Okay, so it’s been QUITE some time since I wrote my last Fitness Update, but it doesn’t mean that I haven’t been hitting the gym as often as I could.

I finished Phase 2 fresh off the heels of Phase 1, and to be honest, I didn’t really follow through with the “recovery” week. I did maybe Core Synergistics and Plyometrics just to stay consistent with the cardio portion of the program. I also indulged in an order of filthy/greasy wings and two pints of Keith’s to wash them down … I earned it!

Adding on to my previous Fitness Update, I bought some new equipment to increase the intensity and effectiveness of my workouts, tried a new cookbook and some supplements as well.

Equipment:

Nike Push up bars - I bought these at Sportchek in Eaton Centre for about $25 Canadian, which wasn’t too bad. They give you about 6 more inches of depth and can really add more definition to your arms, chest and back when you’re pumping out those military pushups

 
Nutrition:

One major addition to my diet was the “Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook” by Tosca Reno. This awesome cookbook is chalk full of healthy and guilty free recipes that break down the nutritional info for you, which might be helpful to some who are calorie-counters.

Nutrition Supplements:

MuscleTech NitroTech Hardcore - I was thinking of switching it up but decided to get the larger tub out of convenience. If any of you have recommendations that would be comparable to NitroTech, I’d appreciate it.

MuscleTech Cell-Tech Hardcore - Buying MuscleTech’s Cell-Tech was probably the worst of my decisions in terms of what supplements to experiment with.   The loading phase was the worst!  In fact, I couldn’t even get past it because of the chronic diarrhea and constant trips to the washroom.  Definitely not cool.

Vitamins – I picked these up to round out my diet and helping muscle recovery.

Apart from vitamins, I’m thinking about picking up some Glucosamine to help speed up muscle recovery, but I don’t know if it’s really that beneficial. (Anyone try or know??)

Thoughts on Phase 2:

If Phase 1 was for trimming the fat and becoming leaner, Phase 2 is where I noticed more definition and bulk. The workout components of Phase 2 were:

• Chest, Shoulders & Triceps
• Ab Ripper X
• Plyometrics
• Back & Biceps
• Yoga X
• Legs & Back
• Kenpo X

Each of these workouts weren’t entirely different from that of Phase 1, but different enough in order to take advantage of “Muscle Confusion” in order to keep you from reaching a plateau and staying there in order to spur muscle growth.

To be honest, I went a bit easy on myself here as I was starting up school so I needed to find a balance between the crazy 6 day workout schedule, working and studying, so I decided to cut out Yoga X and Kenpo X. If I was really pressed for time, I’d cut out Legs & Back as well, which could be an explanation why my legs and back weren’t a defined and my growth wasn’t as drastic compared to completing Phase 1.

I did the same for Phase 3 pretty much, but had to stop half way through this Phase to buckle down for exams.

After reflecting on my experiences with on my modified “P90X Lite” program, simply put, if you cut out some workouts if you’re pressed for time, you’ll STILL get results, but they won’t be as dramatic as you might have originally hoped.  Apart from leading a healthy lifestyle, I would have to say my confidence has definitely increased and my posture has definitely improved.  Also, I’ve noticed that my body language reflects these changes as well, whether conscious or unconscious. 

Now that I have the time, I’ve decided to give the entire P90X program another spin and start from the beginning, this time without skipping out on any workouts like Yoga X, Legs & Back and Kenpo X.  I”m excited to see what results I can yield and will take a pic after each of my workouts to keep track of my progress.  My progress pics are up to date as of this blog post.

I want to oppose the idea that school has to teach directly that special knowledge and those accomplishments that one has to use directly later in life.  The development of general ability or independent thinking and judgment should always be placed foremost… If a person masters the fundamentals of his subject and has leraned to think and work independently, he will surely find his way and will better adapt himself to progress and changes than the person who training consists principally in the acquiring of detailed knowledge – Albert Einstein

A while back my friend Malcolm had wrote a post about “Taking Your Learning to the Comments” when it came to blogging. It had really resonated because at the time I was reading and now finished the book “What Smart Students Know” by Adam Robinson.

I think that it’s difficult to get into high level (”intelligent”) conversations in class at the undergrad business student level being as undergrad business students lack real world experience to contribute their personal opinions and tie it to the theory that is being taught in class. This is especially true for cut and dry fields like Information Technology, Engineering, Accounting, Finance and the like. For liberal arts courses, it’s an entirely different story where you can reflect on personal experiences, thoughts of the world, philosophies, etc.

Everything is mapped out for us and any sort of “creative expression” for your given course is really difficult because of our lack of exposure to real world application of what we learn in business school. Exceptions to this are if you’re studying entrepreneurship or involved in that field in some form or fashion where being creative and innovative in solving a real world need is a must.

The crux of the problem is that most business is the lack of the lessons being taught in class being anchored to real world application and “seeing it in action” to make what was abstract and intangible to concrete and tangible and then further reinforcing the theory that was taught in class.

The key, however, is engagement and full immersion of what’s being taught. By full immersion I mean that you’re engaging all of your senses and breathing life into what was theory and “seeing the gears turn” in real life. Any intelligent or insightful dialogue between both teacher and students or even between students is sorely lacking.

I’d say take a multi-pronged approach to learning would be more holistic. Instead of confining your learning to in class, textbook and conversations with classmates, this could be extended to online, in person, through books and conversations with your prof / classmates – ANYTHING that engages the student to think more critically about the material in making connections to the “big picture” (of the business world, life, etc…)

In terms of my own learning, most of my growth stems in the personal development field. I’d relentlessly devour anything and everything with respect to how to tackle whatever issues I may be experiencing and taking on a ‘360-degree’ perspective. This entailed going through volumes on books on spirituality to books on ‘learning how to learn’ (see “What Smart Students Know” above).

