“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” ~Oprah Winfrey
Inspiration is all around us. To experience it though, we must be willing to give ourselves permission to slow down, to focus, to breathe. With so many shiny objects vying for our attention, it’s quite easy to become distracted.
One of the best ways to come back to our center is to breathe. We have this underlying belief that somehow, probably because we are human and capable of amazing things, that we can multitask our way to success.
After all, if doing one thing is good, then doing several things must be better, right?
WRONG!
An old memory of a book title came knocking and it got me thinking about multitasking or focusing on multiple projects at the same time and in breaking down the title of the book, I realized it would be impossible to do the two tasks of the title at the same time.
The book title is Chop Wood, Carry Water.
As I tried to picture myself chopping wood and carrying water, it was immediately apparent that it would be impossible to do both at the same time. Can you imagine the chaotic scene of a character attempting to both chop wood and carry water at the same time?
It made me laugh!
Well, for a moment anyway… Then I paused long enough to take a breath as I reflected on how as human beings, we are continuously trying to chop wood and carry water at the same time. My mind quickly shifted to an image of an entertainer on stage spinning plates. As we watch the show, we are mesmerized as the entertainer adds more and more plates until the inevitable crash brings that segment of the show to a conclusion.
How many plates are you spinning? How many tasks are you managing? How many jobs are you doing? How many hats are you wearing?
If you are like me in any way, shape, or form, you probably believe you are a better multitasker than you actually are.
It wasn’t until I recently slowed down long enough to enjoy a vacation to Maine that I realized I was trying to do too many things at a time. I have been writing a weekly article for over a year now while I have simultaneously been working on my second book and trying to create a small business and create an online course to help people turn their dreams and aspirations into a tangible outcome by designing a course that would systematically and logically take them on a journey of discovery, opportunity, and action, a QUEST. And, I have been trying to do all of this while also working a full-time job…
When I finally came back to my breath, opened up my shirt and found there indeed was no large “S” emblazoned on my chest, I realized it was time for a change. Perhaps it was the changing of the seasons that prompted this idea of a need for a change. The trip to Maine was all about taking time to “enjoy” the changing of the season from Summer to Fall.
To enjoy the trip, I had written my weekly article ahead of time and had it prepared and ready to send out on time which is normally Wednesday. Today is Friday and I am only just now writing my weekly article as it finally came to me in my sleep. Yes, I awoke with the idea of this article in my mind and arose from bed before the alarm went off because I knew there was something profound that needed to be captured and that something is the words now methodically materializing on the page.
The profundity remains to be seen…
The reality is far more striking than anything remotely close to profound. I have simply been trying too hard to do too much and watering down and fragmenting my results in the process.
My mind has been silently working on a way to present this idea to my ego for some time now and it took me slowing down long enough for a vacation to begin to listen.
In the silence of the woods, surrounded by beauty, I found my mind wandering away from where I was and onto each of the various projects I have ongoing in different states of completion and I remember thinking to myself, this is crazy, look around you, this is where you need to be right now, all of your projects will be waiting for you when you get back, FOCUS and enjoy the moment…
As I processed that thought, I came back to my breath and I came back to the moment and as I became fully present, I was in awe of my surroundings. If I hadn’t given myself permission to be present, to be in the moment, I would have missed it!
What would I have missed? I would have missed the mushrooms growing in places we wouldn’t expect to see them.
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed the fallen leaves laying on the ground in all their majesty, a tapestry that became natures carpet…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed the trees that held the leaves until they were reluctantly released…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed the stunning reflection of two hills majestically resolute and unmoving…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed all the different colors of green, a monochrome rainbow of tone and texture, from the moss, to the lichens, to the ferns, to the trees…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed the sound of the babbling brook and the raging waterfall, one subtle, one not…
Photo from Author’s collection.Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed seeing natures finest example of resilience, determination, and persistence…
Photo from Author’s collection.
I would have missed all these things and so much more and thinking about this got me thinking about how many other things I have been missing… It inspires me now to ask the question about how many things you might be missing too?
What have you been missing?
I know I have been missing golf and it wasn’t until I gave myself permission to watch some of the Ryder Cup matches that I realized just how much I miss playing and isn’t it interesting how the world will make us even more aware of what we are missing once we finally realize we are missing it. Like this article from my friend and fellow writer Billie for example who wrote an article about golf (it’s more than just another article on golf).
It’s not necessarily the game itself that I miss, its what happens to me as I play. When I play golf, I slow down and as mentioned at the beginning of this article, as my friend and mentor Michael constantly reminds me, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. When I combine the intentionality of the awareness of my breath with the understanding that golf is a game that can only be played and never won, I give myself the permission to enjoy being outside and at one with my surroundings.
Breathing is a huge part of golf because there is no way to make a smooth swing if you are not relaxed. We tend to hold on to our breath and the club too tight, and it is actually the relaxed grip that better serves the swing. Loose muscles flow, and golf, although a sport of speed when it comes to striking the ball, is also a sport of opposites. A great example is for the ball to go up, you must hit down on the ball. It is the descending blow in combination with the loft of the club that gets the ball into the air. It’s counterintuitive. You might think that swinging harder might give you a better result and I can assure you the exact opposite is true.
Ok, enough about golf and back to the article at hand.
