- Food: Go to the store, buy, eat. Repeat. No questioning where it comes from, what’s in there, how is it fueling your body, will there still be more of it next week. Nah. It’s food, tastes good. Ever heard of that question asked to a kid, “Where do eggs come from”? He answered “the grocery store”. Yep, they magically appear there.

- Technology: What were you doing fifteen years ago? If I wagered a guess here, I’d say you weren’t spending hours per day on the internet. Now it’s everywhere and part of pretty much everyone’s life. It actually feels abnormal not to have it around. That is true with most tech pieces older than 6 months. OK maybe a year. Sometimes. And the iPhone doesn’t count.

- Fitness: Surely you’ve heard of amazing athletes. So amazing they could fly, or lift the Everest or something. Yet at some point in their life it seems they lose their edge, or worse, they regress. There are countless examples of people (not only athletes) that were slim, or fit and strong, and with time they get lazy, which eventually makes them out of shape.

And no, it’s not because they’re old. Otherwise this woman wouldn’t dance salsa and this man wouldn’t have that grace and quickness.

Impressive. I mean, it is! How can we lose track and attention to so meaningful parts of our lives?

Look at your situation. Consider the things you own (Josh Hanagarne has written an excellent post on ownership). Think of the pieces of story you’re living daily.

Some of these things might be good / positive, while others definitely feel negative. Sorry, let me rephrase that.

Some of these things are undoubtedly good. Are you fully appreciating them? Do you realize their full impact on your life? How are you taking care of them?

Other things might feel negative. However life has this cool way of making you always grow stronger out of obstacles. Isn’t growth what makes life worth living?

So, how do you face obstacles?

Are you fully appreciating your life?

Just a quick note to let you know I’ve been requested a guest post from one badass dude known as Adam T. Glass.

This guy amuses himself with 48kg (104lbs) kettlebells. I’m just saying. Go read his stuff!

Oh, and said guest post can be found here. By clicking on the link. It’s about dragonboat racing.

EDIT: A part of the text is inspired by my team’s inner philosophy. By the way, here’s my team’s website. Take a look! (click here for an automated translation)

Tell me what you think. Makes you want to try it out?

Cheers!

I promise I’ll try not to hit my proud swollen head on door frames.

Now, far from being one to rest on my laurels (it’s not even comfy), I’m looking at my list and I still got quite a lot of work ahead!

New stuff on the TODO list

First things first: I had forgotten to add yet another new challenge, numbered 8, submitted by Jean-Luc! He’s one of my Dragonboat teammates and training buddies, and we are to accomplish the iconic Iron Cross hold, for 3 seconds!

Here’s a video of a badass guy doing it for way longer:

Fortunately I won’t have to hold that long. 3 seconds will be more than enough for a start! I haven’t tried yet because I still have to buy rings, but I can’t wait to! Meanwhile I’ll be focusing on exercises using strength-rubber-handles-whatever device we got at the gym and my martial arts school, to strengthen my lats some more.

The straddle-press-to-handstand (Challenge #6) is doing well, too; I’ve been training hard as hell in the last couple of months (the last half-year actually), and making awesome progress strength-wise. Also, I’ve been focusing on getting a proper handstand form and strength down first; I am now able to hold 2 minutes with wall support, and 6 seconds with no support!

Apart from the strength-related challenges, I decided to start working on the finger whistling (#3; I still suck at it), and the Pictures with Strangers Shenanigans (#3).

For the whistling, I will use a strategy similar to what I’ve done with juggling, but I’ll simply try to practice as many times per day as I can. I just need to find ways to remind myself to do it.

For the pictures, I will set a goal for myself to get the first picture down by April 2nd. Let’s see how it goes! I’ll keep you updated of course.

Oh, also, I have a life

So what have I been up to lately? Well apart from my internship and my insane training schedule, my Dragonboat team and I also took part in our first competition of the year!

OK, it’s way too cold to go outside yet… So it’s an Indoor Competition!

We haven’t done as well as we hoped; however considering that we had 14 recruits (over 20 paddlers total!) in the boat, and that we still held very well against the strongest teams, we can be quite proud of ourselves! Here is a video of our Finals race:

Want to know more about this awesome/crazy sport? I’m currently in the process of writing an extensive article about it. It shall be out very soon. Stay tuned!

But before I get back to that, I need to take a shower. The thing with training is it makes you sweat. It might make you puke, too, but I’m not John Romaniello or anything.

Cheers folks!

Here you go! The karaoke challenge!

I apologize in advance for the poor audio… it’s the best I could do in a bar setting.

Hope you enjoy! Feel free to post your impressions in the comments (bonus points to the one who can describe my poor voice the best)

Now I can move on to the next challenges… some are going to be really tricky!

Cheers!