How I learn is whether the topic I’m learning about applicable in my own life, so I feel that taking a sense of responsibility and ownership over what you’re learning. Being personally invested and immersing yourself are critical success factors in “true” learning versus superficial learning for the sake of just passing the course or your undergrad degree.

I wouldn’t go so far as taking participation to online only. Rather, I’d encourage to EXTEND it to online conversations if you’re savvy enough.

Bottom line is, try anything that works for you that would further engage you and think about your subject matter more critically through taking different perspectives from other peoples’ comments. Be wary of environments that stifle critical thinking and seek other outlets to further your understanding in whatever field you may be in.

Before I continue, I will selfishly say that I’m writing this for me and only me to keep me accountable for what I’m mapping out for myself over the next year.   This will be for me to reflect upon for years to come, so this is warning in advance that this will be a LONG post, but if you want to check out what’s happened in my life over the last year you’re more than welcome to take a peek. Oh yeah, read on for a major announcement as well

Now that I got that disclaimer out of the way,  I can boldly say that I’ve made leaps and bounds in my personal growth and understanding what I am truly capable of.    At the beginning of 2008, I was fresh off of Tony Robbin’s Personal Power II program and I wrote a post on New Year’s Resolutions versus Dedications, which entailed being conscious of the language that we use as an indication of our internal dialogue and what we say to ourselves, how we rationalize and justify our choices and opinions in whatever it is we’re facing in our life situations.

For the purposes of skimming, I’ve provided links to my year end reflections of my failures and successes this year.

YEAR END REFLECTIONS

FAILURES

Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed on an equal or greater benefit.’  - Napoleon Hill

There is a lot to be learned from failures no matter how painful, traumatizing or heart-breaking they may be.  To me, failure is to be unconscious of the invisible forces that lead us to failing in the first place. As long as you go about living your life with courage and consciously dissect your failures and break them down to find out what the major contributing factors were, there are major breakthroughs to be had when you make it a habit and perservere every single day in your life.

School

Second City Conservatory Program

Completing Toastmasters Competent Communicator Track

Reading 30 books on self-actualization

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.  – Thomas A. Edison

• Belief and respect in myself and others
• Being grateful for everything I have
• Implementing and refining better solutions to problems that arise in my life – constantly
• Nurturing my ‘inner world’  
• Celebrating all of my victories and the micro-distinctions I’ve made – no matter how small or seemingly insignificant

Running a Marathon

Journaling

Affirmations

Transforming for SickKids Initiative 2008

Blogging

Credit Card Debt

Sculpt My Body Like Bruce Lee’s & P90X

Moving In With My Girlfriend

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

Back on December 19, 2008, I wrote down all the things I wanted to turn into reality without judgment by December 31, 2009. I whittled all the “goals” I have for the year into seven different categories being:  

Health, Wealth, Relationships, Creativity, Career, Contribution and Exploring the World.

These are my New Year’s Goals for 2009:

Health:

• Run a Marathon in under 3 hrs 45 mins by Oct 31, 2009
• Complete P90X and P90X+ programs
• Allow only ONE day per month to consume alcohol (not including the preparation of meals like risotto)

Wealth:

• Plow through the remainder of my credit card debt and burn half way through my OSAP loan
• Make $200 per week in passive income

Creativity:

• Finish my Competent Communicator and Competent Leader tracks for Toastmasters
• Write on a consistent basis (4 times weekly) to become a better writer
• Read at least 26 books on anything (one book every two weeks)
• Finish improv classes at The Impatient Theatre Company

Relationships:

• Be an even BETTER boyfriend in 2009
• Devote more quality time to family
• Be the central hub to a fantastic group of friends (current and new)
• Appreciate as well as give and add value to all of my relationships in any form possible

Career:

• Finish up Accounting degree
• Get into CMA Accelerated Program for Sept 2009
• Get a new job

Contribution:

• Take my Transforming for SickKids Initiative to the next level

Exploring the World:

• Travel to at least 2 countries outside of North America

It’s a lengthy list and definitely challenging – but if I turn any of these Resolutions into reality, I’ve already won. That’s all! FINALLY eh??

I can’t wait to see how 2009 will stack up against an amazing 2008!

My parting words to those who have skimmed or read this entire post is to have a fantastic 2009 and may it eclipse 2008!

What are your resolutions?  In a year’s time, what kind of person do you envision yourself becoming?  Let me know in the comments

I find mini-clips like these to be invaluable in pulling me out and snapping myself out of a negative spiral and put me into a state that’s grateful, focused, resourceful and action-oriented.

So I figure it’s time to share my favourite motivational clips on Youtube!

Michael Jordan

This is the clip that I watch the most often. There’s a reason why Michael Jordan was the greatest basketball player to have ever graced with his killer instinct, prowess and finesse – on and off the court.

Lance Armstrong & Vince Vaughan in Dodgeball

A bit more tongue-in-cheek, this clip gave me a good chuckle and teaches a good lesson.

Rocky Balboa

Who doesn’t love an underdog? Rocky teaches his son a lesson in life.

Dr. Randy Pausch

The late Dr. Randy Pausch before he passed away, decided to give his “Last Lecture” to his three children when they’re old enough to comprehend what the lessons and knowledge he wanted to impart to them to lead a fulfilling and meaningful life.

Steve Jobs

Finally, Steve Jobs and his commencement speech to Stanford University undergrads tells three stories about ‘Connecting the Dots’, ‘Love and Loss’, and ‘Death’.

If you have any short yet profound motivational clips, share them in the comments!

• Making strong offers
• Giving focus and getting commitment
• Listening

For Part 2 I’ll be covering

• Authenticity
• Making the other person look good
• Outcome Independence

Authenticity

According to dictionary.com, their definition of authenticity is:

• The quality of being authentic or of established authority for truth and correctness
• Genuineness; the quality of being genuine or not corrupted from the original.

