Your best just got better

How do you find time to work out?

Traveling for a career presents challenges to the Fit and Effective game. A question I hear often sounds like:

"How do you have time to work out?"

So, I thought I'd share a few of the ways I win...

What are you (really) doing each day?

A colleague sent me this list. My goodness, is this for real? Even if it's close, it's enough to make me realize just how precious my “big three” really are:

Time, Energy and Focus.

What are you doing every 24 hours?

APPROXIMATELY:

Your heart beats 103,689 times.
Your blood travels 168,000,000 miles.
You breathe 23,040 times.
You inhale 438 cubic feet of air.
You eat 3 ½ pounds of food.
You drink 2.9 pounds of liquid.
You lose in weight 7.8 pounds of waste.
You perspire 1.43 pints.
You give off heat at 85.6 degrees F.
You turn in your sleep 25-35 times.
You speak about 48,000 words.
You move 750 major muscles.
Your nails grow .000046 inch.
Your hair grows .01714 inch.
And you exercise 7,000,000 brain cells with each thought.

Split-deal

Do you know how sometimes restaurants serve incredibly large portions with their entrees? Well, here's one that's made a huge difference in my life!

Get an extra plate. If you're enjoying dinner with a friend, suggest sharing an entree. Most restaurants include over a single serving of food with each plate. More than enough (and often too much) to finish in one sitting.

The immediate benefit of this wil be to cut out 200-400 calories that day! For anyone looking to make a change and see it sooner than later, this is one way to keep focused AND experience regular success on your fit and effective lifestyle.

*By the way, if I'm dining alone, as us traveling consultants often do, I will order a to-go box WITH my entree. When it arrives, the first thing I do is place half the order in the to-go box. Then, I'm left with an almost perfectly sized meal - for one!

Just a little bit smaller now!

Ok here's a trade secret I learned that I continue to share with fit and effective people. Especially those who are in the office, at home, on the road, in long meetings, generally...too busy to really take care of themselves at 100% every day.

Buy a couple of plates for the house. These plates should be a "little bit smaller" than the ones you're normally using for meals. The idea here is, if you "fill your plate," you'll actually be taking less food than before back to the table.

The immediate impact of this would be anywhere from 100-400 fewer calories taken in! So, for the nights you're home this and next month, give it a try. I would love to hear how it goes!

Do you really...?

So, someone asked recently if I'd share a "slice of the life" of Jason. I thought I'd share a somewhat typical day.one that happened just last week:

4:30am (CDT) : up, shower, cab to New Orleans airport

7:00am-8:00am : fly to Dallas (slept most of the flight)

8:00am-9:15am : switched terminals, found lunch for the next flight (sandwich, salad, bottled water, muffin, banana, fruit cup)

9:15am-11:00am : fly to LAX (wrote thank you cards, got e-mail down to zero, processed in-box, completed expense reporting, read Newsweek and Scientific American Mind magazines, watched one of "The Great Courses" (from www.teach12.com ) on anatomy and physiology, worked on a client proposal)

11:00am-12:00pm (PDT) : landed safely, replicated e-mail, got luggage, called The Parking Spot, started the 2-hour drive home

12:00-2:00pm : drive up Highway 1 (one of my favorites!) to Ojai. Listened to Lou Tice (www.loutice.com ) on the way. Called several people on my calls list.

2:00pm-3:45pm : home to see Jodi and Zuma. Unpacked, started laundry, repacked for the next trip (in 36 hours!), walked around the garden and caught up on two days of stories.

4:00pm-5:30pm : went to the gym (spin class) did a little bit of stretching, and some weights

5:30pm-6:00pm : stopped at the store, picked up food for dinner, when home and started cooking

After that.it was dinner, some more conversation, some "show and tell" with pictures I took in New Orleans, a little bit of TV, and in bed by 10pm. (I knew we were getting up early the next morning for a 30-mile bike ride!)

That's a snapshot.I highly recommend, if you have not done it yet, that you bring a note card around with you one day and just "log it." I'm always surprised by how much I am engaged with on a daily basis!

Soda drinker? Still?

Ok, so I admit to enjoying a cold soda every now and then. Here's something to try (as usual, I'm offering an opportunity to experiment. If it works, keep on doing it. If not, try it and move on to something else!

Consider drinking a diet cola instead of the regular. Yes, the taste is different, but you'll ingest almost 250 fewer calories reaching for the diet! If you're a "multi-per-day" soda drinker, just take one or two diets less, and see what happens!

As with all of these suggestions, they are not meant to limit you in any way. The last thing you want in this kind of a situation is to feel like you're going to die(t)! So, look for what works, and keep on doing it!

It's lunchtime, just watch what you eat!

So, on your way out to grab lunch? Go get that sub from the sandwich place you visit. Only this time, skip the mayo. I know, this may be a big deal, but I'm only suggesting you do it once a week.

Try this for a couple of months. Skip the mayo (and possibly the cheese?) once a week or so, and see what happens. You'll cut out about 100 calories per lunch, an easy way to start doing the little things!

What's your "FitAndEffective" intention?

What a great teleseminar this morning! Thanks to everyone for joining in. I wil schedule another one of these in the near future.

For now, here's something to think about: Your own Fit and Effective morning intention...an audio inspiration to get going.

You, at your best

I’ve got two questions for all readers:

What IS the top of your game? Do you know what improvement would look like?

Recently, someone asked, “Jason, what IS FitAndEffective? Is it just more information about work/life balance?”

I started to answer, and then I asked a favor. “Can I have a couple of days to get back to you?” I knew what I wanted to do, it was just going to take some time to do it. I went home, logged on to the Internet, and read through the posts on the site so far.

What I’m coming away with, after that exercise, is that FitAndEffective is a way of living. It’s an approach to life, work, and expression that goes beyond balance; it offers people the information, motivation and inspiration they can use to be who they are by enhancing how they are.

Thanks, Nancy, for that prompt. You’ve encouraged me to dig deeper into all of this…

10K - Race in Ojai (To benefit the local hospital)

Well, I'm hoping to drum up a little more support as people get ready for another spectacular California weekend (and, I'll be home for this one!).

For those following, we seem to be past the immanent "fire danger," and we're already on to the next thing. For me, it's a 10K run this weekend. I've done this race a few times, and each time I'm reminded of how great it is to be a part of a close, participatory, enthused community.

If you're looking for a nice 5K/10K run to join, come on up to Ojai! It's going to be great...

Saturday, October 7, 2006
Meet at Nordhoff High School
Registration starts at 7:15am