The Toughest Test

The Hardest Day

While in class my Senior year of high school, it was final exams of the Fall semester.  I had spent the three years after my freshman year turning my academics around.  What had started as a near "Blutarski" G.P.A. of 0.8 at the conclusion of 9th grade, was nearing a 3.0 cumulative. Not the best, but hey, considering where it started, I was pretty damn proud.

I had really gained some steam in school.  I finally felt like I had mastered the material, I had studied my ass off and was more than ready for the exams.

I had swim practice on Monday night.  While the pool was warm, the deck and air was freezing.  It was January after all. I swam a couple hours, feeling the ache each yard put me through.  My arms were spaghetti, my legs burned.

It was a great training.

Afterward, I headed home to finalize my preparation for the exams that started the next day.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up with a flu.  I had a fever, was exhausted and couldn't move without pain.

But I didn't tell anyone.  So I went to class, took my first two exams before heading home and falling into bed for the day.

I didn't go to class the rest of the week, the flu took me down for a few days.  I had to take incomplete grades for each class I missed, and had to retake them once I could schedule the time.

I was unfortunately docked 10% for the delay in taking my exams.  For a couple of them, it was over a month before I was able to take the make-up exams.

I did alright, but I'm positive that I would have fared much, much better had I been able to take them when they were scheduled.

Overcome Your Challenges

Sometimes there are challenges that we face, things that present themselves to be overwhelming.

These challenges can seem like mountains too big to climb, valleys too deep to descend, chasms too wide to jump,  and oceans too broad to swim.

The challenge than, is to find a way to climb, dig, traverse, fly-over or traverse.

Life can be difficult.  It's definitely precious.

The challenge isn't our perception of the problem, rather, it's how we continue on our journey in the face of it.

In memoriam: Pete

Get Going! Why You Need To Get Started With Self-Improvement Goals Even When You're Not Ready

In middle school, I was just as awkward as everyone else.

Not Me BTW

That's not true.

I was more awkward than everyone else I knew.

My braces and spacers came with headgear, that thankfully I only had to wear while I slept.

I wrote my own stories - talked about comics with my brother as if they were real (they were and are!), would spend hours staring at walls to watch shadows move.

At family dinners and gatherings, I'd put headphones on and hide behind couches and chairs. Often I wouldn't be listening to anything, the batteries of my walkman (yes, "walkman" - look it up) having died some days before and I didn't have the money or resources to replace them. 

This post is about how getting started at working toward a goal can lead to even better, sometimes unintentional benefits.

But looking back on that period of my life, all of those problems seem so simple to me now. 

As I was in middle school, confidence was a huge issue.  

I struggled every day to feel a sense of fitting in or being normal. It probably didn't help that I moved between two different middle schools in my area.  

My parents wanted to try them out for my siblings, and being the oldest, I was the crash-test dummy as it were.  You know the crash-test dummy.  They're the mannequins researchers strap into a seat, from cars to airplanes and use to test the types of impact a body may go through in various degrees and speeds of impact.  

Zits were another issue.  

As were my forearms.  

They stung like someone had performed a painful surgery on them while I slept.

I dreamed it was a little doctor in a white lab coat, with a head mirror and stethoscope wrapped around his neck like a waiting boa constrictor while his nurse straps me down on a gurney. 

After a bit, the surgical lighting would be turned on, and he'd perform his magic. Without sound or noise, he'd put extenders into the marrow of my ulnar and radius. Once he was done with my arms, he'd move to my legs.  He inserted the same separators into my shin bones, making them feel like they were bamboo splinters, fiber breaking apart in every direction, and then Poof, he'd be gone.

Until the next visit anyway. My growth spurts hurt like hell. 

But I figure everyone had the same experience with growth spurts.  So that was nothing new.

The one thing that I struggled with, and still do, was my weight.  I always felt too big for my pants and shirts.  I always felt to be like Chris Farley in the movie Tommy Boy: 

Fat Guy In A Little Coat

via GIPHY

So knowing that exercise is an important factor to weight loss, one day I put on my shoes - probably a pair of beat up Converse - this is before the running shoe industry was so omnipotent - and went for a run around the neighborhood.  In my beat up Converse and Levi's and whatever shirt I was wearing already, I went running.  