I did it! Yay!

After 3 tries with 3 different songs, YouTube accepted my audio. Shut up YouTube, I give credits at the end, dammit!

Anyway, let’s stop the ranting… Enjoy the vid!

Thanks

Mat

Talking about Olympics, it was a pretty amazing event. Even more so, I think, from a Canadian perspective! (Yea I’m biased, so what?) – 14 Gold Medals, are you kidding me?! And 26 medals total! Congratulations to ALL the canadian Olympic athletes.

One special mention, of course, to Joannie Rochette and her hard-earned Bronze Medal in Figure Skating. In case you’ve been living under a rock or gone at a trip to Mars, you probably heard about her tragic loss and how she overcame it, STILL going out there and giving her best. TWICE.

She was an inspiration to all of us, and a brilliant example of relentlessness. (I like that word, “relentlessness”. Sounds smart, doesn’t it?)

So, how can we use this inspiration and become just as relentless? Here are a few tips:

1. Find out what you want; set a goal

It seems even just this part is like the Holy Grail for many people; yet it is only the beginning. Some will have the luck of finding their calling early, others struggle with that for the rest of their lives.

I’m one of the latter. If I could I’d do everything in my reach. But in the end, you know what counts? That you make a choice and STICK to it, if only long enough to accomplish something with it. And don’t be afraid to tackle many projects at once, if your inner self calls for it.

At some point if your mind changes and you want to try something else/new, don’t fret and make that change. You have to be happy with what you’re doing.

However, don’t confuse that with “not feeling like it today”, or “I’m waaaay too tired” or “I had a bad day”.

In any case, your age should make no difference in your choice. You want to do something? DO IT.

When you find out what you want, set a specific goal.

2. Peel the onion

Now that you know what you want to do, and that your goal is set… ask yourself: Do you really know why you want to do this? What exactly is the true reason?

So maybe you’d like to play piano. OK that’s cool, but why?

Oh, because you like the sound and feeling of it. Why?

Because it reminds you of this specific song you like. Why?

Because it calls back memories from your grandmother and how she used to play for you as a child… etcetera.

… see where I’m going? This technique is called “peeling the onion”; Ask yourself WHY until you get to the deep-down bottom of it.

You may become emotional. It is very possible that you’ll cry. This is a good thing. Knowing deep down why you want to do something is one of the best ways to keep to your goals. Also, you might discover many things about yourself and bring your self-understanding to a whole new level.

3. Go to War

As you start acting towards your goal, you will soon realize that there are no shortcuts. It most certainly won’t be easy. Otherwise why would you have to set a goal for it?

But it doesn’t matter, because by now you know you truly want it, and why you do. Therefore, look at the road ahead and face the obstacles, known and unknown, that await…

AND GO TO WAR.

Face forward like a raging bull, roaring like a lion, screaming “FREEDOM!” like Mel Gibson in Braveheart, I don’t care how you do it, BUT DO IT.

4. Keywords

Some days you just need that emotional push to drive you forward, because energy is lacking or you head is filled with stuff or you just don’t feel like it. It happens to the best of us (that even means me!).

A remarkable tool that can help in these situations, aside from the preceding point, is the use of keywords. We say keywords, but it could be either a word, phrase/sentence, or even a song, an image or a specific scene you’ve lived.

What matters is that you associate a particularly strong feeling to this key. The emotion could be intensity, just as well as it could be happiness, concentration, laughing, or deep calmness.

As you can see, keywords can actually be useful to pretty much all areas of life.

When you feel something strongly, become aware of it and register a keyword to go with it. Then at any time that you need it, bring up that keyword.

I guarantee you’ll be surprised by the effect.

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To conclude, here is how Craig Ballantyne, a renowned fitness trainer, put it recently:

Research show that for 75% of people their biggest regrets in life are the things they didn’t do in life…not the things they did.

So…”Go to the effort. Invest the time. Write the letter. Make the apology. Take the trip. Purchase the gift. Do it.” -Max Lucado

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Now… what are YOUR tips?

I might post later to add some comments.

Enjoy!

Last week, I passed a belt test to get my brand new green sash in Fang Shen Do Kung-Fu. I am proud to say that it went very well and I can see the progress I made from the last time.

Progress is an amazing feeling, and testing your abilities and skills is one of the best ways I know of to measure personal progress. In this regard, Martial Arts have been of tremendous help and have ever been my guide.

Just so you get an idea where I stand, my martial arts experience starts from way back into my (chubby) kid days doing some months of Shotokan Karate with my father, and Yoseikan Karate later with some years in between. I only made it to yellow belt in the latter, but I already knew in my heart that I loved martial arts. Because of that, a couple of years later (in my teens) I started Shorin-Ryu, also known as Karaté Sportif around the Laval area (Quebec, Canada).