This is what I was referring to earlier in simply being “real” with people you come across in your social interactions. In improv, by being authentic and improvising with a brutal honesty can really help you connect with your audience because there is nothing being held back. You are expressing yourself from your core and things flow naturally in how you express yourself, your body language, the tonality of your voice, and steady eye contact. Everything is aligned and you’re totally congruent in how you’re expressing yourself.

This can easily be applied to your everyday social interactions as well. I’m not saying that you should be brutally honest in every situation. Use your own judgment. You wouldn’t want to do that in a professional environment

Making the other person look good

How exactly do you go about making the other person ‘look’ good? In improv, making your fellow improviser look good is doing everything you can in a support position with their offers and yes-anding them to drive the scene forward.

When you have a group of improvisers looking to make each other look good, what you get is a cohesive group that is making the scene flow naturally, and appreciating each others presence, improvisation skill-set as well as to generally have fun with whatever suggestion you’re given to work with.

Similarly, when you’re in an interaction with someone, genuinely appreciating (and meaning it) what the other person brings to the conversation be it their beliefs, thoughts, opinions, knowledge, their presence or how they present themselves to you is how you make them look good and feel good about sharing a part of themselves. You’re essentially giving the other person your approval without judgment.

In turn, when your appreciation or interest in the other person is genuine and you’re actively contributing and adding value to the interaction by sharing and relating it to your own insights and experiences – a connection is formed. This is where you want to be, and when you get here, you’ll find how amazing and fun it is to connect with people from all walks of life – and the label of being “charismatic” is attached to you

The second installment of How to be Charismatic Using Improv

Being outcome independent

Let go of any preconceived notions of how things will work out when you’re among new people, friends or acquaintances. Here, you are indifferent to the outcome because you’re merely enjoying the other person’s presence. When a conversation is fun and enjoyable, people will naturally like you and want to connect with you.

Give up any ‘plan’ that you’re going to network like crazy and make ‘solid contacts’ for the purposes of whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish. When you’re trying, people will sense it, but when you’re just letting things flow, giving value, yes-anding, showing genuine appreciation, listening and not getting at any particular outcome, things will come to you when you’ve incorporated all the previous concepts to make you personality magnetic.

While this is a counter-intuitive and abstract concept, letting go of any outcome you want to arrive to will ultimately trip you up in being liked by other people because they feel that you want to “get something” from them. Trying to be charming as opposed to just ‘being’ and letting others decide you’re charming is the key. You’re not there to get anything, you just “are” and that’s what will make you magnetic.

Putting it all together

How do you become charismatic or good with people? You certainly don’t need to take a slew of improv classes or take courses on how to become more social (although they can help and put you on the right track).

My simple and basic answer is that it all comes down to the fundamentals, in excelling in the social arts and becoming charismatic. To excel in any sort of art, it takes theory, practice and skill. For the theory portion, it can be learned in the timeless classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie, which is recommended by business executives, world leaders and self-help authors as influences for the success in their own lives. It was hugely influential in how I interact with people and how I connect with them.

But having the theory in your head after finishing a book isn’t the goal. The goal is to immediately apply what you’ve learned to the real world. This is where the practice comes in and it can be applied to anyone – family, friends, work colleagues and the new and interesting people who you will meet and naturally gravitate towards you.

As you get better and practice the fundamentals of being better more people, you’ll notice that your conversation skills become better and the social aspect of your life will be more rich and rewarding – and you’ll be blown away by the way people react to you with your confidence and charm

P90X Phase 1

So it’s been a little over a month and now I’m on my recovery week after finishing Phase 1 of the P90X program. If I were to sum up my past month in one sentence, it would be “You get what you put in”.

A common misconception is that “anyone” can do this program (especially with their slick infomercial) and come out with stellar results and a six-pack abs.

For those who are thinking of following through with their fitness goals and whipping themselves into shape without any prior physical activity or some sort of training the task might be more daunting than originally envisioned. It took me about 4 times before I built enough momentum after training for my half marathons – it really is mind over matter with this program.

Don’t get me wrong, P90X is a fantastic workout program, but only for those who are already in “okay” in shape where you can run 5 kilometres without passing out and doing at least 1 assisted pull-up, possess a “killer” never-give-up psychology, and backed enough with compelling reasons of why you want to follow through on this 90 day commitment to your fitness and health.

In order of importance here were the things that were the most important in the P90X program.

Nutrition: depending on your point of view – this would be the easiest or the hardest of the P90X program.

I realize when it comes to nutrition, you’re fully in control of what you eat and what you don’t eat.  In my case, I cut out 98% of my junk food intake, with the hardest obstacle being my craving for potato chips, which I eventually got under control after kicking that habit after training for my half marathons.

The P90X program suggests that break down the times you eat to 5 times a day – Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and then dinner, with the point being to keep your blood sugar levels at a consistent level so you’re not as tired and better manage your energy ups and downs throughout the day.

With respect to hydration, 90% of the time I drank filtered tap water, along with soy milk and the occasional glass of wine or beer with a meal.

As for the Recovery drink, I was a bit sketchy about these at first, but I eventually caved and bought a recovery drink myself through a recommendation of a close friend of mine. I ended up picking up a tub of MuscleTech “NitroTech” product in vanilla flavour from my local GNC, which is actually pretty tasty.

I’ve noticed a small amount of definition, even after using it for only two and a half weeks.

I can admit that I’m a bit neurotic when it comes to the food that I eat, but this is for the purposes of fulfilling this 90 day goal – I’ll reflect on whether or not I want to continue my obsessive vigilance of sticking to a healthy meal plan to the point I won’t even look at a donut… which is tough up here with Tim Hortons’s on every bloody corner of the city. Lol.

