Achieving Your Passion--IDTBIC

Get your eyeballs ready to read...

I am a charter member of SAN Masters--a Toastmasters club here at the airport. Today, I gave a speech. Part of my speech focused on my philosophy as it relates to health and fitness. I thought I would post it here for my readers...

Achieving Your “Passion”
(IDTBIC)

I’d like to ask you all a direct question: By show of hands, how many of you have committed to a new project or behavior (like a new years resolution), only to slack off or quit altogether a few weeks or months later?

This overwhelming response shows that we have all done this—and thank you—I’m glad I’m not alone. We humans tend to have all kinds of spunk and motivation at the beginning of a project or goal, but seem to lose steam, as the weeks and months go by. We slack off a few times, then feel defeated, saying to ourselves, “Oh—just forget it. I can’t do this. It’s just too hard.”

How can we achieve our goals? How can we stick with things that are hard or difficult? What is that spark that fires us up in the beginning, and what is it that will continue to keep the flame burning?

My answer lies in how you answer these questions: How badly do you want to achieve or do that “thing?” “Is achieving this “thing” so important to you that it trumps everything else in your life?” If the answer to that last question is “yes”, then you have found your passion, and you will achieve it, because it is what is most important to you.

Now, I’m going to ask a couple more questions—ones that do not require a direct answer, but are simply for you to ponder. What is your passion? Is there something that you long for or want badly? Are there goals involved or certain actions you need to take in order to achieve this thing? Then the questions now become, “How much do you want it, why do you want it and how important is it to you?” How passionate are you about this “thing” and what are you willing to do to achieve it?

By now, you may have been able to identify your passion—there is no stopping you!!! You will succeed, but how? Start mapping this out—either in your mind or on paper—whatever works best for you.

I’ll now speak from personal experience. Back in 1987, I smoked a pack and a half of cigarettes a day. For years I knew that quitting was the best thing I could do for my health and longevity. I knew it would be difficult, so I stalled. The time came when I felt I could put it off no longer. Quitting became my passion. I decided that I would smoke my last cigarette at midnight, New Years, 1988. I knew that I was going to do this, because I was committed and that was that. I’d tried to quit several times before, but didn’t have a game plan and I guess I was just not passionate enough about making it happen. But this time was different, and I knew it. I did achieve my goal. I was successful, I believe—because that was my passion—to be healthy and to set a healthy example for my daughters. I have been smoke-free now for more than 21 years. There are many smoking cessation programs out there, but this is not about which one works—it’s about one’s commitment to achieve a goal or “passion”—however you choose to do it. The “cold-turkey” approach worked for me, but it may not work for everyone.

With no more smoking habit—on came the pounds. That certainly was not my plan, but it happened. Year after year, I slowly gained weight. Oh, I would try different weight loss programs and had some success, but always ended up going back to my old eating habits. I just didn’t want to stop eating my favorite fattening foods. Apparently I did not want to lose weight badly enough.

During the last few months of 2006, I knew I had to do something about my overall health. I found myself aging—something, unfortunately, I couldn’t really do anything about. I knew, however, that I could do something about my fitness level and nutrition habits. My weight was approaching 200 pounds (I’m only 5 foot tall), my total cholesterol was nearing 300 and my blood sugar was spiking, running the risk of potentially contracting Type 2 Diabetes. Heart disease runs rampant in my family—so from my vantage point—I was a disaster waiting to happen. I was disgusted with myself and pretty darned depressed. I really wanted to turn over a new leaf for 2007 and beyond, but asked myself, “What if I start a nutrition and exercise program only to fail again--slipping back into my old habits?? How many times had I done this before? This time, I was determined not to let that happen. I learned a long time ago that a diet is something one “goes on and off” of. No—this had to be different. This needed to be a life event—a lifestyle change for the better—once and for all. This became my passion. But why? Why was it my passion? Family. I learned that I was going to become a grandma in 2007. I envisioned taking my little grandees to the park, to the zoo and rolling around on the floor and acting goofy with them. In my present poor physical condition, that didn’t look too promising. Wanting to be healthy for my family became a priority for me.

One day, out of the blue, this phrase popped into my head, and it really represented how I would approach achieving my new goal. The phrase is… “I’m doing the best I can.” or IDTBIC.

My game plan began. I decided that in order to achieve my goal in getting healthy, that I was not going to try to be “perfect”. That is an absolute impossibility in this life. Events, weddings, showers, parties, pot lucks are going to happen, and if I tell myself that I am not going to partake, I’m only fooling myself.

There are millions of diet and exercise programs out there, and the majority of them probably work. The thing that was really going to make the difference was my level of commitment in achieving this goal. Again, this is not about how I succeeded—that is another talk entirely. Suffice it to say that I did succeed. Although I’m not yet at my goal weight, I have now lost 57 pounds. My total cholesterol is now around 150, and my blood sugar is normal, and I love rolling around on the floor with my little Marli. I feel better than ever, and my commitment to my passion continues to grow.

Our theme today, “Rolling with the Punches”, ties in beautifully with my talk, so I thought I would Google it to see what others had to say. Here’s one post:

“It means that if something unpleasant happens to you, don't let it get you upset. Just do your best to keep a positive attitude by setting up a mental reaction that will protect you from being hurt.”Similar phrases are: “Go with the flow; land on your feet; keep a level eye; hang in there.”

…and I would like to add to this list--IDTBIC. Tell yourself, “I’m doing the best I can.” You’ll know that when you are doing your very best, you will achieve your goal. Our newly elected President, Barak Obama’s motto is “Yes we can!” Yes, I can—yes, you can—achieve your passion.