“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” – Henry David Thoreau

This sounds simplistic, but I believe that it is true.  Seven or eight years ago, I woke up every morning one hour before I had to and biked for sixty minutes before getting ready for work.  I know I didn’t always love getting up early, but I definitely loved knowing I started my day off right.

Since moving my step goal on my Fitbit up to 15,000 steps a day, I have often spent my evenings playing catch up on my steps.  It’s a race between steps and bedtime, and I don’t love it.

I decided to try going back to getting up an extra hour early, and today I did.  I did 30 minutes on my treadmill before getting ready for work, which then also allowed time for breakfast and to play with my dogs before I had to leave. 

As always, I arrived to work early and went for a little stroll before clocking in (the mornings are too beautiful not to enjoy them!), and by the time I got to my desk for work, I had over 6,000 steps. 

Not only this, but I feel amazing.  I feel more energetic than I usually do when I sleep for that hour.  I feel full of life! 

I was also encouraged and motivated by the results of last week’s wellness screening.  I have improved in every single area, and in some cases, my blood results are textbook perfect.  And I know because I have been doing this for so many years, that this improvement is a result of my hard work.  If I don’t put in the effort then it definitely shows.  These thoughts were in my mind as I hit start on the treadmill this morning at 5:15am, that the extra steps, the calorie counting, the effort to get good sleep and drink more water and eat more vegetables are making a positive impact.

So, today will pass and I will feel good and energized and be happy in the knowledge that I have done good things for myself.  It’s not just an investment in myself and how I look and feel, but an investment in every relationship I have and everyone who loves me and depends on me. 

They deserve it.

Seven years ago – though it doesn’t seem like that long – my sisters and mom and I all got memberships to a gym where we began regularly attending a cardio dance class.  It was a hip hop style class, very upbeat with lots of current music.

I am not shy exactly, but I always find going into situations like that a bit intimidating.  Especially because the group in the class appeared unusually close knit.  However, I look back on the years we took classes there with such fondness!

I quickly learned that I thrive on the energy of group classes.  Whether it was a dance class or a group weight lifting class, I found my energy levels and enthusiasm sky rocket when in the midst of others who are also pursuing their fitness goals.  When I struggled, their energy gave me a second wind.  It was also just incredibly fun!

It was also a great way to meet people.  We soon became friends with several of the people in the class, and then we’d be attending each other’s birthday parties and going to shows together and so on.  For someone like me who can easily retreat into a hermit like state, it was good to have an ongoing social life.

We met one particular couple in this group that we attended with every week.  A really fun, upbeat couple who were inspiring in terms of fitness.  They didn’t let setbacks or their busy lives interfere with their commitment to fitness.  They were fun and uninhibited.  We had friendly competitions about who could sweat harder, but all that did was make us laugh more.  More importantly, they made me feel like I could.  Like I could achieve my fitness goals, and that even if I am not a gifted athlete, I am making a positive difference to myself just being there and getting a sweat going.  It inspired me.

The bond with that couple went from just dancing together at the gym to going to roller skating rinks, enjoying live music, trying new restaurants and having house parties!  One time, for a birthday party, we had team shirts made!  We also had matching knee high mustache socks to wear to dance class.  Everything about it was fun and upbeat!

Even though I had lived in this state for 8 years when I met them at those classes, it was the first time I really felt like I belonged.  We clicked, and the class clicked.  As I recently told them, it was like my Cheers!  Sometimes you truly want to go where everybody knows your name, and what an unlikely place to find that, in a gym. 

I was on my treadmill recently listening to Britney Spears (a guilty pleasure of mine) and the memories of those classes and those newfound friendships came rushing back to me and I was inspired by them all over again.  I worked out harder and better because of it!

My oldest sister is not a sports fan of any kind, but if they are on, she always cheers for the bird teams.  Interestingly, she actually dislikes birds a lot, so it is funny that she always cheers for them.

She and I also share a love for Disney birds; Iago, Scuttle and the four vultures from the Jungle Book are some of our favorite characters.  I was once chased by a turkey vulture and I didn’t find it amusing, but perhaps it is because he didn’t sing to me in a charming British accent.

When it comes to my sisters, the saying is true: birds of a feather flock together.  My oldest sister and I are only a few years apart and have been inseparable since the day she was born.  As adults, I am still especially close with all of my siblings, and even with their spouses, who are like siblings to me as well!

My youngest sister and I share a slightly larger age gap, but we are still very close.  She was the one who mentioned to me the other day about the importance of a buddy system, and I have thought a lot about that since.

