The Journey or the Destination?

Years ago I had a boss who told me, “It was the journey, not the destination that was most important.” For a number of reasons, I did not get along very well with this boss. One of the reasons was my intense focus on goals and getting to a destination – to complete my goals. Now I have a much better appreciation for the concept of focusing on the journey more than the destination. We need both. Without a destination – a goal or dream – we don’t strive or plan. I find that my days feel less meaningful if I’m not striving for something. I’m learning to “smell the roses” more often, to enjoy the process, and to embrace the journey along the way. I now find that the bigger my goals the less probability I have of achieving them. If I miss a goal it can be frustrating and depressing. By focusing on the journey I work much harder to appreciate the moments that pass and the learning and growth that take place along the way.

The walk-on-line experience helped me improve my focus on the journey. When I committed to go for it I knew there was no guarantee I would get to run on the course, and that I had better enjoy it and learn from the effort if I wanted to get something from it. This perspective enabled me to take the steps to join the walk-on line; create many new, fun, and challenging experiences; and eventually run on the ANW course. I am so glad I have learned to apply this perspective. I hope you enjoy this ride with me as I look back on my experience. I hope you are already better able to enjoy your ride in this life than I was. We have been blessed with so much, especially those of us who live in the United States of America. We have so much freedom. Don’t take it for granted.

This is an excerpt from the book, What Just Happened? The Line, available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/What-Just-Happened-Walk-Line/dp/0999333135/ref=sr_1_1?crid=HJI3RNZ2XR1G&keywords=What+just+happened%3F+the+line&qid=1688411651&s=books&sprefix=what+just+happened+the+line%2Cstripbooks%2C134&sr=1-1

Play

Stuart Brown, the founder of the National Institute for Play, studied what he called the “play histories” of some 6,000 individuals and concluded that play has the power to significantly improve everything from personal health to relationships to education to organizations’ ability to innovate. “Play,” he said in Greg McKeown’s book Essentialism, “leads to brain plasticity, adaptability, and creativity.”

To me, play is when we get creative or set up a game-like environment in which we strive to win at something. It might be trying to beat our prior best performance, such as a better or faster completion of some activity or event. Such play includes the tension of potential success or failure and the thrill of pushing ourselves as far as we can, like when we were growing up running as hard as we could, zigging and zagging to tag someone in a game of tag, or maybe doing our best to avoid being tagged. It is a fun yet safe environment, for winning or losing, in which losing does not have a negative impact on our lives. Play can be a very fun and healthy aspect of the life of an adult. We don’t have to play all the time; we do have responsibilities. But we sure can gain benefit from some play in our lives.

This is a segment taken from the book titled The Heart of a Ninja, by author Chris Warnky. It’s available on Amazon.com. Search Chris Warnky for this and his other books.

Ways We Matter

Have you ever felt low and like you didn’t matter? Have you thought, “What is the use of living and going on?” I’ve never had suicidal thoughts, but I have looked at the routine and boring elements of life and wondered, “What is the use? Why do I do these things? Do I even matter or make a difference? On hard days of life, you have likely felt the same way. I took some time to think through this question for myself and found my insights helpful and valuable. I hope they are beneficial to you as well, so I decided to share them.

God’s Creation

First off, as a man who believes in a Creator, in God, I believe I matter because God loves me as one important member of His creation. Just like us, when we develop or create something, we love and care for it, it is our baby. This principle can be applied to the birth of our baby, a book we write, a craft we produce, or a yard or car we’ve purchased with our hard-earned money. It can be an art form that we produced, such as pottery, a painting, a song, stained glass, or photos we have personally taken. When we are involved in its creation or production, it matters to us. We love and care for it. I believe God sees us the same way, so we matter to him.

Make a Difference

Often, when things are hard for us, we can find it difficult to see and feel God’s love, and our minds can be carried away by the mundane, practical side of life on this earth. I also matter because I make a difference to this planet and to others in many small ways that add up to being significant.

