Best movie speeches – Rocky IV “DO IT” November 7, 2008
Just finished watching Rocky IV…how can you not want to go train old school chopping wood and stuff after watching that…seriously. But the best of all is the short talk he gets from his (formerly Apollo Creed’s) coach, just before he starts training. I need a mp3 of it to listen to every day before training…
“Apollo was like my son. I raised him. When he died, a part of me died. But now you're the one. You're the one that's going to keep his spirit alive. You're the one that's going to make sure he didn't die for nothing. You'll have to go through hell... worse than any nightmare you ever dreamed. But in the end... I know you'll be the one standing. You know what you have to do. Do it. DO IT.” ooooo ya ya ya I gotta go do hill repeats now!!!! Woooohooooo!
BEFORE YOU DIE March 20, 2008
I just got this email from my buddy Lindsay:
“Timbo . . . I heard this one at our retreat this week and I thought of you immediately…We were talking about things we gotta do before we die, and a friend of mine said that his 5-year-old son already was working on a list of things he has to do in his lifetime…
Top of the 5-year-old’s list: “I want to shoot a burning arrow into something and burn it down.”
Who doesn’t dream of being able to shoot a burning arrow!
So my buddy is trying to arrange a burning-arrow-shooting day on a local farm . . . they are all going to shoot burning arrows into an old farm building and burn the thing to the ground…and then clean it all up…
Aaahhh the imagination of a 5-year-old eh?”
This is hilarious! I want to shoot a burning arrow! I never would’ve thought of asking someone that young but now I can’t wait to ask my kids what would be on their list.
I’m sure everyone has heard of it, but in case you haven’t: Back in 1993 the Chicken Soup For The Soul series had a story about a guy that had a list of life goals (http://www.johngoddard.info/life_list.htm) and I remember thinking it was the coolest idea ever, so I started one immediately. It’s not a career type thing, it’s more a really LIVE LIFE kind of list, so it doesn’t have “Become Senior Regional Manager” on it, but rather stuff like “light a match with a rifle at 100 paces” kind of stuff. My (and now “our”) list has everything from “hike to Mt. Everest” to “Learn to do that spin-the-pen-around-the-thumb-thing”.
It really does work: Sure, I still haven’t done 80% of it, but we’ve also done a lot more than we would’ve otherwise, simply because stuff was on the list, and so sometimes we just go do it. We did go to everest, skydive, bungy-jump, stand on the Eiffel Tower, read some Tolstoy and Machiavelli, and a few others, simply because the list inspired us.
Try it; make a list of things you’d like to do, (they don’t have to be big important things, just anything that would make you happy) Then, constantly look at the list and make an honest effort to tick things off. It doesn’t have to be a individual thing either, I do all mine with the family now – makes it even more fun. What ends up happening is that, in the process you have a ton of fun and adventures, even if you don’t ever tick much off the list. It’s the reminder process that creates action, and it forces you to stop and dream a bit, like “what would I do if I wasn’t so chicken.”
I started my list like about 12 years ago, and I’ve maybe ticked a only fraction, but the fun it has instigated was way worth it.
I’m definitely going to add “shoot a burning arrow into something and burn it down”, and hopefully soon I’ll get to mark it done.
Glass is half full challenge March 11, 2008
In an an earlier post, or maybe the “about Timbo” section, I made the comment that “it’s all in how you choose to see it” or something like that. I was thinking that that’s kind of an easy thing to say, without any actual proof or suggestion of how to do it. That’s like telling a bike racer”just ride faster!” They’re gonna go “ok, how, exactly???”
So I was thinking, how does that work really? When one chooses to see something the positive way, what are the actual mechanics of that? How would one, especially one who is used to seeing the glass empty, switch to half full?
Well, I’m not a psychologist or anything, so I could be way off, but I’ll tell you what I’m gonna try.
In the old days, we used to do alot of imagery and visualizatiuon to tune out the hullabalu of race day, or to learn a track in the head when track time was limited (it was often pretty limited for me, because you buy track time, and I didn’t have any money!) Anyway, it’s not any easy thing to coach yer brain. Here: don’t think of an elephant with red spots. What did you just think of? Hahahha. So you gotta start small. We used to start by just doing imagery about a static situation. Something where you create a favourable scenario in your head: In your mind, make everything perfect: you’re wearing your favorite outfit, your at your fittest, you’re somewhere you love to go. Then from there you just build on getting good at creating that positive feeling from scratch.
The other way was to pick someone you want to be like, and literally, imagine you are them. If they are world champion, then you act and feel like you would if you were world champion. Then you react to situations the way they would.
So, I’m gonna issue a challenge to the incredibly small number of people that read this: try to change your attitude into a full “glass-is-half-full” one by starting at the small stuff.
Here’s the challenge: Every time you have a negative experience (spill a drink, drop a plate, get flat tire, miss an important call) stop, take a Breath and try to think of a positive, an “upside” to what just happened. It’s not easy, but I bet it will get easier, then become habit, and eventually you’ll do it subconciously.
