DAY 5/90: Momentum is MAGIC
GIVE TEAM MOTTO 04:
Momentum is Magic. To create momentum, you have to MOVE!
7 July 2022
Dark and quiet this morning. No sounds. Just the routine. Eat. Feed the dawgz. Walk the dawgz. Load the car for the workout. Off to pick up Yovens first.
Reno had to work this morning, so he couldn’t join us. Yovens woke up after the phone rang several times, enough that I considered not getting him. Benita didn’t answer her phone again. I called Smith and he picked up immediately and was alert. Rome was also awake. That means they hadn’t slept.
We rolled to the darkness behind New Image Youth Center, the light from the stadium and convenience store next door brightening the graffiti art on the wall of the building behind the Center. Yovens stayed in the car, slowly waking up to the day. Rome rolled in with Smith followed by Adam about ten minutes later. We moved to the front of the Center for better lighting.
Rome validated he hadn’t slept because he couldn’t sleep. We talked about sleep as the single most important performance enhancing tool. Without sleep, we can’t be our best. You cannot create or maintain momentum without having enough sleep. Smith mentioned he slept when he got home from school at 4pm and woke up at midnight, so he slept. That’s a nap. A long nap. Sleep shouldn’t start before 8pm, and the target should be 7 to 8 hours. We talked about circadian rhythm and why it’s important. That as humans we’re designed to operate at our best between sunrise and sunset, and those two events create a chemical reaction in our mind and body to either be active or slow down. If there isn’t enough sleep, there’ll be a plateauing of cortisol. Cortisol is healthy, but only when it spikes and drops. If you don’t have sleep, it spikes and plateaus, and that’s not good. It interferes with your immune system which makes you more susceptible to injury and illness.
Rome’s mission was to NOT sleep until it was time to get back to sleep for the night. He shook his head, knowing after our workout and after eating breakfast he’d want to sleep. We discussed the importance of getting his circadian rhythm reset to where it should be and to fight the sleep. To get up and go outside, move. And keep moving. He heard me, but not sure if he listened.
We put in The Give Team 15 as the sun colored the sky from black to dark blue. My true indicator of my fitness level with The Give Team 15 is how well I handle the jumping lunges. It’s NEVER been easy to do the entire 45 seconds jumping. More often than not, I’ll regress to forward lunge steps. But it’s getting better and I’m not as “soft” as I was at the beginning of June. I’m feeding that baby voice when I get to about 20 seconds remaining, where I’ll keep going for a few more reps. The second indicator is when I get to the Spiderman Planks at the end of The Give Team 15. If I can keep going with those, I know I’m in a good place.
And reading that last paragraph . . . enough with the bullshit. That’s not good. Not making it through The Give Team 15 without stopping should never be acceptable. Reading that last paragraph shows how I’ve accepted negotiating with myself through the difficulty of The Give Team 15. The BASELINE should be completing The Give Team 15 without stopping. Instead, that’s become the goal. Consider this a NEVER AGAIN Moment.
13 years ago when I was going through a divorce as a single dad, followed by the loss of my job due to a reduction in force during the pandemic, I came up with a term. The NEVER AGAIN Moment. These are situations that come up from time-to-time and you tell yourself, “I never want to feel like THAT again.” It’s likely something that happened because of a mistake, or a bad habit and often something that wasn’t intended but could’ve been prevented. There seemed to be several of those NEVER AGAIN Moments at that time as I reflected back on how different things could have been. The alternative is to feel badly about it, get depressed and kick yourself for the fact that a bad thing had happened. Instead, it’s INSPIRING as a line in the sand. It’s a commitment. That’s also a time when I came up with the title of the story of my life at that point: I Haven’t Hit Bottom: But I Can See It From Here. That’s either a memoir or a country music song.
We finished the workout with a lap around the soccer stadium carrying heavy weights overhead, or kettlebells as a Farmers Carry. Whoever had to put their weight down first ended the round, then we’d all swap weights. Shoulder strength is important, and today we were getting a lesson. One lap was enough, and then it was time to start the day.
I brought Yovens home for him to prepare for work. He’s working at City Hall for Owens Realty. Bob Owens is a former board member of New Image Youth Center and a strong supporter. We’ve been working with Yovens to get his schedule straight, knowing he lives far from City Hall in Pine Hills. He needs to have a plan on how he’ll get to work: (a) his dad driving him; (b) the bus; (c) me taking him; or (d) Rachel (fellow board member) taking him. And he needs to let us know what that plan is so we can all put it in our calendar. I’m really glad he’s able to get in some work to make a few bucks, and that he’s learning the importance of a schedule.
After I returned home, I walked the dawgz again, ate, straightened things up and then headed to Cocoa Beach to meet with a fintech startup. Great people with a great idea, and something to keep me busy as I figure out what’s next professionally. And it was great being on the water again. It’s been too long.
