Jason Taylor

Just about the time I finally sit back, relax and realize that I’m actually in the off-season, the off-season is over and it’s time to get back to it.   December is coming to a close; the sweets are diminishing in quantity, accessibility and size.   (Although my lovely wife continues to bake wonderful goodness every other day or so.)   The race calendars for all disciplines and sports are getting set and loaded onto the web for our perusal.

What are some best practices for setting yourself up for success in 2010?  Here are a few suggestions as you set up your race and training calendar for the year:

Step 1: LOOK BACK: Do an Honest Assessment

I believe it’s always a good thing to look back at the previous year and do an HONEST assessment.  Ask yourself the tough questions.  What goals did I set and did I achieve them?   What was my physical and mental state or attitude during the season? At the end of the season?     What were my strengths and weaknesses?  How was my nutrition?   Did my body handle the load I put on it?   What areas of improvement did I notice?   If you encountered injuries, have you had ample time to heal? 

If you do keep a training journal, this is a great time to look back through it and utilize the notes you’ve taken throughout the year.  Also make a list of the successes from the year, not just race times and placement but physical goals, attitude goals, improvements you saw along the way in your approach to training and nutrition etc.

Step 2: LOOK FORWARD: Set proper expectations

One of the reasons an annual return to the “plan” is so important is that life circumstances change.  For example, I’m going back to school this year.   As much as I want to train and race at the same level as last year, I’m going to have to set different expectation simply because my allotted training time is going to be lower.  

So set yourself up with a look at your personal situation, your health, and your upcoming year.  What’s changed and what needs to be adjusted? 

Now this is also a place to look at working a bit harder.   If you didn’t accomplish the goals you set out, then set the expectation that you won’t accept another year with subpar performance.

Step 3: SET BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS GOALS

This is the fun part!   Wave the wand, dream big, and write it down.  What goals do you want to set this year?   New personal record, qualification or award you’ve been reaching for?  Write it down.   The more clear your goals are, the better you’ll be able to track your progress and if you’re anything like me, the more you’ll be able to visualize them on those hard interval days when you’d rather hang it up and go have a beer.

Step 4: PLAN FOR SUCCESS

Planning is where the rubber meets the road.   You have to put your plan on paper.  

One of my favorite quotes regarding planning is from King Solomon, he writes,

“Plans fail for lack of counsel but with many advisors one succeeds.”

I’m a big believer that “outside insight” is a huge help in planning and success.  Now is a good time to get in touch with your coach, and if you don’t have one, to get a coach.

In a follow up post, I”ll take a closer look at this planning stage but for now, make sure you’ve done the other three steps listed above.

Welcome to 2010 and let’s get after it

What are you going to accomplish this year?

Img  Futuristmovies.com 

I’ve never done the 24 hours of Moab but was asked to join a team this year. October 10th-11th I’ll be racing for 24 hours on my mountain bike. My bike seat and I are going to be much closer friends than I ever imagined. I’ll post more after the race but here’s a link to some shots taken by one of my teammates during last year’s race. He has an amazing Flickr page. Take some time to check it out. 

My wife is an amazing baker.  She could start her own bakery and make millions.    This would cause a few problems, not the least of which is that I’d need to buy larger size pants.  My favorite thing is Anna’s carrot cake.   It’s heavenly. 

My wife has learned how to make her carrot cake “stick;”  the smell, the taste, the expectation of the cream cheese frosting…oh my.  I can’t help but share with others how good her carrot cake is.   And once they’ve had a piece, it’s all over.   I recently ran into an old co-worker I’d not seen in 2 years.   The first thing out of her mouth was, “It’s been too long since I’ve had your wife’s carrot cake.”  

She didn’t even say hi. 

Anna has successfully done what authors Dan and Chip Heath write about in their book Made to Stick.   She’s found a way to take a message, in this case – yummy carrot cake – and make it so memorable and sticky in the mind of her audience that they are compelled to talk about it, share it with others and in this case even use it as a metaphor in a blog post.     