I managed to stay 2 years there, started becoming quite at ease with martial arts drills and made it to my green belt. The tests in this school weren’t all that hard, but we did get evaluated and I always tried my best and put all the effort I could.

Shaolin Seminar

Then I moved to Quebec City, which made me drop Shorin-Ryu. Two years passed, and I realized I desperately CRAVED doing martial arts again. So I found another school, the Studios-Unis, which teaches Nick Cerio‘s Kenpo. This is where my martial life started getting serious.

The belt tests are what blew my face away. I will always remember my first test there, to get my yellow belt. I couldn’t make it to the group test, so I had to face my instructor alone. Oh, and I was *starting* to get in shape back then, but had a huge way to go. So this instructor started my test and made me live THE FRIGGIN’ LONGEST 45 MINUTES MY LIFE HAS EVER HAD. “Wait, wasn’t that 3 hours or something?”. It was one of my most intensely challenging moments, both physically and psychologically.

But when the instructor put the belt in my hands… I was the happiest, albeit most wasted man in the world. I had gone through. I had passed the hardest physical moment of my life, and was still living to tell the tale. This belt I was being handed was the token, the symbol of what I had gone through.

Despite the scratches, the pain and going through hell hours at a time, I nevertheless became addicted to getting tested. The accomplishment I felt overwhelmed everything else. Each time, I saw progress. I used the difficulty of these tests as a motivator to train hard, and make sure as heck I wouldn’t screw up. As a result my technique,  fitness, confidence… they all went up, and I never stopped improving.

Fast forward almost two years from now, I faced the first true long-term goal almost any martial artist lusts for: The Black Belt. I passed with definite success, and was filled with pride.

I had just set the first true milestone to my martial path.

“Wait, what?” – Despite what many think, the black belt is never the end goal. It is a crossroads and where the journey actually begins, because you know where you’re headed. You’re either stopping (for any reason), or actually never will; in the latter scenario, Martial Arts has become a true part of your life.

This is nicely poetic and all, but reality still kicks in and I had this crazy project of going back to school, and had to move back in Montreal in order to do it. No Studios-Unis there, and no Kenpo style nearly resembling Cerio’s. I was in for quite a search.

When I found out about Fang Shen Do, however, I felt I was onto something. I had an intention to try out many schools before locking down my choice, but only one try at this one was all the arguments I needed to sign in. Lots to learn, many fun drills, admirable focus on both physical training and stretching, and even breathing and meditation. I was hooked.

However, I still had to fall back as a complete beginner (not even white belt!) when I started. This was a completely different system, and all the Nick Cerio’s knowledge in the world couldn’t make me an instant black belt everywhere else.

Chi Sao Seminar

No matter; my cup is empty. So long as I’m learning, I don’t actually care what color my belt is. Rather, I’m willing to learn, build my way back up AGAIN and prove I’m worthy to wear a black sash as a Fang Shen Do practitioner.

The actual tests are of course very different. Still quite challenging, but not in the same all-out physical, no-gas-left-in-the-tank fashion. Well, not yet anyway. And it doesn’t matter as much, because the classes alone leave no gas in the tank. Oh, and I heard that the deal changes when it gets to tests for brown and up.

We shall see. And I definitely intend to find out next Fall. This is the goal I set for myself, and I’ll work all the way through to make it happen.

What about you? How do you measure progress in areas of your life?

Stay strong!

Mathieu

I haven’t checked in for a while and I missed it. I’ve worked hard lately to find ways to make more time for this blog and project and I think I got a couple of things back on track.

I’m working regularly on juggling, too, and my personal record is now 47 throws! Still no video, but that’ll also soon be covered again as I’ve found a way better software to work on that.

I’m still aiming for those 30 seconds (which I estimate to be about 55-60 throws), and I’m getting closer. Right now I can do 20-30 throws pretty regularly, so it’s only a matter of repeated practice. I want to get the first challenge down SOON so I’m going to make it happen. And capture it on video for your enjoyment.

Also, I have to prepare for the challenge #7 (a.k.a. Valentine’s Day Challenge!) in only ONE WEEK already! Gosh, time flies by so fast. I’ve repeated the translations a couple of times, and I’ll put a focus on it this week to be ready for V-Day.

One thing though, is I’m still not sure how the heck am I going to just happen to cross paths with a randomly-selected beautiful woman whom is also single. Maybe I’ll just go to the shopping mall and ask around or something. Lonely girls OUGHT to get on a shopping spree to drown their tears or something. I don’t know, I’m not a girl.

Got any ideas? Please help me and post a comment

Meanwhile, I’ll also be posting something soon regarding my Green Sash (belt) test I passed last wednesday, and my martial arts progress in general. Stay tuned!

Mat