Momentum is Magic. To create momentum, you have to MOVE!
7 July 2022
Dark and quiet this morning. No sounds. Just the routine. Eat. Feed the dawgz. Walk the dawgz. Load the car for the workout. Off to pick up Yovens first.
Reno had to work this morning, so he couldn’t join us. Yovens woke up after the phone rang several times, enough that I considered not getting him. Benita didn’t answer her phone again. I called Smith and he picked up immediately and was alert. Rome was also awake. That means they hadn’t slept.
We rolled to the darkness behind New Image Youth Center, the light from the stadium and convenience store next door brightening the graffiti art on the wall of the building behind the Center. Yovens stayed in the car, slowly waking up to the day. Rome rolled in with Smith followed by Adam about ten minutes later. We moved to the front of the Center for better lighting.
Rome validated he hadn’t slept because he couldn’t sleep. We talked about sleep as the single most important performance enhancing tool. Without sleep, we can’t be our best. You cannot create or maintain momentum without having enough sleep. Smith mentioned he slept when he got home from school at 4pm and woke up at midnight, so he slept. That’s a nap. A long nap. Sleep shouldn’t start before 8pm, and the target should be 7 to 8 hours. We talked about circadian rhythm and why it’s important. That as humans we’re designed to operate at our best between sunrise and sunset, and those two events create a chemical reaction in our mind and body to either be active or slow down. If there isn’t enough sleep, there’ll be a plateauing of cortisol. Cortisol is healthy, but only when it spikes and drops. If you don’t have sleep, it spikes and plateaus, and that’s not good. It interferes with your immune system which makes you more susceptible to injury and illness.
Rome’s mission was to NOT sleep until it was time to get back to sleep for the night. He shook his head, knowing after our workout and after eating breakfast he’d want to sleep. We discussed the importance of getting his circadian rhythm reset to where it should be and to fight the sleep. To get up and go outside, move. And keep moving. He heard me, but not sure if he listened.
We put in The Give Team 15 as the sun colored the sky from black to dark blue. My true indicator of my fitness level with The Give Team 15 is how well I handle the jumping lunges. It’s NEVER been easy to do the entire 45 seconds jumping. More often than not, I’ll regress to forward lunge steps. But it’s getting better and I’m not as “soft” as I was at the beginning of June. I’m feeding that baby voice when I get to about 20 seconds remaining, where I’ll keep going for a few more reps. The second indicator is when I get to the Spiderman Planks at the end of The Give Team 15. If I can keep going with those, I know I’m in a good place.
And reading that last paragraph . . . enough with the bullshit. That’s not good. Not making it through The Give Team 15 without stopping should never be acceptable. Reading that last paragraph shows how I’ve accepted negotiating with myself through the difficulty of The Give Team 15. The BASELINE should be completing The Give Team 15 without stopping. Instead, that’s become the goal. Consider this a NEVER AGAIN Moment.
13 years ago when I was going through a divorce as a single dad, followed by the loss of my job due to a reduction in force during the pandemic, I came up with a term. The NEVER AGAIN Moment. These are situations that come up from time-to-time and you tell yourself, “I never want to feel like THAT again.” It’s likely something that happened because of a mistake, or a bad habit and often something that wasn’t intended but could’ve been prevented. There seemed to be several of those NEVER AGAIN Moments at that time as I reflected back on how different things could have been. The alternative is to feel badly about it, get depressed and kick yourself for the fact that a bad thing had happened. Instead, it’s INSPIRING as a line in the sand. It’s a commitment. That’s also a time when I came up with the title of the story of my life at that point: I Haven’t Hit Bottom: But I Can See It From Here. That’s either a memoir or a country music song.
We finished the workout with a lap around the soccer stadium carrying heavy weights overhead, or kettlebells as a Farmers Carry. Whoever had to put their weight down first ended the round, then we’d all swap weights. Shoulder strength is important, and today we were getting a lesson. One lap was enough, and then it was time to start the day.
I brought Yovens home for him to prepare for work. He’s working at City Hall for Owens Realty. Bob Owens is a former board member of New Image Youth Center and a strong supporter. We’ve been working with Yovens to get his schedule straight, knowing he lives far from City Hall in Pine Hills. He needs to have a plan on how he’ll get to work: (a) his dad driving him; (b) the bus; (c) me taking him; or (d) Rachel (fellow board member) taking him. And he needs to let us know what that plan is so we can all put it in our calendar. I’m really glad he’s able to get in some work to make a few bucks, and that he’s learning the importance of a schedule.
After I returned home, I walked the dawgz again, ate, straightened things up and then headed to Cocoa Beach to meet with a fintech startup. Great people with a great idea, and something to keep me busy as I figure out what’s next professionally. And it was great being on the water again. It’s been too long.
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