It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

I received some great comments from people on my post last week about "why I walk". Many comments about the value of "discipline", about the opportunities to do other things while walking (phone calls, listening to podcasts, music) and how walking is a "baseline" for activity. It shouldn't be the only thing you do for exercise, but it's a good thing to do as a foundation. Thank you for engaging in the conversation with me!

I thought I would extend this theme one more week. No, we're not talking about walking again, I thought I'd answer the question:

WHY I RIDE.

You might be wondering if I'm talking about my bicycle (which I do ride) or a horse (which I haven't ridden in a long time). I'm talking about my trusty motorcycle.

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

I received some great comments from people on my post last week about "why I walk". Many comments about the value of "discipline", about the opportunities to do other things while walking (phone calls, listening to podcasts, music) and how walking is a "baseline" for activity. It shouldn't be the only thing you do for exercise, but it's a good thing to do as a foundation. Thank you for engaging in the conversation with me!

I thought I would extend this theme one more week. No, we're not talking about walking again, I thought I'd answer the question:

WHY I RIDE.

You might be wondering if I'm talking about my bicycle (which I do ride) or a horse (which I haven't ridden in a long time). I'm talking about my trusty motorcycle.

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

Many of you know that I like to walk. I like to walk alot!

Today I want to tell you why I walk.

A couple of years ago, I was convicted about my health. I had 2 friends pass away in a short period of time, and the wake up call I received was simply that I needed to take better care of myself. I began on a journey of health, nutrition and fitness, but I kept hitting the wall. I travel for a living, and I would do great while I was home and able to manage a routine, but on the road, everything went out the window as I fought time zone affects, hotels and long hours on the plane and I consistently made bad choices in what I ate. It's an ongoing battle, but I finally decided to do ONE THING and do it well. The thing I chose was something that I could control.

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

CHANGE.

Everything is changing.

I celebrated a birthday this past week, and I can tell you, I'm changing!

The toll of 56 years of life has affected my body and I feel those creaks and pains in a new way. My body is changing.

But I'm also changing for the good hopefully! I'm thinking clearer, I understand my purpose, I'm enjoying the stage of life I'm in, and the changes coming at me are OK.

Change is inevitable, you can't stop it!

Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher said:

"Change is the only constant in life."

In an article from the Business Insider in 2018, Lindsay Dodgson shares some really good and simple thoughts about dealing with change that were taken from Christopher Harvey. They are relevant to us today and I want to encourage you to embrace these as I am working on these as well. The full article is HERE.

5 Steps to help you through changes in your life.

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

Are you overloaded by content, by ideas, by virtual meetings?

Do you feel like you're trying to take everything in and capture as much as possible because it seems like the only thing you can be doing?

Today, I want to simply encourage you to STOP for 30 minutes.

Take some deep breaths.

Listen to the sounds around you and stop listening to all the thoughts running through your head.

Just breath.

Take a break... a 30-minute detour.

Listen.

Stop talking.

Stop trying to figure it all out.

Stop innovating and activating and creating and reacting.

Just stop.

When you come back, it will all still be here and maybe you'll be able to see things a little differently.

STOP.

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

Here's the word for today: PIVOT

When you look it up, some of the words associated are:

TURN - ROTATE - REVOLVE - SPIN - TWIRL - OSCILLATE

I know that many of you feel like you're spinning today, but let's talk more about the word PIVOT.

In talking about a pivot in my business or organization, this can be defined as a "fundamental change", and we usually make this change when we realize that what we've been doing isn't working anymore.

Last week, I was having a conversation with a good friend, and he used the word PIVOT. I've been thinking about that word all week, and I can't tell you how many times other people have been throwing that word around as well as in my face. It's a great word for us today.

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

I was on a call last week with a good friend of mine and he made a passing comment during our phone call and it got me thinking.

I called him back and asked him to elaborate.  Here's the conversation:

Gerhard and Russ talk about Quadrant II Living

If you're not familiar with Stephen R. Covey or his timeless classic, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People", I would recommend that you read the entire book. It's a book that has shaped me and my leadership since 1989.

I want to go a little deeper in the conversation with Git and challenge you to simply think about this today.  

In Covey's book, the chapter is entitled, "Put First Things First" and it connects to personal time management and "priority" management.

This was what Git was talking about with his team:  How can we focus on some things during this time that we've been too busy to do, things that are really important, but that we aren't being forced to deal with them because they're not urgent?

Covey talks about each of these quadrants and we realize how easy it is to get caught up in things that aren't important, and it robs us of our time and our effectiveness.

During this crazy season where the pace has changed, the focus isn't real clear, and where we have no idea what tomorrow will look like, are there some things that you've been avoiding that are REALLY IMPORTANT that you should spend some time on? If you spend time in Quadrant II today, how will it impact the future, whatever that might bring?

It's Tuesday at 2:00pm! (PST Time: I live and work from Southern California)

This week I watched a short video by Andy Stanley (www.andystanley.com) and he shares a 8-minute thought entitled, "When Fear Impacts Your Faith". It's linked below, but it was a great reminder to me as a follower of Jesus not only of where I put my faith, but where I put my fear.

Fear is something that is being talked about every day on the news, in social media and in the lives of people all over the world.

I shared this before but for many of us, when we face fear, our first response is to be PARALYZED. We're stuck. We don't know what to do. We panic. We run one way, then we run the other way. We're frantic.

We use the term "like deer in the headlights", which means according to the idioms dictionary, "A state or manner of paralyzing surprise, fear, or bewilderment. Likened to the tendency of deer to freeze in place in front of an oncoming vehicle."

I had that happen one time. I was riding my motorcycle on the coast of California in the early morning. My friend Jim was in front, and we were driving in the fog, moving pretty slow and cautiously (like we always do Gina!), and he passed 2 young deer on the side of the road. They jumped onto the highway and stopped right in front of my bike. I slammed on my brakes, and only when I stopped did they run off. It was a close call. The deer were surprised by Jim on his bike, then they were "paralyzed" when I came along. Fear. Panic. Bewilderment.