Mud Blast Fun

Mud Blast Fun and the Sludge Hammers

Eight weeks ago a small group of people came to me to continue their training.  The goal was the Mud Blast - Sacramento River near Colusa.  A couple of weeks went by and the group started growing.

The training started with boot camp to break them.  There were lots of groans and complaining about not being able to do one more repetition.  I pushed them and cheered them.  Week after week, they kept coming back.

The last week was upon us.  We had one big, hard workout and one easy workout left.  Then, it was race day.

Bright and early we arrived at the race site.  The sun started to come up and the participants started to arrive.  Then, I saw them - the Sludge Hammers, jazzed up and ready to go.  We posed for a picture before mud running.

The waves continued to start and participants ran by us one by one.  We cheered as we saw them before mud and after mud, heading to the finish line and a river shower.

Just before the start of the Mini Mud Run, I saw a vision in mud.  The Sludge Hammers were making their way to the finish.

Awesome!

The next day I got a message from one of the Sludge Hammers thanking me for the training that got them through the Mud Blast course.  This year's course was much tougher than last year's thanks to the hard work of some key people.  There were triple the obstacles this year, and by the time the Sludge Hammers made it to through the course, it was deep mud.  As you can see, they were covered from head to toe.

Can the training continue even after the race?  Yes, it can!  This week we will continue with the training.  What race are we training for next?  Not sure.  Maybe we are just training for training's sake.  

Teamwork!!!!

Resolutions and Goals

We are more than a week into the new year.  And while I have been thinking a lot about New Year's resolutions, I have not written anything down defining what my resolutions are for this year.  The hesitation with the written resolution this time around is my new view on the goal versus the resolution. If I were to write down some resolutions, they might look something like this.

The classic New Year's resolutions are to lose weight, drink less, get in shape, and make more money.  These resolutions are often founded in regrets.  Regrets from gorging too much on high-fat and high-sugar foods over the nearly three month holiday period before the year comes to a close.  Regrets from not taking the extra meetings with new prospects or not going to the networking luncheon you really wanted to go to.

Here is the problem I have with resolutions.  Resolutions are short-lived.  Very rarely do you remember what you set as your New Year's resolution at the end of the year.  Did you write it down for accountability?  More than likely, you didn't write it down.

Having recognized this problem of "I-am-too-scared-to-write-it down-to-hold-myself-accountable" resolutions, I offer this solution.  Create tangible short-term and long-term goals for yourself.  Instead of setting New Year's resolutions that will last approximately a month and a half, I have decided to set new short-term and long-term goals for myself.  The result I hope to achieve by resetting my goals is to never lose sight of what I want to accomplish... really!

I am determined not to allow myself to get caught up in the resolution buzz.  Instead, I resolve to constantly update and upgrade my goals and dreams.  This means that at least once a month, I will revisit my written down goals.  I can add new goals.  I can subtract goals that are no longer relevant.  I can cross off goals that I accomplished.

The key to staying active and accountable to your own goals are in the big picture.  Break down your goals into one big goal for the year with several little goals.  Such as, by the end of the year, I want to double my income.  What does that look like nine months, six months, three months from now?  The written goal is tangible.  You can look at it with confidence and know that your "resolution" to stay on the track to success is one that you will surely hit before the year is over.