No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try.

[JediNickD]

This Jedi has been taking it too easy on himself. Now, it is put up or shut up time.

My goals are below with my starting points in ():

FITNESS:

• Lift More Weight! +3 STR
  
  • Bench Press Bar = 185 lbs 3 reps (160 lbs)
    
  • Deadlift Bar = 160 lbs 3 reps (130 lbs)
    
  • Do 4000 Crunches, 2000 Dual Leg Lefts, 2000 Oblique Twists

I have a bet with spacecadet (my wife) that I can get a six pack before she can weigh 180 lbs. She's really working hard at the weight loss and hit the 190s recently. My abs are getting there, but I could be working harder at it. The prize is ultimately that neither of us would care that we lost, because the other would look awesome. We'll both be winners.

• Run Faster! +2 DEX | +2 STA
  
  • 200 m Dash = 29.00 s (29.63 s)
    
  • 1 mile run = 6.5 mins (~7 min)
    

I haven't been doing much distance running and when I do it is a slow pace. I'd like to be fast again for flag football this fall and hopefully rugby this spring.

DIETARY:

• 
  
• Eat better! +2 CON
  
  • Eat 80 servings of fruits or vegatables.

That's just under two servings a day, which you'd think would be easy, but I'm picky and stubborn when it comes to fruits and veggies.

LIFE:

• Train the Mind! +3 WIS | +3 CHA
  
  • Complete a Toastmasters CC Manual Lesson
    
  • Volunteer as Jokemaster
    
  • Volunteer as Toastmaster of the Day
    
  • Complete IJRS Meditation 101 Lesson 4 and 5 with Exercises
    
  • Complete IJRS Force 101 Lesson 4 and 5 with Exercises

I only have four Toastmasters meetings during the challenge time peroid, so I need to make them count.

My initial goal when I registered for the Meditation 101 and Force 101 courses was to wrap them up by the end of the year, but that isn't likely as I procrastinated too much with them. I should complete them by the end of January though.

[cline]

This Jedi has been taking it too easy on himself. Now, it is put up or shut up time.

DIETARY:

[*]Eat better! +2 CON

[

For some reason I read this tooooo fast and read it as +2 COW. LOL.

Great goals!!!! Will be a good challenge.

[Zatchmo]

Love the Jedi references! I've thought about trying Toastmasters before, but not enough to jump it. Good luck to you!

[Ollyswim]

2 Cow! Mmmmmmmm Cow *Slobbers*

On a more serious note, Challenge goals look awesome, good luck

[catspaw]

I have a bet with spacecadet (my wife) that I can get a six pack before she can weigh 180 lbs. She's really working hard at the weight loss and hit the 190s recently. My abs are getting there, but I could be working harder at it. The prize is ultimately that neither of us would care that we lost, because the other would look awesome. We'll both be winners.

Pssssst: feed her marshmallows in her sleep.

Mwahahaha....

[the_griff]

LOVE YOUR TITLE! Apart from it being Yoda inspired, it is a necessary mindset!! That is why I phrased all my goals as I can and I will

[JediNickD]

Pssssst: feed her marshmallows in her sleep.

Mwahahaha....

Tempting, but Yoda's teachings keep me in line: "A Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will."

[JediNickD]

For some reason I read this tooooo fast and read it as +2 COW. LOL.

Great goals!!!! Will be a good challenge.

+2 COW Bell!

Thanks for the confidence!

[JediNickD]

Love the Jedi references! I've thought about trying Toastmasters before, but not enough to jump it. Good luck to you!

I thought about Toastmasters for far too long before I took the leap. It took a friend proding him to do it. Of course, speaking in front of people is terrifying and nerve racking, but that is something that doesn't ever change. I have a toast at my brother's wedding to give tomorrow, which I have memorized and tested four times at Toastmasters, but I'm still a nervous wreck about it. I know members who have been doing it for 5+ years and they still get butterflies. Experience is the only way to calm those butterflies once your up there speaking.

Join a club. It'll be one of the best decisions you'll ever make. Just like joining the rebellion, you'll have a club of inspirational and friendly people to support you, so you won't be going it alone.

