20-second Berserker Mode success stories!

[Daithi]

I'm a bartender and usually I stay out of fights for my own safety. But last night a fight broke out and it got too rough so I jumped out and started splitting them up, I managed to grab the main aggressor and restrain them right as they kicked towards a downed punters head. Once he calmed down I released him just to get sucker punched and the fight to break out again. I was then forced to split up two women fighting. Then called the cops just to have the pubs windows smashed by the thug who attacked me. I got praised for making the right calls and getting involved.

I never had the courage of hit back when I was punched though and I've been told he's been bragging around the village.

Still thanks to my moment or courage I stopped things getting too intense and earned myself a black eye accompanied with a swollen cheek, I found out the guy who attacked me is a boxer.

[Artinum]

Not hitting back is not a lack of courage. It is a sign of self control.

Do not let the words of idiots get to you. The guy who hit you only finds courage in a bottle.

[Xena]

I can't believe some jacka** got into a bar fight and then bragged about punching the bartender who was trying to settle things down. How is that supposed to make him sound cool?!

 

Thank you for stepping in, trying to de-escalate things, and keeping more people from getting hurt. Seems to me like what you did took a heck of a lot of courage.

[Slo-pez]

I did something crazy today. I quit my job. It wasn't easy, and I'm taking a slight step back in my new job, but it will give me the opportunity to pursue a new career goal and passion. I'm so lucky to have a husband who supports me and has helped me find a way out of this job, but perhaps more importantly, I am beyond excited for what the next year holds for me. Here's to a fantastic 2015!

[Liberator]

I did something crazy today. I quit my job. It wasn't easy, and I'm taking a slight step back in my new job, but it will give me the opportunity to pursue a new career goal and passion. I'm so lucky to have a husband who supports me and has helped me find a way out of this job, but perhaps more importantly, I am beyond excited for what the next year holds for me. Here's to a fantastic 2015!

Awesome! I love that you followed your passion!

Happy New Year! Happy New You!

[Quarkle]

Well one of the most defining beserker moments I had in my life was six years ago, during a road trip. I set out with 10 other friends on a bike/scooter trip to a neighbouring city. Long story short, I tried driving a scooter (hadn't quite learned to yet), skid off road on gravel when I started. Next thing I know, I was sitting up among a clump of boulders, and my leg was.. well bent in all sorts of angles a leg should never be in. (I later learnt I had multiple fractures in one bone, a compound fracture in another, a completely dislocated foot and a).

 

It was that moment, that I had to summon all of my willpower and pain tolerance I possess to NOT break down and howl my head off. That was my beserker moment (though it does seem like the opposite of beserker). Instead I took a deep breath, and started taking stock of all my injuries and my friends' (who was riding pillion). I had a strange moment where I started apologising for the trouble (no idea why) and then I went into take-charge mode, where I started directing them to do perform the correct first aid, find a way to get to a hospital and calm down all those who were freaking out at the sight of my bloody injuries. I even cracked a few jokes to get rid of some of the tension.

 

All these years later and in the future it is THAT one moment which gives me a certain courage and resilience. If I could stay calm and function during such a situation through all that pain, there is a quiet inner confidence that I can deal with pretty much anything.

[OrangeBeanie]

It seems the article is gone, but the idea seems pretty awesome. Not sure if I want to use "Beast Mode" or some other term. Or stick to Berserker Mode.

 

ANYWAYS!

 

I actually had a 20 second BM moment here at work.

My wife and I started eating Paleo goodness on Friday. (I put that in the w00t room) But I haven't told my co workers or anyone on Facebook as we both agreed to wait till we stuck with it for at least 2 weeks.

 

I'm in the military and pretty low ranking enlisted person who has only been in for 3 years.Today my Flight Commander who is a Major (Officer type) handed all of us a small chocolate candy. I picked out a Reese's. She was super nice about it and due to our rank structure I felt it most polite to take it. I utilized my BM for 20 seconds and threw the candy in the back of my drawer along with a Butter Finger she gave us last week haha. I'd feel rude not accepting it but I was okay just tossing it away out of sight out of mind :]

[Artinum]

Still there, but the link was corrupted.

 

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/02/25/the-20-second-challenge/

[OrangeBeanie]

Thanks!!