I’m going to start right now: my head and throat are pounding, I feel completely weak from this flu/cold. So I’m going to miss spin. Well, the upside is that my kids think I’m going to be gone all night, so they are going to be soooo surprised to see me, and we can lay on the couch with a blanket and just watch the hockey game, guilt free.
If anyone else does actually try it, let me know how it works out.
What burns your fire? January 28, 2008
The last two years we spent alot on gear. Alot. Ok, I have friends who spent more on one ski-doo than I have spent on all my gear combined, but relative to most athletic people, we spent a lot. Mountain bikes. track bikes. ‘Cross bikes. Xc skis for the kids. Downhill skis for the kids. Speedskates. A welder (to fix the stuff, make my OWN frames). It goes on. It’s almost embarrassing. People say, wow you’re like really serious bout this eh! But we’re not really, I train way less than most. It’s not like we’re loaded either. We have no new cars, the house needs work, I’m half-done so many reno’s, but I still buy gear. I thought maybe I was addicted to “stuff”. I remember thinking that some guys were dorks for spending sooo much money on a bike when they weren’t Cat 1 racers or anything. Like they hadn’t earned the right to ride a bike that good. They were wannabes. Or when they spent so much time and energy on the technical stuff, like heart rates, average speed, wattage, rpms etc…”BLah blah blah”. I thought, I’ll tell you the technical data I need: If I get dropped, I’m going too slow; if I barf, I went too hard; If I finish somewhere near the front, everything is ok. But had I become a wannabe? So I thought really hard about it. Why do I keep trying all these new sports? Why would that guy spend all his time logging his HR? Why do I go to the garage and rebuild stuff over and over? Is it that I get bored easily? Am I addicted to e-bay?
Then it occurred to me one day: because it keeps the fire burning. It gives us a reason: to stay fit, to get out with friends, to enjoy life. Everyone needs a reason. A reason to get up. A reason to train. A reason to work hard at something. I used to think that people who exercise just to look good were vain, but really, maybe they’re not vain, they just work hard at staying fit and healthy; looking good is their reason. Who am I to judge? Dude with the expensive bike maybe isn’t fast, but the extra cool bike is the reason he rides. He digs the best bike around. The only thing that matters is that it gets him out of bed and on the bike. Two years ago we joined a new bike club just simply to try new things. Since then we’ve tried track, ‘cross, mtn bike racing, and speedskating. And it looks schizophrenic to some of our friends, because we seem to be just jumping from thing to thing. Actually, what’s happening is that each new thing gives us a new reason, a new fire in the belly to get out. We do everything as a family. Every new thing we can do together is another new adventure together.
So yup, we spent waaaay too much on gear lately. but we are sooooo pumped to do more of our latest things, speedskating and XC skiing. Maybe we’ll get bored and it would seem we bought the stuff prematurely.
But that’s ok, we’ll sell the stuff and use the money to pay for the next thing…..I can’t wait!
Being a fountain January 28, 2008
Ever hang out with someone and when you’re done you feel really good, happy, positive? Ever wonder why? Ever look back and think about how the visit went? I count myself super fortunate because I’ve got a ton o’ people like that in my life, and a while back my wife and I started talking about why certain people were like a battery recharger. It’s not because they understand, or have similar interests, or agree with us, or any of the traditional things people associate with friendship. It always seems to be because these people find a way to genuinely see the positive in just about everything. My parents were always like that. Crashed my bike dad. “Well you got the annual crash out of the way, so now you relax the rest of the year”. It’s always so COLD in Alberta. “Ain’t it awesome? We got mountains, prairie, lots of untouched wilderness, hospitable people, a good economy; thank god for the horrible cold or every sap in the world would want to live here” That’s what I mean, but it’s not all. Some people just always are genuinely interested in what you have to say, what you’ve been doing, how it’s going, especially the details. They’re genuinely excited to hear about your latest adventure. I have a good friend that is the epitome of positive energy. I joke that if he met an axe murderer, the conversation would go like this:
“So what do you do for a living?”
“I kill people and chop them up.”
“Really!? I’ve never met anyone that did that! I always wondered, do you sharpen your own axes?”
“Nope, got to get them professionally done.”
“Well yes, I guess it would be ton of work with dull axes, good thinking!”
Ok, so obviously it’s a ridiculous joke but you get the idea. When you leave you feel good and positive and it spreads a little. Imagine if it spread everywhere, to everyone around you, everyone you know. How great would THAT be! The other day I saw a quote that said “Be a fountain, not a drain” (author unkown to me) I thought it was perfect, had to put it on my wall. That’s what these people are; a fountain, and it spreads to everyone around them; it attracts positive people to them; and it’s a big positive snowball.
So I think I’m going to focus alot on that. Being a fountain.