Before I left to go on vacation, I discovered an article by Darius Foroux that got me thinking about this idea of trying to do too much. There were many other elements equally as influential as the article, but for some reason, the words of the article really resonated with me and I believe before I ever got on the plane, I knew that Fall would have a special significance for me this year, one well beyond the splendid colors and the experience of being away would afford me…
I will continue to Advance Confidently, but the advance will be in the direction of my highest calling NOW which is to fulfill my desire of completing my Create Your QUEST™ course, designed for anyone who has struggled with making a commitment to their ideal highest expression of themselves.
With so many demands, and so many distractions, it’s easy to get off course and find ourselves deeply involved in great work that’s unfortunately not moving us in the direction of where we most choose to go right NOW!
Create Your QUEST™ has been formulated to help YOU focus on what’s most important to you not only now, but also in the future. It’s a framework that was designed to take you from where you are to exactly where you choose to be, not overnight, but one step at a time, one moment at a time, one day at a time, one breath at a time!
It’s called Create Your QUEST™ because I believe each of us has the potential to be the hero of our own story and I knew I could create a compelling framework to guide individuals through the arduous process of making a commitment to their dream and the future they desire to create for themselves and their families.
Therefore, I decided to put my next book on the back burner and will instead focus all my efforts on the completion of the project I am most excited about which is Create Your QUEST™!
It’s my intention to have the course ready for release by the end of October with a soft launch and a beta group to make sure it’s ready for prime time in the coming new year when most people are struggling with what to do next and how to make sure next year is different than last year.
If you are interested in potentially being part of my beta group, send an email to bkountz15@gmail.com with BETA in the subject line.
I know the course I’m creating and the book I will still eventually release, will be worth the wait because that’s my commitment to you, my readers. Thanks in advance for your trust and patience!
In the meantime, enjoy this special audio short story I originally released on Twitter to commemorate my Independence Day and my 31st year of sobriety. You can watch/listen here ( https://youtu.be/9zP4kk5OTlo ). You can find me on Twitter @bobby_kountz
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed and found value in this article, please share it.
In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
“Your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your values, your values become your destiny.” ~Mahatma Gandhi
VALUES DRIVE BEHAVIOR
This article was adapted from a process we developed to help emerging entrepreneurs and new small business owners identify their values. It was written to help take a closer look at the Values selection process. Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs have one thing in common with their larger corporate counterparts and that’s the need for Values.
As I worked with my TEAM to build out the structure of our new process to help entrepreneurs and small business owners capitalize on what makes them unique to their market and to help position themselves as the only logical choice for their potential customers, we realized the need to identify our own set of values that will drive our decision-making process as we begin to take on new clients.
At CreateYourQUEST™ we believe YOU are the Hero of Your own Story!
Our process was developed with YOU in mind. Our goal is to help you turn (Your Everyday Story) into (Your Empowering Story).
In the spirit of The Hero’s Journey, we are committed to helping you not only write your story, but also create an exciting and empowering QUEST to guide you in the direction of everything you hope to accomplish as you continue to move forward towards the achievement of your goals and dreams.
What do YOU offer the World?
At CreateYourQUEST™ we believe YOU will be happiest living a life of integrity in which your actions are aligned with YOUR personal values and beliefs. In other words, YOUR “True North.”
The reason many of us struggle with knowing what we genuinely want is because we don’t really know what direction to go. If we use our true north to guide us, in other words if we use our values to guide us, it makes the decision-making process much easier. Some of us struggle with simple day-to-day decisions but when we take the time to consider our core values, these things often become crystal clear.
Our core values will be the needle point of our compass. They will be like the north star in the sky guiding your journey. Your values will be like a torch in the night to help guide you down your pathway toward living your meaningful life and bringing purpose to your quest so you can live your life filled with passion and purpose.
Your values will help you avoid all the “shiny objects” you are bound to discover while on your quest. Values will shield you from the potential outside influences attempting to distract you from reaching your prize, from reaching that elusive prize we’re all searching for, success. Values will help you identify what success means without sacrificing the things most important to you. Values give you the energy and clarity to say both yes and no. Your success will be guided by your ability to say no to things like social media, social influence, and the social environment that would try to keep us from being true to ourselves.
If you are interested in gaining clarity around the importance of values, then read on. If not, then this article is probably not for you, and I will save you the time and trouble of reading any further.
The activity outlined below is designed to help you discover your own unique list of values and beliefs that will help to orient you on your journey. If you’ve ever wondered what a life would be like if you were living in harmony, this is the life you will experience when you become clear about your values. That’s why we think it’s so important that you take the time to properly do this exercise because it means everything!
Your core values will help you build the foundation of whatever it is you hope to bring into the world while on your quest. Whatever you build, if it sits on a strong foundation, it will stand the test of time.
Success can only ever be identified individually and absolutely must be defined by the individual seeking success. Otherwise, there will be no way for you to measure whether you’ve achieved what you set out to accomplish. If you try to skip over this step what you will find is yourself chasing empty accomplishments. You will find yourself stuck on the hamster wheel of life chasing your tail. We cannot impress upon you strongly enough, the importance of completing this exercise.
When we don’t know and understand our values, we could easily make the mistake of violating something incredibly important to us, simply because we weren’t aware. The result of doing something like this is usually fraught with feelings of shame and guilt and not even knowing why… It’s because somewhere along the way you violated what was important to you and there’s no way to reconcile the actions you took when they are not aligned with your values, when they’re not aligned with your true north.