[Gabs]

Great Article. I had a moment like this in my freshmen year of college. I was very shy in classes and didn't do to much to take initiative to meet my fellow classmates (I had taken a summer long class before and not even once turned around from the front seat to view even who the other people in the class were). So in the first week of classes at the last class of the day I was one of the last students to enter the classroom, I gave myself a 20-second pep talk thinking ok just get over it, look at the available seating and sit next to someone who you would like to become friends with even if this situation is incredibly intimidating. I choose to walk in sit up front with a girl who i would think didn't want anything to do with just an average girl like me. Turns out we started talking and couldn't stop. When the professor walked in she had to interrupt our conversation and asked us if we were best friends we both laughed saying we just met 5 minuets ago! Now she is one of my best friends, we even roomed together in college and she has been a great support and encouragement for my life and helped me level up my life in many aspects!

 

I love how this rebellion isn't just about fitness it is about living a healthy lifestyle and taking challenges and risks. I hope that in the coming days I can use the 20 seconds of courage to get my resume started and do what scares me the most!  

[Sam Ashen]

20-second Berserker Mode works for procrastination, too.

 

I finally made one of those phone calls in the category of a call I should have made a very long time ago.  To make a longer story short by leaving out all the details and keeping names out of the story, there was a membership I have been meaning to cancel for a very long time that draws an EFT from my credit card every month.  I put off the phone call because it takes dedicated mental energy that I normally do not have during the work day - and the excuse is I don't want to do it today because it is not the end of the month and at the end of the month, I am busy with something else and do not want to dedicate the mental energy.

 

Mash the Berserker Button!  I made the call today.  The twenty seconds is enough to dial the numbers and state my name and business and get the wheels turning.

 

This is a process that should really be a quick and polite two-minute conversation, but they have chosen to make it difficult.  They started by trying to sell the benefits again.  (The correct grammar is "she," but I really feel this is a Company-wide issue, not the way somebody behaves personally.)  She put me on hold, saying she is new here and needs to discuss with accounting what process is required.  I was on hold for two minutes.  She got back to me and said that I need to make the request in writing, either by email or snail, and cite my reasons.  Now this two-minute process is taking the better part of an hour.  The whole thing is going to take two weeks.

 

Really?  The fact they are choosing this road makes me very disinclined to ever want to do business with them again.  Ever.  I composed and sent the email.  I got decently blunt, but stopped short of saying, "I think it is a Company issue, not individuals working for the Company."  Given the route they are choosing, they are probably going to argue with me.  They asked for reasons:  That means they want to discuss them.

 

The next stop was the credit card company, but they don't want to stop EFT's.  That is very strange.  I think that one will take several phone calls, unfortunately.

 

Yay for making a process painful!

[Oramac]

Yay for making a process painful!

 

Yay for getting the process started!!  That's often the hardest part. 

[Sam Ashen]

Yay for getting the process started!!  That's often the hardest part. 

 

I talked to the banker and his advice was to call the credit card company and ask for a new credit card number.  That's the nuclear option and it will take care of all of the ETF's you set up.  Then - set everybody up on Bill Pay.

 

He had something very interesting to say - that some companies are notorious for doing this.  His examples were gyms and the most famous cable company.

[Sam Ashen]

I talked to the banker and his advice was to call the credit card company and ask for a new credit card number.  That's the nuclear option and it will take care of all of the ETF's you set up.  Then - set everybody up on Bill Pay.

 

Okay.  That part is done.  Life is going to be a little bit inconvenient for the next little while as I get everything else all set up.

[Drazen]

I have had to do this before. Biggest problem I had was remembering to re-setup all of the things I still want to come out automatically.

[Trewest]

I talked to the banker and his advice was to call the credit card company and ask for a new credit card number.  That's the nuclear option and it will take care of all of the ETF's you set up.  Then - set everybody up on Bill Pay.

 

He had something very interesting to say - that some companies are notorious for doing this.  His examples were gyms and the most famous cable company.

 

I'm going to take a stab in the dark and suspect that this company failed to live up to it's name and give you a 'good life'? I went through a similar, painful process, only the did direct payments from my debit, even after I had cancelled my membership. And they did it 3 TIMES. I had to get a lawyer to call them to get them to reimburse me for the 3 months they took without cause because every time I called I got passed around like a hot potatoe and told to try calling back to so-and-so at a different time because they were somehow never in the office when I called.