I make a difference and matter when I:

• Spend time with people. By spending time with them, I am helping make them better in so many ways. Prioritizing time with them lets them know that they matter, at least to me.
• Quietly and truly listen to others, letting them be themselves in a safe place.
• Let them know I care about them, that I am concerned about them, that I want to help them, and that they are not forgotten.
• Celebrate them, both for who they are, what they have become, and what they have learned to do, and what they have followed through and done.
• Encourage them not to give up, to keep on going, and that they can do something they are trying to do.
• Provide for them through sharing my time, attention, things, effort, skills, knowledge, talents, experiences, tools, wisdom, thinking, discipline, and accountability. And when I follow through for them, I hope to help them move forward with an even better life.

I make a difference through the books I write and publish, the thoughts I share in them, striving to encourage, provide insight and tips, challenge, and even entertain others to create a better life for themselves.

A Choice

Through each of these small actions, I make a difference and matter in this world. I make this world a better place, one small step at a time, and so are you.

The exciting part is that I have made a significant difference and contributed during my first 69 years of life, and each of these actions has been a choice I can continue to make to matter in this life. I am in control. There is no reason to doubt my or your reason to be here. We each matter. We are each making a difference for others and this world. Together, we all make a difference in the world that we live in.

Giving

After thinking about this, it hit me like a lead brick: all these actions are about giving, not receiving. It is the giving of my life that makes me and us matter on this planet. It is my time, effort, money, skills, knowledge, wisdom, tools, and so much more that, when I give them, make me matter relative to this planet. We can all move forward confidently knowing that we do matter. We bring value, critical value to this planet. Keep up the good work! I will continue to do the same.

I hope you found this little article encouraging, insightful, and as helpful to you as it was for me.

Comparing Yourself to Others

How often do you compare yourself to others? How does comparing help you or hurt you? For many of us it causes negative feelings. We compare the greatest strength of others to our average strength or weakness. When we do that, it’s easy to get discouraged.

I love the fact that most ninjas approach the sport with a “me versus the obstacle” mindset rather than “me versus someone else.” You only control yourself, not others. If you want to improve what you control, focus on yourself and not on others. You can learn and grow from the experience of others without comparing your performance to theirs. This ninja trait has helped me realize how often I compare myself to others.

Focus on What You Control

When you focus on yourself and an obstacle instead of on how someone else tackles the obstacle, you have much better control of the results. You can study the obstacle and evaluate your abilities relative to it. An example from the ninja world is focusing on your balance skills, including your ability on rolling objects, wobbly objects, bouncy objects, and sinking or soft objects. When your focus is on the requirements of an obstacle and your skill level, you’re truly productive. Your mind can evaluate your best options and how to best use those options.

This is an excerpt from the book, Twelve Traits of a Ninja, Live Like a Ninja, available on Amazon.

#ANW, #American Ninja Warrior, #Ninja Warrior, #ANW Jr, #American Ninja Warrior Junior

“Yet”

With these powerful reasons, my “I can’t do it!” has become “I can’t do it… yet.” And that is a tremendous difference. That is all the difference. One position reflects no hope, and the other says there is hope and I will get there – I just need more time and work.

Who would have dreamed that the little word yet could be so powerful? It is an extremely powerful, tiny word that packs a big punch. To be able to think and then verbally say the word yet injects hope and a desired future into our lives.

I’m not suggesting that the word yet applies to everything, but I believe it can apply to a whole lot more things than many of us think. Ninja training has helped me see the “yet” concept come to life for me and many of my peers. Two examples are my experience on the warped wall and swinging between elevated bars. When I first started training, I was three feet short of the top on my warped wall attempts, and I could only lache, or swing across one bar to another bar, with short distances between the bars. My warped wall catches are now much more consistent, and sometimes I can complete laches with eight-foot gaps between the bars. And I’m not even six feet tall. Eight feet is a very long way to fly through the air when you’re swinging on those bars.

