I enjoy jogging and I jog every weekend. I use the time to get in tune with myself and at the same time keep myself fit and healthy.

While I was jogging last weekend, I came out with an idea for this post. I found that there are lessons for us to pick up in a simple morning run and I decided to come out with this article. Who says learning only takes place in school? Here are the 7 life lessons I picked up from my morning run.

1. Keep Moving Forward, Don’t Quit and You Will Achieve Your Goals

I believe many (if not all) of you have goals that you want to achieve. (If you have not set your goals set, please proceed to do it now.) Some goals will be harder to achieve and there will be many who fail to achieve their goals.

Most people fail to achieve their goals simply because they gave up too fast. It comes down to whether your goals are something that you really want.

I don’t believe that you will give up on something easily if you really want it badly. I don’t think Tony Robbins or Richard Branson treat their goals lightly. They see it as something that they really want and their goals are something important to them that they will not give up pursuing them.

To be frank, it isn’t hard to complete a marathon. I know, I know. Some of you may think that I am a little crazy to say that and not everyone is a runner. However, I saw people who didn’t train much for a marathon end up completing it. Completing a marathon is 80% mindset and 20% fitness. If you want to reach the finishing line no matter what, you will definitely reach it.

To complete a marathon may seem daunting. However, you can easily complete a marathon if you decide to show up on the starting line, keep moving forward and promise yourself that you will not give up no matter what. This is the magic formula.

This philosophy works the same for your life goals. If you have something that you want badly enough and you decide that you will show up, move forward and don’t quit, you will definitely get it.

Most people quit too early. Don’t be someone who quits, be someone who persevere and you will definitely achieve whatever you want to achieve.

2. There Will Be Obstacles – Choose The Right Thing To Focus On

I ran from the north to the south of Singapore last weekend and it is a great experience.

During the journey, I met several obstacles.

- Lack of water checkpoints
- I got lost (I wasn’t particularly good with directions and iPhone saves the day)
- Aching foot
- iPhone running out of battery

I understand that life journey is filled with obstacles. However, every obstacle comes with challenges that will help you grow and every problem comes with solutions.

I know that there isn’t any water check points that I can find in official marathon competitions so I got my own bottle and plan my own route where I can rest and fill up my bottle.

I’m not good with directions and there is always the possibility of getting lost. However, the GPS function in iPhone really helps me with my direction. I wouldn’t leave home without my iPhone if I were to go for a long run.

During my run, I also experience pain and discomfort with my foot. It may be due to the stress on my foot due to hours of running. I wanted to give up at the half way mark, but I didn’t want to fail what I set out to do.

I modified my running style a little to help alleviate the pain and I did some stretching to see if it helps. It did and I am glad that I didn’t turn back during the half way point.

As you can see, there are always solutions to every obstacles and problems that you face. However, you will fail to notice the solutions if you choose to focus on the obstacles and problems instead.

3. Focus On The Present

Whatever you focus on will expand. If you focus on finding what is good about a person, you will be able to find all the positive traits of the person. However, if you had a quarrel with the same person, you will immediately find all the negative traits of the same person. Same person, different focus. This is why relationship always seem great at the start (you see everything great about him/her) and it goes sour as time goes by if you start to focus on the negative traits of your partner.

Whatever you focus on is your reality.

We should always be aware of where is our focus and choose to focus on things that empower us.

If you are trying to complete a marathon, you can choose to focus on the future (how far do I need to go?) but it is disempowering. Imagine focusing on you still have 20 miles or 40 kilometers to go. Suddenly the journey seems so far and arduous.

It is the same if you are trying to achieve your goals. If you want to turn your life around and you choose to focus on the future, you will think about how much it sucks to be in the present. Negative emotions don’t help to inspire you into taking action.

What you can do is to focus on the present. Focus on the moment and think about what you can do now to improve your current situation instead of thinking about tomorrow, which isn’t even here yet.

4. There Is Always Help Along The Way – Just Ask

I lost my way a couple of times during my run and sometimes it is much easier to ask for direction than simply trying to figure it out with my iPhone map.

There isn’t anyone who refuses to help me until now and I think it is good to know this. Most people won’t refuse to help you if you ask for help.

