It Takes DRIVE to Complete a Good Challenge!
by: Michael Harris 7/14/2007
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Ready for another acronym? I think they’re helpful, really, as a way of checking our own behavior. Yesterday’s was borrowed from 12 step recovery, and is a checklist to be sure you don’t get in trouble as a result of failing to read your own needs. Today’s acronyms are actually a couple I created myself, in order to help us know where we’re going in a challenge. Here’s the first, DRIVE!

A GREAT TRANSFORMATION TAKES D.R.I.V.E.!

D is for Discipline. Guts, mastery over the flesh, refusing to hit the snooze alarm, staring down that spouse or helpmate who wants to take you out for an unauthorized meal. Without this, you’ll stand for nothing, and fall for everything!

R is for Regularity. Doing it every day, the same time, the same way. Without this, things crowd in, and results wane.

I is for Intensity. When you do it, put your all to it. Leave nothing on the table. Without this, it becomes just another dull job.

V is for Variety. Not slacking off, but changing up. 12 weeks of the same thing makes for dullness and drudge. Change up your cardio types, your exercise order and types every three to four weeks. Buy a cookbook—12 weeks of turkey breast and brown rice can make suicide sound pretty good! Without this, even if you make it, 12 weeks will seem like eternity.

E is for Excellence. Make your form, your workout journals, your attire, your appearance, and your attitude all say that you are a winner NOW! The better you look, the better you do! Without this, you’ve done the challenge for no good reason.

In the next blog, right below this, we’ll talk about the downside, D.R.I.F.T.

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Don’t Do the DRIFT!
by: Michael Harris 7/14/2007
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Above, we learned that it takes drive to do a great challenge. To review, drive stands for discipline, regularity, intensity, variety and excellence. This blog is about what happens when you lose focus, when it all starts going south on you. Here are the symptoms, which of course are parts of an acronym that describes the DRIFT that takes place.

D is for Dull. It all becomes uninteresting and one dimensional. The meals are dry and dull; the workouts are just something to get through. Skipping or cheating begins to seem like the thing to do. Your mind wanders throughout the day, especially when doing your workouts.

R is for Routine: No longer are you trying any new exercises or seeking to better any of your personal bests. The same old same old is good enough for you, and you are seriously thinking it might be time to just take a break or try something new.

I is for Impatience which rears its ugly head. You don’t know why, but the people whose support kept you going early on become the victims of your little tantrums. People at work who used to ask you for advice are beginning to mumble that they liked the “old person” a lot better. When they see the look on your face, people in the gym who used to ask you for advice just get out of your way!

F is for “Forgetfulness” that suddenly becomes a new excuse. You “forgot” to pack your meals, or to work out on the way home, or that today was NOT your free day. Funny, you don’t forget the things you really want to do—just the things you know you ought to do.

T is for Temptation that eventually does you in. Temptation to sleep in, to stop “wasting all your time exercising,” to once again begin to hoard and eat those little guilty pleasure foods, to extend free day to free weekends, and then free week, and then……….

So, how do you avoid the curse of the drift? Simple. Not easy, but simple.

1. You act your way to better thinking rather than lying around waiting for a better attitude to get you going. Right actions bring with them right attitudes. Waiting for a right attitude brings with it only more waiting, and then failure.

2. You work the universal law of reciprocation. That is, you do something to help someone who cannot possibly do you any good at all. And you tell no one. Not even the person you helped, you do it all anonymously. This simple act of kindness that no one will ever know will bring you enough joy and newfound energy that you won’t have time to start to drift!