“Yet” Has Served Me Well

I still have a lot of yets in my life, as a ninja and in many other respects. On the ninja front, I cannot yet catch the top of a warped wall every time, but I’m getting closer to that level. I’m not yet as consistent as I want to be on an eight-foot lache. I’m not yet able to move up (and especially come down) a salmon ladder with the consistency I would like. I’m not yet consistent in walking across a 10-foot slack line. But I’m much, much, closer than I was in the past. My key word is yet. It has served me well in the past and I know it will serve me very well in the future.

The same could be said about writing a book. When I finished the first draft of The Heart of a Ninja, I had not yet successfully written a book. As you can see, now I have published that book and three other books, and you’re reading the product of one of my prior “yets.”

Where do you need to start adding the word yet? See how it can help your mind and your actions. I’m confident that yet will help you.

This is an excerpt from the book, The Heart of a Ninja for Kids: It’s Play Time!, available on Amazon.

#ANW, #American Ninja Warrior, #Ninja Warrior, #ANW Jr, #American Ninja Warrior Junior

It’s Important to Understand the Requirements Before We Start Something

The Course Walk-Through

Our numbers were called by a casting member directing us to the course starting place. They called the numbers and names of all the ninjas who could be running up until the lunch break at about 12:30 a.m. These were the first 50 to 60 competitors. I was called because I was walk-on number eight. Here we go.

One of the producers read through the competition rules and then, obstacle by obstacle, talked us through what was acceptable and what was not. Then a member of the ATS (Alpine Training Services) team demonstrated successful completion of each obstacle. ATS is a company that sets up and tests the obstacles for ANW. Following each demo, there was a time for questions. As usual, there were a few questions, like “If we’re thrown from the Rolling Log, are we disqualified if our butt hits the mat in contrast to our feet landing on the mat like we just saw in the demonstration?”

After each demo was completed for each obstacle, all competitors were asked to raise their hand to signify they fully understood the requirements of the obstacle. A video camera panned the group to document that everyone acknowledged they understood the rules. Other than the video documentation portion at the end, this is a standard process for most local ninja competitions. This felt normal.

The Wait

How many walk-ons would get to run at the beginning? Maybe 10? There was much speculation by the walk-ons about how many of us would run and when. We wanted to know, and like most of this experience, there was no way to know. One rumor was that they would run 10 of us at the beginning. Others thought there would be five, and depending on how those runs went and how long they took there might be another five, but I was not confident I would run. Something in the back of my mind kept saying, “This is a TV show and the producers can make changes whenever they want. I still may not run.”

The sun had set. Those famous bright ANW lights now appeared across the course and the sky.

Significant experiences are hardly ever simple and quick. There are many steps to take to achieve most anything of significance. As with our course walk-through, it’s important to understand all the requirements when you take something on. You must learn what is required, what you must do, and what you must not do. Without this knowledge, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

How well do you commit to taking the many steps required to complete things that are important to you? How well do you work at learning all the requirements of an initiative before you take it on?

This is an excerpt from the book, What Just Happened? The Run: An American Ninja Warrior Cleveland City Qualifier Course-Run Experience, available on Amazon.

#ANW, #American Ninja Warrior, #Ninja Warrior, #ANW Jr, #American Ninja Warrior Junior

Take Another Step

Recently I was listening to a song by Steven Curtis Chapman. The song is titled, and repeatedly states, “Take Another Step.” The key message is to keep going and not give up, give in, and stop. I love the message of the song. It reminded me of the core message of this book, which is “open a door, or another door, and discover more and new opportunities.”

It is so easy to get stuck and not move or try something new. When we remain stagnant or stuck we lose the ability to see so many new opportunities. I hope that What Just Happened? is a great model of the new opportunities that can surface by taking that next step and opening a door. For you that might be a door that you have been standing in front of and staring at for who knows how long. I hope you step through that door to see what’s on the other side. I’m so glad I opened a new door by getting in the ANW walk-on line!

This is an excerpt from the book, What Just Happened? The Line: An American Ninja Warrior Walk-On-Line Experience, available on Amazon.