When a small, overweight middle schooler is running around the neighborhood in regular clothes, the neighbors probably thought it was a bizarre sight to behold.

For poor old Mrs. Swearinger, looking out from the nook of her kitchen window, she probably wondered what had gotten into me. She already knew that we had a bizarre home environment, but now that I was running down the block in the same clothes I had gone to school in earlier, it probably seemed that something was wrong.

Perhaps there was a fire and she should call 9-1-1.  Or perhaps my puppy "Tootsie" got loose and I was running after her.

Maybe she even called my house wondering if everything was ok. 

I don't know what she did that day.

More importantly I didn't care.  

All I knew is I wanted to start running. 

So I did. 

Over time my interest in exercise led me down a path that I never imagined.  

In high school I joined various teams.  Even played a few sports in College.  

And got into coaching for a long time.  Coaching allowed me to work with some amazing colleagues, and mentor a number of outstanding young people, and travel the world. 

All because I went running one day. 

Sometimes our actions can lead to some incredible unintended results.  

But you have to get off your butt and do something to find out. 

Get Along Little Doggies! The Weekly Roundup

Weekly Roundup 

On Tuesday March 1st I set out to challenge myself to write 31 posts in 31 days.

The point of the exercise was to see if I could maximize my output with the tips I preach within the blog.

So far, the most difficult aspect has been deciding on the type of content to write and in what order.

With that in mind, Monday's will emphasize what has already been written. It's a roundup of all my articles the previous week here at http://david.writerlife.me

So, without further ado - here's the roundup for March 1-7.

Tuesday March 1 - How To Get S#!T Done!

It's all about the process and this post discusses my individual challenges about trying to write, and publish, multiple articles in a week.

In this post, I discuss the value of showing your work, as discussed by Austin Kleon in his book "Show Your Work"- a short, quick read that I have gotten into lately.

I used the image of a sausage maker for you, the reader, to grasp the analogy that it's all about the process and me showing you how I go about blogging.

Wednesday March 2 - How To Invert Your Publishing Calendar And Engage More Readers

This is the actual announcement that I'm on a 31 day publishing challenge.  I discuss why publishing the first two articles actually makes more sense.

By being out of sequence the idea was to generate some interest in the challenge by showing my process before announcing my publishing ambitions.

One caveat here: That announcing my goals is proven to actually limit the chances of success.  In the post I discuss (and link) an article that discusses the research behind it.  You can click (and link) to see the article, or click HERE.

Thursday March 3 - How To Make Your Success EPIC

Rarely do you hear someone say; "Man I enjoy being mediocre."  For those that do aspire for the average, this post isn't for them.

In it, the emphasis is by getting off your "duff" and do something.  Fear is for the timid.  Doing is for the brave.

Make It Epic

The point is, we learn more by doing than sitting on the sidelines and if you have something you want to accomplish, the only way to see it happen is to MAKE it happen.

Friday March 4 - The Myth Of Hyper-Productivity

Having just preached that you need to get off your butt and do something, along comes a contradictory warning about the dangers, and lies, of doing too much.

Everywhere we turn these days, we're inundated with the concept that success is by hustling more than others.

It's a myth that we developed as a society, one that is as antiquated as it is based on falsehoods.

There's plenty of research you can find that proves we need to rest as much as we are active, and productivity research shows that without periods of reset, we actually reach a point of diminishing returns much faster.

Good luck with running that marathon after going on a 100 mile bike-ride...

Saturday March 5 - The Executioner's Revenge (Part One)

In Part One of this two-part article, I lay out 4 necessary steps that will guarantee success for any goal, or objective, you set out to accomplish.

As we've discussed earlier, it's about the process that gives you the highest chance for success.

Phase 1 is to plan.  Plan as if you know every minor detail, every major hurdle that will come your way.  But know that there are going to be circumstances beyond your control.

Phase 2 is to take action.  You can kill yourself in the details, if you allow it.  But by taking action, often before you feel ready, you're going to learn what is, and is not, going to work for you.