It may be fear that holds you back. Perhaps, it is the fear of rejection. If you fear being rejected, think about this; if you don’t ask, you have a 100% chance of being rejected. Asking for help means that you have at least 50% chance of getting the help that you want.

Do the maths. The odds work in your favor.

5. Have A Destination In Mind

I don’t run without a destination in mind. I don’t feel good running aimlessly and it is hard to get motivated if I were to run without a direction.

Destination gives you clarity. It gives you something to work towards to and knowing the destination means that your mind will actively search for ways to reach it.

Similarly, in life, if you do not have a goal/outcome in mind, you drift aimlessly and it is hard to achieve anything.

If you are reading this article and you have not yet set your goals, please do it now. Go write down your goals on a piece of paper and the deadline that you want to achieve it. It helps you gain clarity and it tunes your mind to search for ways to reach it.

6. Reward Yourself And You Will Work 2X Harder

I reward myself with a good breakfast after my run. I think about my rewards before I begin my run and this helps to motivate me to reach the desired destination.

Sometimes I reward myself with a good walk at the nature reserves to enjoy the scenery or/and I will buy myself a good breakfast after my run.

I look forward to these rewards. This reminds me of a donkey chasing a carrot. It may sound silly to some but having a reward system helps you to stay motivated.

The next time when you are out to do something, always set a reward system in place. It can motivate you more to take action and reach your desired outcome. Tell me how it works for you.

7. Constant And Never Ending Improvement

There are always things that we can improve in our life. For me, I want to improve on my timing for my run and maybe my sense of direction.

Whenever I run, I find ways to improve my speed, timing and distance covered. The constant and never ending improvement attitude will help me get better, faster,  stronger and healthier.

I picked up from Tony Robbins this important philosophy. Having this attitude can help us to achieve breakthroughs in our life.

Think about how much difference it will make in your life if you always strive to improve 1% every single day. Each 1% improvement adds up and it can snowball into major breakthroughs in your life.

Productivity Ebook

I am working hard on writing the productivity ebook. It is hard work to write an ebook, especially with the deadline looming near. However, I believe it will be worth it to write this ebook because I believe it will be able to help many to learn how to take massive action in their life and be truly productive so that they will be able to achieve success in the things they set out to do.

There are some hiccups and obstacles along the way but I’m trying my best to get the ebook launch by the end of October. I need some help in naming my ebook. I receive some great responses from the subscribers of HMS and if you have not done the survey yet, help me choose the title of my upcoming ebook by doing the survey through this link.

Click here to do the survey.

Wish me luck everybody and once again, thanks for reading this article and if you have any constructive feedback, do drop me an email or leave a comment below. I know there is always room for improvement. Enjoy the rest of the week and all the best to you!

Cheers
Vincent

Post from: Health Money Success

7 Life Lessons I Picked Up From A Simple Morning Run

Related Articles

• Result Of My 30 Days Challenge (11)
• 30 Days Challenge to a Healthier Body (35)
• Are You Neglecting The Most Important Thing In Your Life? (11)
• Day 18 Of 30 Days Challenge (8)
• Week 5 Fitness Update: Why I Abandoned My Colleagues And Ate My Lunch In My Own Cosy Cubicle (5)

I think that it would be fun to share this with my readers. Here are the top 10 healthiest food that I love.

1. Oats

Image courtesy of santos

What is good about it?

Oatmeal is high in fibre and hence it aids keeping bowel movement regular. It also helps in keeping your blood sugar steady throughout the day which will prevent you from succumbing to your cravings or pigging out. It is also a good source of food that can help to lower cholesterol level.

How I prepare it:

I don’t really drink milk nowadays after reading about so many articles that have negative news about it. I tend to just mix my oat with honey and hot water and it is ready to serve.

2. Salmon

Image courtesy of territu

What is good about it?

Salmon consist of the good fats such as omega-3 fatty acids which is good for the heart. Omega-3 fatty acids also help to prevent blood clots which causes stroke. It also consist essential nutrients such as B6 which your immune and nervous system need in order to function properly.

How I prepare it:

I don’t like to spend too much time on cooking and hence all I do is to bake the salmon and squeeze some lemon juice on it once it is cooked. It is ready to serve! You can also sprinkle some oregano on it to add some flavour.