#ANW, #American Ninja Warrior, #American Ninja Warrior Junior, #Ninja Warrior, #Walk-on-Line

When Did My Ninja Journey Begin?

When did you first have fun playing outside, running, jumping, swinging, and just being a fun-loving kid? Remember how much fun those days were? They were great! Are those days long gone or can you still have them, or have them again?

Fourth Grade

I remember very clearly back to fourth grade at Mount Pleasant Grade School on Warson Road. The bell rings in the middle of the day and it is recess time. Yay! It is one of those recesses when I am not staying inside to write out sentences because I was talking in class. It is a warm and sunny day and I get to head out and play on the playground, more specifically the monkey bars, or what we called the jungle gym. It is so much fun to climb across it, walk on top of it, and swing from bar to bar. The eight big, long, gray metal bars are much larger than my hands, and I make my way across the horizontal ladder with only my hands, trying to see how many I can skip without falling.

Speaking of falling, it would have been a five- or six-foot drop to the asphalt. I had several of those experiences that resulted in a badly skinned knee or elbow, or at minimum a fresh, red-colored scrape, or in worst cases some blood running down my arm or leg. Those were the days! As Tarzan, a monkey, or a trapeze artist, I did my best to fly through the air. It was anything but boring. The freedom I felt and the fun I experienced on those bars are great memories.

How about you? Did you have a special place like this to go when you were young, a place to be creative and do both risky and fun things, pushing yourself to see how far you could go? I’m betting that most of you did. It was a good time for me with a lot of enjoyment and creativity to life.

This is an excerpt from the book, The Heart of a Ninja: Stretch Your Boundaries, available on Amazon.

#ANW, #American Ninja Warrior, #Ninja Warrior, #ANW Jr, #American Ninja Warrior Junior

Our Thinking Leads to Our Actions

Philosopher Jim Rohn drove this point home with examples of how a house is built: First the idea is created in the mind, then the drawings and blueprints are developed, and eventually the physical building is constructed and there is an end product. I’m convinced this is the best approach for most endeavors. If you don’t see it in your mind first, it can’t evolve properly. Creating a vision in your mind leads to action or reaction of some type. Your body reacts to what you’re seeing in your mind – a faster or slower heartbeat, relaxation or tensing up, a dry or watering mouth, or sweat beads or dryness. It all starts with the mind. This is one of the key reasons why coaching is focused on how we think: it’s the key to how we live. Poor thinking leads to a poor life experience; improve what’s in your mind and you improve your life.

This is an excerpt from the book, The Coach Approach: A Unique and Supportive Way to Give and Get Help, available on Amazon.

#Coaching, #Coaches, #Coach, #Life Coach, #Executive Coach, #Helping Professions

Turning Gray

My wife, Carolyn, and I were sitting on our living room couch recently talking about my spiritual journey, and we – maybe she – mentioned that things appeared to be more gray for me these days, especially relative to my spiritual beliefs. She said that she had seen some of that in her mom when she was in her eighties and nineties.

We joked about the fact that my hair had turned strongly gray over the years. I’ve had gray hair since high school, and I was definitely aware that my gray hair had increased during our first few years of marriage, only about five years later. Until recently my Ohio driver’s license still said I had brown hair, a vestige from 30 years ago when we moved to Ohio and got new licenses. I have told Carolyn for years that I have brown hair and could prove it because it had been declared by the state of Ohio. But my updated license now states “Gray” hair. Over the years I’ve absolutely turned more gray.

Since my concussion, it appears I’ve also turned significantly more gray in my thinking, especially spiritually. This analogy of turning gray is a good description of what is going on in my mind and heart – a description that clarifies my thinking and is helpful when sharing it with others. It’s a practical word-picture that feels right. Ideas that once fit easily into my life are now less clear, and not as black and white as I have seen them for nearly 50 years. That’s a big shift. Until my accident I had not asked myself many questions about my spiritual beliefs, instead just accepting what I had heard as truth. I had not felt like it was okay to ask deeper questions.