Knowledge is experiential, and you can only learn by doing.

So sit down and make a plan.  Then get off the couch and get running, or jumping, or whatever.

But just get started on something.

Because it's all about phase 3 that is the most important factor to your success.

Why?




Sunday March 6 - The Executioner's Revenge PART TWO

In Part One of this two-part article, I lay out the need for planning and action as two of the four most important factors influencing whether you're successful or not.

In Part Two,  I discuss the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR toward your chance at success.

That deciding factor is: Recalibrate your self.

First, you planned. Next you acted.  But now you need to take stock of where you are, how far you've gone and what changes you need to make in order to create the clearest path to your goals.  If you're able to be flexible and reset your trajectory, you have the best chance for success.


So that's the week 1 round-up.  As Lloyd Christmas says in the movie Dumb and Dumber:

Knowing How To Execute Is The Most Important Factor Toward Your Success

The Executioner's Revenge Part Two

(To Read Part One - Just Click Anywhere On This Link)

There once was a famous football coach in the US.

He coached the Trojans of USC to some Rose Bowl victories and 4 National Championships (kinda big deal), but he grew bored with college, joined an expansion team in the National Football League in 1976.

When asked about the difference between College and the Pros, he was quoted as saying;

"I  don’t know what this pro football mystique is. I’ve gone to the pro camps. They throw the ball; they catch the ball. Many of them are ex-USC players. I’m not amazed at what they do. I’ve watched the pros play. They run traps; they pitch the ball, they sweep. What else is there?
- John McKay, in Sports Illustrated"

3) Evaluate And Rededicate

You set out to make some changes, to set some goals and accomplish them.

What you did so far is:

1) Make a plan

2) Set that plan in motion

And now things aren't where they should be. You aren't getting the results you wanted or expected.

After you take action, probably the most important step is to evaluate what has gone right and what went wrong.

It's this third phase that is perhaps the most important in determining your odds for success.

John McKay is instructive on the importance of evaluation.  He chose to deal with his team their struggles through humor.

That team? The hapless, bumbling Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Even though these were professional athletes in a professional league, they had some serious limitations.

Some of the players were over-the-hill and too old for peak performance.  Some were just not that talented and hence, why they were allowed to be exposed to an expansion draft in the first place.

Regardless, these were men who had played a sport at the highest collegiate levels; men who worked to perfect their craft over decades of repetition.  Yet they still were bad as a team.

Horrible even.

They set a record for single-season futility at 0-14 (losing every game) that lasted for over 32 years.



They also set a record for most consecutive losses between the 1976 and 1977 losing the next 10 games.

At the depths of it all, Coach John McKay was asked about how poorly his team had played and his reaction to their lackluster showing.


In a moment that is forever linked between what he should've filtered and absolute honesty, the coach was asked a series of questions culminating in one timeless exchange:

"Coach! What do you think about your offense's execution?"

At which he replied, "I'm in favor of it."

Some of his more notable quips included these classics:

After a lackluster defensive effort in a game with a lot of miscues:

Reporter: "Coach, what are your thoughts on those missed tackles?"

John McKay: "We didn't tackle well, but we made up for it by not blocking."

And

On the concept that a newly built team such as his expansion NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the late '70's:

Reporter: "Coach how much does experience play into your lack of wins so far, and going into the upcoming season, how will your experience as a team effect this year's wins and losses?"

John McKay: "If you have everyone back from a team that lost ten games, experience isn't too important."

The point of these quotes from Coach McKay is that it doesn't matter your experience, or your game plan if you can't execute and evaluate your plan, it doesn't matter.

4) Recalibrate Your Trajectory And Blast Off

How you set out to plan is important.

More important is how you act once your plan is in motion.

Because for every plan you create, there are inevitable factors that create uncontrolled circumstances.

Things that you absolutely cannot plan for and things that cause you to be more flexible than you imagined.

As the Robert Burns poem - To A Mouse, On Turning Her Up In Her Nest With A Plough - warns the reader:

"...the best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry."

So in the end, you need to plan; do, evaluate and create new action from the original plan. There's always going to be some disruption to your goal.  But by knowing this ahead of time, you create a circular flow toward the most important factor toward your success:


Execution.

