Recently by Paul Krake

When it comes to making a commitment to being active and helping others do the same, it is definitely best to use a no nonsense straightforward approach. So here is my advice:

• Know your strengths and weaknesses.

• Do activities you know you can handle, don't try to run straight up an expert level trail full out. Do a good warm-up for the first 5 minutes then brisk walking or easy jogging. Once you can recover more quickly between running attempts go a little further the next time or run a little longer.

• Workout with Integrity.

A good philosophy is to always do things the right way, even when no one is going to notice, but you. You have to hold yourself accountable.

• A Good diet really does matter.

Fresh, healthy, home made food really is so much better for you. Remember, you are what you eat.

• Keep a consistent time and place, but be flexible if need be.

Set up a schedule and commit. It is supposed to be fun and productive. You will feel better about everything.

• Approach being healthy as you would a term paper - start with an outline. Even a professional athlete has a hard time making things up as they go. Take the time to set goals and organize a plan of attack before you start just being active.

• Never underestimate the power of momentum and how great you will start feeling about yourself! Physical & Mental go hand in hand. It's phenomenal stress relief.

• The status quo should go by the wayside. We need variety in life. People need to individualize their activities and at the same time not be afraid to push the envelope by doing something they never thought they could. Ride a Unicycle, learn to play frisbee golf, try ice skating, play paintball or laser tag with your kids or take some sports lessons of any kind. We need to try some crazier things that challenge our sensibilities!

• Follow your instincts. The best experiences happen when you do something new because it looks like fun and you think it will be a blast!

What have you done lately that is a little crazy or out of the norm? Have you done something active regularly for the last 21 days or more to make it a habit? How do you feel because of it?

The individual challenge for all of us?

FIND WHAT WORKS... on a regular basis!

We each have areas that we tend to be more proficient in. There are different personality types so this makes sense. And since each of us can be very different in that way we can also be very different physically.

Here is the challenge and the key - finding what works for our individual body type and metabolism. Then make it interesting and fun enough to do it consistently.

We all know that we need to eat a well balanced diet and combine that with exercise and an active lifestyle.

Professional athletes take this to a whole new level, measuring aspects like VO2 max( how their bodies use oxygen & how fast they can recover), body fat percentage, blood glucose, resting and max heart rates. The list goes on and on. But their primary goal in all of that is to find the ultimate combination to maximize their potential, turning it into a tangible result.

There are a few things that can derail us from our action plan. These are typically injury and sickness. And there is always the business of life (big excuse) so we are going to throw this one away. There...gone for good, right? Now let's assume we stay relatively healthy, ignoring soreness, stiffness and fatigue.

Now let's assume we are organized, have a game plan AND we are going to be flexible when life throws it's inevitable curve balls at us. Done.

Here's where the hard work begins. We really have to make the effort to listen to what our bodies are telling us. They are truly incredible pieces of machinery and when we tune them up by eating right and exercising and getting enough rest they let us know that we have done a good thing either by our physical appearance or by how we feel. We have energy, we don't get sick or at least not as often. It's like looking after a high end sports car. You give it the very best of fuel and attention and it performs to it's optimum. You have the best opportunity to succeed!

Do not get discouraged because it can take awhile to figure out what exactly works best for each of us. And just to make it more interesting our bodies change as we get older, kind of like a classic car, and it may take a little more care to keep it performing. Here's where the automobile analogies end. We cannot trade it in for a new model !!!!

Bottom line- it's worth taking the time to figure out what works for each of us. We all know the common sense basics, it's in the fine tuning that we can really reap the rewards. If you try one thing and it's not working quite the way you want, change it! Experiment. Try again and keep doing this until you get results because it is worth it. Not to mention how you feel mentally, you just feel good about yourself when you exercise! Mental & Physical go hand in hand.

Read Taking Action Part One

Today was a great day! It started off with some interval training at 6:45 AM on a beautiful path behind the old penitentiary that leads up to Table Rock. The scenery was majestic and as we got further along and took a look back over the Treasure Valley the sun was just rising over the hills casting a beautiful bright glow over everything we could see.

What a fantastic way to start every day!

The most powerful part of the morning was simply not hitting the snooze button on my day off and getting past the first 10 minutes when your mind wrestles with the fact that it is very early and your bed is very comfortable. To actually get up and do something, in this case something phenomenal for mind, body and spirit, is powerful indeed.

What is on my mind right now? The fact that it is way too easy to just put things off. The crazy part that we all know too well; it takes action to counteract procrastination , if taken it will both empower us & improve our day.

With this in mind I am going to overcome 'Me'. I seem to be my biggest obstacle when it comes to taking action, taking initiative and doing things that will do nothing but improve my quality of life or my families as well.

Has anyone out there ever had these thoughts or just me?

So, over the next few articles I will share with you how I am doing with many aspects that I think all people struggle with. Firstly, regular fitness training, like 3 to 5 times per week. Secondly, eating habits, all of them. I have committed to myself, my wife and family to get back in great shape. Not just for a few weeks or the summer but as a life style. I will have to get extreme to do this but I know in my heart that this is the time to do it; RIGHT NOW! Regardless of all that life throws at me.

All of this falls in line with a life full of order! This is not so easy when we are barraged by worldly challenges. I'm OK with that because ultimately none of us know how long we have so we should maximize each day.

