Tag: exercise

THE ‘I’ IN TEAM!

What role do you play?

the i in team

There are many different kinds of teams, and many synonyms to label them. 

  • crew
  • club
  •  company
  •  lineup
  • organization
  •  party
  •  side
  •  squad
  •  unit

Did you forget any? How about FRIENDS? FAMILY? CO-WORKERS??

You may have heard the old saying ‘There’s no ‘I’ in TEAM’. Simply put, the reply to this is yes, and no. Strictly speaking, when you spell the four letter word out TEAM , there is no letter ‘I’. Now there is a popular joke response floating about the internet that IF you type the word TEAM in certain fonts, you get a lowercase ‘i’ hidden in the negative space of the letter ‘A’. Often the caption that follows is something like ‘I found the ‘i’, it’s hidden in the ‘A-hole’.  This can be true in more ways than one.

First off, let’s address the ‘I’ in TEAM.

It’s all fun and games until someone loses an ‘I’

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Teams are groups of INDIVIDUALS working TOGETHER for a common goal. So the ‘I’ in TEAM stands for INDIVIDUAL, and that has good points and bad points.  Every INDIVIDUAL is unique and has unique needs which have to be addressed. Sometimes these individuals add skills and qualities to the group dynamic that improves the group’s overall performance. That is where the acronym T.E.A.M. comes into play, because TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE. It’s a wonderful thing when it works out that way, but  sometimes you get those negative elements that don’t play well with others. They are  the ‘a-holes’ bringing down the team.  In those cases, that negative player must either be corrected, or at worst cut, for the greater good of the squad. We are ALL individuals, and WE are all UNIQUE, and we each have our respective roles to play. We don’t always get to pick our teams, sometimes  teams pick us, and other times we are thrown together  by circumstance. Not everyone in the same organization will get along all the time, or even like each other.  Whether you like it or not, you on still on each other’s team. In those trying situations, the INDIVIDUAL you need to focus on is YOURSELF. Are you the solution, or part of the problem?   

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Who’s in charge around here?

Every effective group has someone leading the organization. Being a leader takes courage, discipline, and determination.  It is a very hard job that can be lonely. You can be open to harsh criticism when things aren’t going well, be accused of playing favorites, insulted by underlings who don’t like your leadership style, or feel you don’t recognize their contributions. Occasionally these gripes are true. We’ve all had bad bosses at one time or another. Leadership, like any new skill takes time to develop. Sometimes, happenstance requires that a void in the chain of command be filled. If no qualified  INDIVIDUAL can be found, willing volunteers may be asked to pick up the mantle, or have it forcibly thrust upon them.  This is what is sometimes referred to as ‘trial by fire’. You’ll either rise to the occasion, or burn out. If you suddenly find that you are now the ‘captain of the ship’, then YOU need to act like it, and run things as best as possible, while consulting with other captains of other ships, reading the appropriate manuals, and making the tough calls. This also includes listening to the questions and concerns of your subordinates, some of whom may have more seniority than you.

IF you find that YOU are NOT in a position of authority, and the duly appointed captain refuses to acknowledge the approaching iceberg, YOU have two choices.

Stay the course and hope for the best, or abandon ship.

The LONE WOLF

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As a  leader, we MAY be able to force someone to do something they don’t want to do, but they won’t do it well, and may even quit or take action against us.

As a team-mate, we MAY be able to convince our squad to run a play, but everyone would need to be on board and, the team leader would still need to agree to it. There may be repercussions if we just did it without authorization, EVEN IF IT WORKED.

As an INDIVIDUAL, you can always convince yourself to do anything you really want to do.

Sometimes it’s just impossible to find a group that fits, or create a new group, or convince an old group to try something different that you really want to do.  The lone wolf has total freedom, but that freedom comes at the cost of camaraderie.  One really is the loneliest number, but regret is also a terrible thing.  If your team or group is holding you back, it may be time to explore new horizons and challenges solo. This requires a special kind of courage and strength, because the path of the lone wolf is the toughest.  If you falter and need help, you’re on your own. There’s no one to recognize your accomplishments, or say ‘good job’ at the end.  Only YOU can decide if it’s worth the risk of going it alone, or facing the regret of never knowing if you could have done it.  As INDIVIDUALS we all have the option of taking our ball and going home,  or finding new groups to play with, or just practicing our skills alone. Self-improvement  begins with SELF. No matter where we go, there we are. We can be part of many different groups simultaneously, but wherever we chose to be we need to bring our ‘A-game’ and give it our best effort.