Something within me was stirred by my concussion, and I felt pulled along the path to inquiry. As I probed more deeply, my curiosity led to even more questions. Although I still have some strong black-and-white beliefs, my life has transformed from a simple black-and-white-paper cartoon to a live-action gray-scale TV show or movie.

I remember watching the black-and-white TV in our living room as a kid. We watched Combat, The Untouchables, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, and many others. I enjoyed being entertained by others’ lives played out on the screen. And then one day my perspective changed.

I was so excited and couldn’t wait to go over to my best friend Bob Ramsey’s house. I learned that his family had just purchased a color TV. It was going to be an amazing experience to see the shows I had been watching in black and white now in vivid color – at home! I had of course seen movies in color at the movie theater, but not on a TV in a home.

Sitting on the floor watching color TV in Bob’s living room was an eye-opening experience. Everything popped out in a whole new way, so bright, so colorful. Everything seemed so much more real and alive. I was glued to it. After that day our black-and-white TV had nowhere near the appeal it had had in the past. I watched quite a few hours of TV at Bob’s over the years until we purchased our first color TV.

Turning gray has been as profound as that experience of shifting from black-and-white TV to color TV. Have you turned gray over the years? After reading my story, you might find that you are more gray than you think.

This is an excerpt from the book, Turning Gray: A Spiritual Shift, Leading to Greater Awe of God and Creation, available on Amazon.

You Should Write a Book

Over 10 years ago I had just returned from one of my personal retreats, what I now call Refocus Sessions. My co-worker, Trey, was aware that I was investing time this way approximately every two months. In a short conversation across the aisle between our cubicles, he said he was intrigued. He wanted to know what I did and how I did it.

After I shared some of my process and experiences with Trey, he encouraged me, “You should write a book about your personal retreats.” This was the first time someone encouraged me to write a book about how I live my life, and his comment remained in my mind. I’ve become an author of several books about my ninja warrior experiences, and I always had in the back of my mind that someday I was going to write that Refocus book that Trey requested. It didn’t leave me. It’s amazing the impact a short statement can have.

Trey and I aren’t still in contact, but I hope someday we get to reconnect so that I can thank him and share with him the impact he has had on both me and the lives of Refocus readers. Thanks for the challenge, Trey.

This is an excerpt from the book, How to Refocus Your Life: See Beyond the Urgent to the Big Picture – Through Personal Retreats, available on Amazon.

Celebration

I love achieving a new PR (personal record – when I’ve done something I’ve never done before) when other ninjas are in the gym. I remember the excitement and celebration I experienced the first time I caught an eight-foot lache. The high fives and hoots and hollers with my ninja family were so encouraging.

My ninja buddies had to remind me to celebrate the first time I made it across our difficult narrow-ledge cliff-hanger obstacle that requires a long and high reach to catch the next ledge. I was so focused on executing my technique that I didn’t realize it was the first time I had cleared it. As always, celebration, high fives, and hugs followed.

Living in an environment of encouragement, support, and celebration is so powerful and freeing. It makes a world of difference in everything we do. As you can see, I’ve clearly experienced this support from my ninja community, and I’m convinced you will find the same if you get involved in the ninja world. You can also find this support in many other ways including through family, church, rock-climbing clubs, and bike-riding groups. It’s not important what group you join but that you find a group that works for you as a powerful support and where you can be a helpful support for others.

I’ve found that some of the power of these groups is that they take us beyond standard conversation and move us to a level of activity and dependence on each other as we are encouraged to take ourselves and our skill forward to a whole new level.

Find what works for you, but definitely seek out options and groups that will embrace, encourage, and support you. It makes a world of difference.

This is an excerpt from the book, Four Traits of a Ninja: Experience the Ninja Fun, available on Amazon.

#ANW, #American Ninja Warrior, #Ninja Warrior, #ANW Jr, #American Ninja Warrior Junior