Stay tuned... If you are currently embarking on an endeavor along these lines please comment back and let me know. The more people we can be accountable to the better.

Stop Sitting Around & Take Action Today!

Part of getting organized is realizing that there is never a perfect time for it and that there is power in just starting and doing. As you progress, you can prioritize your life in terms of what the most important activities are based on your individual goals.

This sounds a lot easier than it is with our daily routines of work and family duties. It is all too easy to go through the daily mundane tasks we all share and decide by days end that you have had a productive day. In fact I was just discussing this with my wife. Should we be striving to find a way to be able to outsource these tasks or should we embrace them for the purpose they serve?

What do I mean by this? Are we mentoring our kids to be responsible stewards of all that they get or will have in the future? We all should appreciate everything we are blessed with and take care to look after those things. This is just common sense, right? I do appreciate the fact that my children will know how to cook, look after their pets, sew, do their own laundry and mow the grass, just to name a few activities. These are essential life skills so that they will be able to function in life.

What about activities that really produce change that we want in our lives? Can we exchange some of the mundane responsibilities for more of the purpose filled activities that   

make life exciting and challenging? I am working on this. You see I am the personality type that finds it easy to get into a daily routine, focus on the task at hand and then repeat. This is a blessing and a curse. It can also make a person seem one dimensional really quickly. It also stops anyone from really knowing who we are and what matters to us.

I have the ability to see things through but also the stubborness to keep at it when it is not working. It is the definition of insanity 'where you do the same thing over and over and expect a different result'. Unfortuntely, my wife has seen me do this first hand and felt the failure in this along with me. "If only I work harder, longer, better.... I know things will change for the positive"... if only this were true.

Ever heard the phrase "work smarter, not harder"? This is essential if we do not want to get sucked in to the thought process that we just need to put in more time.

I am at the point where I want to maximize my time in all aspects of life.

Produce while you are at work, use every minute to it's max but know when to shift gears and focus on other aspects of what makes life so exciting! Do not define yourself by what you do but by who you truly are and what you want to become. That sounds pretty cool doesn't it?

How do we do this? How do we make extra hours in our day in a day that has a finite amount of time? I am willing to bet that we have all asked ourselves this at one time or another. The first step is to organize and prioritize your days. Include activities that are in line with your purpose, your goals. Include fun activities that are good for your soul. Pretty soon when you hit the pillow at night you have had a very satisfying day. One filled with our daily 'have to' activities but most importantly life fulfilling activities like donating time to the betterment of others, your family and keeping relationships alive and well.

Include activities that improve your health, physically and mentally and spiritually so that we get recharged and fired up!

If we do not have a plan full of small action steps this is overwhelming. I know this first hand. I am not a planner. I have to become one! My family and friends will attest to this. I can easily fool myself into believing I have had a productive day if I go to work, make some money and tuck my kids into bed at night. Don't get me wrong, I know that individually these things are a blessing in their own right. I just want more. I believe many people do too.

The first step is realizing that life is more than the mundane and being willing to give yourself a chance to benefit from all life has to offer. Embrace organization, get prioritized, begin activities that will allow you to truly become a mentor to others. Life if full of endless opportunities if we decide to open the door ourselves and not wait for someone to come knocking first!

Join me now in this adventure!!

Life is full of choices. I am making a choice right now. I am writing. When I read this, it is almost comical in it's simplicity.

As people we must do. Now if you can take a goal, turn it into a plan with action steps and a time line and actually DO THEM great things grow from simple. A seed turns into a plant but only in the right conditions, with the right input and in a very orderly way.

The key is in the focused doing of simple individual steps all linked together in an orderly fashion to produce a phenomenal outcome!

Now, as humans we complicate things and get in our own way more often than not. So, how do we get passion for all we do and hold onto it, translating it into action to produce an extraordinary life?

Do not settle for what is expected. I have read many different books on overcoming, being a person of influence, excelling in life. Only to fall back into a pattern I tell myself I cannot get out of, a thought process of the average because it seems to be the easiest way. In reality it is the hardest. It takes no time at all to settle for what is deemed by the majority to be OK. The exact opposite of the top 5% rule. Running with masses is not what we should strive for.

"I've walked the road most travelled for too long."

It is not OK to make excuses!

The beauty of passion is that it does not even allow for negative self talk or excuse making. It fills your head with only possibilities and action steps. The amazing opportunity to start new every day. It's said, " life is short, get doing, act on the plans you have. Do not limit yourself because you are a miracle that was put on this earth to strive for your potential!"

The last 10 years of my life have flown by. It seems like just yesterday I was getting married to a beautiful woman in Bellingham, Wa, that we just had our first boy, Tristan, who is now 13. Now we have 4 awesome unique, young people that depend on us to teach them how to cultivate their own passions.

I believe we are accountable to show our kids through our actions how to do this. Do we always succeed? No, as I can attest to. But, do we need to refocus and challenge life daily to cultivate our own passions for life? Yes! This is my first baby step in starting what I know will be a very challenging, enlightening and fun filled experience as I embark into a new territory for me, different from that which I have known. Into an exciting arena filled with many ups and downs I am sure, but with the passion to put in the effort needed to challenge the expected.