Wouldn’t it be great if your vision or purpose statement was that sticky?  Is it possible to communicate a message in a way that creates much greater reception and influence by simply applying a few key properties to every message? 

Dan and Chip Heath believe it is.    And so do I.  

Below are my key learnings from the book.  To read the actual introduction of the book click here.

THOUGHTS FROM BOOK

Pg 8 - Definition of Stickyness “when your ideas are understood and remembered, and have a lasting impact – they change your audience’s opinions or behavior
Pp 16-18 – The Six Principles of Sticky Ideas (SUCCESs)

1. Simplicity
2. Unexpectedness
3. Concreteness
4. Crediblity
5. Emotions
6. Story

Pg 20 – Beware: The Curse of Knowledge.   This has immediate impact for anybody that has a message they want to communicate.  Curse of Knowledge – when I as the message sender assume that you know what I know. 

SIMPLICTY

• Find the CORE of an idea.  
• Two great questions as you schedule a day or a week:
  • If I do nothing else during tomorrow’s ___________ (meeting, day, seminar, etc), I must ____________.
  • The single, most important thing that I must accomplish tomorrow is _________________.
• Finding the CORE requires “Forced Prioritization.”   This is a great concept.   When we decide what is most important we are forced to prioritize around that.  It sounds simple and easy but in reality this is tough for leaders to be clear on. 

 “A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”  Antoine de Saint-Exupery

• Simple = CORE + Compact   The message has to have both variables to be simple.    They will not work if one is left out.  Another way of putting it is that ideas need to be compact enough to be sticky and meaningful enough to make a difference….otherwise it probably doesn’t need to be said.

UNEXPECTED

• To get someone’s attention you have to find a way to break the pattern.
• To make our communication more effective, we need to shift our thinking from:

“What information do I need to convey? ========> to “What questions do I want my audience to ask?

CONCRETE

• Big takeaway for me was the idea that a message will not grow if it is ambiguous.    It must have skin, bones and flesh; it has to have feet on the ground. 

Concreteness makes the abstract accessible.

• The Velcro Theory of Memory: Our brains function in much the same way as Velcro.   The more hooks an idea has, the better it will cling to memory.  
• Pg 111 A powerful and moving story that illustrates the power of CONCRETE titled Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes.

CREDIBLE

• Vivid details boost credibility
• Statistics will, and should, almost always be used to illustrate a relationship.  It’s more important for people to remember the relationship than the number.

EMOTIONAL

• The most basic way to make people care is to form an association between something they don’t yet care about and something they do care about.
• Pg. 203 To get people to care about our ideas, we have to get them to take off their analytical hats.   We create empathy for specific individuals.  We show how our ideas are associated with things that people already care about.  We appeal to their self-interest, but we also appeal to their identities—not only to the people they are right now but also to the people they would like to be.

STORIES

• Story provides simulation (knowledge) and inspiration (motivation to ACT) 

FAVORITE QUOTE FROM THE BOOK

“If you’re a great spotter (of ideas, creativity and the principles from the book), you’ll always trump a great creator.   Why?  Because the world will always produce more great ideas than any single individual, even the most creative one.”

HOW TO APPLY THIS TO YOUR VISION MESSAGE.

1. Write out in detail the current situation behind the message.  What is the reason for the message or the aim of the message?
2. Write out what the existing message to the end user is currently.  What is the current message being communicated? 
3. Then create and write out a second message trying to use the SUCCESS principles from the book.
4. As a team create a scorecard (see below)
5. As a team evaluate which message has more points, based on the SUCCESS principles.  The more points, the better the chance the message will stick.

Scorecard (how do the 2 messages compare based on the following criterea?)