The Equipment: the most important things you should get are free weights and a pull-up bar. Luckily the facilities at the condo I live in has free weights in its gym so I didn’t have to spend any money, which leaves the pull up bar. I picked up a DoorGym pullup bar made by Forza Equipment from Fitness Source here in Toronto, which set me back about $50.

It’s a great piece of equipment that requires minimal assembly and hooks to your door very easily and in under 3 seconds.

The Workout Schedule: you’re hitting the gym 6 times a week with the last day being a rest day or for their “StretchX” program. The first week is always the toughest, and generally where most people give up. Like I said before, this is my forth try in trying out this program, so don’t beat yourself up if you’re thoroughly worn out after doing any one of his P90X routines. I reminded myself that it was okay, and I could always give it another try.

How I fit this program into my schedule was immediately after work I’d hit the gym with my pull-up bar in hand. I made it one of the priorities in terms of areas of my life and pen it into my trusty PocketMod.

Final Thoughts:

While it was definitely challenging and uphill climb at first, after you push past that first week, the second week a little bit easier, and the third being even easier and so and so forth.   Like I said, you get what you put in.

Like Tony Horton says in his videos (which can be a little annoying but hits the nail on the head),“You’ve got to BRING IT” to get the most out of the program and keep on pushing even further than you did before to get the maximum results.

So far I’m happy with the results, but I’m not complacent.   Onto Phase 2!

For those of you who are curious, here’s a photostream of my progress on Flickr

Note ***(I realized it’s kind of funny that I haven’t written any articles directly addressing cultivating charisma (or leadership) for that matter since I’ve started my blog. After reading a post by Dan over at CharismaTips.com split from Charisma Arts, he has since pumped out a slew of quality posts, I decided it was time for me to write something on my thoughts on directly related charisma. This is the first post of a two-part series)

After over a year and a half of improvisational comedy training at The Second City and The Impatient Theatre Company, along with much thought and experimentation and of course countless conversations with literally hundreds of random strangers, I can see the parallels between being charismatic and using principles founded on improvisational comedy (improv) being:

• Making strong offers (and ‘yes-and’ them)
• Commitment
• Listening
• Authenticity
• Making the other person look good
• Taking risks
• Being outcome independent.

If you’ve ever thought back to a time where a conversation that was naturally flowing, the general feeling is that there was a certain “realness” or authenticity of that person, the conversation was genuine, easy, effortless, comfortable, and for the most part fun. The end result is usually you being labeled as “charming” or “refreshing” as a conversationalist whether admitted or implied.

While there are many methods out there that you can learn in order to become charismatic, what you don’t is to box in yourself through using a linear rigid structure (ie Phase 1: Open up conversation with stranger, Phase 2: Ask personal questions etc).

First things first

Before saying anything, having a warm smile can put a person at ease before utter a word. Having a warm and inviting smile subconsciously tells a person that you accept them. What you want to do when making a strong first impression is to have the conversation open and free-flowing; you can use open-ended questions to keep it from abruptly ending in order to give the other person something to work with and build on what you said to continue their end of the conversation.

In order for this to be effective it has to “make sense” – that is to be in the moment, whatever the reason for engaging the other person should be situational such as commenting on something happening moments beforehand to something that you noticed about the person (a book they’re reading, an emotion that you can see they’re clearly conveying, what they’re wearing.. anything that has to do with the other person, really). There has to be a connection between what you’re putting forth or assuming and what the person is doing on what they’re talking about.

The important thing to keep in mind is that it has to be – and I’ll say it again – really in the moment, genuine and coming from within yourself otherwise you might come off as rehearsed, insincere or creepy.

Making strong offers

In improv, in order to keep a scene from abruptly halting, you keep the scene going by making strong offers (verbal or physical) that could be open-ended statements or even conveying an emotion through a certain look or pose, so that the other person can “yes-and it”.

When it comes to making or receiving strong offers such as in Dan’s post, where he talks about “answering the REAL question” when asked “What do you do?” The question “What do you do?” is a very strong offer in itself. Literally the stage is for the person you’re interacting with in letting them know about who they are. Conversely, when you’re asked it, the stage yours in how you reveal more about yourself to connect with whoever you’re in conversation with. You can it fun, interesting, bland, awkward or anything you want it to be. You have the ability to set the tone or react accordingly.

When it comes to building upon offers you can drive an interaction forward by making things more interesting and fun by introducing new layers of statements, questions and assumptions The purpose of “yes-anding” offers is to heighten and explore it. By heightening and exploring an offer, you are effectively supercharging the interaction by taking it to the next level and building upon it. An example “yes-anding” in an interaction, let’s say in a book store would be:

Me: Hey, you look like a well-read person, what’s a good book you could recommend? (open-ended question)

Person: Hmm…well… I just finished reading Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and it was pretty silly and funny.

Me: Oh, no way. What’s that like? A sci-fiction novel?

Person: Yeah, it is.

Me: Oh no way. I remember when I was a kid, me and my little brother loved pretending to blast away aliens in the dark with my light up laser gun … *zap!* (Yes-anding it) Hey, what’s your favourite childhood memory? (getting a commitment)

From this example interaction, I have “yes-anded” the other person’s statement and made it fun and playful by relating it through my childhood experiences. Results may vary, but 90% of the time, you usually get a chuckle from the other person when you’re letting the other person in on a personal childhood experience and showing that you’re opening up to them, which is easy to relate to for anyone.

Commit, giving focus and get a commitment

Whether in a scene or an interaction, you want to commit to and get commitment from the other person. What it means to commit and get a commitment is to give your undivided attention to the other person without distraction, so that the other person knows that you’re listening to them with your entire focus.

With your undivided attention, you’re giving focus and sub-communicating that there’s nothing else that matters other than what the other person is saying and that you’re taking the person seriously and appreciating their opinions/thoughts. This is the bedrock of building a solid connection. The spotlight is on the other person, not on you.