I remember in my first swimming lesson, we were assigned buddies.  Buddies looked out for each other.  We made sure we had each other on the bus from the school to the swimming pool, that we left the locker room together, and that we kept a lookout for each other in the pool.  It was safer for everyone with a buddy.

And so it has been in the rest of my life, even as an adult.  Ecclesiastes tells us that two are better than one because, “If either one of them falls down, one can help the other up.”

My sisters and I have been accused of being unusually close as if it is a bad thing.  We are in communication with each other every day.  We help each other through life’s emotional problems, and we help each other with chores.  Just last weekend, my sister came over and helped me cut down six trees in my yard.  And we had a marvelous time!  It was certainly better than doing it alone!

I love my alone time, there is no doubt about it.  According to the Myers Briggs assessment, I am right on the line between introvert and extrovert, and I definitely need my space to recharge and refresh myself.  But when I need a friend, my flock is there.  We can laugh together and in some ways, our laughs sound alike.  When loneliness strikes, they are there.  When there is a frightening moment, we are there for each other.  And no one is more fun to be with because no explanations are ever needed. 

I have been blessed to have a built-in buddy system.  Whether we are clucking like hens or fighting like buzzards or just flocking together like a bunch of geese, I am glad we have each other!

From great thinkers such as Erasmus to Benjamin Franklin, we have been advised that prevention is better than a cure.  This is usually true about most things, but especially our health.

This weekend, I will participate in the annual wellness program available through my workplace.  It offers comprehensive blood testing and physical screenings to detect health issues in the hope that they can be addressed before they become a huge problem.

This is obviously best for the patient, but in the end, it’s best for everyone else, too.  The cost of chronic disease is a price we all pay, as it increases taxes and insurance premiums and increases utilization of expensive services.

It was through my very first annual wellness screening that my hypothyroidism was discovered and diagnosed.  Thankfully, it was not bad at the time and I began treatment early.  I have read stories of others who discovered abnormalities in their testing that led to the very early discovery of other diseases and were able to begin early treatments rather than have to begin aggressive therapies.  More importantly, we all have stories of areas where we saw we could make an improvement, and by taking preventive measures we were able to stop chronic problems before they started.

Information itself doesn’t solve the problem, but it empowers patients to be proactive about their health.  It still requires commitment and effort from the patient in order to correct problems or make progress.  But I have personally adjusted my life style in comparatively small ways and ended up reaping huge benefits.  I remember that in my first screening my triglycerides were in the high end of normal and I had dropped them significantly before my second screening, simply by adjusting my diet and exercise.

The organization I work for also provides incentives.  If we can pass certain health benchmarks, such as being free of metabolic syndrome and being cotinine free, we qualify for discounts on our health insurance costs.  Because of the huge impact this makes, I have worked hard every year to ensure that I qualify.  Also, it is a positive indication that the organization cares about our general health – or at the very least, about keeping our health care costs down.

At the end of the day, taking small preventive measures in our daily lives beats managing lifelong chronic issues caused by lifestyle choices.  I am grateful that I have the opportunity to work for a company that not only provides this benefit to its own employees but also to countless thousands of others in different organizations through our wellness program offerings.

When I first started my Day Zero Project list for 101 Things in 1001 Days, I never thought I would come up with 101 things.  Then, I ended up with 110 things!  As I have said before, some are smaller goals, and others are more like bigger overall dreams or visions for my life.  I like that it keeps me moving forward, and trying new things and keeps me from getting stuck in a rut of routine.

Last night, I checked another thing off the list as completed, which means I have completed 28 things now, for a total of 25%.  I am in progress on another 12.  I am excited to see how many I complete!

Last night, we tried another new restaurant.  It was a local pizza place and it was pretty good, and it completed the “try 10 new restaurants” item off of my list.  Between this and the “learn 10 new recipes” it will keep us from falling into eating the same things over and over again – which, honestly, I don’t really mind.  But it is nice to add new things into the rotation.

I love connecting with people who have a list.  I love stealing ideas from theirs and making them my own, trying things I have never even thought about!  In the process of creating my own list, I came across quite a few other writers and entrepreneurs who had these amazing lists with ambitious SMART goals.  I wanted my list to incorporate things that included getting me to go new places and try new things, achieve goals with a metric attached, and a few that are a completion of a major project.