One of the things that makes CreateYourQUEST™ a unique organization is the partnerships we’re creating with individuals who’ve proven themselves to be value added resources to both individuals and large organizations.
The following list of core values comes partly from my own research and partly from my dear friend and Executive Coach, Michael O’Brien from Peloton Coaching. He has been helping companies and the executives of those companies create better tomorrow’s by teaching them to clearly identify their values TODAY!
CORE VALUES
Note: This is not an exhaustive list but will definitely get you started with the selection process!
Based on the guidance of my Executive Coach, Michael O’Brien, who you can find at michaelobrienshift.com — I suggest you pick 5 values as your core values. This doesn’t mean you can’t or won’t have other values that are extremely important to you. It simply means being bold enough to select 5 for right now. As we change and grow some of our core values will change with us. As we embrace life-altering challenges and opportunities, our core values might shift as we gain new insights and information.
Examples are always good to demonstrate a viewpoint so let’s examine the idea of wellness. Let’s get extreme to drive home the point. If you had a heart attack, or developed a life-threatening disease, wellness might easily become a new core value for you if it wasn’t previously one of your five.
One of the most impactful ways to discover your core values is to focus on what’s important to you. One of the best ways to accomplish this is to ask empowering questions. Here are some empowering questions to help you get started with the process of focusing on what’s most meaningful to you now that you’ve been given a whole bunch of ideas about which values might be most important.
· How would you define this value?
· Which actions, activities, and behaviors reflect this value?
· How are you in alignment with this value?
· Where does this value show up in your daily life?
· Why is this value important to you?
· What is it about this value that inspires you?
· Who would you be without this value?
Feel free to create some of your own empowering questions to stimulate the discovery process! Answers are good. Questions are empowering!
The gap between where we are and where we want to be can often be closed by having a better understanding of our values. With a better understanding of our values, we will be in a better position to say yes to everything that’s important to us and no to everything else that’s a distraction. When what we do is aligned with what we say, we can then be congruent in our behavior about what’s most important to us.
If you remember from earlier, we learned that values drive behavior. Let’s move now from concept to construct with some core examples. We will share with you the five core values significant to us and why we chose them to demonstrate the importance of this exercise.
CORE VALUE EXAMPLES
One of the core values of our TEAM at CreateYourQUEST™ is Freedom. A second value important to each of us is Authenticity. Another core value is Courage. The 4th core value critical to the success of our organization is Encouragement. And finally, we turn one FACE into many FACES by adding the “S” of Self-Respect.
When you put these five values together what you get is FACES. We refer to this as our ability to show our FACES to our clients and customers. There are a whole host of other values especially important to all of us at CreateYourQUEST™ but we decided on “FACES” because we wanted something first that was easy to remember, and that more importantly, reflected the true essence of what we see as our collective core values.
As an emerging leader in this field, we felt it important to do the hard work of identifying our core values “Up Front” so that whenever we face a decision as it relates to the company and our future direction, we can come back to our values to help us make a clear choice about what we want to do, where we want to go, and how we want to get there.
We made a pact early on that we would never sacrifice our values in relation to our opportunities. What we collectively decided was that if an opportunity didn’t align with our values, then we would just politely say thank you for the opportunity, but it doesn’t fit with what we’re currently trying to do with the organization right now.
We took it one step further and decided that if we were honoring our values, we would help whoever was asking us to work with them by providing them a referral for an organization we felt could better help them with what they were trying to accomplish.
Let’s take the time to dive a little bit deeper into the five core values of our company as an example, so you have a clear idea of what might be important to you and a frame of reference as you choose your core values for yourself and your organization, or your family, moving forward.
FREEDOM
“When Writing the story of your life don’t let anyone else hold the pen.” ~Harley-Davidson
For us, the importance of this value is best expressed by this quote we use as a guiding principle for decision making. We believe everyone has the ability to write their own story and create their own ending.
The reason we believe freedom is so important is because it leads to an abundance of expression, creativity, and original thought. From this abundance, we experience increased productivity, a sense of fulfillment, an enhanced purpose, a state of well-being, and an overall higher quality of life. We understand freedom as a value that should never be taken for granted. We understand the fragility of freedom.
We hope to communicate the importance of this value. All too often, those who live in freedom tend to ignore just how fragile it is and take it for granted. We hope to reinforce the importance of freedom. We must be free to think, to create, to crowdsource, to collaborate, to build, to come together, to accomplish what none of us could ever hope to achieve alone.
AUTHENTICITY
“Authenticity allows us to engage with each other in powerful dreams that make the impossible possible. We are called on to persevere despite failure and pursue a purpose beyond the paycheck. This is at the core of innovation.” ~Henna Inam
Authenticity is all about being true to ourselves. Being true to ourselves is all about having the courage to define our own version of what it is to be successful. Success absolutely, positively, must be identified individually because what’s success to one person, might be failure to another. Success is discovering the delicate balance between drive, achievement, and self-reflection. The prize, if we’re diligent enough to pursue it, is equanimity which is just another way of saying, mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation.