Getting a commitment from the other person on the other hand is the opposite of committing to an interaction. But how do you exactly get commitment from the other person? The simple answer after making a statement or asking an open-ended question is to stay silent and give a look where you’re expecting an answer from the other person.

Like negotiating, silence is just as powerful in social interactions, and often makes people uncomfortable so they will be compelled and seek to fill the vacuum of silence to get the conversation going again.

When you commit and get a commitment, you can pave the way where both sides are actively contributing by building on what was said in the conversation.

Listening

Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? Listening is often one of the most overlooked areas in social skills and one of the most important behaviours charismatic people hold. For charismatic people, their ability in listening to what a person has to say with their full and undivided attention is what sets them apart from the Average Joe who doesn’t understand the importance of listening.

It’s a simple fact that people love talking about themselves when your interest in them is genuine. Be it their pets, personal lives, passions – it could be anything they are personally interested in. Got it? Cool. So listen to this…

Through solid listening and offering constructive comments about what was being communicated and relating it to your own experiences on some basic level, you can solidify a connection with anyone. The whole point of listening is to understand where the other person is coming from and to get them to open to you because you really want to know about the other person. It is an innate human need to be truly understood.

When a person opens up in such a way to you, you know that they like you enough to share those personal experiences with you. The effect of listening intently is extremely powerful because it’s not very common for people to experience undivided attention and enthusiasm to their interests. When you genuinely like a person for their unique self, more than often than not, they’ll be compelled to get to know you as well, and that lays the foundation of your becoming charismatic.

This is the end of part 1 in a 2 part series.

Although the amount I raised was 10% of what I had raised compared to last year, I am still VERY happy and satisfied with the results as well as my performances for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half Marathon as well as the Toronto Half Marathon in September and October respectively.  I feel I have planted the seeds for something much greater by the time the Transformers 2 movie hits theatres next year.

After some careful reflection on what made me follow through with my intention to run two half marathons, I found these to be the main reasons for picking up momentum that helped me build a solid foundation to reach my fitness goals:

Having Compelling Reasons:

Reasons come first, answers come second. My own reasons for doing this were to transform my Transforming for SickKids Initiative from a one-off phenomenon that was tied to the 2007 Transformers movie to something that was yearly in order to raise funds for my cause – the Hospital for SickKids.

In addition to that, I wanted to do it for my health and get rid of the beer gut I accumulated over the years as well. I wanted to prove to myself that I could follow through on my word, because to me – if you’re not a person of your word, you’re not a person of integrity – one of the virtues that I swore to live by at the beginning of 2008. Simply put, when you have enough reasons to want to do something, you’re more likely to follow through.

Signing up for a Running Room Clinic (or any other running clinic):

Since I first started to seriously pursue amateur running back in December 2007, I simply picked up an old pair of running shoes and some winter running gear and started running outside. Sounds simple and it worked – for a while.

Long story short, I ran to the point where I had chronic shin splints and started complaining to my friend who was training with the Team In Training (for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society) and suggested I sign up for a clinic because she could clearly see what I was doing wrong compared to what she was learning in her clinic. I took her advice into consideration and after a 2 month hiatus from running, I signed up for a Running Room clinic back in June 2008.

The clinic cost about $70 Canadian, but was worth every penny in terms of what they teach, the in person support they give as well as online. I had made new friends and colleagues, all of whom I highly respect for committing their time and energy to improve their health as well kicking ass while terrorizing the residents and motorists alike in the Beaches neighbourhood of Toronto

When you have a solid support network, one that won’t let you off the hook if you “skip” a running session, you’re bound to get all the encouragement and support in order to help you reach your fitness goals.

MapMyRun.com

I found MapMyRun.com to invaluable in helping me map out my runs and pretty much keep track of everything when it came to how many kilometers I ran per session, how many kilometers I put on my shoes, as well as having a great forum for runners from every corner of the world giving you the ability to connect with people who are experiencing the same problems you may encounter during running.

It’s great to have everything easily accessible on the web, as well as having their Training Log displaying all the runs you’ve put in during the month in a format that shows you how much progress you’ve made month-to-month.

The best thing about it is that it’s FREE!

Financial commitment

It’s human nature to value something which we’ve personally invested in otherwise we consciously or subconsciously perceive it as “low-value” or “low priority”. Let’s say you plunk down a wad of cash ($100 give or take), you’ll be more committed to following through and getting value for your money. On the other hand, if you get something for free or close to it, you’ll be less committed to it because it was something that was pretty much given to you.

With this basic understanding of human nature, I put my money where my mouth is and plunked down the cold hard cash to buy my running gear, bought a place in my Running Room Clinic as well as registering for two half marathons, that added up to a hefty amount of cash. All of which I was more than happy to pay for because I knew it would help lead me to accomplishing what I had set out to achieve.

Public accountability

Here, I took a page from Leo Babauta’s advice about making a statement on your blog (or in my case via Facebook as well) making your goals public to harness the power of positive public pressure. I did this for a few things (failed but learned a lot) as well as training for a half marathon to run it on behalf of the Hospital for SickKids – something that was very close to my heart where I would not back down on my words.

This did wonders with my weekly updates on Facebook (plus Twitter). I received a lot of positive feedback and encouragement from loved ones, friends and colleague in helping me follow through.

Final Thoughts

So there you have it. Four months in the making that helped me build a solid foundation for my fitness. I ran a respectable 1 hr 59 min 3 secs for my first half marathon on Sept 28, 2008 where I eclipsed my original goal of 2 hrs 15 mins and ran 1 hr 52 min 28 secs for the Toronto Half Marathon – the race that I had been training for all along and fell short of my goal of running it under 1 hr 50 min due to a mid-race washroom break.

Although my legs are sore as hell after running the race against the time I set for myself as well as for a cause beyond myself, I don’t regret the abuse I took on my legs and feet took.

