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

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

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!

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of Nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. – George Bernard Shaw

Last year, I had undertook a one month challenge to raise $5000 for the SickKids Foundation in conjunction with the release of the movie “Transformers” – a childhood passion of mine – on what was supposed to be released on my birthday, but released on July 3^rd instead. The end result was $4230 raised for SickKids as opposed to the original $5000, and an unforgettable and truly empowering experience.I had created the TRANSFORMING for SickKids Initiative as a challenge to myself and as an act of gratitude to the wonderful people and world-class pediatric care bestowed upon me during my time at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario back in May-June 1993. If it wasn’t for their care, I probably wouldn’t be here today.

Now that I think of it, the purpose of the Initiative could be encapsulated in the following: “Promoting research in pediatric care through rediscovering and igniting childhood passions in ourselves and connecting people together for a common cause in the care and health of children – the SickKids Foundation.”

Had it not been for the help I received from the of the over 20 sponsors with their donations-in-kind in crafting the prize packages, my friends (Bonnie, Franz, Mike S, Paulina, Patricia, Franz, Chi Lam, Mike K, Jennifer, Katherine and Gokul) and loved ones (especially Loretta). Furthermore, to the countless people who saw and believed in the vision to the point where they bought raffle tickets, with the proceeds ultimately put towards research in pediatric care used in protecting and caring for humanity’s most precious resource – the children of today and our future. If it wasn’t for all those people, the Initiative wouldn’t have been possible.

This year, in the spirit of “Transforming”, because there isn’t a Transformers 2 movie to continue what was built last year the Initiative itself is Transforming into something drastically different. Instead of solely selling raffle tickets at a prominent and high traffic location aligned with the release of a Transformers movie, the Initiative is moving towards raising funds through running and Transforming ourselves. For the past few months, I’ve been training for a half-marathon and have been gearing up for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon as a primer, and use the Toronto Marathon as the launching pad for the Transforming for SickKids Initiative’s new vision.

By Transforming ourselves from the inside and outwards while training for a marathon, we can inspire and empower others to actualize our goals and dreams through fitness. It is only when we put something before ourselves that forces us to push ourselves outside of comfort zone and expand our capacity – to contribute and give whatever gift we have to the world, we can truly grow. Rallying behind a purpose that is meaningful, beyond ourselves that moves us is what will power the TRANSFORMING for SickKids Initiative.

This is my purpose for now. What’s yours?