3. Grape Tomatoes

Image courtesy of sygnetcreations

What is good about it?

Grape tomatoes have a high content of vitamin A and C. Vitamin A plays a part in a variety of functions of our body such as keeping our skin, immune system and vision healthy. Vitamin C also helps in removing free radicals from your body which can cause cancer or heart disease and it also helps in keeping your immune system healthy.

How I prepare it:

Do it the salad way. I mix it up with either lettuce or butterhead lettuce and add a handful of almonds in it and it is ready to be serve. Some times I snack just on it since I can easily grab it and no preparation is needed.

4. Kiwi

Image courtesy of macxoom

What is good about it?

Kiwi contains a high amount of vitamins such as vitamin C, E and A. It also has a high fibre content which can help in controlling sugar level and improving bowel movement.

How I prepare it:

You know how to do it.

5. Almond

Image courtesy of African Import Photos

Almonds are packed with nutrients such as iron, calcium, riboflavin, fibre and magnesium. They are also a great source of protein and fat which is good for the heart.

How I prepare it:

Almond is a great snack and I either snack on it alone or just add it into my salad for that crunchy bite.

6. Sweet potatoes

Image courtesy of pinch my salt

What is good about it?

First of all, it is sweet and tasty! It helps when you craving for something sweet. Sweet potatoes contain a unique protein that have potent anti oxidant effects. It is also an excellent source of vitamin A and C.

How I prepare it:

What I do is that I usually steam it. However the problem comes after this. I find that it is a hassle to peel the skin off and sometimes it can be quite a turn off.

7. Apples

Image courtesy of macxoom

What is good about it?

This is one of my favourite fruits. Apples are a rich source of flavonoid and polyphenois. Both of these are powerful anti oxidant that can help to eliminate free radicals. It also contains pectin that can help to remove toxic waste from our body. It is highly recommended as a healthy food and do remember the old saying, “an apple a day keeps the doctor away.”

How I prepare it:

I usually eat the apple whole and do not peel the skin. It is said that there are high amount of fibres nutrients in the skin of the apple but I believe I just find it too troublesome to peel it. Eating apples are convenient since all you need to do is to wash it and eat.

8. Olive oil

Image courtesy of tomargh

What is good about it?

Olive oil has a remarkable amount of mono saturated acids and antioxidant substances. It is good for controlling bad choleric levels and protects us from heart disease. Research had also shown that taking olive oil can lower the risk of getting colon cancer.

How I prepare it:

There are a few types of olive oil and what I usually get is extra virgin and virgin olive oil. Virgin oil that are pure or extra light are usually processed and their beneficial properties may be lessen. The lesser the olive oil is handled or process, the more it is near its natural state and so does its properties.

There are times when I take a table spoon of it directly (it helps to prevent cravings) or I add it into my salad. I also cook with olive oil however over cooking can lessen the olive oil’s health benefits.

9. Carrot

Image courtesy of winemegup

What is good about it?

Carrots have anti-carcinogen properties which can help to prevent cancer. It also consists of beta carotene which is an anti oxidant that prevents cell degeneration and get rids of free radicals. Carrots are also good for the skin and eyes.

How I prepare it:

I normally juice my carrot as it helps to removes the indigestible fibre. There are lot so of nutrients that are in the indigestible fibre but you will not be able to get those nutrients if you are eating the carrot by itself. Juicing get rids of those fibres and you can thus get the nutrients in larger quantities.

10. Celery

Image courtesy of bethsweet

What is good about it?

Celery has been long recognized by Chinese medicine practitioner that it has the property of reducing blood pressure. It also has a high amount of Vitamin C which can aid in fighting cold and keeping your keeping immune system strong. Celery has diuretic properties which can help to clear up uric acid and provide some relief of health problems such as arthritis and rheumatism.

How I prepare it:

This is a regular item in my fruit as it adds a great flavour. What I do is to cut away the base of the celery (2 – 3 stalks) and juice the remaining of the celery.

Parting Words

As I had mentioned in my previous article, health is the foundation of our life. It is essential to take care of our body by giving it the fuel that it needs. I had shared with you some of my favorite food that are healthy, what about yours? I would love to know it and I’ll talk to you in the comment section.