These past few months I’ve spent in terms of running towards my fitness goals were nothing short of empowering. I’d like to thank my instructors Dave Emilio as well as Julie Petten in running a fantastic Half Marathon Clinic out of the Running Room by the Beaches. The lessons I’ve learned will definitely flow to other areas of my life as well as helping me raise the bar higher for my next set of fitness goals … my first Marathon as well as six-pack abs by next year’s Toronto Waterfront Marathon

Throughout my years of bootstrapping through undergrad and learning and picking up new tricks and habits along the way to save money in order to have a fulfilling student life without breaking the bank.

Here’s a collection of all the tips and tricks I’ve gained through my time in undergrad:

TRICKS/HACKS

Coffee – Getting More for less!

This is a trick that I discovered a little over a year ago, and is more of a perception tactic. I didn’t quite notice the consistency of getting more for less until I bought a quality metal coffee mug to use at my local Tim Hortons or Starbucks.

What you do here is bring your coffee mug which would automatically get you a 10 cent discount, you then ask for a size smaller than what you’d normally order, and since your mug will be bigger than that amount, the barista will usually fill it to the top (about 8 out of 10 times) ensuring that you get less for more!  (I usually ask for a medium at Tim Hortons or a Tall size at Starbucks).

Eight out of ten times, baristas don’t have the time to be anal about giving you exactly a medium or tall size and usually fill your coffee mug to the rim. Also they’re usually pressed for time to serve other customers and don’t get paid enough to really care.

Buy your own timed coffee brewer - Alternatively, if you buy a time coffee brewer, you can cut your coffee costs to a mere fraction compared to buying outside at your local Starbucks, Tim Hortons or (Insert your favourite coffee joint here). You can program the brewer to start brewing your favourite blend of coffee and *voila*, you wake up to the nice smell of fresh morning coffee at a fraction of your costs.

Smoking – getting FREE cigarettes 9 out of 10 times and/or help you quit smoking at the same time!

While I don’t smoke anymore and I don’t judge people who choose to smoke, this is a trick that I discovered during my days of smoking in undergrad where I had made numerous attempts to quit smoking, and decided that I simply wouldn’t buy packs of cigarettes anymore.

I did some research when I stumbled upon this phenomenon. This trick actually has its roots stemmed in Social Psychology. Keep in mind, this trick is not for the shy or meek as you have to actively approach people and ask to buy a cigarette for a dollar. If you’re particularly shy, you might come off as awkward, but it’s pretty much expected that you’re awkward because people who are in the awkward position of running out of smokes do this as well.

Too many times I’ve seen people (usually guys) say, “Hey man, can I bum a smoke off you?” That is NOT the route you want to go and you usually get rejected anyway, which sucks when you really want to feed that craving.

Smoking culture is one that is social and when you offer something of value such as money, over and above the price of what the going rate for what a single cigarette usually costs to (about 50 cents), people are almost always pretty cool and insist that they don’t want your money as they’ve had times where they craved for a cigarette and went the route you did to actively approach to feed that craving as well.

An example script would be:

Me: “Hey, I hate to bother you, but I forgot my smokes earlier and I’m in a rush. I was wondering if I could buy a smoke off of you for a dollar?”

Person: “Hey man, don’t worry. It’s all good. Keep your money. I’ve done the same before and it just sucks”

Me: (this line is key) “Really? I hate being a moocher, I insist though…”

Person: “Naw, it’s cool, man”

Me: “Thanks, I appreciate it…”

Then I usually go into small talk about anything situational and shoot the shit. If they’re a closed off person, I just say thanks give the person a nod of acknowledgement, light the smoke and walk away to give them their space.

It takes a bit of gauging and calibration, but usually 9 out of 10 times, people will want to give you cigarettes when you offer value right from the beginning.

TOOLS

Some of the tools that I use to keep track of my finances is a handy PocketMod weekly that is free and fits in your pocket without being noticeable. I modify the last two pages of my PocketMod to keep track of what I buy.

Microsoft Money – although it isn’t free, this is a great and simple tool to use that is intuitive and gives you clarity on what exactly what your financial situation is if you update it religiously.

I made the daily habit of keeping track of writing my expenses in my PocketMod and at the end of the day, I’d input it into MS Money.

If your financial situation isn’t that complicated, it’s a breeze to set up to put you on your way towards financial mastery.

Mint.com – Although Mint.com is only available in the US for the moment, it is a free online personal money management application that is made simple and easy to use. You can integrate your entire bank, credit card and investment accounts with its intuitive and simple to use interface to keep track of your finances.

Buy used! Or at least attempt a “group buy” – be it textbooks, furniture or electronics, you can save a bundle if you do your research. You can resort to Craigslist, RedFlagDeals.com, eBay or even Facebook to see if there are any used textbooks being sold for the course you’re taking or want to take.

GENERAL TIPS

Buying in bulk – this is something that you can easily do, especially if you know someone who has a Costco membership, you can all make it a weekly or bi-weekly adventure with some frugal friends to load up on bulk food and supplies.

Water bottles – having a water bottle handy (having a Nalgene or any aluminum based canteen will do fine) on you at all times can save you time when you’re thirsty and save you money from having to go to buy a drink.

Buying generic brands – this is a no-brainer. Do you prefer buying “Kleenex” brand tissue paper or a no name house brand? Generic brands can offer equal if not better quality compared to brand-name products. You can save money in the long run by buying generic house brands.

STUDENT LIFE

The Pre-drink – let’s face it, getting wasted or “tipsy” is a fact of life for any college or university student before heading out to bars or clubs. It would be wise to buy a few bottles of your favourite booze for mixers and a two-four to drive down your costs of letting loose during the weekend (or any other day for that matter)

Student centre discounts – On campus, your student union or association can influence local stores and vendors in the area to push for discounted prices for your own benefit. You can usually count on heavily discounted movie tickets, comedy club admissions, student rates for cell phones, coupons, freebies etc.  This is your central hub to nabbing great deals on campus.

