What’s the limit?

If you listened to our second podcast episode titled “Why do you want to get fit?” you already know that my approach to fitness is to do as little as I can so I can live my Xtraordinary life. Currently I play baseball, golf, snowboarding, and I recently started road biking. So my fitness program is designed to help me participate in those activities and perform at a level that is satisfactory to me while minimizing soreness and injuries. One of the elements of my program is a weight training method called SuperSlow® . I live in San Diego and I have been working out with one of the first SuperSlow® licensed facilities in the area The Perfect Workout for over 5 years. The reason this method works for me is that the sessions are very intense but short (only 12-15 minutes) & the results are measurable.

The basic premise of the program is that every exercise you do, you do it until you reach “failure” – that is total muscle fatigue. Simply put, you go until your muscles have reached their limit and you can go no further. The amount of time it takes to reach failure is somewhere between 1-2 minutes per exercise. As you get stronger, the time you can go until you reach failure increases. Once the time moves closer to the upper range, you increase the amount of weight you lift and your time comes down. So unfortunately, it never gets any easier.

Getting stronger is not even in my list of goals for working out. At this stage in my life, I’m more concerned with NOT getting weaker that I am with getting stronger. And yet, I love numbers and I’m very competitive. Part of what keeps me interested and motivated is looking at the numbers (time & weight.) So every time I finish my workout I look at my numbers for the session. How did I do vs. the last time I did that particular routine? Did I beat my time? Is this a new personal record?

The fact is that I set a new personal record quite often. Which leads me to ask “What’s my limit?” You see, my rational mind tells me that there has to be a limit. And yet, I’ve yet to find what it is for me. Maybe the only way I will find out what my limit WAS is after I’ve done my last workout. Until then I’ll just have to keep on wondering…

Funning!

Funning is what my 7-year old Vanessa calls having fun. For me, “funning” is one of the key ingredients in having an Xtraordinary life. However, I have found that if I set out to “just having fun” I usually don’t. Fun is an outcome not an activity. How much fun I have is also tied to the choices I make. There are different kinds of fun. As you can see, fun is a very broad subject – one I plan on tackling often in this blog.

Today I’m focusing on two activities that are fun for me: listening to music & watching movies. I want to share two resources that have made a huge difference in how much I enjoy both. Both of these resources share several things in common. They are free, they offer significant value and they require you to invest some time to get the most of the experiences.

The first one is Movielens, a personalized movie concierge. It is offered by the University of Minnesota. It uses “collaborative filtering” technology to make recommendations of movies/videos that you might enjoy, and to help you avoid the ones that you won’t. Based on the ratings on the movies you have seen MovieLens generates personalized predictions for movies you haven’t seen yet. MovieLens, is also a unique research vehicle for dozens of undergraduates and graduate students researching various aspects of personalization and filtering technologies.

The second one is Pandora, a personalized music DJ that was created by the Music Genome Project. What is unique about Pandora is that it doesn’t rely on the “collaborative filtering” technology that say iTunes or Amazon use to suggest songs that I might enjoy. Instead, they have a database of over 10,000 songs and they have de-constructed each “song’s DNA” – ie. it’s basic song structure, vocal harmony, tonality, etc. – so it can match my rated “song’s DNA” and suggest songs with similar “DNA.” What I’m doing with Pandora is creating my own personalized music station. The more it gets to know my tastes, the better the music it plays. It is free, easy to use, has no commercials and has more variety than I have ever encountered in any music station I have ever listened to.

With both services, the more I rate their recommendations, the better the accuracy. Since I started using the Movielens service about 5 years ago, their recommendations for me are extremely accurate. Thanks to the site, I can’t remember the last time I watched something that I didn’t enjoy. As far as Pandora goes, I have discovered a lot of new music that I would have never discovered otherwise.

So if you want to add some fun to your life I encourage you to give these services a try and let me know how they work for you.

Isn’t it ironic?

“You get what you pay for.” “The best things in life are free.” Which of these statements is true? Both and neither.

If you’ve been around me, you know how much I dislike doing business with the airlines. I never thought I would find another industry that would trigger as many negative emotions in me as the airlines. But I have. My recent experiences with my cellular company are right up there in my Hall of Shame for lousy customer service. Why don’t I change companies, you ask. That would be because the reason I changed to the current cellular company was the lousy service I got with my last one. I also get the benefit of listening to my wife and daughter’s stories about their cellular company.

On the other hand, I love the Internet. Not only has it given me more options and more power, but it is also a great vehicle for cooperation. There is plenty of value in FREE on the Net.

I find it very ironic that companies where I pay thousands of dollars every year treat me so poorly while people who I’ve never met and stand to gain nothing financially from interacting with me treat me so well.