 We cannot control the actions of other people, we ultimately can only control ourselves.   As always, I wish you success and happiness.

 

PRESSED FOR TIME?

Simple tips for avoiding the mad morning dash!

pressed for time

We’ve all been there at one point or another.  Stayed up way too late,  hit the snooze button one time too many, and now you have seconds to dash out the door or risk being late for work. Inevitably something goes wrong at the worst possible time and we forget some vital item. It happens, BUT it can be avoided with a few simple tricks and a bit of determination on your part. The keys involve proper time management and developing a system that works for you.

All successful people have mastered time management and develop a system of doing things in a routine fashion which becomes second nature, occurring automatically. Time IS money, and wasting time is wasting potential. If your daily norm is a disorganized mess, you get far fewer things accomplished, face undue stress, and possibly depression. Stress and depression negatively affect your health. When your health is affected, again, your potential is diminished and you begin a vicious downward spiral. Your HEALTH IS YOUR WEALTH!  All three, TIME, MONEY, and HEALTH are interconnected and when mastered form a trifecta of success.

The way you start your day will impact how your day progresses. Why not start the day right? There’s an old adage, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. ”  Truer words were never said. Morning prep should begin in night before.

Keep the same sleep schedule. For some people this may be tricky, esp. if you work a job with irregular hours such as a swing shift position, or one which has you on call for emergencies when off duty. In such situations, keeping a set sleep schedule may prove difficult or impossible. You’ll just have to do the best you can.  For some people  though, watching the BIG GAME, or some movie, is all important. This is nonsense. Television programs are a choice you make, and a time-wasting activity. When your team scores the winning point, it has ZERO impact on your life. Oh, you may cheer and get a momentary rush of excitement, and you may enjoy the leisure activity of sitting on the couch and munching snacks. But how does this add to your success? Anything that does not contribute to your success hinders it in some fashion. This doesn’t mean you can’t  stay up late occasionally, just don’t make a habit of it. Bad habits form easily. All things in moderation.     

Form a system. Set out all the things you need the night before in a set area. My father used to drape his clothes for the next day on a chair in his bedroom. I’ve adopted a similar technique. Also, keep keys, wallet, cell phone and other things you normally carry when leaving the house in a set location. When you get home, immediately put these items in that place until needed the next morning. Cell phones may be the sticking point for some people who can’t bear to be separated from their phone until the battery runs down and they have to place it on the charger. This can be remedied by placing a NOTE TO SELF reminding you to grab your phone before leaving the house with your keys, or taped to the door. After all it would be tragic if you left the house and left your cell phone there.  Also if you have pets or small children, make sure that this place where you keep your needed items is well out of reach. If Fido decides that the leather loop on your keys would make an excellent chew toy, you don’t want to tear-up the house looking everywhere for your car keys. If you have a spouse the likes to put things ‘out of the way’ , make sure they know this is your PERSONAL SPACE and off limits. And if they have their PERSONAL SPACE where they keep their stuff, return the courtesy.

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Make meals ahead.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. One of the worst things you can do health and wealth-wise is  to grab fast food for breakfast and or lunch because you didn’t have time in the morning.  You can prep your meals ahead of time and save money as well as eating healthier at the same time. In my case, I’ve also simplified my meals because I’ve taking up running and as an athlete in training for competition, I have certain nutritional  requirements that need to be met in order to build lean muscle while decreasing body fat.  Some people LIVE FOR FOOD. The mindset of the athlete is that FOOD IS FUEL.  Again, what we eat is a personal choice. Some people MUST HAVE variety, some people MUST HAVE what works. YOU have to find what works for YOU. Whatever it is that you chose to eat, as long as it is nutritious and doesn’t make you fat, go for it!

Cape Diem! When that morning wake-up call goes off answer it! Don’t hit the snooze button!  Every time you do, you waste valuable time getting ready for work. You know exactly how much time you need for your daily morning routine. You know the average commute-time, a how long it takes you to eat breakfast,  pray, exercise, shower and dress. Every time you hit that button, you lose time.  Do not cut your time in any way, and ideally you should set your alarm as a reminder to leave by a certain time having already been awake and completed your  morning ablutions. Most people use their cell phone as their clock, and you can  set multiple reminder alarms for various activities throughout the day. It’s easy to get sidetracked, but always remember, if you snooze, you lose!   As always, I wish you success and happiness!

A FULL-TIME JOB!

