"The 21 Day Turn-Around is a total surrender of your body to good health and a new beginning. We’ve designed this cleanse to give your body a push to flush out all the toxins, but also to ease you into a healthier lifestyle." -Arden's Garden
The 21 Day Cleanse (Day Eight), by Doug Grady
When my good friend and mentor Day Adeogba speaks, I listen. He recommended I take on the Arden's Garden 21 day cleanse. After some consideration, I committed.
You may recall I did a cleanse last year. It was 14 days all raw fruits, vegetables and nuts. But I had to do it my way- I refused to give up coffee. On this one, I am ALL IN. No sugar, wheat, dairy, smoking, drugs, supplements, vitamins or alcohol. I know what you're thinking- what the heck am I going to eat??
I think I have consumed more vegetable nutrients in the last seven days than I did in the previous two months combined. This has been facilitated by the purchase of a new juicer and multiple trips to the produce section. You sure can save time shopping when you get all of your food from the same aisle.
Week one was pre-cleanse. Aside from the lack-of-caffeine-induced forgetfulness (I arrived at rehearsal Monday without my banjo), the week was pretty smooth. By day five I didn't miss the coffee and on day six I felt fantastic.
Today is Day eight, the first of seven consecutive days of juice or smoothies only. I have been told this is the most challenging time of the cleanse. My energy dipped a bit late morning, but overall I feel pretty good.
One of the many health benefits of a cleanse is the potential for your body to heal. When you eliminate or take a break from the excluded substances mentioned, your body utilizes more energy for the healing process. I have personally been dealing with a persistent hip injury. 21 days is a tiny investment to make for the potential return of avoiding hip surgery.
Beyond the health benefits there are mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects to a cleanse. When you let go of elements of your life that you have become dependent on, you can rock your own world. You open yourself up for breakthroughs in every area of your life.
I'll check back in with you between now and day 21.
Please leave a comment- I really want to hear from you!
A Strategic Alliance is a formal relationship between two or more parties to pursue a set of agreed upon goals or to meet a critical business need while remaining independent organizations. (wikipedia)
When I began working closely with high achieving salespeople, entrepreneurs, and business leaders I was at times perplexed with what appeared to be a lack of hard work. While the average go-getters were knocking on doors, making phone calls and beating the streets trying to find someone to talk to (hard work indeed), these fortunate few were enjoying more time in front of quality prospects and customers. And more time playing golf, vacationing, and serving their communities. They made more money in less time and had more fun doing it. I discovered one of the reasons they were so successful. They weren't the only ones working.
Achievers go out of their way to surround themselves with quality people. People that they can support and be supported by. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through strategic alliances. Strategic alliances work for you to bring you your most valuable resources, saving you time, money, and energy. Effective strategic alliances begin with answering these three questions:
Who has (or could have) a vested interest in your success? This might include non-competitive salespeople, other entities that service your market, retired veterans from your industry, or a business leader who is respected in your field.
How can you bring value to this person/entity? Be clear on what you bring to the table. Will you provide leads? Introductions? Products and services? Incentives? Ask questions and listen. Value is determined by the receiver. "How can I help you?" is a powerful question if you really mean it.
What do you want? Clarity is power. Be clear on your ideal form of support from each strategic alliance you initiate.
Consider treating the first 60-90 days of each strategic alliance as a short-term project. Go out of your way to nurture the relationship and give value without expecting anything in return. Monitor your progress and evaluate your relationship at the end of the designated time.
One of the strongest strategic alliances for High Achievers through the years has been with Business Networking International (BNI). It began in 2006 when we booked BNI's founder, Dr. Ivan Misner, to speak for us in California. It became stronger still when I met David Alexander in 2010. David is an Executive Director of BNI and is now also the CNO (Chief Networking Officer) of High Achievers. Check out my interview with David on High Achievers Radio and join us at one of our upcoming events this month.
I will be performing The (unofficial) Tough Mudder Song LIVE at Tough Mudder Georgia! This is a song about life...
Training for and completing three Tough Mudders has created breakthroughs in my life mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. After my first Tough Mudder in Georgia, I wrote The (unofficial) Tough Mudder Song. I put it on youtube and sent it to the people at Tough Mudder.
It got some buzz through social media, and the folks at Tough Mudder asked me to perform the song at the upcoming Tough Mudder Georgia. I am scheduled to perform Saturday, Feb 11 at 3pm for the post-party.
I am pumped! Please share the video with your friends and let your Tough Mudder Georgia people know about it!
writer's block (noun): a psychological inhibition preventing a writer from proceeding with a piece
Writer's Unblock, by Doug Grady
A couple of days ago I jokingly posted on my facebook status,
"I was going to blog today about writer's block but I couldn't come up with anything."
And then I started writing this. It took forever.
For the past two years I have been writing regularly- blogging a couple of times a week and recently completing the manuscript for my first book, The Ripple Effect. At times the words flowed effortlessly. Other times it took hours to get one thought out of my head and into a word document; months and even years to complete some of my writings. At this very moment I have at least 12 unfinished articles in my files, some of which were started well over two years ago.
Writer's block is most commonly associated with fear on some level. Fear of criticism, fear of looking bad, fear of the naysayer. It's probably quite obvious that fear tends to stifle creativity and inhibit self-expression.
While this may account for much of writer's block, it is a limited view. There can also be a positive aspect to writer's block. At times your ideas simply need the chance to develop and mature.
Whether you are blocked from fear or your ideas are taking their time marinating, here are specific strategies to get your thoughts flowing.
Morning pages as defined in Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. This practice of "three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning" has been a part of my daily ritual for years.
Images. Google the images for your topic. Sometimes the right visual representation of what you are trying to put into words can have an almost magical effect on your writing.
Talk it out. Converse with a friend on the subject.
Do it anyway. Specify a minimum number of words you will write (my target is generally 500) or a minimum amount of time (say 30 minutes) of writing. Forget about the quality of the output, just focus on the activity.
Exercise. I had been struggling with writing a song for my mother for months. I wrote almost the entire song in my head during a one hour trail run.
"Good enough" sometimes really is. It doesn't have to be perfect to be powerful, purposeful, and published.
Multiple starts. Leave the topic you're blocked on. Write about something else. Worst case scenario is you'll have multiple unfinished writings. Oftentimes you will combine two or more concepts into one writing.
Begin without the end in mind. Just write. Don't worry about where you are going with it. You'll know when you get there.
Deadlines and other commitments. If no one else is setting a deadline for you, set one for yourself. Commit to other people what you will complete and when you will complete it.
Lastly, be aware of how you talk to yourself. If writer's block has a negative implication in your mind, try this:
"My subconscious mind is always working to clarify my communication. My words flow easily in the right way at just the right time."
Every once in awhile we post a guest blogger. Shoot me a link to yours if you have a chance.
Please leave a comment- I really want to hear from you.
The 21 Day Cleanse (Day Eight), by Doug Grady
Week one was pre-cleanse. Aside from the lack-of-caffeine-induced forgetfulness (I arrived at rehearsal Monday without my banjo), the week was pretty smooth. By day five I didn't miss the coffee and on day six I felt fantastic.
