Life can be as exciting and full of accomplishment as you want to make it. First, you must become willing to try new things, fail your way to success and enjoy the process. So many times we get comfortable with the way things are. We have a job, group of really strong friends and a routine that rocks. However, with all of this there is still a feeling that something is missing. We are yet to really reach our full potential. The amazing thing is that we have complete control over changing this. Say you wake up one morning in a complete rut. You are tired of your job, your routine and the way life has been not changing. Life is not bad, you are just ready for a new adventure. You identify that the way things are is not the way you envision them being and change is necessary. Yes! Change is scary. Meeting new people is sometimes discomforting. New work opportunities are challenging and mean more moments of failure are waiting on the horizon. Once we make it past that horizon amazing things await. There is a whole new prairie filled with endless opportunity. Our opportunities only stop because of limiting factors in our own mind. This is scary. We can and often do become our own worst enemy. Stopping ourselves square in our tracks before even starting. One persons voice telling us “You cannot do that.” can and often does become the e-brake on our life. If we really want to achieve our full potential then we need to surround ourselves with amazing people already doing it. I am sure your full potential and mine has not been attained. Our lives are sitting on top of Mt Hood and to find our real summit we need to climb Mt Everest. You might have voices running through your head right now. Voices saying things like…. I am happy with the way things are, nothing needs to change, I do not want to change, running a marathon, climbing a mountain, starting a business… those are all real scary and I do not like the way it makes me feel. Well if you really want to meet with your full potential someday then let me tell you something. Get comfortable, being uncomfortable. Your changes can start similar to how I have continued to make changes to my life. Take on a new challenge every month of the year. You will find this simple practice drives you to step outside of your normal routine to find new amazing opportunities in your life. Will it be challenging? Yes! That is why they are called challenges. You are going to do something new every day for the next month. These challenges are a great chance for you to start something new. Below, I have listed my challenges for this year. These should help you get started on the brainstorming work of what your challenges will be. Also, here is my framework for 30 day challenges that really works. Guess what? It requires that you find some people already doing your challenge as part of routine life :) Scott’s 2014 Challenges:
Summit as friends! Scott
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Powder skiing for breakfast……. What the heck is that you may ask? I did not literally have powder snow for breakfast, but while most people in America were sitting at the breakfast table I was busy hiking up the Cinder Cone at Mt Bachelor with my skis. My co workers / friends Garrett, Ernie and Rex joined me for a little sunrise powder skiing today. We woke up at 530am, drove the 30 whopping minutes up the ski resort and hiked to the powder stashes before the lifts were open. Sure. I was really tired and had to push through the challenging voices in my head telling me to sleep in. Well my bed will be here when I get home after work tonight. I told myself! I made my breakfast smoothie, packed up my rig and drove into the darkness. When we arrived at the resort the sun had still not peaked over the horizon, but we could see a clear silhouette of the mountains in the backdrop. The sunrise is going to be beautiful this morning. Rex said! We enjoyed a smooth 45 minute skin to the top of the Cinder Cone. During the hike I was reminded of why I woke up so early. I LOVE THE MOUNTAINS! The mountains are peaceful, crisp and bring a sense of serenity to my life that I find no where else in this vast world. It is really amazing to get the opportunity to experience a sunrise with the kind of view we get in the Central Oregon Cascades. Nothing short from marvelous. I really did get an overwhelming sense of gratitude today upon realizing how amazing this places is. As we hiked higher the sun began to peak out over the city of Bend, OR and the Sisters Wilderness was painted in a pink sunrise glow that words cannot describe (see photo below). My mind began to drift into envisioning the smooth blower powder turns the next hour would bring to my life. After taking in the cold, crisp early moments of the day we collected our gear and prepared for an awesome decent. The moments that followed were filled with hoots, hollers, smiles and some of the best powder turns I have ever had before 730 in the morning. We even took a few photos of powder skiing during this sunrise. We hiked the Cone two more times this morning and each one got better. The sun continued to rise and so did our spirits. Each turn I felt like my mind was nowhere except present, which is really where it should be during all moments of life. There was really no best run today. They were all amazing and we had created the perfect atmosphere for a great time. Friends, cold blower powder and one beautiful sunrise. We shared some words of positivity and laughter during a regroup at the parking lot, hopped into the car and made it to the office by 900am. Just in time for Pancake Tuesday