[JediNickD]

LOVE YOUR TITLE! Apart from it being Yoda inspired, it is a necessary mindset!! That is why I phrased all my goals as I can and I will

"I try" might come out in a draft, but I never let it make publication. Even when talking, I always catch myself and correct it. Definitely a necessary mindset.

I also like this one:

"Man walk on road. Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk down middle, sooner or later, get squished just like grape. Same here. You karate do "yes," or karate do "no." You karate do "guess so," just like grape. Understand?"

- Mr Miyagi (The Karate Kid)

[nightlight]

eat better. yup. me too!

[Zatchmo]

I thought about Toastmasters for far too long before I took the leap. It took a friend proding him to do it. Of course, speaking in front of people is terrifying and nerve racking, but that is something that doesn't ever change. I have a toast at my brother's wedding to give tomorrow, which I have memorized and tested four times at Toastmasters, but I'm still a nervous wreck about it. I know members who have been doing it for 5+ years and they still get butterflies. Experience is the only way to calm those butterflies once your up there speaking.

Join a club. It'll be one of the best decisions you'll ever make. Just like joining the rebellion, you'll have a club of inspirational and friendly people to support you, so you won't be going it alone.

I know all about still getting butterflies. I've been making music for 26 years and I get nervous every time. More on the side of excited than nervous, but it's still there. The interesting part is that I get more nervous in front of small crowds and around people I know than I do in front of a crowd of thousands.

[JediNickD]

I'm battling a few "injuries" already. Sore shoulder from sleeping funny (this happens after 18 years of football/rugby) on Saturday. Sore left ankle amd knee from football practice last night. I've had to curb my Monday and Tuesday workouts to just abdominal exercises. Tomorrow, I should be running or deadlifting depending on my shoulder. My ankle and knee will be ready. I just hope they are fine after, too.

[JediNickD]

I know all about still getting butterflies. I've been making music for 26 years and I get nervous every time. More on the side of excited than nervous, but it's still there. The interesting part is that I get more nervous in front of small crowds and around people I know than I do in front of a crowd of thousands.

Yeah, I understand that. Large crowds get me really nervous because of lack of experience. Smaller groups only get me really nervous if I haven't rehearsed enough or don't know the subject well enough. I'm sure your nervous with a smaller crowd, because you want to impress them and make it more personal.

[JediNickD]

Toastmasters Goal Update and Schedule:

Week 1: 9/25 - Toastmaster of the Day - COMPLETE (blog to follow in my Epic Quest)

Week 2: 10/2 - Jokemaster

Week 3: 10/9 - Speech Lesson #9

Week 4: 10/16 - Speech Lesson #6 (bonus to help complete my CC manual by end of the year)

I'm on vacation all of Week 5 and there is no meeting during Week 6. I need to complete writing my speeches with plenty of time to memorize them. Friday, Sunday, and Monday of Week 1, I'll devote to writing my Lesson #9 speech. Week 2, I'll devote to revising and memorizing Lesson #9 speech. Week 3, I'll need to devote the entire week to writing and revising.

After Tuesday of Week 4, I can devote all my spare time to finishing my Jedi training goals, which I plan to nip at this week to get started.

[JediNickD]

I'm battling a few "injuries" already. Sore shoulder from sleeping funny (this happens after 18 years of football/rugby) on Saturday. Sore left ankle amd knee from football practice last night. I've had to curb my Monday and Tuesday workouts to just abdominal exercises. Tomorrow, I should be running or deadlifting depending on my shoulder. My ankle and knee will be ready. I just hope they are fine after, too.

Everything felt good today, so I deadlifted 140lbs (PR!) for 5 sets of 10. I followed that up with crunches, leg lifts, oblique twists, and push ups. I ended my workout with a quick shootaround on the basketball court (and my accuracy is vastly improved).

Two hours later I still feel fine, but I'm going to give my knee another day. Tomorrow will be a Bench Press day. Friday will be running.

