“There are no great limits to growth because there are no limits of human intelligence, imagination, and wonder.” – Ronald Reagan
The ultimate underlying goal of personal development is to be the best version of you possible. Here is a selection of books that have been impactful to my healthy living journey.
Discipline & Self Awareness
The difference between the people that achieve their goals and those who don’t boils down to good old-fashioned discipline.
The most difficult and challenging yet rewarding role men play is husband. And it’s not a game. We should be reading about how to be a better man and husband and then actually apply what we read.
Goals give your life purpose and direction. Goals put you on the path to achievement and fulfillment. Goals tell you where you’re going so you can take the right steps to get there.
Your soul is with you for all eternity. We should feed it, care for it, and strengthen it even more than our physical bodies. Besides the Bible (which I highly recommend reading daily), these books have been very impactful to my spiritual journey.
**Disclaimer – I recommend these books because they have a message, or theme, or even a tidbit that has encouraged me and helped shape me to who I am – and who I aim to be.
That does not mean that I agree with EVERYTHING every one of these fallible human authors has written. I’d love the chance to discuss your thoughts on any of these books and to hear about impactful books you have read.
One final thought: I admit that it is easy to read & study influencers about their tips and strategies to be great at (fill in the blank) as if learning about it is really something. Learning is just the start. The key is to take action from what you learn. Reminds me of this bible verse from James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” #notetoself #takeaction #practice
That’s what I thought too when I first had the idea to take a break from social media.
Could I really do it?
Am I addicted to social media?
After contemplating the idea for a couple weeks I decided it was a healthy living challenge I needed to accept. So on August 1, 2017 I pulled the plug. Man that sounds old school. There are no plugs! These are wireless times. I hid the apps from my phone and removed the tabs on my laptop Google page. I’m going cold turkey. I told my wife that I was actually looking forward to the break, especially since much of my social media engagement is for my fitness/ nutrition/ healthy living business and I was feeling a bit burned out. I also fretted a bit because I knew my business would suffer without engaging people virtually, but then I thought, “Would anyone even notice that I’m offline?” I know. I’m weird like that.
In no particular order, here are a few things I learned during my sabbatical.
I WAS addicted to social media.
Not addicted REALLY bad that I salivate when someone mentions the Facebook news feed, but I admit to catching myself reaching for my phone to check Facebook or Instagram out of habit (& boredom honestly, or is it ADD?) only to remember that I’m purposely disconnecting. This happened a couple times the first day or so, but after that I was pretty happy to be free from it. I even left my phone behind when I went places so I wouldn’t be that guy who checks his phone all the time when in the company of other live humans.
I realized I don’t NEED social media.
Crazy as it may seem, but I thought I would feel lost without knowing what all my peeps were up to. I don’t watch the TV news and I don’t do radio much, so I had relied on social media to fill me in on the “important news,” LOL. I didn’t miss it a bit. Turns out that I don’t need to know what so-n-so is up to everyday. What a relief.
I realized that no one really needs to know what I’m up to everyday either – and they likely don’t really care anyway.
It’s kind of a blow to my frail male ego to first believe that there were crowds of people who wait for every insightful post, comment or photo that I share only to realize that others are probably just like me. They don’t ACTUALLY care what any particular “so-n-so” posts – including me. If it’s in their news feed they may read it, or not. If I’m not in the news feed, people move on with their life no problem. Shocking.
Social media isn’t evil.
I sound very negative toward social media so far don’t I? It’s not all bad. There is good news transmitted there if you can get past the emotionally charged intolerant political posts – oops, keep it positive here Chad. It is nice to keep up with family & friends, connect with old friends or make new friends. Social media can be a forum to find great deals or local events too. It’s also an important tool for business.
Without the distraction of social media, I can think about important stuff.
Yeah, this is probably the greatest benefit to my social media sabbatical. As I hoped, I was able to use my extra time to think, pray, study, write, dream, plan, and spend more focused time with Angie & Brandon. I realized how much I need such time and how much I enjoy it. It’s refreshing. I double dog dare you to try it.
The bottom line is that I’m really glad I took my 4 week social media sabbatical. I will change the way I engage it from now on. In my opinion, there are so many better ways to use my time than to mindlessly scroll the news feed constantly or to agonize over the text and photos I want to share to “change the world.” I think of social media in a similar way to work in that at the end of life no one will say, “I wish I spent more time on Facebook.”
What about you? Are you addicted to social media? Take a 30 day social media sabbatical and see what it does for you. I’d love to hear about it.