Are you only working part-time?

a full time job

Imagine that you had an awesome full-time job which paid an enormous salary with great benefits. The full package is enough to meet all your daily needs and attain your long-term goals. If you had such a job, would you give it your all, or would you just show up when you felt like working? This is a no-brainer for most people, you would get up every day and go to work thankful for having such a great job. Even with such a job, we all know that one person who does as little as possible and shows up when they feel like working. Eventually they lose their job,  and we wonder why they didn’t care enough to do the required work and keep the  job.

When most people think about their full time job, they only consider their nine-to-five day job. In reality, everyone has more than one full-time job, but the one which we all share is our health. When we lose our health, getting it back can be difficult, or even impossible. Our health is our wealth!

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You CANNOT lose weight by exercising!

Our physical health revolves around two points, diet and exercise. Both are full-time jobs. You cannot lose weight by exercising. Exercising tones the body and builds muscle. Adding lean muscle increases your metabolism so that you can burn calories faster, but by building muscle you can actually gain weight by exercising. Consider professional body-builders who pack on pounds of muscle and spend hours a day exercising.  You would not consider a body-builder fat, though they may be considered to be  overweight compared to the physical norm. Being overweight as a result of being muscle-bound is much different than being overweight due to obesity, but both carry health concerns. Being fat is never a good thing.

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We exercise to maintain and improve our physical fitness.

Components of Physical  Fitness include:

  • Agility
  • Balance
  • Body Composition
  • Cardiovascular Endurance
  • Coordination
  • Flexibility
  • Muscular Endurance
  • Muscular Strength
  • Power
  • Reaction Time
  • Speed

 

Soda is a carb, and so is broccoli!

In order to lose weight you must first control your diet. The phrase ‘we are what we eat’ is a tired cliché but there is some wisdom there. If we eat junk food frequently, our health will suffer as a result. Your diet is composed of both quality of food, diversity of food, and most importantly quantity of food.  The Standard American Diet is about 2,200-2,500 calories per day, with 50% of calories from carbohydrates, 15% protein, and 35% fat.  All of our food is made of three components: Carbohydrates (carbs), fats, and protein. Food also may contain certain vitamins and trace minerals which our bodies need. We burn these calories for energy each day.  At rest and during normal activities, fats contribute 80–90% of our energy; carbohydrates provide 5–18% and protein 2–5%. During exercise there are four major endogenous sources of energy: muscle carbohydrate stores (glycogen), blood sugar, blood fatty acids, and intramuscular triacylglycerols. The extent to which these substrates contribute energy for exercise depends on the intensity and duration of exercise, the level of exercise training, the initial muscle glycogen levels, and supplementation with carbohydrates during exercise.  

So the key to losing weight is to eat better quality food, and eat less than our normal daily caloric intake for maintaining our weight. In other words, eat less calories than you use each day.

Water, water, everywhere!

Soda and fruit juice, as well as so-called sport drinks such as Gatorade or Powerade contain a lot of empty calories. When you are working with a daily allotment of 2,200 – 2,500 calories, drinking these add excesses calories which don’t fill you up, and then you still have to eat. Jesus Christ didn’t have soda or Gatorade and got along just fine drinking water. Water contains ZERO calories, metabolizes fat, and maintains good hydration to ensure the body works the way it should. It is important to drink water on a regular basis at regular intervals. A good rule of thumb is to aim to drink half your body weight in ounces daily. If you are exercising or exerting yourself in high heat, you may need to up this amount. You should drink a glass of water shortly after waking,  with each meal,  and before bed, as well as sips throughout the day as needed.   Water was good enough for Jesus, and it should be good enough for you as well!

Let’s THINK this through.

Our bodies have an innate intelligence and they know what needs to be done, and when to do it. We don’t have to tell our hearts to beat, our lungs to breathe, etc.  Our bodies do this naturally. That same  innate intelligence works against us when we disrupt our natural cycles of eating, drinking, and sleeping. If we starve ourselves to lose weight, the body slows down our metabolism to conserve fats. If we try to drink less, our body ‘thinks’ it needs to hold on to fluids, and we can stop sweating, which is a natural cooling system.  As amazing as the body is, it only knows what it knows, and when we change our daily cycles of eating, drinking, and even sleeping we alter our metabolism.  In order for our bodies to work properly, we need to maintain regular cycles. This is why crash diets don’t work, as well as short-term dieting. When we cease regularly dieting and exercising, we lose the benefits gained by doing so. We take care of our bodies by eating, drinking, exercising, and resting on a regular cycle each day. When we do this, we make ourselves stronger, and we last longer. Everyone should want to live a long and healthy life, but whether or not we accomplish this is entirely up to ourselves! As always, I wish you success and happiness!