How Executing These 4 Steps Will Guarantee You Succeed At Anything

It's All About The Execution - The Executioner's Revenge Part One

(To read Part Two Click This Link)

Too often we think about the results of what we want, and get lost in the big picture.  It's often what is difference between our chance for success and the possibility of failure.

What separates the truly successful from those that get-by?

The successful know that the difference between success and failure is minute, but the minute details are what make the difference.



This post is a two-part discussion about the differences between success and failure and what is ultimately, the factor most important.

And that is the execution of a plan.

Bear with me.

This post is going to have plenty of sports metaphors - and will be published in two parts - but the point of the post is that the difference between success and failure is often one of execution.

Success and failure are often separated by mere inches, or seconds, in sports.

In life and business that line is one that is often times subjective.

It's subjective to an opinion of the audience and can shift just as a line is drawn in the sand -which, is why I don't like the term, line in the sand - if the wind blows, what then?

Success and failure are twins often separated by a razor fine line

Sure, if you're keeping score, the one with the highest score at the end is the winner.

Except in golf.  That s#!t's cray-cray.

The lowest score wins the hole, but it's kept track by the honor system.  When I hear people talk about their golf scores, their handicaps and how far they can drive the ball, a couple of thoughts come to mind.

1. I'm reminded of Mark Twain's quote; "Golf is a good walk ruined."
2. Regarding scorekeeping I think: "You walk around, often drinking, keeping score with a small pencil on a pad.  You keep your own score, and there isn't a judge or monitor to see you're recording it correctly.  And then I think if accountants were able to be this loose and free while drinking mind you, would you still hire them to do your taxes?
3. When they talk about their drive game, basically they are telling you they have advanced degrees in surveying.  How else can the professionals drive an average of 280+ yards, but any amateur is driving 285+ yards.  Then I wonder to myself, "wow - all these golfers are experts at determining distances, what did I miss in school that I can't tell 6 inches from half a foot?"
4. Once again I'm reminded of Mark Twain's quote; "Golf is a good walk ruined."  

It doesn't matter the strengths and weaknesses of the plan.

There are 4 stages of planning and most important, executing that plan that will dictate the best opportunity for success.

Those stages each feed on the other and if done properly, bring you full circle.

1) The Planning Stage: Think of all things that you want to accomplish.


2) The Doing Stage: Get out there and get started.


3) Evaluation Stage: Mistakes are made.  Things happen.


4) The Success Stage - Execution come full circle - You need to use the data from all three previous stages and get back to work on your path.

1) If You Plan For Success, You Succeed At Planning

Every plan has holes; every day has ups and downs.  In concept, it's the understanding of those fluctuations that make a plan an effective one.

While it's definitely important to make a plan, it's also crucial you act.

Think about everything you want to accomplish. What are some of the larger tasks?  Some of the smaller ones that may be lower hanging fruit - the tasks that may be easier to accomplish in shorter time and with less energy?

By planning ahead and thinking about all the potential hurdles that may get in the way, you have a better, more sure-footed path toward accomplishing your goals.


By acting on a plan, we discover where those pitfalls may be.

2) Get Off Your Butt And Get Doing

Discovering what works and what doesn't is the input you need before the evaluation phase of your plan.

It tells you whether or not your plan is on the right trajectory.

But you need to first do something to enact your plan before you can evaluate the data.

Because after you act on your plan, it's going to look a little, or a lot, different than you first began.

Knowledge is experiential.  That means that we learn by doing, not by thinking, reading and dreaming.  We are kinetic learners on a biological scale, we learn by doing.

It's the meat, the spices and casing of the sausage making process.

Like I wrote before, making sausage is about putting everything together, some things that may or may not appear to work together, but with proper testing and planning, you know are awesome fits.

After you get started, there's bound to be some bumps and bruises.  It's part of the learning process that is called trial and error. By doing, we're gaining data that allows us to properly set up our next course adjustments, which are the most important part of how you adapt your execution of your plan.

Above all else, adapting and recalibrating is the primary difference in determining your success and failure.


Part Two Of The Executioner's Revenge