“No greater love has a man than this, that he lays down his life for his friends”

One of the most powerful messages we can send to our teammates is what we sacrifice. It might be giving praise to someone else instead of taking the credit. It might be staying late to finish a project for a colleague. It could be cleaning or cooking for a loved one while they relax and recharge. It could be donating time and energy to relieve someone of a burden. But whatever the sacrifice is, a sacrifice is something that costs us. It is something that rational thought says we should hold on to, that it is ours, we earned it. A sacrifice is a gift, a choice, a statement, that what we are giving up is not as important as what is being gained.

Greatness requires sacrifice. To be a leader, an example, to make a difference in the world, a sacrifice must be made. The question must be asked, “Is the sacrifice worth the reward”?

There are some sacrifices that are not worth the reward. Sacrificing time with family and loved ones, sacrificing ethics and law to make a buck, sacrificing core values and hard work. These things will produce something less than what the sacrifice is worth.

There are other sacrifices that pale in comparison to the reward. The sacrifice of a life lived in service to others will produce a tremendous reward and effect. Is there anything in this life worth giving your life up for? Or anyone?

A sacrifice will cost you something, but the reward, for others, in the end, will reveal the greatest treasure there is…LOVE.

Everyone has a success mechanism and a failure mechanism. The failure mechanism goes off by itself. The success mechanism only goes off with a goal. Every time we write down and talk about a goal we push the button to start the success mechanism.-Charles ‘Tremendous’ Jones

Let me start off simply by stating the facts: I reached my ‘mini-goal’ and dropped the first 2lbs of weight for my goal of 245lbs by August 1. So I’m now sitting (literally) at 275lbs, 30lbs to my goal.  I was relieved to weigh in yesterday and see that I had gotten off to a good start. Now let me emphasize the ‘good start’ aspect of that last sentence and say that I didn’t meet every part of the steps I laid out to reach my goal. I only worked out twice during the week and, while I ate less and was more aware of what I was eating, I still made poor eating choices.

I offer no excuse, except to say that I’m at a starting point. In starting new habits and breaking old ones, I realize that Newton’s laws have seemed to play a part. Particularly the truth that objects at rest, tend to stay at rest. Since my lifestyle for the past year has been mostly sedentary, the first week of adhering to a rigorous schedule was strenuous. But what I found to be true about objects at rest staying at rest, is also true of the converse statement, that objects in motion tend to stay in motion.

Yesterday, (day one of week two), I had an extremely productive day. I had a solid workout and the rest of my day was very productive. I ate healthy and minimal throughout the day (excusing two bowls of icecream last night) and I found that as I started the day active and productive, the momentum of the morning carried me over through the rest of the day.

This gives me hope for the future and, as the ball is so difficult to get rolling, hopefully as I push to develop these new habits and leave the old ones behind, the ball will start rolling faster and faster and the progress and habits can become more and more productive.

So there’s my first update, as honest as I can be about how I did this past week. Thank you to those of you who commented and have mentioned that you are supporting me to attain this goal. Here comes week two…

“There’s a big world out there. Bigger than prom, bigger than high school, and it won’t matter if you were the prom queen or the quarterback of the football team or the biggest nerd. Find out who you are and try not to be afraid of it.”

We all love being a part of a group. The generation before us joined clubs and community centers, we join facebook and myspace. Being connected to the world around us is part of being a human on this round ball we call Earth. Research has even shown that, “Older people living alone are more likely to be depressed, lonely and unhappy and to be less satisfied with life than those living with others.”

So what does who we spend our time with say about who we are? Does it matter who is on our team? Do the teams we spend our time with rub off on us?

While we all long to be a part of a club or team, we must each examine what belonging to that team might cost us and how it will affect our lives. I’m reminded of a story of a young boy who wanted to feel a part of a group of older boys at school. The boys told him that if he stapled his hand with a stapler, he could be a part of their group. So, because the young boy wanted to be a part of the group of older boys, he stapled his hand. After the excruciating pain subsided, he realized the boys were just laughing at him. They walked away with a new joke to tell their friends.

Feeling on the outside of a group or team is never a good feeling. But each team or group of people we join or long to be a part of says something about who we are. We must stop to examine why we really want to be a part of a certain group and the message that being a part of that group communicates to others.

Our longing to belong is natural and normal, part of the very fiber of our being, and we should live in community and interaction with others. But as autonomous and individual as we make think our lives are, we are strongly influenced by the people we spend our time with. Are they a team that will encourage you and help you grow, or damage who you are and the message you are trying to communicate to others?

The North Carolina Tar Heels came out hot on Monday night, and they never looked back. Winning an impressive NCAA Men’s Basketball title over the home-crowd favorite Michigan State Spartans, the Tar Heels controlled the game from the very beginning. Their first five baskets were scored by five different players and their intensity on both sides of the court provided them with the consistent and overwhelming edge they needed to control the game.

There was a lot of talk about how much improved the Spartans were coming into Monday night, and the Championship game was played at Ford Field in Detroit, where there were thousands of Michigan State fans. I’ll admit that I myself was even rooting for the underdogs.

Yet none of that deterred the Tar Heels. They knew how good they were and were confident that if they played their game, they would be successful. They came out strong and never looked back.

