Mindset Matters

  Today is moving day. I do NOT like moving. Thankfully, this is “just” an office move and I am not moving my primary residence. Furthermore, the space into which our company is moving is quite the upgrade, both in size and quality. It is a good thing, a great thing, even if I don’t like moving. But I am still feeling the stress of the transition. Many moving parts. Utilities that must be transferred over. Forwarding addresses. New furniture and décor that must be ordered. Just the simple shift from the “norm” adds stress and discomfort. There are a lot of little pieces that must fall into place. But as I am packing up my office, I am finding precious treasure. Not silver or gold, but treasure far more valuable. There are notes from my children stuffed into drawers and envelopes that I have not seen in years. Notes that were scribbled by kids who were kindergarteners at the time but now are almost as tall as me. I came across letters and cards from my wife. Family photos. There

  Today was another painful Leg Day at the gym. At one particular moment after a set of squats, I looked up at my own reflection in the mirror after re-racking the bar and noticed a large drop of water running down my cheek. I’m 95% sure it was sweat, but the way it was traveling down my face, it looked like it could have also been a tear. I remember thinking, “That last set was painful enough, maybe I am crying!” So, who knows?!? Maybe it was a tear after all. But either way, it was a reminder to me I must be willing to experience both sweat and tears along life’s journey. Both represent vulnerability. You can’t hide your effort when there are sweat beads forming on your brow. Nor can you hide your pain if there are tears running down your checks. Both represent being uncomfortable. Both represent a form of sacrifice. And in a society that celebrates comfort and the avoidance of pain, both sweat and tears will certainly make you stand out. But both are also necessary to living

  There is a powerlifting routine I employ from time to time known as “German Volume Training,” or simply, “GVT.” With GVT, the focus of a workout is on only one main lift, but a great deal of both time and effort is spent on that one exercise, hence the “volume” part of the name. For example, on squat day, I would do a thorough warm up, work up to a moderately heavy weight (about 75-80% of my max) and then proceed to do 10 sets at that weight. No one set is overwhelmingly difficult, but the accumulation of the workload is brutal. Because of the sustained focus this routine requires, I typically use hashmarks on a piece of paper to track the sets so I don’t have to remember which number I am on. Just one less thing for my brain to have to do while I struggle to remain engaged. Each hash mark is a little victory as I work my way through the 10 sets. However, when I get to my tenth set, I don’t put down the final hashmark. I always stop at nine. I’ve been omitting the final mark fo