Some of the things I am currently in progress are pretty cool!  I am mid-way through “complete one half-marathon every month for a year.”  I have completed 6 months in a row, and love the confidence that it’s giving me!  Earlier this summer I completed the 500 Mile Challenge and then began a 1000 mile challenge, which I must complete before July of next year, and I am doing well so far on that.  I am also in the process of reading 25 new books, as well as listening to every audio book in my Audible collection that I had purchased but never listened to yet (there were 40 of those!).  Also, and one of my favorites, is a weekly date night with a long distance friend of mine playing card and Scrabble games on Pogo.  We aim to have a date night every week for one year, and I love the competition we have when we play Canasta!

Another one I am eager to complete is my master’s degree.  Just this week I started FIN500, and I am eager for my winter break and then to hit it hard beginning in January and knock this one off the list.  What a tremendous achievement for a girl who not too long ago was a scrambling immigrant, paying for tuition off of babysitting money at a local county college.  I never excepted then that I would one day have a graduate degree!

I love how this list keeps me thinking ahead and on track.  I would love to connect with anyone who also has a list, or encourage others to start one of their own!  It kind of puts a structure around the vision I have of my life and where I want to be headed. 

If you’re a Day Zero’er and you have a list, let me know so we can share ideas and encourage one another!

“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

I am a driven person, and my internal need to do things and do them well is inherent to me and not impacted (usually) by my surroundings or circumstances.  Even in a totally un-motivating environment, I like to work hard, and even when the teaching is lackluster, I love to learn!

But there are two external factors that do assist in driving me forward and make that forward progress more pleasant.  Those things are encouragement and appreciation.  I have written about appreciation before, and I think it is a powerful intrinsic motivator.  On my team, I have a couple of high performers who are very motivated by appreciation. They light up at being recognized for their work.  And it is a far longer lasting and more productive source of motivation than extrinsic factors.

I think encouragement is equally important, and especially for someone like me, I am like a flower blooming in the springtime when I feel encouraged.  I accomplish much more under that sort of positive influence.

I started writing little stories and poetry at a young age, and my dad was always my cheerleader when it came to writing.  I don’t think he was ever disappointed that I ended up pursuing a business degree, but I know he definitely thought whatever else I was doing, I should be writing, too.  He didn’t just say stuff like that either; he was sincere in his compliments.  He believed I was talented in that regard and he didn’t just praise my work but actively encouraged me and pushed me to do it more and do it better.

My oldest sister is one of the fittest people I know.  Last year, during my 3^rd half marathon race, she ran alongside me, cheering for me and pushing me to help me achieve my goal time; thanks to her, I did it, even though by the end she was having to push me really hard. 

Encouragement is defined as “the action of giving someone support, confidence, or hope.”  It is an action.  It’s not a comment made passively.  It is a verb that expresses your sincere belief in someone, and the willingness to take action on their behalf to help them.

Encouragement is not a an uninvolved thing.  It is an active interest and investment in someone else’s potential.  My sister didn’t just say, “Oh, you got this.”  She said, “You can do this, but you are going to need to go faster now.”  She didn’t just high five me and wish me well and run her own way, she stayed at my side the whole time and she told me I would make it, but she also didn’t let me slow down.  And I am sure for her it was hard to see me struggle and know I was so desperate to be done, but she put in her own effort making sure I made it.  Because of her, I ended up finishing over 2 minutes faster than I had hoped.

I have been on the receiving end of great encouragement, and I hope I can take similar action to help others as well.  Today is the National Day of Encouragement, and I hope we can all reflect on how we can encourage others today.

If you are reading this, it would be a great encouragement to me if you’d subscribe to this blog!  I would be truly honored and appreciate it very much!

Sometimes being told “no” is all it takes to set me on a course determined toward success.  I am a fairly cheerful and compliant person, but being told I can’t do something is all it takes to drive me to do it.

I am in agreement with the quote, “When someone tells me “no,” it doesn’t mean I can’t do it do it, it simply means I can’t do it with them.”

I’ve written it before, but my parents always told me I could be whatever I wanted to be, and that made me a bit of a dreamer.  I had dreams of moving away, writing, getting educated, marrying a southern gentleman, and many other things, and many of them I have achieved in some way or another!  I have many others that I am nowhere near yet but I keep dreaming. 

The problem for dreamers is that there are plenty of other people who want to give you a dose of reality.  And I have only one word for those people when they try to shoot down my dreams: rude!  Whether I am foolish or not, I am not sure why anyone feels the need to ruin the pleasure that dreaming gives me!

