"Nobody who ever gave his best ever regretted it"
During the course of the last three weeks we held our 3 annual Holiday Fat Loss Challenge. The main idea of the challenge is to help people stay focused on fitness and healthy living, thus improving their performance, losing weight and burning fat.
The holidays always seem to be that time of the year when all you've worked for goes out the door. This fat loss challenge helps prevent that by empowering you to make better decisions, to commit to exercise and healthy eating habits.
Although it's a challenge, it is not one of competition say like in the sports field. Sure there is a prize for first and second place... so a little bit of friendly competition is welcomed. But you don't go head to head against anyone, you go head to head against you.
This challenge is about betterment; what you where yesterday - today must be better. There is no such thing as limiting self improvement. When you're hungry for something, you never stop improving.
When this is the case, we find ways to get better at a given exercise, to master a move, to learn new techniques, to improve our nutrition, to build our self esteem, to gain more confidence and to push ourselves beyond what we may think we can do, rather to reach what our true potential is.
Sadly I see to many people get lost in the numbers, and I'm not referring to this challenge particularly, but life in general. We get caught up in the moment that we lose the essence of our journey and don't realize all the things that we have accomplished.
Take a moment and look at yourself. Picture yourself a few months ago, a few years back... Now compare that with whom you are today and who you want to be tomorrow. Life is constantly changing, we don't think, we don't feel and we don't look the same as 10 years ago nor will be 5 or 10 years from now.
The question is are we changing for the better? Change will only occur when we allow it to happen; and that goes both ways. One can change for better or take a turn to worst. Personally I've experienced both sides and I've been responsible for it.
I've shed tears, blood, sweat... I've been up and down, I've developed unhealthy pride and been brought down to earth and beneath... I've been humbled. I'm not where I thought I would be 5 years ago, my life has changed drastically. But in the process I've discovered new things about myself, I've open new chapters and have grown as a person.
I know I haven't reached my full potential, perhaps I never will... that will not stop me from growing. I have a plan for growth and every step I take I cherish my defeats and my triumphs, because I learn much from both.
I will continue to grow physically, mentally and spiritually that much I know. And every step I take becomes an opportunity to grow, to take on new challenges and for self-improvement.
The above doesn't means one must not take pride in accomplishments or on the other hand be contempt with losing. I hate losing!!! In the words of Herm Edwards 'I play to win the game'... But I've lost many times on and off the basketball court; and each of those times I've learned about myself many things.
Last night watching the Lakers lose to Chicago in the last seconds of the game was painful. It could be attributed to several reasons, but they lost period. After the game they interview Kobe and instead of complaining he said "I saw a lot of positive things... Defensively, we were terrific. We did a good job, and we're just going to get better."
Self-improvement and betterment of the team.... In the game of life things are a bit more complicated, but the essence is the same. As I stated at the begging of this article: 'when you give your best, you have nothing to regret'.
My two cents to wrap this up:
- Make a commitment to improve to grow every day
- Do not focus on the mundane or on other peoples perspective
- Value the process that will get you to your destination
- Always give your best
- Rejoice in your achievements: 1 pound lost Yei! The main idea is that no matter the how small or big your feat... it is yours to rejoice over
- Do not look for inspiration - become the inspiration
- Never quit, never give up
My next post I'll write about our Fat Loss Challenge results and the stories behind them.
