thewellnessaddict.com » 101 Ways to Kick Your Ass into Gear

Fear of Phoning - Apparently the only thing that scares me more than squirrels is calling Ellen DeGeneres

Ian — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:02:43 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, Nick and I decided it would be fun (and shamelessly self-promoting) to riff on a chapter from our new book each week. Last week, when the “Buy a really nice pair of sunglasses” chapter was immediately followed by “Write a 250-year plan”, we realized – rather ironically – that if we had given better consideration to the latter, we might have chosen in advance to skip the former. But I’m an obstinate sort, so I’m not giving up so easily on the idea; I’m just going to apologize – just this once – for all the self-referential gibberish this idea has created, and forge ahead.

And that’s why I’m sitting here this morning, sharing my new found fear and confusion with you. It’s important to note that generally I don’t fear many things, with the exception, hilariously enough, of squirrels. I have NO IDEA why I fear squirrels. I mean, they’re, well…squirrely and all, but…oh, never mind. On the other hand, confusion seems to be a normal frame of mind for me. But the thing that caused my fear and confusion this morning is probably even less rational on some level than a fear of squirrels.

You see, the next chapter in our book is “Call the most famous person you can think of”. For the record, I’ve actually done everything I suggest in the book, but I haven’t done everything Nick suggests. I thought this one would be easy. I have excellent phone skills, I’m good at tracking down hard-to-find numbers, and I’ve never been particularly star struck by celebrity. So what happened on the way to tackling this simple task? Well, first of all, I chose to ignore the “most famous” part of the suggestion, figuring famous is famous, so why get bogged down by trying to rank things? So I selected Ellen DeGeneres as my first target. I’m always referencing her in my bio, so I thought this might be a good place to start.

Some quick web searches once again reminded me it might be worth investing that couple hundred dollars a month on the many database services available these days. Although this KGBAnswers.com listing seemed like a plausible place to start, it suddenly hit me. WHY was I calling her? I mean, even if I wiggled my way through the practical barriers to actually getting her on the phone, WHAT THE HECK DID I HAVE TO SAY? This was thought-provoking, and honestly made me re-think things. Like:

Why do I want to be “the next Ellen”, as I say in my bio?
What would I really say to Ellen if I got her on the phone?
What other famous person would it make more sense to call?
Why am I avoiding getting this simple task done today?
Why do I ask so many darn questions?

As you can see, even PONDERING this chapter of the book has been a real eye-opener. Which makes me think we did a better job with our little book than I tend to think. So Wednesday, I’ll be back with either the details of my amazing chat with Ellen, or maybe some other famous figure. Or a list of possibilities. Or a list of excuses. Stay tuned.

Flying By Wire - A well-executed plan still needs a lot of adjustments on the way.

Ian — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:02:24 +0000

What’s your plan, Stan? What’s your agenda, Brenda? What’s the deal, McNeil? What’s the story, Maurie? What’s the arc, Mark? Okay. Enough of that silliness. We’ve been writing about planning this week because one of the chapters in our new book is “Write a 250 Year Plan”. I have to be honest, as I said the other day, I keep things on a shorter time frame for now. But the fact is, there’s nothing really all that crazy about making 100 or 200 year plans, because one of the key ingredients in a good plan is adjusting it to meet realities along the way.

I’m going to use the example of the world’s most sophisticated new jet fighters. A few of them have such unusual aerodynamics to help them do what they do that they’re actually intrinsically unstable. They require an actively engaged in-flight computer to make constant minute adjustments that no human pilot could possibly manage. Yet they can fly in the dark, at low altitude, through inclement weather, to their eventual destination thousands of miles away.

This is a key part of having a good plan. You don’t just lay in the plans, fire up the engines, and point yourself at the destination, hoping to hit the bullseye five years later. Good planning still requires constant attention to progress or to obstacles that may arise. And those minute changes you make along the way can have some of the biggest impact. You may have heard the old analogy about how if you’re struggling to make change, that it’s useful to think of your life like a big ship. It has a lot of momentum, so sometimes you can’t just make a quick 180 turn. But an adjustment of a few degrees NOW is a difference of MILES in your course across the ocean.

So are you flying by wire, or by the seat of your pants? There’s a subtle but dramatic difference!

You Deserve A Break Today - And so do we! The Daily Fix will be back January 2nd, but in the meantime we have a great idea for the new year.

Admin — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 15:48:05 +0000

We hope you’re able to enjoy a little break from your routine during this holiday week. You probably deserve it. We feel like WE do, we worked hard to make sure we finished our new book by the end of the year, and we were incredibly grateful that it went live on Amazon in mid-December. We may be a little biased, but we can’t help thinking that our fun little volume would be a perfect gift for yourself (or someone else) to get things rolling for the new year. It’s a fun, light read, perfect for in-flight, or anywhere else you find yourself sitting for a spell. And when you’re DONE sitting, hopefully you’ll have an idea or two to kick your asterisk into gear. Happy New Year!

Visit KickYourAss101.com to learn more, or pick it up on Amazon.

I Just Can’t Quit… - ...talking about our new book "101 Ideas to Kick Your Ass Into Gear"

Ian — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:09:33 +0000

Last week I found myself “waiting passionately”. You don’t get to do this too often. The more common forms of waiting that are at odds with themselves are the ones requiring adverbs like “expectantly” or “anxiously”. Remember the feelings of being a kid on Christmas Eve? You knew that by merely WAITING those last few hours, you would be rewarded with EVERYTHING YOU EVER DREAMED OF as you tore the shimmery wrapping from the packages under the tree. Well, that’s how I felt last week as Nick and I awaited the delivery of the proofs for the book we’d labored over for the last few months, 100 Ideas to Kick Your Ass Into Gear. Well, they came. I won’t speak for Nick, but for ME it was like Christmas day. If you’ve ever thought to yourself “I really should finally write that book”, I highly recommend doing so as soon as possible. On the one hand, the feeling of reward is incredible, and on the other, you realize Audrey Hepburn was right when she said “Success is like reaching an important birthday and finding you’re exactly the same”. And the combined feeling is pretty gratifying.

We’ll be riffing on chapters from the book each week in The Daily Fix for a while, and the first chapter is “Quit”, which happens to dovetail nicely with the fact that it’s the end of the year. We’ll be back throughout the week with more interesting angles on the idea of “quitting”, but just for today, I can’t quit talking about our new book. Learn more about it at the KickYourAss101.com, or buy it on Amazon.

This isn’t your standard-issue self-help/motivation book. It’s lighthearted but heartfelt, with punchy, entertaining chapters that would be great while you’re sitting on the pot or on the plane. And when you’re DONE sitting wherever you sit to read it, hopefully you’ll Kick Your Asterisk Into Gear! And speaking of the holidays, this is an ESPECIALLY fun gift idea for this time of year, when we’re all pondering where we’ve been and where we’re going.