Take this blog for example. It is being hosted for free by a subsidiary of Google – a US company. I’m using a free template developed by an individual in the Netherlands. There is additional code developed by another programmer on the East Coast that allows me to customize it to my needs that is also free. In the past two weeks, I’ve asked questions to all these entities and received prompt, relevant and courteous responses from all of them – for free. Try that with the airline or your cellular provider.

On the other hand, I recently bought a road bike – see my Portugal post – at my local bike shop. The reason I decided to go there as opposed to buying it online or at a place like Wal-Mart, is because I wanted to get an education and I wanted to get great service. I got both. Yes I paid more, but it was definitely worth it

I have a favor to ask you: if PL&L EVER does something that you would consider bad customer service, please let me know. I don’t want you to ever feel about my company the way I feel about the airlines or the cellular companies.

Podcast Episode #2 – Do you want to get fit?

Our second episode of the Xtraordinary Living podcast is out. You can listen to it below.

If you would like to leave us an audio comment, you can do so by clicking on the button below. The only thing you need is a microphone on your computer.

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Technorati Tags: Fitness, Lindon Crow, Rick Itzkowich, Xtraordinary Living

Podcast Episode #1 – Experimenting

I believe that a big part of creating an Xtraordinary Life is the willingness to experiment, make mistakes and fail. The key is to LEARN, apply the lesson(s) and try the experiment again with the newfound insights. Repeating this cycle on a consistent basis will take us to places we never dreamed we could reach.

One of the reasons I’m so excited about this blog and our newly created podcast series (see the end of this post for some of the results of my experimenting) is that I get to experiment, learn and be creative in a new setting that is very enjoyable for me. I’m also using this learning as a source of new material that I can bring to the courses I’m leading. Lindon and I are also strong advocates of putting ourselves in the student role as often as possible so that we can bring a lot more empathy and understanding to our role of facilitators. There is nothing more powerful when you facilitate courses than teach from experience.

If you are a current subscriber to this blog and you get notified every time there is a new post, you may be wondering why you are getting a notice where there doesn’t seem to be any new posts. The reason for it is due to my experimenting. I’m trying new stuff out and when it doesn’t work, I delete it. So now you’ll know every time I have experimented and failed. However, I’m confident that you will see the improvements as we go along.

A skiing instructor told me once that if “you are not falling, you are not pushing yourself and you are not learning.” Happy experimenting.

If you haven’t already listened to the first Xtraordinary Living podcast episode, you can do so by clicking on the player below.

Another cool feature is that you can send us an audio comment (we’d love to hear from you.) It is very easy. All you need to do is click on the button below.

Getting Ready for Time for Intentions in Portugal

As you may know, this coming June we will be holding one of our Learning Vacation’s in Portugal. We will be bike riding along the coast while doing some work on our Intentions. One of the elements that are great about my job is that not only do I get paid to have these wonderful experiences, but I also get paid to learn new things – like Road Biking.

Given that we will be riding a bike an average of 30-40 miles/day while in Portugal, I need to get in shape to be able to do this. So I went out and bought my first Road Bike. After years of wondering what it would be like to ride “one of those things,” I finally got to experience that. And what a thrill that was! It’s like going from driving a big truck to driving a Ferrari.

Those of you, who know me, know that I don’t particularly like to exercise. I do it so that I can enjoy the benefits that it brings me. However I constantly look for doing the least amount I can to take me there. I was thinking the same way about biking. After doing my research, I figured I would NEED to get on my bike a couple of times a week so that I could build my endurance and that once I got to where I could easily ride the 30-40 miles then I would stop. I was planning on checking that off my list. But much to my surprise, I have found an activity that is “good for me” and that I actually enjoy doing. So as of now, I’m really looking forward to getting in riding shape vs. HAVING to get in shape.

I’ve told people for years that the course starts the moment you register for it. It’s great to re-experience that. Our Learning Vacation’s are a great way to have new experiences and you never know where the journey to get there will take you. If you have never done a Learning Vacation, I invite you to do so. You can find out more about them by visiting our web site Learning Vacation Schedule.

Late to the party, Lindon’s first blog

Hi,
Now that Rick has this blog up and running I’ve been pressed into action but like most of us I’m new to this form of communication. I’ll follow Rick’s lead and use this to share with others a bit of my experiences away from the office.

Our oldest daughter has been married a year now and our twins are enjoying their Freshman year at college. So it seems like a natural time to look at our vision and our goals. Robin and I have both taken on health as an important focus. We decided to turn it up a notch and see what kind of extraordinary results we might accomplish. Some people might feel that Robin and I are a bit over zealous with our goals around health and fitness and I can’t really argue that, but I get pretty jazzed around the idea of extraordinary living and this seems right in line.

I love my active life. I love to surf, snowboard, SCUBA, Bike Ride, play golf and more. Most of all I love to play volleyball. I play recreationally on the beach and in organized competitions indoors. I’m going to use volleyball as a way to measure my performance and give me some goals that are not merely statistics but have an enjoyable end result.