[Sam Ashen]

No.  They are local, not national.  But nice guess!

[Trewest]

No.  They are local, not national.  But nice guess!

 

Ah... I've heard so many stories like mine about that large one though so I thought it was a safe guess. I'm super glad that I can use my work gym for a grand total of $16 a month. Much more affordable and I just go upstairs after my shift to use it

[Spartan M85]

I was looking for some awesome ways to break up my same old lifting routine so in my 20 seconds of berserker mode (or genius). I came up with the idea of strongman saturdays. I will do 3-4 "events" on these days and maybe only 1 with lighter weight or less time on MWF when I lift. A week and a half in now and I can't wait for workout days now!

[juyon]

I was waiting for a friend for a livestream today and suddently went into BM. I got up, got out and did an intence interval training.

 

It was my first time exercising in month. 

 

so yeah, suddent BM started an epic Respawn.

 

I'm all sweety, out of breath and feel like throwing up, but at the same time, i feel awesome. 

[Polaris]

Does it still count if I had to psych myself for at least an hour beforehand?

 

A few days ago, I did something I've never done before in my life. I've been noticing this pretty attractive guy at my gym, and I suddenly got into my head that I'm gonna ask him out, even though I knew literally nothing about him since we'd never spoken. I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen, right? So I waited until he was finished with his workout, because I didn't want to disturb him, and then just really awkwardly went "hey, so this might seem weird but would you like to get coffee or something sometimes?" Not one of my best lines, I admit, I'm usually way more suave than that.

 

He said no, and I felt like a crap afterwards because my ego took a hit (even though I'm pretty sure he was taken or something), but at least I did it? Still not sure if it was a good idea, but it's not like I have a time machine. Hopefully it won't be awkward passing him at the gym now.

[Norgaard]

Does it still count if I had to psych myself for at least an hour beforehand?

 

A few days ago, I did something I've never done before in my life. I've been noticing this pretty attractive guy at my gym, and I suddenly got into my head that I'm gonna ask him out, even though I knew literally nothing about him since we'd never spoken. I mean, what's the worst thing that could happen, right? So I waited until he was finished with his workout, because I didn't want to disturb him, and then just really awkwardly went "hey, so this might seem weird but would you like to get coffee or something sometimes?" Not one of my best lines, I admit, I'm usually way more suave than that.

 

He said no, and I felt like a crap afterwards because my ego took a hit (even though I'm pretty sure he was taken or something), but at least I did it? Still not sure if it was a good idea, but it's not like I have a time machine. Hopefully it won't be awkward passing him at the gym now.

 

you did the right thing! and of cause it counts!.

 

just keep moving forward

[sisustrong]

mine is totally life goal related rather than fitness, but I had a moment of Berserker Mode Courage and left an abusive marriage with my kids It's only been a few weeks, but I feel like an entirely new person.

 

Good on you for doing what's best for you and your kids!  

I left an abusive relationship in April and even though I still have a long way to go as far as building back my trust in others, my self-confidence, and my nerves, I feel better than I have in a while. Less stressed, less negative, less worried all the time. Unfortunately, they got the pets... I miss them so much! 

 

Badassery! High-five for you!

[AvitusXenoi]

I just shared my challenge with my general manager at work. She is a very driven individual and I have a lot of respect for her. She can help keep me accountable

I also handed her a copy of the short story I wrote in respawn. Nobody that I work with really knows that I enjoy writing. I am actually pretty shy although not nearly as bad as I used to be (I got mistaken for a mute when I had been at a new school for almost a year, decided to speak up a little then). I am the maintenance man so I just fix things and pretty much work alone a lot of the time. I didn't expect to be so nervous about sharing my writing but my hands are still shaking.

20 second berserker mode? It is in my book >:}

[SinnahSaint]

I've been pretty much using that all the time to stop procrastinating. I'll stew over "I should be doing the thing, but it's gonna suck. I want to do the thing because the future, but I don't want to do the thing because now."

 

Eventually I give myself a mental slap across the face (because if I had just done the thing I could be relaxing right now instead of stressing) and then I just get down to it, get it done, and enjoy my well deserved relaxation.