Checklist                     Message 1                    Message 2

Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Story

NEXT ACTION:

1. Read the book.  This post does only a cursory overview of some great writing and illustrations.   One of the best parts of the book is that it’s written in a way that helps it stick, the whole book is an example of what they are writing on.
2. Also, at the end of the book is a bulleted list of all the key concepts and core messages from the book for quick reference.
3. Subscribe to the Author’s blog on their website: www.madetostick.com

What other great books or ideas have you learned for making vision sticky?  (Yes, Making Vision Stick by Andy Stanley would be a GREAT example. )

Img Ginnerobot

Jim Gillmore, author of The Experience Economy said in an interview that the first childhood book you can remember will say alot about who you are today.   His example was Stop, Look and Listen.   I’m not familiar with the book and can’t find it anywhere on the web, but in his words, he shared how his work as an author and researcher is extremely influenced by those three core practices.    

Without going to crazy with that statement, take it at face value and consider it.  Have you ever thought about the first childhood book you remember.  Not your favorite, but the first one?   They might be the same but not necessarily. 

What’s the first book that comes to mind?  Does it say anything unique about who you are today or vice versa?  what about other “firsts? “  Ever think about all the firsts you remember from your childhood?     

First Friend: Jason Black – we’re still friends today, played soccer growing up and he is now a golf coach at Rio Rancho HighSchool here in New Mexico.
First Book:  Green Eggs and Ham
First Crush: Wendy in 1st grade
First Club: Green Cat Eyes Club – girls weren’t allowed! 
First T.V. Show or cartoon: G.I. Joe; parents wouldn’t let us watch smurfs or Bugs.   I’m still bitter over that.
First Sport: Soccer
First Hobby: Rocket building with my dad.
First Comic: not sure, didn’t grow up with comics
First Hero: Superman – had the underoo’s and everything.

Copy the list below into comments and fill it in as much as you can.   Any insights?  Any other “Firsts” you’d add?

First Friend:
First Book:
First Crush:
First Club:
First T.V. Show or cartoon:
First Sport:
First Hobby:
First Comic:
First Hero:

 img Thomas Hawk

Being an endurance athlete, I’m always looking for new drink and food ideas that I can use during long races or training sessions.   I enjoy eating but can get into a rut pretty easily.  I recently finished the book Born to Run and decided to try out a couple of the food ideas that the author, Chris McDougall writes about.   Chia Fresca and some sort of Pinole.  I thought I’d share what I’ve found and experimented with so far.  

Chia Fresca “Chia Gel #3

Chia Fresca is what you get when you mix the chia seed and water together.   The chia seed is a very small black seed packed with uber goodness for your body; i.e. Omega 3’s and antioxidants and fiber.   Yes, this is the very same chia seed that grows on the chia pet.   When you put the chia seed in water it turns the water into a gel, believed to be a result of the amount of soluble fiber in the seed itself.  Once you have the “gel” let creativity guide you, lime or lemon seem to be a nice and not over the top addition.    I am using it primarily as a recovery drink following long workouts.  For fitness recovery, adding sugar or a low amount of sodium might help.  One recipe I found used coconut water to increase electrolytes as well.   I like things sweet so I used honey to sweeten. 

I’m on my third variation now.  I live in New Mexico and found a couple places locally where I could get the seeds but in small, small quantity only.   The best place to get a lb or more is online.  I got mine from Amazon. 

• 2 servings Chia Seed (56g)
• 4tbsp Honey (84g)
• 2 fresh limes
• 64oz H20

Each 8oz serving has 65calories, 2g Fat, 1g Sodium, 12g Carb, 11g Fiber, 8g Sugar and 1g Protein.  I’ve kept it in the fridge and will go through it in about a week and a half.   What I found online said that it should keep for at least 2 weeks, probably longer.

Why am I trying the Chia Seed?  Ultimately if I could find a recovery drink that is all-natural, good, does the job great and is not expensive, I’d be HAPPY.   Hammer Nutrition’s Recoverite is great but it’s $50 for a container and as much as I train and race, I go through it fairly quickly.  Also, one of the interesting things I read about Chia Seed is it’s ability to slow digestion of sugars/carbs into the body.   