Joining school clubs, associations or societies – this is probably the easiest way to meet and connect with people who are like-minded, have common interests, and want to expand themselves outside of their immediate social circle. There are lots of free events that are organized, and can be a launching pad for organizing your own events as well.

Buying refills for toner/ink cartridges – you can save a good deal over the long run if you were to buy refills of toners or ink cartridges. They’re usually priced 30-40% cheaper compared to brand new ones.

Additionally, you should use lined paper for rough drafts, and put on your printer on economy mode to save on paper and ink, reserving premium blank paper and high quality printer settings for final drafts.

Washing full loads – as simple as it is sounds, a lot of students don’t adhere to this habit. By doing this, you save on consumption through reduced water, and energy use, and of course our most important resource of all – time! Although the financial savings are not immediate, in the long run, it can save you hundreds of dollars.

Buy disposable razors - If you’re not too concerned about using disposable products and you go through razors like no one’s business, this might help you save a good chunk of change that can help you nab a 2-4 by the end of the school year

The markup that the people over at Gilette or Schick put on their “MachFusion” and any other competing brand with whatever ridiculous name they decide on slapping on to their razors is ridiculous.  Buy their disposable counterpart instead.

TRANSPORTATION

Buy a monthly public transit pass (Metropass) – if you’re commute a lot, this will save you a bundle of money and save you time if you’re constantly on the go.

Carpooling – if you have a bunch of friends or colleagues who live in the same area as you, this can drive down the time and costs of commuting, especially for the driver since gas prices are ridiculously expensive nowadays. The only challenge of pulling this off would be the coordination of schedules.

Zip Car & AutoShare – if you need to move anything or travel longer distances you should check out Car Sharing programs like Zip Car or AutoShare. You must have an impeccable driving record or close to it to take advantage of it, but the cost savings of heavily outweigh the cost of owning a car, as you don’t have to pay for gas or insurance – only a minimal fee to use it at an hourly or daily rate.

FOOD

This expense probably ranks in the top 3 of all your expenses if you’re a student. Here are a few things to keep in mind to drive this cost lower:

Free meals! – you can usually score a few free meals, snacks or drinks if you’re on campus enough to notice the posters for events plastered on bulletin boards that usually jump out at you with such attention grabbing headlines such as “FREE FOOD” or anything along those lines. Even though the organizers know the main draw is free food, have at least the courtesy to hear what they have to say while you’re having a free meal on them.

Cooking for yourself – cooking more than you need – While this is a no brainer, it isn’t until you’re fully aware of all the nuances of your financial situation and you start recording your income and expenses, you’ll quickly realize that this is probably one of the biggest (if not the biggest) expenditures throughout your school year.  Eating out and buying snacks can quickly add up, and before you know it, you’re in a cash crunch for the month.

Investing in some great (and simple to follow) cookbooks would give you the solid foundation in cooking quick, healthy and quality meals at a fraction of the cost of constantly buying take out and eating out.

There are some great cookbooks out there. The ones that have influenced me most heavily are Giada DiiLaurentis “Everyday Italian”, Rachel Ray’s “30 Minute Meals”, Jamie Oliver’s “Cook with Jamie”, and “Student’s Guide to Vegetarian Cooking”.

FASHION/CLOTHING

Clothing – Winners/Threadless/RedFlagDeals/Craigslist/eBay – You can peruse any of these resources in order to find the best deals on clothes. Be it used or new, you can always get away with things that are “vintage” J

Here’s a tip for guys – if you have no idea of how to put together an outfit, always get a girl who is into fashion and has a keen sense of style in order to help you pick out your clothes. It will pay off in the long run, especially if you want to hook up with the cute girl in one of your classes or anywhere else, really.

FINANCES

Being on top of your personal finances should be a daily habit. Current studies show that 40% of Canadian students after having finished their post-secondary education emerge with student debt waiting for them.

For most of us, lessening the severity or being free of debt is a choice that we can make. Here are a few insights I’ve accumulated over the years with respect to handling my finances.

Compulsive spending – I’ve heard of this trick recently where if you’re prone to making an impulse purchase, you should put your debit/credit cards in a freezer proof bag, put it in a plastic container filled with water and put it in the freezer. If you really wanted to make the purchase, you’d have to thaw out your debit or credit cards, by then, your impulsive nature would most likely subside and you’ll realize how silly the lengths you’re going to in order to buy whatever it is you wanted.

Cash – Use only cash and write down a flexible budget that is within your means. I make it a point to be prepared to spend only the money I have in cold hard cash.

Debit/Credit cards – you can easily break the bank and overspend when you have ready access to debit and credit cards.  In my situation, I prefer to keep the plastic at home and take out only what I’m prepared to spend and leave it in my wallet on a weekly basis.

FREE MONEY!  Grants, Scholarships, etc. – There’s millions of millions of dollars to be had by students who aren’t receiving academic scholarships. Pay attention to your school’s emails and bulletins because they’re not widely advertised.

Once you find out the requirements for the grants and scholarships that are offered to you at your school, be sure to do your research and follow the instructions of how to apply precisely.

Have some close friends or colleagues proof-read your application so that there aren’t any glaring grammatical mistakes and to see if you can get any critical feedback in improving it.

Student Bank Accounts – these plans are built with the student in mind with no fees for your daily banking needs. Look for them as they’re prominently advertised and offer high-interest (3-4%) savings rates. For Canadians, PC Financial, HSBC, ING Direct and ICICI are all great choices.

HEALTH

Go to your school gym! – leading a healthy lifestyle is probably one of the most neglected areas in life for a student. It isn’t impossible if you make it one of your priorities.