Having a solid game plan and exceptional players in place to get the job done are two critical components to the Tar Heels success, and the same truths apply to every team, business, or family. Here at EverydayQB we offer you tips and suggestions on how to develop a solid game plan of your own, but you have to take the ball into your own hands and build your own team. What are the strengths and weaknesses of your team? How can you improve? When and where can you sit down and communicate as a team to improve your game plan?

Many businesses have weekly or even daily meetings to discuss their game plans. My wife and I just implemented a new game plan for a budget and every Tuesday now, we sit down and analyze our budget ‘game plan’. Is it working? Are we sticking to the plan? Are their items we need to communicate about? This has brought us more success and peace about that area of our life and we are confident that we can be successful in being stewards of our finances.

So what are the teams in your life and does your team have a solid game plan with exceptional players? Leave a comment below and let us know what kind of teams you have and the game plans you have in place.

One of the most difficult parts of the transition from everyday athlete to everyday businessperson or everyday family life is the struggle with eating and exercise. I have found that external motivators are crucial in a healthy diet and exercise habit. For me, those external motivators were always sports. Preparing for sports, working out to improve skill and ability and eating healthy in order to be at my top performance level.

But now that those external motivators are long gone (almost 3 years ago) I have not found any new external motivations to encourage me to eat healthy and exercise regularly. There are two other factors contributing to this problem; busyness and a love of eating.

Because I am busy and doing lots of different things every day, it is often difficult to have a set schedule to exercise. I’m usually tired at then end of most days and want to just rest and get ready for the next day. Secondly, I love to eat. I mean, really, I like food. Food is one of the world’s greatest gifts and I don’t want to be unappreciative.

When working out and playing sports on a regular basis, I was able to eat whatever I wanted. I have continued those uninhibited eating habits post-sports, but have not been exercising to maintain a normal weight.

Consequently, I am heavier than I wish I was and feel that I weigh more than is healthy. I have not developed healthy eating habits and a regular workout schedule. So what am I to do? What will be my new external motivators?

This is where I am hoping you can help me. I am hoping that this blog can be an external motivator. That you, the EverdayQB community, can keep me accountable to my goals. Now, before you think that this blog is just going to turn into a weight tracker blog, don’t worry, the integrity and focus of the EverydayQB will stay the same. But once a week, I want to be honest with you about how I am doing, so that we can encourage each other and I have an external motivator to keep me working hard and developing good habits.

My second external motivator is my five year anniversary of marriage to the most beautiful and incredible woman in the world. August 1, 2009 will be our five year anniversary and I want to be as close to the man she married, at least in my outward appearance, (hopefully better and wiser as well) on our five year anniversary as I was the day she said, ‘I do’. She deserves the best I can give her, not just in my outward appearance, but in my overall health and eating habits. I can still change those habits before life passes me by and I am forced to deal with the health issues that come from not eating right and not exercising.

So here is my goal: To lost 32 pounds in four months.

I weighed in yesterday at 277 lbs. I played college football at 235.

My goal is to get to 245lbs by August 1. This means losing the healthy average of 2lbs a week, which makes 8lbs a month and over 4 months, is 32 lbs. Doable and attainable, and with these new external motivators and a plan in place, I think I have a shot.

My plan is:

1. To work out a minimum of five times a week, for a minimum of 1 hour each workout

(currently I work out approximately 2-3 times a week for 30 minutes)

2. Every time I watch a television show and the commercials come on, to do core body exercises until the show comes back on.

(This will probably only happen at home, just so I don’t wierd or gross out our friends)

3. To control my diet by eating less during meals, having healthy snacks and not drinking large amounts of soda.

(Still forming the eating habits, more to follow, open to suggestions)

So there are the three steps in my plan. I believe that working out more often and being mindful of what I am eating will get me on the right path, and I can adjust based on the rate and which I am losing weight.

So here it goes, the challenge to my inner self has been set forth and I am hoping that you can support and journey with me through this plan to reach my goal.

If you have suggestions or ideas that will help me with my goal please leave a comment. Remember, leaving a comment will also place you in a drawing to win a free NFL QB jersey!

No one has ever become poor by giving.–Anne Frank

Over the past seven months here at EverydayQB, we’ve developed a great community of readers and posts about how to bring sports analogies and truths into your business and family lives.

EverydayQB now wants to give back. We are starting a two week contest running until April 15th and the winner will receive a free, authentic NFL jersey of their choice, with your team and favorite QB on the back. All you have to do to have a chance to win is comment on one of the blog posts throughout the next two weeks. By commenting on one of the posts and filling out the name and email section before submitting the comment, it will automatically put your name in the hat for the drawing on April 15th AND sign you up for our monthly newsletter, with special tips and insights that won’t be on the site.

Every time you comment on a post, your name will be put into the drawing. That means that you can enter your name more than once if you comment on more than one post. The comment must be relevant and appropriate to the post of the day. On April 15th, we’ll take all of the names of the people posted and have a drawing here on EverydayQB. The winner will be contacted and THE WINNER WILL CHOOSE which QB jersey they want and it will be mailed to them FOR FREE!

Thank you for reading EverydayQB and being a part of this community. Let the contest begin!