at G5. :) I am not going to lie. My current challenge to write 500 words per day is hard. I have ran into many mental blocks that make getting the words for the day written nothing short from a true challenge. I am sitting in my office nook at day nine after just making it through the mental barriers that were telling me I could write later this evening, I did not have to write, this challenge is stupid and the list goes on. I find it easier to stay motivated through these times when I can answer one simple question with good logic. Why do I even do these challenges in the first place? It is certainly not to prove something to anyone but myself. I take on a new 30 day challenge each month. In the case of February my challenge was 28 days, but I have continued meditating each day for at least a few minutes, because of the positive result I got. I guess that is just it. I really never know if something will have a positive impact on my life until I give it a try. Testing something in your life for more than a day will give you an actual result, which is why I have opted to really commit to doing these challenges for a prolonged period of time. Doing something once is relatively easy when compared to doing it everyday for a whole month. And, a single day does not really produce a visible result. So how do I stay motivated to continue? With each challenge I know that I am investing in myself. I am proving to myself that I have the courage and perseverance to work through challenging tasks. I am investing my knowledge, wisdom and ability to push through challenging times. Also, I have a commitment to reach my full potential. By doing the same thing day in and day out I am not going to come even close to that potential. I may find a glimmering light through trying a new thing here and there, but nothing like what I have experienced through these challenges. The ROI on these challenges is huge and I would not stick with them not knowing that. I have learned more about myself as a result of sticking to a commitment that I set at the beginning of each month than I did in some college classes that lasted three months. If you are looking for change in your life then start with something small, commit to doing it for an entire month and write about it. Write about why you are doing the challenge at the beginning so when things get hard you can look back and remind yourself of what you are striving toward. Write about how you honestly feel at the beginning and throughout the experience. Is the challenge serving you or are you serving it? I chose to write 500 words per day out of a desire to get better at writing and speaking. Ten days and 5000 words into this challenge I can honestly say the results are coming to light. I can crank out these articles in 15-20 minutes, add some pretty good flow to them and speak about them in the future. For some ideas and a framework for your thirty day challenge check out my article called Creating New Opportunities for Your Life. There are moments and people in life that have a tendency to just drive us nuts. One moment we can be in a complete state of peace and the next yelling at the top of our lungs. We forget to breathe, be grateful and accept our emotions. We react instead of pausing for a few minutes to think about why we are feeling the way we are. Most of the experiences that drive these feelings are really nothing more than molehills that we make into mountains. Seemingly small situations are escalated just because of our perception of how things should be.
For me the situations that cause these feelings of anger, impatience and negative reaction range from the cat meowing consistently to a bike trainer not functioning properly. Both the cat and the trainers functionality are outside of my sphere of control. What I do have complete control over is the way in which I choose to react. I have found that if I react peacefully rather than with anger my feelings in impatience blow over much faster than otherwise. Now I am no perfect angel, but I have found some tools that actually allow me to work through my impatient urges. These urges drive me to do irrational things like make important decisions in a hurry and yell at those I love. This is no way to express how much you care for others and yourself. Identify your feelings of itchy impatient monsters creeping up your back, then pause for a moment to identify what you are feeling. Accept your feelings. They are only a perception of the way things are and the way you want them to be. Knowing that your feelings of irritation and anger will pass helps you accepts they way you are. Breathe for a moment. Take three deep breaths and think about nothing more than the quality of breathe you are taking. This allows you to slow your mind, nourish your body and become willing to do something rational. Reflect on why these feelings arose in the first place. Did they come to fruition to warn you of something? Did someone really do something wrong or are you just allowing another persons life path to impact you emotionally? Respond rationally! After identifying with why you are feeling this way you should be able to respond rationally with love and kindness. Perhaps someone did step on your toes and they need to change the way they treat you. If this is the case then politely share with them why you feelin the way you do. If they respond with anger remember they just failed to use these simple tools that you just employed. If you feel like yelling back then pause for a moment to run through these steps again. The beautiful thing is that these really work. You can resolve difficulties