I reluctantly started running in 2009 at the age of 35. I never liked running. In fact, I had managed to avoid running as much as possible my entire life. I always thought runners were crazy. Why on earth would I volunteer to torture myself with an activity that is utterly exhausting when there are so many other things I could do for exercise that are actually fun?
I’ll save the long story about how I got into running for another article, but suffice it to say that I was mentally ready for something new and challenging. I had to wrap my mind around the idea that I was going to do this running thing no matter what. Once my mind was made up, the rest was much easier.
I’ve learned a lot about running over these past 8 years. I’ve taken a great class on running form, had excellent personal training from an online program I recommend, read a ton on the subject, and practiced a lot. I’ve probably run 3,000 miles and raced in 2 marathons, a 1/2 marathon, a list of 5k’s, and many triathlons including 2 at half Ironman distance. I’m no professional by far, and many people have far greater credentials than my humble run resume, but I bet this list can still help you avoid some of my mistakes.
1. ONLY RUNNING
Fortunately, I was running to prepare for triathlon the first few years so I didn’t have much problem incorporating other forms of training besides running. And since I had great counsel and resources for cross-training at my disposal, this honestly hasn’t been a huge issue for me. However, I do know that marathon training is exhausting and the thought of cross-training on top of the running load sounds horrible. I wasn’t awesome at it for my first marathon, and I paid for it dearly. Take my advice here: run less, cross train more. You will like running more, your body will thank you, and your performance will improve.
2. NOT MOVING POST WORKOUT
It is a great temptation to plop down on the couch and relax after a hard run. I learned the hard way that the stiffness and soreness that comes with vegetating on the couch, or sitting in my office chair to work is much worse than the 5-10 minutes invested in doing a proper cool down. I’ve learned to keep the blood flowing by walking, gentle stretching, and foam rolling after a hard run. It’s really helped my recovery!
3. EATING NEW FOODS BEFORE A RUN
Definitely do not eat something new before a race. However, I believe that trying new foods before a training run is essential to dialing in your personal nutritional needs to perform your best. Sometimes that means your runs will be awful because your guts to do not agree with you, but that’s all part of learning the art of running. You must listen to your body. Take notes on what works and what doesn’t. I recommend avoiding anything really heavy before a run and I prefer real food options vs. lab created chemical concoctions labeled to be performance fuel. Unless your run is longer than an hour, you really don’t need to eat anything.
4. BEING TOO AMBITIOUS
A key ingredient to the perfect recipe for injury is being too ambitious. A rule of thumb is to avoid more than a 10% increase to your mileage or time per week in run training. The truth is that it takes time to get into run shape, so be patient with the process. If you are targeting a race event, I recommend following a training plan suited to your goals and fitness level. Not every canned training plan on the internet will work for you. I know a guy who would love to help you with your personal training plan. (wink, wink)
5. FORGETTING TO TAKE REST DAYS
Dude, you have to take rest days. Rest days are training. There is nothing macho about running every day, or doing any strenuous activity every day. It’s foolish. Overtraining will eventually catch up with you either by exhaustion, decreased performance, or injury. Settle down and consider rest day as a training day.
6. IGNORING YOUR FORM
I had no idea there was such a thing as running form. Everyone knows how to run, don’t they? Turns out that even though I played sports my whole life, I didn’t know how to run efficiently until I took the Good Form Running class. While everyone runs a bit differently, there are some key principles you should practice to help you avoid injury and improve your efficiency. Cross training to strengthen & stretch your hips, glutes, and hamstrings will also help with your form.
7. TRYING TO RACE EVERY RUN
When I first started running, I tried to PR [run a personal record] every time I stepped out the door. I learned the hard way that this is another key ingredient in the recipe for injury. I’ve since adopted a run plan with just 3 focused runs a week, and only one of them is focused on speed.
8. SKIPPING LEG (OR HIP) DAY
I had IT Band syndrome pretty bad the first few years of running because I didn’t do enough hip strengthening. If you want to make running a miserable experience, try running with constant pain in your legs/ knees. I’m pretty sure this is why many people quit running or say they can’t run. Many pains in the knees, shins, feet, etc. are from muscle weakness that can be fixed with proper strength training. Don’t skip it.
9. BELIEVING YOUR SNEAKERS ARE IMMORTAL
Runners can get emotionally tied to their favorite shoes. It happened to me. Sometimes you have to relegate them to everyday shoes, then to mowing shoes. Do yourself a favor and get new shoes more often than you need to. Then you can rotate them in your training plan so they all last longer. I’m always on the lookout for a great shoe sale (link to active.com) and have scored a couple pair at less than $40 with shipping. Like a particular shoe? Buy two pair. Remember Lieutenant Dan says, “take good care of your feet.” You can’t run anywhere with busted wheels.