Authenticity helps us build deeper connection with others. The way we build authenticity is by being willing to let our guard down. Once we are willing to show and share our shortcomings, warts, and all, we give ourselves and others permission to be true to what we really believe. Authenticity is almost a “bearing of our soul” and when we do it without concern for what others might think of us or about us, we in turn create the best opportunity to be true to ourselves, our values, and what’s uniquely important to us, not those around us, but to US!
Innovation is the lifeblood of almost any organization. The only way we will ever be able to completely tap into everyone’s ability to be innovative is when everyone is given permission to be their authentic self. Richard Branson was quoted as saying that “innovation happens when people are given the freedom to ask questions and the resources and power to find the answers.”
COURAGE
“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.” ~Maya Angelou
The word consistently is often overlooked in the quote above, and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen here. Courage gives us the ability to put aside our fear of failure and to take the first steps. Courage helps us to overcome our fear of rejection. Courage allows us to attempt things that we have not tried before despite our fear of judgment or looking foolish.
It has been said that confidence is important and indeed it is, but without courage, confidence does not exist. We believe courage is more important than confidence because we know that confidence comes from being courageous. Before we will ever be confident, we must first be courageous.
We need confidence to do something that we’ve never done before. And to do something that we’ve never done before will require courage. We need courage to begin something. When we’re attempting something, we’ve never done before, we will experience a feeling of uncertainty.
Courage gives us the ability to move along the continuum from unsure to unstoppable. We believe courage is the secret sauce that allows us to act despite our fears. Confidence is an outcome. It’s a natural result, or the benefit. It’s becoming familiar with our fear and working through the process. Confidence is a one day at a time game, it builds day by day every time we courageously embrace our fear.
Courage allows us to consistently practice all the virtues and values that are important to us because without courage we won’t be able to consistently honor the rest of our values. At some point in time the challenge will be too intense, or the effort required, too much, and without courage, we will give in.
“You can’t be consistently kind, or fair, or humane, or generous, not without courage, because if you don’t have it, sooner or later you’ll stop and say the threat is too much, the difficulty is to too high, the challenge is too great!” ~Maya Angelou
ENCOURAGEMENT
“Hidden within each of us is everything we need to achieve anything we can imagine.” ~Bobby Kountz
One of the greatest lessons on the power of encouragement comes from the story of the letters written by Ralph Waldo Emerson to a young and aspiring writer by the name of Walt Whitman. Had it not been for the encouragement of Emerson, there is an exceptionally good chance that Whitman may have never followed his passion to become the great poet he is known to be.
At CreateYourQUEST™ we are in the encouragement business!
We should never underestimate the value of an encouraging word. One small act of encouragement could be enough to change the entire trajectory of another person’s life. When we offer encouragement, we’re literally speaking courage into another human being. We are empowering them with our words. Encouragement can make all the difference.
Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny… ~C.S. Lewis
SELF-RESPECT
“Respect yourself enough to walk away from anything that no longer serves you, grows you, or makes you happy.” ~Robert Tew
The importance of self-respect cannot be overstated! Having a healthy level of self-respect is what enables us to create the confidence to set clear boundaries for ourselves and others. Malcolm X once said, “If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.” Self-respect means knowing what you stand for and what your values are. It means being aware of both your strengths and weaknesses.
Self-respect is being courageous enough to say no when you need to, and bold enough to say yes when you’re afraid to. It’s saying yes without having all the answers ahead of time. Self-respect allows us to stay to true to our values while still pushing the envelope to take informed risks. Self-respect is developed after experiencing setbacks and failures. It’s a byproduct of resilience. It comes as a result of embracing self-discovery.
Self-respect is knowing who you are, what you believe, and what you are willing to work for and sacrifice for. It’s also knowing what you are not willing to compromise on and then having the courage to stand your ground.
We hope you found some merit in this article that was adapted from the Values Identification Process we take our clients through when they commit to working with us. It’s how we turn our clients into VIP’s!
If you believe we might be able to help you better tell your story to your potential audience and customers, then reach out to us.
You know our values now so it should be an easy decision to at least reach out if you know you need some help telling your empowering story!
We are creating an interest list for our inaugural CreateYourQUEST™ interactive, immersive, appreciative inquiry experience. To learn more, send an email with UNSTOPPABLE in the subject line to unsure2UNSTOPPABLE@gmail.com today!
Advance Confidently is the title of my next book, you will have to wait to celebrate its release as I celebrate my 60th birthday. I have concluded the world doesn’t need another self-help book from me right now, so I am listening to my muse and will write a sci fi personal growth story of self-discovery instead. Hmmm? Almost sounds like a QUEST, right? I believe you will be INSPIRED with the story that chose me to write it! I never saw it coming but now that it’s here, I can’t wait to share it with all of YOU! I know it will be worth the wait because that’s my commitment to you, my readers. Thanks in advance for your trust and patience!
In the meantime, I released a special audio short story on Twitter to commemorate my Independence Day and my 31st year of sobriety. You can watch/listen to the story here ( https://youtu.be/9zP4kk5OTlo ). You can find me on Twitter @bobby_kountz
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed and found value in this article, please share it.
In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
“Without adventure into the unknown, we fail to lay the foundation for any success.” ~Lailah Gifty Akita
This past weekend, August 7th and 8th, 2021, I joined thousands of cyclists and volunteers for my 8th Pan-Mass Challenge. This year marked the 42nd year of this miraculous cancer research fundraiser event. To learn more, simply go to https://PMC.org and you will be viewing one of the most miraculous charitable organizations on the planet. The founder, Billy Starr, is as my friend Michael says, a mensch!