with peace, love and kindness. There is no need to lose your patience. Patience is not an easy thing to achieve, but it is a much more peaceful way to flow through life if you will only allow it. Freedom to create my own work hours is part of the vision I have in life. I have a passion for delivering excellent work that helps people, but not at the expense of a huge percentage of my life. I believe life is meant to be lived and not worked. Don’t get me wrong here - I have an amazing job, working for a great employer, but I am striving for something more. I am working to build a business that allows me the freedom to work when and where I want. It will allow me to help more people in more ways than one and have a greater positive impact on the world at large. It will allow me to create my own work schedule and maximize the positive activities I involve myself in. How will I know that I have achieved this passion? I will have the freedom to take several months off from the daily grind. During this time I would spend time becoming more connected with who I am, strengthening relationships, traveling the world and experiencing some truly amazing adventures. I would use this time as a rebalancing and refocusing period in my life in order to become more successful and create even greater impact. Another work : off days ratio I have in mind is the freedom to a 3 : 4 work : off days lifestyle. This will provide me the freedom to spend more quality time with my family, focus on other aspects of life and again help more people. This does not mean that I would be vacationing four days a week, rather I will have a greater amount of time to become spiritually, financially and physically sound. I know to many this may sound unachievable or perplexing. I want you to understand the goal is to create work blocks that are more focused and productive not to get less work done. I believe this is one way in which I can provide a greater service to my community, family and customers in the future. The freedom to create my own work schedule has been own my mind for the last several years. I am grateful for the flexible schedule that I currently work. Perhaps my current freedom is what has driven the desire to create the true work life balance that I seek. I see far too many people live a life of work rather than actually live life. I want to spread this message. Life is meant to be lived. We are here for such a short time and so much of it is spent at the office, away from our loved ones, away from our passions and we forfeit our health, spirit, finances and so much more as a result. My solution is to follow through on the vision of my successful business. What is yours? Have you ever dreamt of having the freedom to create your own hours, work when you want, on projects you want and where you want? Today, I challenge you to honestly answer these questions yourself. Writing is truly a transformative tool. It provides us with an experience that cannot really be attained through any other act. There is something magical about putting words to paper, or in this case a document. Your thoughts are shared outside of your mind and ideas become reality. With these words we have the ability to inspire action, transform lives and learn a little more about ourselves. There is a certain state of mind that one must be in to write truly killer content. I find this head space by focusing in on the single task at hand. In the case of this article my goal is to write 500 words, publish my work and move forward with my day. Focusing in on the directions that my writing could go causes a head spin domino like effect that becomes uncontrollable. This is why I start with a simple list of points I want to hit on in my article and then begin writing. I will create a book with my work one day. A book that is full of good words. Words that inspire positive action, educate people and make things easier that are seemingly impossible to achieve. I have not yet evolved into the writer that will publish this book, however through constant and never ending improvement I will gain the skills necessary. My book will break things into easy to follow informative guides for changing your habits, controlling emotions, choosing your own physical destiny, improving your finances, looking at your overall health and so much more. Maybe it will be several books. The book will not be an abundance of words, but rather something that people can cruise through and apply almost immediately. While I love words, I have come to realize that big books take a lot longer to read and digest than small ones. I will also use this book as a platform to share some of my stories. The stories I choose to share will be about my own life experiences in overcoming unhealthy habits, becoming physically, mentally and spiritually strong, running marathons, rock climbing and adventuring in the outdoors. You may not have guessed, but not long ago I could hardly write an article to save my life. I disliked reading and the two really go hand in hand. One day I decided that I really wanted to share my life story through words. I wanted to begin learning more about myself than ever before. I wanted to become the best I could be. I set out to do this shortly after the Portland Marathon in 2012. Since that time I have written quite a few articles about all sorts of different topics on my personal blog. I have learned an abundance of things about myself, shared some really personal stories and really improved as a writer. If you want to get better at writing there are two simple things you need to make time for each day. Read. Write. I write