Cheers,
Vincent

P.S:If you like this article, enter your email below or subscribe to my RSS feed so that you will not miss the upcoming articles.

Post from: Health Money Success

Top 10 Healthiest Food That I Love

Related Articles

• 7 Life Lessons I Picked Up From A Simple Morning Run (8)
• Are You Neglecting The Most Important Thing In Your Life? (11)
• Result Of My 30 Days Challenge (11)
• 30 Days Challenge to a Healthier Body (35)
• Week 5 Fitness Update: Why I Abandoned My Colleagues And Ate My Lunch In My Own Cosy Cubicle (5)

Image courtesy of nexus_icon

I believe the majority of you who read this blog have goals that you want to achieve. Having goals is fun because it gives us something to aim for and to look forward to. However are you doing all you can to achieve your goals yet you are neglecting something that is the base for your success?

Health

The health is the base for your life.

Health is the base for our success. You cannot be anything when you are seriously lacking in the health department. It acts as a base or springboard for success to come into our life. There are people who would do anything to get the results they want and kudos to them for their tenacity. However if they forgo the health department in their life, any success they had achieved will be short lived. How can you truly enjoy the fruits of your labour when you are sick and feeling miserable? Or worst, you don’t even have the time to enjoy your success. Basically, without health, you are nothing.

I was hospitalized some time ago and that incident knocks some sense into me. I was working almost every day and earning money is the priority at that time and health had taken the second seat (maybe not the second, somewhere near the last few seats). I had never even given health a thought because I felt that I was in my prime of my life and health isn’t an issue to me. (Being young can spare me from diseases, am I right?) But I knew I was wrong when I find myself ended up in the hospital for a week and a half.

Neglecting our health is also the same as trying to saw a tree with a blunt saw. When you push your body too hard and don’t take care of it, your energy level drop drastically and you will feel tired easily. If you feel tired easily, how are you able to harness your maximum creativity, energy and passion into doing something for the best result?

Healthy Living

Healthy living isn’t about eating supplements all day. It is about changing your lifestyle. In our time now, we search for immediate results and speed. We want fast food, ready to cook food, immediate weight loss diet or anything that doesn’t takes up a lot of our time. Our time is precious and we want to save up those times to do things that we want to do. But adopting an unhealthy lifestyle only shortens the time you spend on earth alive. Contradicting.

The first thing you will need to do is to start out my taking note of your diet. Are you eating processed food, fast food, refined carbohydrates, canned food or any other junk food daily? If you are, you will need to start making it a habit to cut those foods out of your diet. You do not need to eliminate it completely and minimizing the intake of those foods is a great first step. To fight off your cravings, substitute those foods that you minimized with natural food such as vegetable and fruits. These are real foods that are packed with nutrients for your body.

Do hydrate yourself adequately daily. I start out my day with 2 cups of water with slices of lemon to help alkalize the body. It is also recommended to drink around half your body weight in ounces.

(Formula: [Body weight (lbs)/2 ] = Answer (A). Take Answer (A) X 29.57 = Amount of water to drink daily (mL)

Lastly, you will need to introduce exercises back into your lifestyle again. If you are watching more than 3 – 4 hours of TV programs per day, you need to get your ass out the couch and start moving again. This reminds me of what Tony Robbins said at his last UPW seminar in Singapore.

Motions = Emotions

Which means your physiology and action will in turn lead to how you feel. Most likely you will only feel tired after seating at the couch for hours.

These aren’t rocket science and everybody is able to do it. Everyone have the knowledge of living healthier but they just chose to ignore the knowledge and go with the flow and only do what they feel like doing. By the way, did I mention that if you go with the flow in life, you may end up at somewhere that you do not want to be at?

To your healthier living,
Vincent

P.S:What do you think you can do to have a healthier lifestyle? I would love to hear your thoughts.
P.P.S: In the next post, I will put up a list of top 10 healthiest foods which are part of my daily diet. Enter your email below or subscribe to my RSS feed so that you will not miss the next article.

Post from: Health Money Success

Are You Neglecting The Most Important Thing In Your Life?