Growing up, my mom had this old pajama top that said, “if you dream, dream BIG!”  I remember being a little kid and wondering why anyone would even say that, because why on earth would anyone dream small?

So, I told the kids at school that I wanted to be a writer.  And then, when I got older, I told the kids that I wanted to move far away and enjoy the freedom and spirit of America!  And very few people believed in me, and honestly, I feel sad for them.  Maybe they didn’t have dreams.

I remember about 10 years ago, someone told me they didn’t think I could “cut it” in the business world or in getting my business degree.  Well, that was pretty much all it took for me to prove them wrong.  I am five classes away from a Master’s in Management, and while I can say I have yet to stumble into the right niche that I feel truly passionate about, I am good at what I do.

The dreams weren’t the problem.  The people were.  And sometimes you need to ditch the negative people so you can get the wind back in your sails.  It wasn’t that I couldn’t do all of those things, or that I can’t do the things I want to do in the future – I just can’t do it with them.  

Sometimes we learn our best lessons from the bad examples we see around us.  It can teach us compassion and motivate us to not only learn from the tough situations but make an effort to change those situations for others.

A few years ago, I moved into my first leadership role and my immediate supervisor was a classic example of everything not to do.  One of the first observations I made was that when employees would speak to her, she wouldn’t move her eyes from her computer screen.  Then they’d stop to wait for her to finish and she’d say, “No, go on, I’m listening.”  Sometimes, in her less cheerful moods, she would snap, “Do you want help or do you want me to finish this so you can get paid this week?”  The shrinking look of response was awful to see!

I had a supervisor right after her that had a different and yet equally bad take on leadership.  Many of us had to come in and start very early in the day, so by the time she walked in at 9:30 am, we were well into our days already.  She had the attitude of, “they should come and say good morning to me, I am the supervisor.”  I told her, “you should go to them individually and say good morning, you are their leader.”

Working under these two supervisors was a strain on my spirit.  I loved my job and I developed a sincere affection for my team.  But I would wake up each morning wondering what agonizing moments would await me that day.

I wouldn’t trade those experiences now, though.  I have learned good habits from each of them.  When one of my team needs me, I turn away from my computer, put my pen down, and give them my full attention.  I understand that my job here is not to be exalted but to serve my team, to help them succeed and to help them to realize their potential.  And sometimes that means humbling myself, and sometimes it means putting myself out, and sometimes it means taking the blame when something goes wrong.  But that is okay; it’s what I am here for.

I have worked under better leaders than these two examples, but truthfully, I learned just as much from their bad examples as I have from the good ones.  When we experience things that trouble us, we should find a way to correct it.  I hope I never make anyone feel the way those two supervisors made their employees feel because no other strengths I develop as a leader or manager could compensate for that.

Last week, I pre-ordered the upcoming Fitbit Ionic, Fitbit’s first official take on a smart watch.  I am very excited!

I am not hung up on the smart watch thing, it is not crucial to me that a watch be able to do everything my phone can do.  For all of that, I still prefer using my laptop over my phone.  The new onboard features of the Fitbit Ionic seem very cool.  You can load your music to it, and sync your Bluetooth headphones to the Fitbit itself.  With its onboard GPS, these combined features will allow for not needing a phone at all during a fitness event and that is exciting!

The coolest thing about the Ionic, at least based on what we have been able to see so far, are the new sensors that more accurately help detect not only heart rate but blood oxygen levels.  I love that Fitbit is still mostly focused on improving health and fitness rather than being just a smart watch.  As I have written about before, Fitbit has empowered me to change my life in significant and positive ways.  I am glad to see they are sticking with the stuff that made me successful using their current line of devices.

Fitbit’s new device is also water resistant and can track swimming as a fitness activity.  Reviews I have read show that the device will fit more securely to the arm and therefore the tracking of activity will be more accurate.  I can’t wait to see!

The new Fitbit will also allow for the contactless payment, which should please all of those who love that sort of stuff!

There are still a lot of unknowns about the apps that will be available, but there are definitely going to be apps for things like Pandora, the weather, and Starbucks.  It is also rebranding its current Fitstar program for the current devices and will offer Coach instead, which will have on screen demonstrations.

I have read complaints about the square look of the watch, but I prefer that.  Once again, Fitbit is sticking to what it has done well in the past and keeping to its image.  I have always preferred squared off designs, and even though it’s a large screened device, the new Fitbit looks fairly stylish (not that I am an expert in that field!).

I cannot wait for my new Fitbit to arrive, and I am excited to see where their new device takes me on my own personal fitness journey!