Why I ride…
All riders who commit to one of the PMC routes have an opportunity to create a support my ride, or “Why I Ride” page. Yes, even the founder of the organization has his own page. You can find it under his name.
First, I ride because I can. Second, I ride in honor of all those who can’t and those who are no longer with us. Finally, I ride to make a difference, to create a small ripple of goodness that has the potential to spread across the country.
This year, I rode in honor of Ron, who after many years of fighting the good fight, lost his battle with this dreaded disease. Ron was a “True Hero.” Ron was indirectly responsible for me agreeing to take on my very first PMC back in 2014 when he offered me the use of one of his bikes.
As I was contemplating making a commitment to take on my very first PMC, I was battling my inner critic, I was battling the unknown… The voice of self-doubt was thunderously loud inside my head! You see, in 2014, not only was I not a cyclist, but I didn’t have a bike, I didn’t have a clue! I hadn’t ridden 1.92 miles, let alone 192 miles over 2-days, and I had no idea how I would ever get prepared to take on such an epic journey, the event that would eventually become my personal quest!
Ron however, he had other ideas. He must have somehow known what I could not know. He must have seen something in me that I had not yet seen in myself. I’m actually a bit embarrassed to admit it, but as I was basically whining to the cancer support group about not having a bike, that’s when Ron triumphantly raised his hand with the excitement of a school age child ready to answer the teachers question and he proudly stated he had a bike I could ride, and he would be happy to help get me started on my journey. Then he just looked at me with eyes that said: “Now, what are you going to do?” As the hair stood up on the back of my neck and long before I ever uttered the words yes, with my excuse now obliterated with his generous offer, I made a commitment in that moment to ride my first PMC.
I truly felt divinely guided to simply say YES!
Ron took great pride in being the catalyst for my commitment to ride the PMC! I still remember going to meet him to pick up the bike which we agreed would be available to me for purchase if I decided I liked it and it served me well for the ride. Ron graciously provided me with a helmet, a pair of gloves, and some clip in pedals for later. He said they would come in handy after I became accustomed to the bike.
When I said YES to the PMC, I really had no idea that what I was really saying yes to, was myself… I was out of shape, at least 20 pounds heavier than I wanted to be, and devoid of the kind of confidence required to take on an epic ride like the Pan-Mass Challenge. I remember asking Ron if he really thought I could complete the PMC and I remember him saying of course you can, “IF” you are willing to make a commitment to training for it.
What I didn’t know at the time was that prior to being diagnosed with cancer, Ron had been a serious cyclist, so he knew what it would take for me to properly prepare for my ride. His Multiple Myeloma diagnosis and subsequent treatment had ended his days of cycling, but I know he was vicariously continuing his journey by helping me to prepare for mine…
Shortly after getting my bike, I connected with Terry from The Bike Shop and went out for my first official training ride with a group of riders that he led on the weekend. Terry began teaching me what I needed to know, and he fit me to the bike I was riding. I still remember just how much of a difference a minor seat adjustment made. He talked me through shifting and how to make sure I was up and off the seat on a regular basis so my rear end wouldn’t get too sore as I developed my riding callouses.
Who knew there was such a thing?
Terry talked me through a training plan and explained the importance of making a commitment to ride regularly. I became a regular member of the weekend riding group. I was surprised how quickly I adapted to the process and before I even realized it, I started to feel like a “real” cyclist.
I remember planning out some of my longer rides and discussing the results of my experiences of trial and error with both Terry on the weekends and Ron at the support group meetings. When I told Ron how things were progressing, I remember the look of pride and satisfaction on his face as he knew he had been instrumental in me saying “YES” to myself! He looked just like the cat that ate the canary. I could see how what I was doing was so meaningful to him… I believe this was the first time I truly began to realize that what I was doing was no longer about me and more about what the experience was teaching me about myself and others. We each have the ability to make a difference, to create a positive ripple in the world…
As it turned out, taking my training seriously paid huge dividends, because my first PMC was the coldest, wettest, event in the 35-year history leading up to my ride! I remember like it was just yesterday looking down at my pedal to clip in and feeling that first innocent drop of rain on the back of my neck…
As the National Anthem finished playing in the background and the buzz of thousands of cyclists preparing to start turned into a drone of excitement as the countdown began, I remember feeling like I was about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, the completion of my QUEST!
We were all to be tested that day as our trial by water unfolded. The rain that began as a steady drizzle quickly turned into a torrential downpour that continued throughout the entire day and the first 108 miles of the ride!
As we were tested by Mother nature, I remembered the look on Ron’s face the last time I saw him before heading off for my trip from Las Vegas to Boston and then to the starting line in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. I remember him saying “Go get em, you got this, you’re ready!”
I certainly didn’t feel ready. I would later come to realize that we are never “ready.” Well, not completely anyway, and that’s the difference between those that do and those that don’t. Those that do say YES even when they don’t feel ready and those that don’t wait for the magical day that never comes which is “someday.” They delude themselves into believing that “someday” they will be ready and that’s when they will finally say YES to themselves. The problem is that for most people, “someday” never comes… When they come to the end of their lives, they still have a stack of “somedays” and an hourglass that’s just been turned over for the last time…
Left now with a deep sense of regret, they become one of the statistics captured in Bronnie Ware’s book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
My Pan-Mass Challenge experience opened my eyes to a life I never knew existed. When I crossed the finish line of my two-day ride, I had been transformed from unsure to UNSTOPPABLE!