Research believe this same gel-forming phenomenon takes place in the stomach…creates a physical barrier between carbohydrates and the digestive enzymes that break them down, thus slowing the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar.

…this slowing in the conversion of carbohydrates into sugar offers the ability for creating endurance. Carbohydrates are the fuel for energy in our bodies. Prolonging their conversion into sugar stabilizes metabolic changes, diminishing the surges of highs and lows creating a longer duration in their fueling effects.

http://www.living-foods.com/articles/chia.html

The only real side effect I’ve noticed is that I’m gaining weight, which I think could be related to the above quote.    I’ve tracked my caloric intake for over a year now and the only change in food or caloric intake has been the Chia Fresca this past couple weeks.   If in fact the chia is causing my body to slow the conversion of carbohydrate into sugar, than I might be storing more in my system as fat.  Not sure yet.  My intake has been 8-12oz every other day or so, I’ve noticed that my weight has begun to climb (for me about 2-3 lb’s in the past two weeks)   I’ll keep an eye on this and post updated info in a few weeks.

Other information on Chia

• http://wildthyme-kitchen.com/2009/07/chia-fresca-sports-drink/
• http://www.chia-ireland.net/
• http://www.nativeseeds.org/Home
• http://www.purcellmountainfarms.com/Chia%20Seeds.htm

Pinole

I’m still experimenting with this.  To be honest, the Pinole has been a bit harder to figure out how to use.  Pinole is toasted corn flour.  It’s extremely good and has a strong flavor.   The most obvious use I’ve found so far has been in a drink form.   Atole de Pinole is a mixture of water and/or milk and pinole that’s been heated up on the stove for about 30 minutes and sweetened to taste with syrup or sugar.   It’s awesome!

But, I’m wanting to find a way to eat it as a food not necessarily a drink.  I came up with a crunch mix that I made by throwing some stuff together.   Jury’s still out.  It’s very tasty but still hard to eat in it’s current form.  Anna and I might try a granolish type version next and try baking it into small bars with chocolate. 

Pinole Crunch #1

• 100g of Pinole
• 1 serv Oatmeal (1/2cup)
• 1 serv Organic Raisins (40g)
• 3 serv Honey (3tbsp/63g)
• 1 serv Walnuts (30g)

I mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl, broke into 4 servings and put in small ziplocks.  Each serving has 267calories, 7g fat, 1g saturated fat, 3g sodium, 49g carb, 2g fiber, 40g sugar and 5g protein.

Before taking any of these recipes to the bank, try them out for yourself and shoot back any thoughts or ideas you have.

What other creative drinks and food do you use to fuel your body?

On more than one occasion I’ve come home after a long day of work and been greeted by a nerf sword through the gut.

My lovely wife, violent though she is, found nerf swords at a store a couple years ago and has used them whenever the mood strikes her to keep things light and playful around the Taylor home. 

I love that!  

Before our first anniversary we made a list of values that would guide our marriage and a vision that would describe in vivid detail what we hope to accomplish with our marriage over the years.

One of our values is Fun and Playfulness:

Fun and Playfulness: We will intentionally create and look for moments to keep childhood alive, to laugh and live joyfully.

So here’s what I brought to the table

Poop. 

Yes, poop.  I got this idea from my x-boss and his wife.  They had these wonderfully realistic looking piles of poo that they would strategically hide around the house for the other to find.   I visited their home for a weekend before moving to Oregon and found poo in my golf clubs, my oatmeal, my car…etc.   

This morning, the poo showed up in my shoes.   I found myself laughing and immediately trying to figure out where to hide the poo from Anna.

What on earth???

Ok, let me bring it on home. 

