21 gold medals (he may get another one tonight) and others do not?
For that answer, we need to look below the surface of athletic performance. We need to look at what makes him tick. What makes him so great? Is it his training? We’ve all heard stories about how much he trains. To be honest, his training volume has a lot to do with it, but really what makes him so great is his mental edge. Below the surface of all great athletic performances is the athlete’s’ drive. Why can he handle so much training volume? It’s his mental determination to be the best. Sure, all Olympic athletes have the drive to win and that drive is stronger than average athletes, but they’ve got nothing on Michael Phelps. Since I do not know anyone that has exact insight into his training and his psyche we can only use the examples that we get on the TV.
Two examples prove the point that he is the greatest Olympic athlete of all time besides all the hardware around his neck. The first happened in the final of the 200-meter butterfly in the 2008 Olympics. Do you remember what happened? His goggles filled with water on the final leg. He still won the race. Don’t you think that’s awe-inspiring? Try swimming with water in your goggles against the best swimmers in the world and still manage to win the gold. That’s an amazing amount of focus and drive. The second example happened two nights ago in the 4×200-meter freestyle relay. His swim cap ripped right before his turn in the pool. It’s crazy to think what it would be like to borrow a teammate’s cap right before you swim the final leg of the race. It’s just a swim cap but to have your focus broken like that right before the race and then still win it all is astonishing. Yes, his genetics and his athletic ability are two of the reasons he’s so great but the third part of his greatness is below the surface. It’s his deep desire to win.
Well Dusty, what do the macros look like?
Three Pillars for Your Best life 