Related Articles

• 7 Life Lessons I Picked Up From A Simple Morning Run (8)
• Result Of My 30 Days Challenge (11)
• 30 Days Challenge to a Healthier Body (35)
• Week 5 Fitness Update: Why I Abandoned My Colleagues And Ate My Lunch In My Own Cosy Cubicle (5)
• Gymboss Interval Timer Review – Increase The Intensity Of Your Workout Now (3)

Image courtesy of sOulsurfing

30 Days Challenge For A Healthier Body

Time really flies and this is the end of my 30 days challenge. It had been a challenging 30 days for me and I will share with you guys what I had picked up in these 30 days time.

Previous Updates Of My 30 Days Challenge

1st update of 30 days challenge

2nd update of 30 days challenge

3rd update of 30 days challenge

Post 30 Days Challenge Thoughts

Yesterday was the last day of my challenge and I felt great after I accomplished the goal I set for myself. I had doubts at first on whether should I publish my challenge on my blog because I fear that it will be embarrassing if I failed in sticking to my challenge.

In the end, I decided to go with it and I do not regret it because by publicly announcing my challenge, it had definitely help me to be more focus and determined to succeed because people are watching my actions.

My Challenges

Before I started my challenge, I ate mostly bread for my snacks and it isn’t really helping me to shed the pounds. It is also challenging for me to remove any food that got to do with flour from my diet and certainly the huge number of bakeries in Singapore doesn’t help. I found that by removing processed starch from my diet, there isn’t really much varieties of food that I can snack on and this lead me to snack less and healthier as I was eating a lot more fruits as my snacks instead.

I do not have much complain about the veggie juice I had every morning except for the cleaning up and a one time blunder of “choking” myself with garlic. (**Hey Bonnie, if you are reading this, just to let you know I’m not blaming you )

I believe the veggie juice have an effect of boosting my energy because there was once I tried to have my juice in the afternoon instead to see will there be any effect on me and I found that I had trouble concentrating in writing my articles and was constantly lethargic. It was until I had my dose of juice in the afternoon, then I got the boost of energy to finish my article on that day.

I had consistently exercised for 6 days a week and I did missed some trainings but I will always make up for it on other days. With a mixture of resistance and cardio trainings, I had shed some pounds and overall I feel more confident, leaner, sharper and more energetic than I was before.

Stats

My weight before my 16 weeks challenge –> 160.6 lbs
My weight before my 30 days challenge –> 152.9 lbs
My weight at the end of my 30 days challenge –> 147.4 lbs

Amount of pull ups I am able to do before my 16 weeks  challenge – 3
Amount of pull ups I am able to do before my 30 days challenge – 8
Amount of pull ups I am able to do after my 16 weeks challenge – 11

After removing the extra few lbs from my body and adding on the muscles, I feel really “light” when I move around and it is really great to see myself in the mirror.

Even though I do not have very clear definition of my 6 pack abs, I still can see the shape of it. I conclude that this is a successful 30 days challenge for me and I am very happy with my result which is a healthier me.

Conclusion

Although this is the end of my 30 days challenge, I would like to regard it as a start instead of an end. Because of this challenge, I had cultivated some good habits and I do not want to let it go to waste. I will still exercise regularly and eat healthily to maintain my weight. Heath is something irreplaceable and is something that we should not take for granted.

Thank You

A very big thank you to everyone that is following me on my blog and reading my articles. It is your constant support that allow me to keep on writing valuable articles and it had also help me to reach the finishing line of my 30 days challenge. Another piece of good news is that my blog had a surge in daily readership. All these were possible because of my loyal readers and a big thank you to you again.

Cheers
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger

If you like this article, please digg, stumble or bookmark it in de.li.cious. You can have my latest articles sent to your email by subscribing to my blog via Email updates or RSS feed so that you won’t miss out on any of my articles. (It is free!)

