stay forever young

blessings of youth

October 2014...
Central Phoenix, AZ- In our quest for youth in our society, we often look in the media as to what youth is, what beauty is or what fitness is. "Youth", in my humble opinion, is an attitude. 

I just finished a quick workout this morning trying to stay "young" forever as I am reminded that I need to tone up a few areas that I have been focusing on for these past 6 years. In my previous posts, I mentioned that I had written my vision and mission statements 18 years ago. Having worked for FranklinCovey, I had met thousands of people in their quest for productivity, organization and effectiveness. (Originally, the company was founded as The Franklin Quest Institute by Hyrum Smith and his partners. - It has been since 2004 that I had left the company. It then adopted the name FranklinCovey, through its merger with the late Stephen Covey's organization.) It was this quest that people were always trying to improve their lives, their roles and more importantly, their effectiveness. 

Named in part by one of our greatest humankind contributors, Benjamin Franklin, at FranklinCovey we helped our clients (individuals, corporate and others) to identify their governing values and to establish long and short-term goals. We sold the Franklin Day Planner in which people would write down their tasks for the month, the week and the day and to carry out a game plan to accomplish their highest priorities. For 13 years with FranklinCovey, I had helped thousands of people with their productivity needs. Most of them coming to the store that I managed, asking for help because they felt out of control. Appointments were being missed. Conflicting commitments became difficult to choose which task or event had a higher priority to complete. 

Personally, like most people, I had experienced the pain of deciding of leaving work early to attend my kid's activities or to keep working overtime. As a salaried employee, there was no such thing as overtime pay, you know what I mean. You work until the job is done! Employees would call in sick, needed time off for some reason or another. (I'm certain it was for their own priorities.) But, when you are the manager responsible for the overall success of the store, you do what you need to do. My fellow store managers know exactly what I'm talking about.

So, back to youth. Back in 1996, I had written a lot of goals that sounded good, felt good and at that time, were very important to me. For one governing values, I had written: "I live a productive, balanced, championship life." Along with this value, I had written intermediate goals. One in particular was: "Be Physically Fit. Workout 4x a week, V-shaped, Toned Chest and Abs."  One problem with this goal was that I did not specify by when I wanted to accomplish this goal. So, back in 2005, I had written a date "6/5/2005". 

Well, for whatever reason, I did not feel like I accomplished that goal. Fast forward to 2011-2012. I had been trying to "get in shape" for the longest time. Yes, I was not strategic in this goal. I had attempted, perhaps like thousands of other people, many diets that I have done. It was until I was introduced to "Javita Burn+Control" - Weight-loss coffee. Easy right? Just drink coffee. Everyone drinks coffee. I wasn't really a coffee drinker. 

As I started to see some results, I drank more! The caffeine in the coffee caused some discomfort! But, I loved the results, so I drank more. Then, Javita Green Tea was introduced. This, I loved! Less caffeine, more results! So, in my quest to get fit, I had begun to shred off the weight. Problem was, I was not getting the definition I idolized! So, I embarked on a weight-bearing program. Learning from different fitness programs, I had begun to see results. My workouts became more intense!

Earlier this year, I had joined Na Leo O' Ke Kai, the first outrigger paddling canoe club in Arizona. Training sometimes 3x-4x a week on Tempe Town Lake for regattas held here in Phoenix or in California. Intense training and conditioning was required to compete and to be part of a crew. "Six as one!" "Pick up the pace" "Faster!" Competing on the open water had been one of my "Ultimate Experience!" The open water, the wind blowing on your face. The adrenaline of competition was addicting! Never paddled in Hawaii, where I was born and raised. Come out to the desert, and started paddling!... Go figure!

I was introduced to Xooma's Extreme X2O. These sachets help increase the pH balance of the water. I had been made aware that the more acidic the body was, the body would be more prone to illness and other health challenges. The minerals of X2O helped the body fill the void of the lack of nutrients that our food lacked in today's fast-food culture.

I shaved off 25 pounds over a period of two years, but the most definition came the last 8 months! From 167#, 36" waist to 140#, 31", I had seen a drastic transformation in my quest to "Stay Forever Young"!

As a society, we are spending BILLION$ of dollars on fitness programs, beauty - skincare products and other programs to look young, feel young and stay young!

The scale became habitual. I took measurements regularly. Gym visits and swimming laps in the pool became part of my daily routine. I began coaching others in their quest to "Stay Forever Young."  I've incorporated "M.E.D.S." into my presentations with my clients. M=Move (Fitness), E=Eat (Nutrition), D=Drink (Water Hydration), S=Smile (Dental Hygiene). The message had begun to resonate with my audience. I have since shared this message with others who have begun their own quest to "Stay Forever Young".

At the end, "Young" is an attitude as we are not able to stop time from ticking. We will get old. We will age. We will die! It's a fact of life. Perhaps, you know when your time is counting down, when we start to check off "bucket-list" items. The list gets longer. We add to the "bucket-list" those "to-dos" that we feel will be our "Ultimate Experiences!"

My quest to "Stay Forever Young" has just begun as I have embarked on a journey to share M.E.D.S. with others. Along with doTERRA essential oils to address people's healthcare concerns, I see families, individuals and "villages" coming together to prepare themselves for the uncertain - whatever that means to them. The uncertainty of their health, the uncertainty of their food source or the uncertainty of our frailing U.S. economy!

Much work to be done! What is required is an army of warriors committed to help those less fortunate or most fragile and to build villages of HOPE.