When it comes to your gym, you already pay for it or its offered to you at a deeply discounted price compared to traditional fitness centers or gyms. Use it to kill time between classes or blow off steam. Benefits are having more energy to put into your studies in addition to looking and feeling great overall.

Take advantage of your school’s health plan – it’s already included and lumped in with your tuition fees. By having a health plan, depending on your coverage you’re entitled to free massages, free or heavily discounted prescribed shoes or prescription eyewear.

Quit smoking or drinking! – while this is the complete opposite of what I talked about in the “Vices” section, when you’re ready to have fun without the aid of substances and choose to end your reliance on these unhealthy vices, you’re literally looking at saving thousands of dollars throughout your time in school. Your lungs and liver will thank you! If you’re serious about

You can put it this way – that money could be put towards student loans, a car, your own place, or a sweet backpacking trip through Europe!

ENTERTAINMENT

Be the party – throw your own house party, wine tasting party or kegger - This is not only easy on your bank account, if you’re one to throw awesome house parties, your reputation (social proof) will grow and your social life will be much richer. Plus it’s a lot more fun to be known as the person who throws awesome parties on campus.

Just be sure to have a few close friends who are willing to help clean up afterwards if things get messy

Free, discounted cover or line bypass to clubs/bars – Now you’re going to ask “how am I supposed to pull that off?”

While this isn’t easy to begin with, if you have the knack for connecting, relating and schmoozing with people, you can easily plant the seed of familiarity with bouncers by befriending them.

Bouncers usually come off as aloof and cold, but if you’re a regular and genuine in your intentions in befriending them, not just because you want to “use them”, but because you respect him and his role in being a gatekeeper for the venue that you’re patronizing.

If you go to that venue regularly, and engage in sincere banter with the bouncer and MOST IMPORTANTLY remember his or her name, it’s only natural that they’ll treat you like gold if you treat them like gold first.

Rainbow Cinemas (or any other cheap cinema) – let’s face it, a lot of us can’t afford to regularly catch movies at $11 a pop. For those of us who are lucky enough to have discount cinemas within a 30 minute commute, you should exercise this privilege and save over 50% per movie ticket compared to AMC or Cineplex Odeon cinemas.

Movie/Board games night – this a fun and relatively inexpensive way of having fun with friends without breaking the bank. You can provide the most basic of snacks or appetizers and have your friends bring their own drinks/booze and let the good times roll. You can have variations on this like Nintendo Wii night, Guitar Hero, Rock Band, LAN Party, etc.

Free Events – Check out for free festivals/events or heavily discounted events around your city.  In Toronto, there are great free cultural events like the Taste of the Danforth, Nuit Blanche and Open Doors.

TV/movies online – don’t buy cable! You can download all the shows you want to watch or stream it through the internet through various websites. You can check out www.surfthechannel.com or if you’re American, you can resort to www.Hulu.com.

STAYING IN TOUCH (communication)

FREE Long Distance! – Using Skype is the cheapest way to keep in touch with family and friends worldwide without incurring any fees. All you need is access to a computer, headphones, mic and of course an internet connection and presto – free long distance!

If the person you want to talk to doesn’t have access to a computer, you can still call their landline through Skype as well with their highly competitive long distance rates at just a fraction of a cost compared to traditional long distance providers.

BEYOND YOUR WALLET, CREDIT CARDS, BANK ACCOUNT AND THIS ARTICLE…

While I don’t claim this to be a comprehensive guide to handling your student finances, I wrote this purely from my experiences so not all of my tips may apply to your individual and unique situation.

Having the knowledge on savings is great, but taking it to the next level by measuring your finances through personal finance software or tracking solutions/tools is crucial. They all help paint a clear and vivid picture of what sort of financial ground you stand on – be it firm or shaky.

When you’re on top of and measure your finances, you become fully conscious of where you’re money is coming and going, you’ll be less likely to throw yourself into financial turmoil.

To make this happen, it’s 20% mechanics and 80% psychology – meaning that your mindset is one that is budget-oriented (or “frugal”) and your beliefs towards money are in line with how you want your financial situation to be. It’s easy to be measuring everything you spend down to the penny, but if you’re still spending it if it grew on trees, then it totally defeats the purpose of doing it in the first place if you’re not making any progress and not making the changes towards your beliefs of money internally.

When you slowly make small improvements on a daily and consistent basis, you’ll see a slow and gradual progression of your financial situation, eventually feeling empowered by your new outlook and beliefs towards your finances. That belief that you’re cultivating can lift yourself out your financial situation by staying accountable to your vision and attaining financial freedom as a student!

If there or any gaping holes I’ve left out or you have tips of your own, feel free to leave your feedback or constructive criticism in the comments section!

It’s been a while since my last fitness update. So long story short:

• I signed up for a running clinic with The Running Room over by the beaches in Toronto.
• I’ve been training for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Half-Marathon where I was originally supposed to run for the Mississauga Marathon back in May this year.
• Change of diet has played a huge role in shedding weight and gaining energy and endurance to make it through a day without a nap
• My shin splints haven’t been as chronic as before due to my proper training with my clinic
• I’ve lost at least 5 pounds since training for two months now (I haven’t properly weighed myself yet
• I ran 12 kilometres and 14 kilometres respectively a few weeks ago, breaking a mental barrier of 10K right around when I last got injured.  It was my previous high back in my Fitness update #4 

I’ve never felt healthier in my life. I’m able to run for over an hour and a half straight and swim for at least 30 mins (just hopped out of the pool straight.

Finally, I recently decided try out the famed P90X home workout program again after dabbling in it a few months ago.  There have been a lot of inspiring videos floating around on YouTube with people tracking their progress as they follow the program with some amazing results. I’ll be doing the same after I’m done my classes for the summer in order to begin a challenge that I’m calling “Project Core Values”, which I’ll dedicate an entire post to later on when I have the time. In any case, as per Fitness Update tradition.. a route of my most recent long run!