10. REFUSING TO STOP
A follow up to my advice earlier about listening to your body, you need to learn the difference between injury pain and just tired pain. If you have an injury pain, running through it will only make it worse. Yeah, your training plan may derail for a while, but you’ll be back at it much faster if you rest & recover instead of worsening your injury with overuse. Just recently, I forced myself to stop in the middle of an “important” sprint set because I tweaked my hamstring. I knew that a pulled hammy would mean weeks of rest and it would keep me from racing in a couple weeks. Missing a couple workouts to let it rest turned out to be way better than “pushing through the pain.”
11. NOT FUELING CAREFULLY
If you plan to run longer than an 60-90 minutes at a time, you will need to take some kind of fuel during the run. Knowing what works takes practice. See advice in #3. In my first marathon, I made the mistake of taking all the goodies offered at the aid stations instead of sticking to what I used throughout training. The result was a bonk and a very upset stomach. Yuck.
12. BLINDLY FOLLOWING TRENDS
Another ingredient to the recipe for injury is doing what everyone else seems to be doing. Trust me, not EVERYONE is following the latest trends. (think toe-shoes or minimalist shoes for example) Many have learned the hard way that the latest thing isn’t necessarily the best for you. Sometimes the saying, “If it ain’t broke, then don’t try to fix it,” is the best advice.
13. NOT HYDRATING PROPERLY
I just took a big drink of water, lol. Just like food/ fuel in running, hydrating takes practice. If you are well hydrated before you start, you probably won’t need anything if your run is less than 60 minutes. For longer runs, you need to carry water or strategically place water bottles on your course. Being dehydrated in your run can be dangerous to your health. A rule of thumb I follow is to have about 1 bottle of fluid (24 oz) per hour. There are tons of options for hydrating drinks during long runs. My advice is to try different ones to see what works best for you. And know that the most popular brands advertised as electrolyte drinks are filled with chemical additives, artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors, and lots of sugar, which are not good for you. I prefer all natural and “clean” foods and supplements. Generation UCAN and Performance Hydrate are my favorite for during running. It’s also really important to drink a lot when you are done. I follow up a long run workout with a scoop of Performance Recover in water to help my muscles repair more quickly from the work.
14. NOT FAMILIARIZING YOURSELF WITH THE ROUTE
This might be way too obvious, but I’ll say it anyway. Getting lost and being far from home or your car is not cool. Take the time to sort out your route before you start. And even though an “out & back” route isn’t as cool as a loop, the chances of getting lost are greatly reduced.
15. NOT VALUING RECOVERY RUNS
This one goes along with #7. Recovery runs should be done at an easy, moderate pace. My biggest mistake in my early years of running was doing too many fast workouts and letting individual runs turn into mini races themselves. Now I make sure that one of my 3 focused run workouts each week is at easy, moderate pace.
16. FORGETTING ANTI-CHAFE CREAM
Body Glide is your friend. So is proper running gear. Please do not wear a cotton shirt for a long sweaty run. Bloody nipples are not fun. After you experience chafing once, you will remember where to use the cream.
17. OVERLOOKING SAFETY MEASURES
If you must run in the dark, please remember to wear reflective gear at minimum. A head lamp comes in handy too if you are really into the night run thing. I carry my phone when I’m going away from my neighborhood route. I also like to wear my Road ID so if I get run over hopefully someone will still know who I am and call my wife.
So there you have it. 17 mistakes you can avoid because you took the time to read this article. Happy running!
Let me break down this whole God thing into this simple contrast that has made all the difference in my spiritual journey. This is what religion looks like:
We are tempted to pursue a religious approach to God instead of a relational approach to God. It seems easier, I guess. Like Emmet in the Lego movie who said, “Just tell me exactly what to do and how to do it,” we all just want to know the requirements to get us to heaven. We want it all laid out for us. No thinking required.
Religion places a major emphasis on rules and rituals that are supposed to either manipulate God or earn his favor. Let’s be honest, this is us. We are comfortable with religion (however we personally define religion) because it allows us to feel good about being ‘good’ and following the ‘rules’. In religion, we define what ‘good’ and ‘rules’ means in terms that fit our desired lifestyle.