When I returned to Las Vegas, instead of returning the bike, a purchase was made instead. I have ridden the same bike every year in Ron’s honor… This year was no different, except it was completely different… It was the first year without Ron…
Shortly after the completion of my first ride, It soon also became my mission to share my experience with as many people as possible. Before I realized it, a book idea began to form in the back of my mind. There was just one problem! I wasn’t an author, and I knew absolutely nothing about writing a book.
Now transformed though, I wasn’t about to let my lack of knowledge keep me from fulfilling my QUEST. I don’t remember exactly when it was that I began writing my book, but I do remember it languishing uncompleted on the hard drive of my computer until I finally found the courage to acquire the knowledge and help, I needed to self-publish in commemoration of my 30th year of sobriety. So, on the 4th of July, in the year of the pandemic, I finally published The Someday Solution!
The story of Ron and many others make up the pages of my book and as I completed my first PMC in his absence, I wanted to capture the story in an article I could share with the rest of the world so they would know that not only did Ron’s life matter, but their lives matter too! You never know just how much your life will impact the life of someone else. There is no way to know just how far the ripple you start will spread.
One ripple can be like the wings of a butterfly beating on one side of the planet where the wind from the wings becomes a trade wind with the energy to carry a ship that leaves the harbor on its journey to complete its QUEST. Ron was for me, the butterfly effect! He allowed me to become the captain of my own ship! Today, I am piloting my vessel on my own personal quest across the pages of the globe to achieve and accomplish what’s important to me which is to help others achieve and accomplish whatever is important to them, so they can leave their mark on the world and fulfill the legacy of their destiny!
It’s possible that Ron’s destiny was to simply be the spark or the catalyst for the completion of my journey, but since I believe I am only just now coming into my prime, Ron will have to watch from the heavens above to see just how far his ripple spreads…
Written with #Gratitude for Ron and all those touched by cancer across our country and the globe. Thank You Ron! Thanks for riding with me this year and helping me up and over the hills as I completed my ride in your memory!
I will be forever #Grateful…
Advance Confidently is the title of my next book, you will have to wait to celebrate its release as I celebrate my 60th birthday. I have concluded the world doesn’t need another self-help book from me right now, so I am listening to my muse and will write a sci fi personal growth story of self-discovery instead. Hmmm? Almost sounds like a QUEST, right? I believe you will be INSPIRED with the story that chose me to write it! I never saw it coming but now that it’s here, I can’t wait to share it with all of YOU! I know it will be worth the wait because that’s my commitment to you, my readers. Thanks in advance for your trust and patience!
In the meantime, I released a special audio short story on Twitter to commemorate my Independence Day and my 31st year of sobriety. You can watch/listen to the story here ( https://youtu.be/9zP4kk5OTlo ). You can find me on Twitter @bobby_kountz
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed and found value in this article, please share it.
In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
“To begin is the most important part of any quest and by far the most courageous.” ~Plato
What would have us wrestling with the words of Plato? Why is it considered courageous to begin something new? Why do we become so comfortable in the familiar day to day mundane activities of our lives?
What is it that keeps us stuck and complacent when knowing full well we are capable of far more than we are currently producing or accomplishing?
Why do we settle for less? Why do we allow ourselves to accept less than what we know we deserve? Why do we lull ourselves into believing our lives are good enough when we know a better life lies just beyond where we’ve allowed ourselves to take shelter? How does apathy creep into our lives?
Questions?
Is it possible the solution to all the challenges and problems we face resides in our ability to ask better questions? Why do we embrace the superficial rather than taking on the deeper more challenging questions of life?
Is it fear?
What if it were as simple as not being willing to let go of whatever excuse we have made for not being where we would rather be?
Our rudimentary brain was designed to do just one thing. It was designed to protect us, to keep us safe from threats. The problem though, is all the saber tooth tigers are gone and we have moved out of the caves where we once lived. Unfortunately, our brains are still playing catch up…
Our brain will go to great lengths to protect us from all kinds of horrible things like embarrassment for example. Imagine being so concerned about what others might think of us for pursuing our dreams and goals we instead simply pretend that life is good enough just as it is, and if we’re not careful, the tiger might reemerge…
If we aren’t willing to risk failure, then we are resigned to live a life of safety and security and I’m not here to suggest there’s anything wrong with that unless you have somehow given up on your dreams and desires out of an unrealistic fear of judgment, ridicule, or a self-imposed limiting belief.
As a former oncology and hospice nurse and still active cancer support group facilitator, I can tell you from my own firsthand experience working with patients who have been put in touch with their own mortality, that regret is real…
Just like Bronnie Ware in her book, The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, I have found that most people wish they had found the courage to do more, to take more risks. The number one regret patients reported according to Ware was as follows:
“I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.”
As reported in her book, this was the most common regret of all. “When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.”
Now in all fairness and for equal balance I must also acknowledge the second regret that came from almost every male patient she nursed:
“I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.”