Post from: Health Money Success

Result Of My 30 Days Challenge

Related Articles

• 30 Days Challenge to a Healthier Body (35)
• 7 Life Lessons I Picked Up From A Simple Morning Run (8)
• Day 24 Of My 30 Days Challenge + A Lesson From Mr Garlic (4)
• Day 18 Of 30 Days Challenge (8)
• 10 Tips To Help You Lose Weight Healthily (32)

Image courtesy of lepiaf.geo

Healthier Lifestyle

So many times I have seen people self destruct and I am guilty of being one myself in the past too. I drank, smoke, slept late and never gave my body adequate rest. I never cared about my body because I felt that I was young, strong and nothing bad will happen to my body but I was wrong and it was a big mistake.

I got a huge lesson from life. Life wanted to teach me a lesson. It wanted to teach a strong young man to take charge of his own life or else others will, and this time round, life wanted to take charge and be my teacher.

I received a huge slap by life, right in my face. A 22 year old guy was diagnosed with an illness that must be treated immediately. Isn’t a fit young man spared from diseases?

I was warded in the hospital and was put through countless of examinations and treatments. Even when I was discharged, I was consistently visiting the hospital for a period of 6 months. The whole ordeal only ended recently and it was a traumatic experience.

After the incident, I started to live more consciously and chose to live a healthier lifestyle by exercising regularly and picking carefully the food I ate. I am putting in more effort in taking care of my body because I know what are the consequences of not doing it and I want my body to last to a ripe old age.

I started to include more vegetables and fruits into my diet and gradually decline the intake of fried food and fatty food. I totally gave up on beef which is red meat because research had shown that it can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and the risk of cancer.

My 30 Days Challenge

I had created 3 challenges which I will sustain for 30 days.

- 16 weeks of exercise program in quest of 6 pack abs.

- 30 days without any processed starch.(Bread, pasta, noodles, cereals and etc)

- 30 days drinking juice as replacement for breakfast.

For my 6 pack abs challenge, I am required to exercise 6 times a week. 3 days of resistance training and 3 days of cardio training. I am already in week 12 in my quest for 6 pack abs so there are only 4 more weeks left to show my results. I am much leaner when I am 12 weeks ago and I am working hard towards my goal. Wish me luck =).

I started to take out food that consist of processed starch in my diet. In the past, bread and noodles make up a big part of my diet and I decided to forgo it to aid my quest for 6 pack abs. It did wonders because I lost around 4 lbs when I did a 2 weeks trial of leaving out the processed food. I wanted to start this challenge again because I can see the benefits of having a more steady source of energy level and shedding some weight.

I was particularly influenced by Steve Pavlina when I wanted to start this challenge. After reading his articles I gathered more information on raw food diet and juice feasting which I found so much benefits. I do not want to start with all guns blazing and start having a 100 percent juice feast or raw diet so I decided to take a 30 days trial by having my breakfast replaced by juice instead.

Today is day 1 of my challenge and the end of the challenge will be at 18th Dec 2008.

Some photos of what I ate… or I mean drank this morning.

Mini cucumbers, tomato, apple, carrot and orange.

Lettuce, spinach and celery.

What the veggies and fruits became

The ultimate concoction.

These are the ingredients that I used for the juice and the end product may seems a little erm.. yucky? But it doesn’t taste that bad and surprisingly I wasn’t hungry after drinking the juice, even though I had no breakfast. That is all for today and I will keep you guys updated on my progress.

Cheers,
Vincent
Personal Development Blogger

**P.S**Are you watching over your lifestyle and taking care of your body? What are the things you are doing wrong now and how are you going to change it? How about the things you are doing right now? Share with us in the comment section, your contribution will be greatly appreciated.

If you like this article, please do help me out by digging, stumbling or bookmarking it in de.li.cious. Do you want to have my new articles to be sent to your inbox? Subscribe to my RSS feed or Email updates to have my articles delivered to you. (It is free!)

Hit Your Goals Home|Personal Development Blog

Post from: Health Money Success

30 Days Challenge to a Healthier Body

Related Articles

• Result Of My 30 Days Challenge (11)
• 7 Life Lessons I Picked Up From A Simple Morning Run (8)
• Week 5 Fitness Update: Why I Abandoned My Colleagues And Ate My Lunch In My Own Cosy Cubicle (5)
• Are You Neglecting The Most Important Thing In Your Life? (11)
• Day 24 Of My 30 Days Challenge + A Lesson From Mr Garlic (4)