to share my adventure. To share my story. To inspire positive change in other peoples live. To inspire positive change in my life. This is why I continue to write. I thrive off adventure in the outdoors. There is something about it that makes me feel more alive, at peace, full of positive energy and connected with myself. I feel as though the outdoors are where I belong. Adventures bring passion to my life and a light in my eyes that no other aspect of my life delivers. For me to feel as though I am getting my regular dose of adventure I need to experience at least one new journey outside per week. This can be a short hike in the woods or a multi day backpacking trip through a peaceful lake basin. I just know that without regular adventure something is missing. My adventures vary is size and type. If you and I were to meet I would tell you that I am a skier, backpacker, hiker, rock climber, mountain climber and trail runner amongst other things. My life is nothing short from adventurous and I am grateful for that. My winter months are filled with skiing in the back country, side country and resorts of Central Oregon. My family and friends have made skiing more than just a recreational activity. It is a way of life. We thrive in the mountains and love the relationships that we get to strengthen while having fun in the winter wonderland. Skiing has taught me a lot about the importance of relationships and respect for the outdoors. I am looking forward to skiing other parts of the world. Spring, summer and fall are filled with trail running, mountain climbing and rock climbing. Rock climbing is a sport that allows me to experience adventure while strengthening my mind and body. It forces you to become ever more present, put trust in other individuals and walk lightly. I currently live 45 minutes from Smith Rock State Park where I enjoy adventures regularly. Trail running is another individual sport that I have come to absolutely love. Often I find myself going on runs alone that are upwards of twenty miles. I have seen some of the most beautiful areas of Central Oregon as a result of taking on these challenging adventures and I only look forward to running trails in other parts of the country and world. This past fall I had the pleasure of running my first 50K and this summer I will complete my first 50 miler at Mt Hood. One might say I am already living an adventurous life and there is no need for me to put more focus on this aspect. Well I can tell you the adventure has just begun. I am going to take all of my sports to the next level in the years to come. What does that mean? To me it is simple! I am going to ski more technical terrain, climb higher grade routes and run faster and longer. I hope you enjoy adventure. It has provided me with so much knowledge and experience that ripples into other areas of my life and I am truly looking forward to the rest of this adventure. It is only in adventure that some people succeed in finding themselves - in knowing themselves. - Andre Gide
I have had the spirit of an entrepreneur burning inside of my since sixth grade when I started my first business. I learned a lot during those early years about managing finances, paying bills, developing processes and most importantly satisfying my customers.
The desire to run my own business is yet again sparking up inside of me. This time around I am doing things a little different. I am making a plan that is more detailed than go get clients and make money. I am seeking outside help and mentorship from people that have more business experience than I do. The funnest thing I am doing is meeting with other successful entrepreneurs in Bend to hear their stories. Ultimately I want to run a successful business that provides me with the freedom to choose my own hours and create a great deal of wealth. So what does that look like to me? My ideal successful business generates $1,000,000 / year in revenue. We keep our operating expenses very low and profit margin high. Profits are distributed fairly and my favorite charity “myself” will make a very decent living. A portion of this revenue will be donated to improving the community and environment we live in. This revenue is generated through a mix of products and services that align with our values. At our foundation the business helps people succeed. This means that employees and customers are driven to work with us because of our balanced lifestyles and ever continuing desire to better ourselves and the world we live in. We recognize that everyone has a different perception of success and it is our goal to help each person we touch realize their own success. This is why “Summit as friends!” is one of our core values. Part of my business vision is also to write a successful book. This book will help people improve their lives and motivate them to make positive changes that go beyond diet and exercise. I will write about such topics as life balance, healthy habits, overcoming unhealthy habits, a routine that rocks, productivity, life hacks or 30 day challenges such as this one I am working on now. Creating enough value so that we do not have to push our products and services will also be a huge part of our success. This will allow us to put more focus and resources on improving what we deliver and less on pushing products and services to customers that may not even want them in the first place. I am setting out to achieve this passion one step at a time. I do not fear failure nor do I fear success. I know that failure will be a part of my path to success. The road may be rocky at times, but I have the will and desire to