I believe it’s also important to put this regret into context with what the men in particular expressed about working so hard. She said, “They deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of work existence.”
It is this idea of the “treadmill of work existence” or as my friend Michael refers to, “the hamster wheel of life” that I want to explore further in this article, but before we move on, I think it’s important to capture one more element from The Top Five Regrets of the Dying.
The fifth regret simply stated: “I wish that I had let myself be happier.”
Ware writes, “Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called comfort of familiarity overflowed into their emotions as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content, when deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.”
This leads to the bigger question I hope to have each of you considering after reading this. What are your greatest regrets so far? What would you like to achieve or change before you die?
What QUEST remains awaiting the one key element required for its attainment?
Yes, it’s of YOU I speak…
Are you one of those who has only honored at most, half of your dreams? Do you even remember when it was you gave up? Do you remember why? Have you deluded yourself into believing it’s too late? Are you ready for the truth?
As long as you have breath in your body, a mind clear enough to remember, and the health to get up and out of the bed in the morning, it’s not too late!
Begin your quest now, tomorrow morning at the latest, I’ll give you the night to think it over. If you’ve taken in the words, I’ve shared here, then you might for the very first time be realizing that we have a limited number of days on this spinning rock.
And I’ll acknowledge that yes it might be risky to begin the pursuit of a dream late in life, but I’ve got a little secret to share with all of you. Here’s how risky life is. It’s so risky that NONE of us are getting out alive so why not go for it! What are you waiting for?
I know what you’re thinking… You don’t know where to start, right? Refer back to the opening quote that inspired this article and I think you’ll find all the inspiration you need to begin your quest.
If that doesn’t do it for you then perhaps this one will:
“I prefer the gradual path. My feeling is that mythic forms reveal themselves gradually in the course of your life if you know what they are and how to pay attention to their emergence. My own initiation into the mythic depths of the unconscious has been through the mind, through the books that surround me in this library. I have recognized in my quest all the stages of the hero’s journey. I had my calls to adventure, my guides, demons, and illuminations.” ~Joseph Campbell
Remember…
“The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.” ~Joseph Campbell
Stay tuned for the next article where I will go into greater detail around what I’ve recently discovered as it relates to the power of choosing or creating a quest to inspire permanent and lasting change in your life. As a matter of fact, I have worked out a process for you to follow if you choose. I have created a pathway or a gateway to your next big adventure and the only missing element is “YOU!”
Are you up for the challenge? Will you accept the mission? Are you QUEST ready?
Stay tuned…
Advance Confidently is the title of my next book, you will have to wait to celebrate its release as I celebrate my 60th birthday. I have concluded the world doesn’t need another self-help book from me right now, so I am listening to my muse and will write a sci fi personal growth story of self-discovery instead. Hmmm? Almost sounds like a quest, right? I believe you will be INSPIRED with the story that chose me to write it! I never saw it coming but now that it’s here, I can’t wait to share it with all of YOU! I know it will be worth the wait because that’s my commitment to you, my readers. Thanks in advance for your trust and patience!
In the meantime, I released a special audio short story on Twitter to commemorate my Independence Day and my 31st year of sobriety. You can watch/listen to the story here ( https://youtu.be/9zP4kk5OTlo ). You can find me on Twitter @bobby_kountz
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed and found value in this article, please share it.
In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” ~Helen Keller
If ever there was a phrase that captured the essence of what was the year 2020, I believe this might be it. As we look back, as we reflect on everything that happened since March of 2020, there is an underlying feeling that all of the things that were always in plain sight, people either simply ignored, or refused to pay attention to.
It’s not until something begins to affect the greater numbers of our society that people start to notice things, that people start to actually see. Prior to the pandemic, poverty was in plain sight. Prior to the pandemic, there existed an epidemic of underlying illiteracy in the richest country in the world.
How is it possible that in the year 2021 we still have schools across this country that don’t have the necessary resources they need to serve the students of their respective communities.
The children of this crisis are the ones who will be responsible for the future of the world. There is an incumbent responsibility amongst all adults to come together and make sure that these children have everything they need to make sure that in time, their children have a world to grow up in that’s better than it currently is.
We can continue to pretend that there are no major challenges facing our future or we can start asking better questions. What kinds of better questions could we ask? What if we started by asking the individuals in charge of all the schools across the country about what their number one unmet need is as it relates to providing inspirational education to the children?
Teaching children the basic fundamentals of reading, writing, science, and arithmetic, will only ever take us so far. How different would things be if we were also able to teach them lessons of compassion, understanding, curiosity, confidence, empathy, and so many other lessons that we currently are not taking the time to show them.
If thinking is what separates us from all the rest of the animal kingdom, then maybe we should spend some more time teaching children who are incredibly resilient and much brighter than we give them credit for, how their brains actually work. Operating from a place of fear or a predetermined curriculum about what we can and can’t teach kids is what’s keeping us from making any major advances with the very kids we claim we want to educate.
Education isn’t about facts and figures and taking tests and memorizing things. Education is about teaching problem solving. Education is about providing the tools children need to take on the challenges of the next century.
Clearly, we know that the level of thinking that led to the place that we currently are is not the level of thinking that will create a different place for the children to grow up in. With the population of the world rising at an alarming rate, children must be educated in the process of creative problem solving. As a matter of fact, maybe we should change the language around the word problem because when we label something we negate it.