[JediNickD]

Read IJRS Meditation 101 Lesson 4. Beginning Exercise 5 tonight:

Exercise 5 - Awareness

This exercise has the simplest directions, and you've already done it once in the lecture. Pick a place to sit and just be aware of what is going on around you. Work on being ob-jective about what you see - don't interpret, try to understand, or judge - simply ob-serve. I would like you to try to do this in three different locations this week, if possi-ble. First, do this in your own home. There probably won't be too many things moving around. However, you may have to quell thoughts that involve your cleaning habits! Next, try to find one place that is in nature - a park, forest, stream, etc. Here there will probably be more things moving around, but not to the point of being overwhelmed. Then, finally, try to find a place with people. Perhaps this is at school or work. Here you may find it particularly challenging to be objective. That's ok, this is a learning ex-perience.

After each exercise, write a summary of what happened in your training journal. What did you feel? What was difficult? What did you learn when you could be objective? After you have completed these exercises, submit your training journal to the instructor for feedback.

[JediNickD]

WEEK 1 MID-WEEK UPDATE:

FITNESS:

• Lift More Weight!
  
  • Bench Press Bar = 160 lbs 1 set 3 reps. Right where I thought I'd be. I need to get this up to 165 next week.
    
  • Deadlift Bar = 140 lbs 5 sets 10 reps. When I got to the deadlifting area it was already set with this weight. I was going to do 135, but said, "Screw it, I can do 140." Then I owned that weight, even with a bum knee in a brace (which is about 95% today and was 85% when I deadlifted).
    
  • 550 Crunches, 235 Dual Leg Lefts, 270 Oblique Twists. I'm off to a good start working at them everyday this week. We'll see how I do this weekend, which is jam packed with activity. I should be able to get some reps in while watching football though.

• Run Faster!
  
  • 200 m Dash = ???
    
  • 1 mile run = ??? I'll be running one or both of these tomorrow.
    

DIETARY:

• 
  
• Eat better!
  
  • Ate 5 servings in 3 days. On pace, but mostly apples and carrots.

LIFE:

• Train the Mind!
  
  • Toastmasters CC Manual Lesson is planned for 10/9. I need to write it and get on the agenda.
    
  • Scheduled as Jokemaster for 10/2 and I have my joke picked out. I just need to memorize it.
    
  • Scheduled as Toastmaster of the Day for 9/25 and it went fairly well. COMPLETE
    
  • Read IJRS Meditation 101 Lesson 4. Began Exercise 5 last night. The exercise will take three days to complete.
    
  • I will read IJRS Force 101 Lesson 4 today and devise a schedule for the exercise.

[nightlight]

AWESOME.

[JediNickD]

Completed first phase of IJRS Meditation 101 Exercise 5 and entered it into my journal, but the internet ate it (session expired and I lost my post). I'll have to re-type it later.

Completed reading IJRS Force 101 Lesson 5. Exercise 3 below:

Exercise – Take off your head!

Oneness as the first principle

Imagine you have no head. That's right, look at the world around you, but pretend that you have no

head. Imagine that your body stops at your shoulders. You are no longer seeing with your eyes or

your rational mind. Let the world you see take the place of your head. Now the world is in your head!

This odd experiment in entering an altered state of consciousness comes from D. E. Hardings book

on meditation, On Having No Head, and is meant to help us experience the world in a new way.

Practice it a bit. As you look about, try to pay attention to the fact that even though you have no

head, you still have awareness of the world. Where is that awareness? Can you locate it? The

situation will seem to change from the normal state of "I have awareness" to "Awareness is".

Welcome to the reality of awareness, of "mind at large."

As you forget about your head, you open up out into the world and the world joins you and becomes

you. You are still aware of individual objects --- the single flower, the bird singing --- but each is

somehow connected to you, for the world is no longer blocked off from you by your head.

This exercise helps us to overcome our feelings of separation from the world, and establishes a

feeling of connection with the world through the medium of the force. This week, I would like you to

practice 'taking off your head' at least once each day, preferably more often. Please journal your

experiences. I would also like you to incorporate this exercise into your general training, with the aim

of this permanent ―headlessness‖ being a constant connection to the Force.

Exercise sourced from 'Awakening your psychic powers' by Henry Reed, pg 22.

Looks like I'll need to replace my other meditations from the last exercises for a week to complete this one. I should be able to complete this one by this time next week.