persevere and the humility to ask or help when I need it. Success is for those who really want it. Those who are willing to make sacrifices. Summit as friends! Scott I am getting clear on what my passions are in life. Through this quest I have found that physical, mental and spiritual strength fall at the top of my list of passions that allow me to create the ideal life. My life is ideal when I am Physically, Mentally and Spiritually Strong. So what the heck does that really mean to me? Physical strength is a state of being. It does not mean that I can just go to the gym and lift a lot of weight. It means that I have the strength to endure long runs, enjoy yoga classes, ski without pain and seek activities that are physically challenging. Physical strength is something I strive for each and every day. Through a daily exercise routine I am able to achieve this and so can you. My physical strength is not something that was just given to me and was not acquired overnight. It took and will continue to take dedication to a daily practice. A practice that will continue to challenge my mind and body. A practice that makes me stronger. Mental strength to me is my ability to remain at peace in stressful situations, make the right choice in the face of the wrong one and control my emotions in the face of anger, fear, pain, doubt and all other negative feelings. I will always be striving to strengthen my mind in some ways that are not even explainable. I do know that meditation allows me to quiet my mind so that I can think more clearly and this is a form of peaceful strength. Mental strength is found by caring for the mind and body through mindful practices such as yoga, meditation, reading and writing. I will continue to dedicate large portions of my life to these activities, because the results are amazing. I am truly grateful for my mental strength. Spirituality is something that is still very new to me. I was never religious growing up and still struggle with the word “god”. It was just weird for me to think of something that has more power than myself or is a godly like being. My spiritual mentor told me that my god can be anything and it most certainly does not have to be one from a form of organized religion. So I have come to call “nature” my god. I pray to it every day, spend time with it and strengthen this relationship. Why? Because I know that nature will always be there. I find a state of peace in nature that I do not achieve anywhere else and my mind body connection is stronger as a result of this. I am spiritually strong when I am praying daily, meditating and showing respect to my mind and body. I highly suggest you taking the time to find your passions in life. Here are some questions to get you started, but better yet - I suggest reading The Passion Test by: Janet and Chris Attwood
I have achieved this or something better....... Summit as friends! Scott c Success is a funny thing. Many of us including myself find a certain level of success and contentment through the way things are. We have achieved a certain job, finished a marathon, climbed a mountain. Through all this have we ever taken the time out to look at what we have failed to do or what we have failed at doing along the way? I believe only after taking this time out can we find what our true success and purpose is. I got the job, finished the marathon, climbed the mountain however still feel there is a piece of me that has not reached the success I strive for. I have not reached the top of the highest mountain in the NW. I have not finished a marathon over 50K. I have not started my own business again out of fear of failure. As a result of a clear mind, reflection and passion seeking I have popped out of the fear sucking bubble my head was stuck in for years. I am not afraid to say that I got complacent. I started drinking too much. Partying too much! Doing too many things that were dragging my life down. I was failing at the test of life and did not really know what to do about it. Until one day I had an epiphany that changed the course of my life. I realized that everything was beginning to fail at a faster rate than ever before in my life. Relationships were breaking, my finances were upside down, work was beginning to suck. And, this was all the result of my perception that things were ok. After deep reflection I realized that my part in all of this was quite simple. I became a complacent addict who was so self absorbed in the way my life was that I failed to connect with the reality of everything. Through this reflection I found many lessons to be learned about becoming humble, letting go, finding a higher meaning and purpose in life, running marathons, and living simply. Reflection is now something I do at the beginning and end of each day. During this simple reflection I ask myself some questions to help keep my life on track. 1) Are my tasks today going to bring me closer to achieving my short term and long term goals? 2) What did I spend time doing today that did not really matter? 3) Did I do something new that I need to repeat in my life? 4) What are my current roadblocks? 5) What did I learn? While I am still in the process failing, reflecting and succeeding I no longer feel stuck. I feel as though each day I am moving forward. Testing and retesting different things in my life is allowing me to be the change I want to be. You can do the same thing with a little bit of effort. Set some goals, create some milestones in achieving those goals and enjoy the process. Fail your way to success. Summit as friends! Scott |
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