“No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” ~Voltaire
What if we started calling what are perceived problems, opportunities instead? For example, if there’s not enough food to feed everybody, that simply means there’s an opportunity to find a better way. What if we empowered the children with the ability to create solutions where it seems none exist? And where do these solutions come from? We need only look to the great minds that have produced some of the major advancements in our world to know that it comes from creative capacity, from the ability to think outside the box, from the ability to imagine solutions for challenges that don’t yet exist.
The word imagine, in and of itself is a unique expression. The word translated in a literal sense simply means, to bring an image in. It’s an expression of how as human beings we think in pictures yet use words to describe what we see. And therein lies the conundrum. We can’t describe what we are unwilling to see…
Would there be anything wrong with teaching children that their world doesn’t have to be completely full every single moment of the day, that it’s OK for them to take a pause, to breathe, to reflect on the experience of their day. Are children educated in matters such as these? Is anyone talking to the children about the importance of self-care, of taking time to focus on or think about the things that most excite them? Or to just sit silently in a park and listen to the birds, watch the squirrels play, or to see the colors that emerge when winter turns to spring?
Mary Oliver once wrote a poem about a grasshopper. Most people know the most famous line from the poem, but I don’t believe the majority of people understand the nature of the poem, what the poem was really written about… Because of the profound nature of the final line, the message of the rest of the poem is often missed.
The quote everyone is familiar with is about what we will or won’t do with our one wild and precious life. The unknown part of the poem is a conversation with a grasshopper. Questions are asked. Questions that don’t necessarily have an answer, but we’re contemplated anyway for the purpose of contemplation, for the purpose of observation in a moment of presence free from distraction, focused only on the subject at hand, the grasshopper. Here are the other lines from a poem that was so richly written.
The Summer Day by Mary Oliver.
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
Let’s take the time to teach our children about what it means to put words together in a sentence written to evoke the senses instead of proper syntax and grammar, better yet, let’s do both.
Imagine a world where we teach children the importance of silence. The power of affirmations, of using language with purpose and intention to invite more of what we want into our lives. What if we could teach children to see what does not yet exist and because we taught them this skill, they created a future better and brighter than the one we currently live in. What if children understood the physiological reasons for exercise and that because we empowered them to understand this, we ended the current obesity crisis prevalent throughout America and many other parts of the world. What if we taught children not just how to read but how to tell a great story and why that’s important to the future of the world. And what if we taught them to write down the reflections from their day so they could have a written record of all the things they were able to experience. What if they were afforded an opportunity to also reflect on the impact of their decisions with the understanding that they never had to repeat an undesired action again if they chose not to, because being aware of it gave them another choice?
What if we taught them that every day is a blank canvas, an opportunity to write a fresh new script for how they choose to experience the day? What if we grounded them in the understanding that the one and only thing we have control over, is our thinking and how we choose to respond to the events unfolding around us?
And what if we taught them that choosing to see, or choosing not to see, sight or no sight, is a choice?
If we chose to do this, then I think we could end blindness and there’s no telling what kind of world our children might create.
Wouldn’t it be great if we taught our children how to both see and then say, I see you! And even better, wouldn’t it be great if they understood why that’s important…
Let’s end blindness. Let’s do it together!
Let’s empower our children to understand that they are the change agents of the future, the stewards of the Universe!
Written in honor of my grandchildren…
By the way, if you enjoyed this article, I believe you will thoroughly enjoy my next book, Advance Confidently. I look forward to sharing it with you on the 4th of July.
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
If you enjoyed and found value in this article, please share it.
In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched — they must be felt with the heart.” -Helen Keller
What is Inspiration? Those who know me, also know I love questions and I am insatiably curious. Now you know too! But it’s not just questions that I love. The questions I love are empowering questions. In the process of seeking an answer to an empowering question, we will regularly also discover inspiration.
When we share inspiration it often becomes inspiring. Information or inspiration shared with enthusiasm produces an animating or exalting effect. In a word, it becomes inspiring.
A favorite quote of mine by Mark Twain states: “Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” What can we learn from this quote? What kind of inspiration is available to us as human beings if we attempt to understand the words of the author?
What does the quote mean to you as a reader? What does it mean to you from the perspective of thinking?
Now, what does it mean to you from the perspective of feeling?
I would encourage you to pause here for just a moment and to really experience the power of this question. Take the time to both think about and feel what is coming up for you as you consider this…
What are you thinking?
What are you feeling?
Inspiration comes in many forms and it can be both given and received. I would encourage you to become both giver and receiver…
The reason why inspiration matters is because it propels us forward. When we become inspired, we are likely to take inspired action. Art, music, poetry, writing, and film, all have the potential to inspire us.
For me, it can be instrumental meditation music with nature, or The Eye of The Tiger.
It all depends, and that’s the best part.
The key is to act on whatever it is that inspires you. It’s what Author James Clear refers to as active inspiration. I will include an article link at the end of this one if you want to discover more.
The other day, I was inspired by the early morning sounds of birds chirping. To me, it sounded like happiness and in an instant, I was at one with the sound.
I was so inspired I decided to write about it. And now, I have become so inspired by writing again that I made a commitment to write one article every day in April. That’s inspired action. Inspired action is action that builds on itself.
What are you ready to take inspired action on today?