What are you doing to keep things light and fun in your marriage or relationships.  Is it time for some fake poo?  I don’t know if Anna and I will be playing this “hide the poop game” or “nerf sword wars” 30 years from now but I do know this: intentionally creating opportunities to laugh and play and have fun are one of the keys to keeping any relationship alive and vibrant.   

And it doesn’t take much.  

“Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

A picture of my friend Gary having some alone time along the Green River.  An epic trip we took in 2006.

I’ve been reflecting on Proverbs this past few weeks.   Proverbs is a book in the bible, a collection of wisdom, most of which was written by Solomon, a King that lived and reigned several thousand years ago.  

Proverbs 3:1-6 says, “My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.  Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.  So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your path.”

I ran a trail marathon this past week.  I had no idea what the trail would be like, but was pleasantly surprised when I found it to be flat, for the most part straight, sans rock and root and with a very small number of obstacles like dips and potholes.   What that allowed me to do was take in the beauty around me.   Running alongside the mountains from Palmer Lake down through the forest surrounding the Air Force Academy, alongside Pikes Peak while the sun came up.  It was gorgeous. 

There’s a lot of great stuff to focus on in the text from Proverbs but my focus, my take-away today was that one of the benefits of NOT leaning on my understanding and trusting the Lord with ALL my heart, is that I get to walk a straight path.  And one of the benefits of a straight path is that you get to look up and enjoy the trip a whole lot more.

Are there areas in your life where you could use a straighter path?   How might you lean into trusting God a bit more today?

I just finished Born to Run by Christopher McDougall.   About 9:30pm last night.   I was so pumped up, I went for a 90 minute run when really I should have been in bed getting some rest.    I will at some point do a post specific to the book but wanted to post these pics from a trip I took into Copper Canyon several years ago.    
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

I love to read.   I love it.   I have been a voracious reader since I was a child, but only in the last several years have I been intentional about reading and keeping track of what I read, how I read and the application of the knowledge I get.  Since 2004 I’ve tracked and catalogued every book I’ve read.   This year I had a more specific goal of reading books that span across all the main areas of my life plan.  

• Faith
• Marriage
• Friends and Family
• Health
• Finances
• Self-Development
• Career and Service
• Administration/Miscellaneous

(I’m going to do a post soon that breaks out how I’m using those accounts above in organizing my hard files, email inbox, pretty much everything.)

In the past, I’ve tended to get in a rut and flip from business and leadership to fiction and then back.   It’s been a good exercise to spread out my reading this year across genre’s.  My wife was got her Master’s in English and I’ve begun to sense that my reading has been way to limited in terms of scope. 

This year I had a goal to get through 36 books.  I’m going to fall a bit short but don’t feel too bad about it.  I’m reading through the Old Testament once, the New Testament twice and I spent the first few months of the year studying hard for my Personal Training Certification test.   

I was reviewing and reflecting on books I’ve read over the past 5 years that have really impacted me.   I’m almost tempted to turn this into a top ten authors because to be honest, if you see a book listed below, I’ve read everything by that author too.  

To make my list of 10 a book had to be a STRONG YES in the following areas:

• Impacted my life significantly and immediately.  
• I easily applied it to my life and it stuck.
• I found myself unable to contain my excitement about the read and was compelled to share it with people.
• I’ve reread it at least once.

So without further delay – here’s my list as of today:

1. Love is the Killer Ap by Tim Sanders
2. Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller
3. Searching for God Knows What by Don Miller
4. Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
5. The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
6. Wild at Heart by John Eldredge
7. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kyosaki
8. Enduring Patagonia by Gregory Crouch
9. Tribes by Seth Godin 
10. Made to Stick by Dan and Chip Heath / Becoming a Coaching Leader by Daniel Harkavy (both of these made my list but I’ve not reread them)

I’m curious – if you applied the criteria to what you read, what books would make your top 10?   Do you find yourself reading a specific genre more than others?  What tips and tricks have you learned to keep reading over the years?   

Img (Chocolate Geek)