A Standing Ovation

I wanted to share a simple lesson I learned yesterday at a middle school honors band concert.  Sidebar: Despite all my athletic prowess, I am a band dad.

There were three bands, one for each grade and it was the 8th grade band director that did something that caught my attention.  The previous two bands stood up after their final of 5 pieces, took a bow and sat back down.  With each of the previous bands the audience stood and celebrated these fine young people.

But the director of the 8th grade band did something different.  After the very first piece he had the entire band stand.  As they stood, the polite applause grew to an ovation.

Then the band sat back down, played their next piece and exact same thing.  The band rose and as they rose so did the ovation.

While not an entirely new phenomena I took something away for you and me.  Each time the band rose, so did the applause.  With the rising applause so did the confidence of the band.  With rising confidence came a better performance by these young musicians.  And by the end of the 5 musical selections a standing ovation was in order!

I realize as we workout, run, exercise, eat healthy and make good choices that there is not an audience of proud parents and grandparents standing there cheering you on to eat your broccoli or finish your burpees.  But what if we imagined there was.  What if at the end of that sweaty push up filled workout when we pulled our hotself of mess off the floor we heard applause?  What if as you finished that last 100 yards of a run in weather that the mailman even refuses to deliver in you raised your hands as if finishing the Boston Marathon in front of thousands of people?  Maybe they are not there, but what if you imagined them there.  In your head heard them cheering you on.

What I have learned in my short time with my own fitness and helping others is that the body is ready to give more, it is our minds that get in the way.  The applause even if just imaginary frees you up to push past the mental barrier that is truly far short of your limits.

It is a thankless job getting healthy and fit, but one that should be celebrated.  Even if your audience in imaginary, I honestly believe the principle holds true.  That with each time your hear the applause your confidence grows.  Each time your confidence grows you perform better.  And with better performance comes better results.

So for you, here is your STANDING OVATION!!!

The 3 Places We Look...

We all have those spots...the places we look when the keys are missing or the remote can't be found.

The go to spot when we need to find that extra $0.27.

In life there are similar spots. I call them the 3 places we look.  Each of these spots hold incredible benefit for us, but if not careful each can hold you back.

BEHIND

Looking behind is a great tool to remind us where we have been, where we have come from and how far we have come.  It is a measuring stick of success.

You can only know how far you come by measuring it against where you've been.  This gives a clear sense of exactly how far in life you have come.

Yet looking behind can be like walking in quick sand.  It's full of remember whens, the good ole days and it will never be like that again.  It can become a mental trap to move forward.  Every "there will never be another" creates a mental mile marker that what is ahead of you can not compare to what is behind.

What's behind is behind and great reminder of the...

PRESENT

This moment is happening.  Now is now and will never happen again.  Whether your in the midst of the storm or life is pool side at the Ritz Carlton, it is happening.  Embrace the moment, stop and smell the proverbial (or actual) roses.

Too often we get caught on the bookends -- looking behind or ahead -- that the moment is lost.  So go ahead and YOLO it!  Because you really only do live once.

As modern day poet MACKLEMORE said,

Can we go back, this is the moment
Tonight is the night, we’ll fight 'til it’s overSo we put our hands up like the ceiling can’t hold usLike the ceiling can’t hold us


Embrace the here and now.  But don't live this moment captive to what's BEHIND and not satisfied because you are looking too far...

AHEAD

Benjamin Franklin said "A failure to plan is a plan to fail."  Looking ahead requires making plans and plans to achieve those plans.   Goals setting is key to success.  Having dreams and the desire to chase them is essential to living a fulfilled life.

Looking ahead is all about creating a plan for the future.  Understandably, life is going to throw you curve balls.  There are going to be moments that you will not be able to control the circumstances.  But have a clear destination picked out allows you realign your path and stay on track.  So looked ahead with expectation of great things.

Looking ahead can cause amnesia about where you have been and you are.  Don't let what is ahead of you hold you back from celebrating past success and winning in the moment you're in.

Oh and your keys are always in the last place you look. (That's because the last place you look is where you find them.)