I’m already pretty healthy. I weigh in at about 195lbs and 13.5% body fat (I need to get a current test.)

On the objective side I want to get to 185lbs and 8.5% body fat. I’m thinking I’d like to get my vertical jump over 30 inches (currently mid 20’s) and I’d like to play pain and injury free. The inflammation in my knees and shoulder can be pretty severe at times and I’ve been struggling with muscle pulls and strains that are slow to heal.

A bit more subjective is my actual performance on the court. I want to be competitive with good players that are 10-15 years younger and to be a significant contributor to the two teams I’ll play with in the nationals (May ’06.) I’d like to be taking home Gold medals in both divisions.

I think this blog will give me an added sense of accountability and an opportunity to share a hobby of mine with all of you. Seems a bit presumptuous that anyone would be interested but… I guess that’s the beauty of a Blog.

I’ll report back in future posts

Subscribe to our new Xtraordinary Living Podcast

You can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on the Xtraordinary Living Podcast link on the sidebar. That link will take you to a page where you have the most options for subscription. If you have iTunes, and you would like to listen to this episode without subscribing, click on one of the two links on this post.

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Why?

In my line of work, people constantly tell me WHAT they want. Things like: “I want to get in shape,” “I want to make more money,” “I need to get more organized,” etc. What is missing in those statements is the purpose – the “WHY.”

Why is the “why” so important? Because without it, we lack the necessary context to make our wants happen. For example, getting in shape to be able to walk 18 holes of golf without getting winded is very different than getting in shape to run the San Diego Marathon. The objective is different and so is the amount of training necessary to accomplish the objective. So if you want to make your “what” happen be sure you are clear about the “why.”

Speaking of “what’s & why’s” it just dawned on me that I’ve been lacking the “why” for this blog and the podcast series that I’m considering. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot and discussing these activities with several people. I’m realizing that the purpose of these activities is to increase my conversation with our clients.

Over the past couple of years, Lindon and I have been spending the majority of our time working with our corporate clients. Because of this, our interaction with our open enrollment clients has been much less than it used to be. I miss these interactions. So I hope that this blog allows me to re-engage in these type of conversations and that it doesn’t turn out to be a monologue.

If you are reading this blog, please be sure you type your comments or email me at rick@productivelearning.com and let me know what’s on your mind. The more we hear from you and what is important to you, the more we can make this an interesting conversation.

A Dose of Reality

One of the wonderful aspects of my job is that 4-6 weeks a year I get paid to lead Learning Vacations and do such things like snow boarding, golf, scuba diving and adventure travel. In addition, I often get to learn and remind myself of many things that contribute to my journey towards extraordinary living. This past week my family joined me in Steamboat Springs, Colorado while Lindon and I conducted the “Winning Choices” course.

Among the many wonderful experiences I had this week with Lindon, the participants and my family, there’s a lesson that really stood out for me. I got to both observe and experience the same lesson in two different instances. This is what this post is about.

The first instance involved observing my 7-year old daughter Vanessa. She is a beginner skier and participated in ski school during the week. After a couple of days in school she wanted to show me how much she had learned. She asked me meet her after ski school and go for a couple of runs together. I asked the ski instructor for his input and he thought it would be a great idea. He suggested a particular run and off we went. This run was a relatively easy Green (beginner) run.

Vanessa did great and asked if we could do a second run – however this time she wanted to go down a Blue (intermediate) run. I was a little hesitant to go down that particular run because it was significantly steeper than the Green run we had done earlier. However she told me that she had already skied several Blue runs with her class earlier in the day and insisted that she really wanted to do this one. So we went.

To make a long story short, Vanessa had a very hard time skiing that run. She was unable to execute the quicker turns she needed to control her speed in this steeper hill and fell many times. She was getting scared and finally had to be helped down the hill by another instructor. The good news was that she realized that her skills were not as good as she thought they were and that she needed to work on them before being able to tackle this new challenge.

The next day I got to experience the same lesson myself. I’m somewhere between an intermediate and an advanced snow boarder meaning that I can go down any Blue (intermediate) and some Black (advanced) runs. Lately however, I had been thinking that I had probably moved into the advanced category.

That morning I went boarding with a couple of participants who are very good skiers. As we were going up the lift, one of them suggested we go down a particular run that we hadn’t skied yet. The run had some bumps but it also had some fresh snow that hadn’t yet been skied. I was a little hesitant because of the bumps. However, the thought of fresh snow was very appealing to me. My two companions reassured me that I would have no problem going down that terrain. So we went.

It turned out that the run was way more difficult than anyone of us thought – especially me (that’s me in the picture above.) I struggled to go down and when I finally did, I was exhausted. Similar to my daughter the day before, I also thought I had better skills than I actually had. However, the mountain was able to set us straight. It was a very humbling experience for both of us. Hopefully, it is one that neither one of us will forget for a while.