Religion has a “one size fits all” approach. Much like our popular western culture that tells us that is cool, what is acceptable, what we should do, think, believe, etc., the Christian church has a popular culture that tells its congregations how you must behave and worship to please God. Certain music is taboo, you need to dress a certain way, talk a certain way, etc. to fit into church culture. Everyone needs to fit into the same mold or model of what a good person looks like. Who decided the rules for this stuff anyway?
The fruit of religion is a judgmental heart. Those who don’t follow these church “rules” are outcasts, or otherwise considered unspiritual by the “rule followers” who judge them. It’s true, isn’t it? Even if you’ve never set foot in a church, when you see anyone who is not like you, or who does things, says things, looks different than you, etc. you (subconsciously or out loud) cast judgment that they are wrong. Have you ever seen the Facebook news feed. Sheesh!
The beautiful truth is that God doesn’t want religion. God just wants our heart. His desire is to have a deep loving relationship with us. This is what relationship with God looks like:
We give God our time. We move from being institutional to intimate in the way we communicate with God. Much like you would never punch a time clock for your time spent with your spouse or children, God doesn’t want you to relegate your involvement with him to just an hour at church and 2 minutes of prayer at dinner time. Instead, we recognize God as our ever present friend with whom we can talk to ( and listen to) at any time. He wants to hear from us.
We are transparent with God. We move from being guarded to genuine. Much like you would never talk to your spouse or children with a pre-written script that you repeat every day, God doesn’t want that either. He already knows our hearts so there are no secrets with God. We can and should speak freely with the Ultimate Creator of the universe! How cool is that?!
We submit to God. We move from being ritualistic to relational. Make no mistake, there are still ‘house rules’ in God’s family. There are certain things you need to do, and some things you can’t do without negative consequences. This is not surprising. We were raised with some house rules and if you are parents now, I’m pretty sure you have some house rules of your own. While the rules of your house apply to all, the consequences of breaking the rules likely vary according to the rule breaker and the circumstances. For example, say your son lies to you. His punishment is to take away is favorite toy for a while because you know that he could happily sit in time out for a long time. Conversely, when your social daughter lies, taking her toy wouldn’t be much of a punishment, but sitting in timeout for just 10 minutes would set her straight.
My point is that God relates to each of us as individuals and according to our relationship with him, in a much more perfect way than we relate to our kids. Does that make sense? We are not God’s robots and he is not our cosmic vending machine. God wants to be our friend. He wants a relationship with us. When we finally get it and invite God into relationship with us, we will find all that we have ever been looking for.
My personal spiritual journey includes a constant tension between me trying to please God by being good (and failing miserably) and me just seeking God as my heavenly Father and friend. Though I can be pretty stubborn in my old ways, I find much more peace, joy, contentment, and blessing when I simply love God and relate to him honestly and often. #preachingtomyself #underconstruction #workinprogress
We did it! Angie, Brandon, and I met our goal to pedal 100 miles in June to raise awareness for kids cancer research. Thanks to generous sponsors like my employer, family, and friends we CRUSHED our initial goal to raise $500 and finished the month with over $1,132 raised for this worthy cause!
Couple of notes I wanted to share with you about this challenge:
1. We committed to do this as a family and it was AWESOME! There is something about riding bikes together that is just totally fun. We had to make special plans & effort to get out in the midst of our busy summer schedule. Brandon didn’t even get out of school until June 14! We saw great benefits to seeing our goal through to the end and had a great time doing it together.
2. Exploring our surroundings on bike is the best. We cruised new neighborhoods in our area, visited our favorite Toledo Metroparks and even rode the brand new mountain bike trail at Oak Openings. That was my favorite! Can you believe Angie did this?!? (You gotta hear this video to get the full effect, lol!)
3. It’s not easy to ride this far. Poor Angie strained her quad pretty bad and had to miss a fair bit of the riding. She was really bummed about that. Brandon & I pressed on without her to meet our goal. It was the most he’d ridden in a month by far!
4. Cancer sucks. As hard as it is to keep pedaling sometimes – that 22 mile ride we did together in the blazing heat was a doozy – it is nothing compared to what these poor kids have to go through for their treatments. Thinking of them is what kept us going.
5. Doing healthy activities like riding bikes feels really good. Doing healthy activities as a family is super fun. Doing healthy activities together in order to help others is AWESOME! Having a plan to follow, a goal to reach, and a special reason to do it are all great ways to keep motivated too.
6. How could I forget about our 8 seconds of fame?!? Because we were able to reach a fundraising milestone early in the month, we had our photo featured on a Times Square billboard! How cool is that?
Team Quadzilla 