[JediNickD]

Ran a 6:43 mile this morning. I'm closer than I thought, but I was really pushing my lung capacity. I could nail this goal next week if I get a distance run in this weekend.

I've done 80 burpees for the mini-challenge so far. Sets of 10 at work get me too sweaty. Switching to sets of 5 reps. And I'll be knocking them out all day in my down time and breaks (except for lunch as I have other goals to work on then).

[nightlight]

high five on those burpees!

[JediNickD]

END OF WEEK 1 UPDATE:

FITNESS:

• Lift More Weight!
  
  • Bench Press Bar = 160 lbs 1 set 3 reps. 5 lbs a week will get me there, but I have vacation for a whole week. I need to be done or close to it by Oct 20th.
    
  • Deadlift Bar = 140 lbs 5 sets 10 reps. Same as above.
    
  • 550 Crunches, 235 Dual Leg Lefts, 270 Oblique Twists. I did none over the weekend. I did burpees when I could for the mini-challenge, but I couldn't steal enough time from chores to do any. Even while watching football, I was folding laundry or putting away dishes. I'm going to play catch up next weekend.

• Run Faster!
  
  • 200 m Dash = ??? Didn't get a time yet. Tomorrow.
    
  • 1 mile run = 6:43. Better than I expected. I could probably beat this one before Oct 20th.

DIETARY:

• 
  
• Eat better!
  
  • Ate 14 servings in 7 days. Apples, carrots, peppers, onions, tomatos, and maybe some slices of mushroom I ignored while I eat a slice of pizza.

LIFE:

• Train the Mind!
  
  • Toastmasters CC Manual Lesson is planned for 10/9. I completed the outline and put together most of the Power Point.
    
  • Scheduled as Jokemaster for 10/2 and I have my joke picked out. Began memorizing it, but I'm not there yet.
    
  • Toastmaster of the Day COMPLETED on 9/25.
    
  • Read IJRS Meditation 101 Lesson 4. Began Exercise 5. Two parts done. One part and a summary journal entry to go.
    
  • Read IJRS Force 101 Lesson 4. Began Exercise 3. I need to do it for 7 days in place of my normal meditation. Four days down, three to go, plus a summary journal entry.

MINI-CHALLENGE

• Caught me by surprise on Thursday, but I participated. I did 40 burpees a day with a total of 160. I expected to be able to get more out of my weekend, but it just didn't happen with so many family activities and household chores.

WEEK 2 GOALS:

FITNESS:

• Lift More Weight!
  
  • Bench Press Bar = 170 lbs 1 set 3 reps.
    
  • Deadlift Bar = 150 lbs 1 set 3 reps.
    
  • 600 Crunches, 300 Dual Leg Lefts, 400 Oblique Twists.

• Run Faster!
  
  • 200 m Dash = 29.50 s
    
  • 1 mile run = 6:40
    

DIETARY:

• 
  
• Eat better!
  
  • Eat 16 servings in 7 days.

LIFE:

• Train the Mind!
  
  • Complete writing speech and presentation. Begin memorizing speech. Get on the agenda today!
    
  • Memorize joke today. Complete Jokemaster role on 10/2.
    
  • Complete Meditation 101 Exercise 5.
    
  • Complete Force 101 Exercise 3.

[JediNickD]

I ate pan-fried turnip yesterday. Not too bad.

[JediNickD]

Ran a 6:30 mile this morning! I started out fast at 9.5 MPH, then at a quarter I slowed to 9 MPH and at half I slowed to 8.5 MPH. I was a little winded and my muscles wanted to slow more, but I kept the pace to 0.70 miles, then ramped it back up to 9 MPH. At 0.80 miles, I saw that I was close enough that I could make 6:30 with a strong push. I sped back up to 9.5 MPH, then at 0.90 to 10 MPH. With five hundredeths of a mile left I kept pushing up on the speed until I made it to 1 mile. I hit cool down noticing I maxed my speed at 11.5 MPH. I did a two minute cool down, then ended the workout to see that my mile time (full time minus two minutes for the cool down) was exactly 6:30! I couldn't have been happier with my run.

Two more goals down, as I acted as Jokemaster at Toastmasters yesterday! Hah-Zah!