Where Are You On Your Journey and What Are You Doing About It?

I recently received an e-mail from my rental car company which I didn't think much of until I opened it. I was expecting a promo offer of some sort, but instead what I saw was a dashboard telling me: How many times I rented cars from them in 2015; Where I rented; How many days I had the car; How many Frequent Rental Points I had and how many I used, so on and so forth. Welcome to the era of data analytics. Unless you've been living under a rock (or are part of my fathers generation - he's 87 and still can't figure out how to open his e-mail on his IPhone) you know that everyone is tracking what you do these days. Very Orwellian in many ways, but it is the way of the world as long as you are 'on the grid'.


As I was contemplating the new year and where I've been, this got me thinking a bit about myself and my life. As I begin 2016, I'm thinking maybe it would be beneficial for each of us to take advantage of all this data that is now available. Professionally, my company is still going to focus on content, however my clients are asking us for more tools to help them assess their students so they can intervene before they fail, not merely doing damage control after they fail. Sounds like a good idea right?


This is a good time to look at where we are on our life journey. Let's look back to where we were. When is the last time you did this? Often I think we get so focused on the 'problem of the day' that we fail to see the big picture of what we have already accomplished. One small, but poignant example for me is my bike riding. I've only been riding since February of 2012, however I use an app called Strava. This allows me to track both my running and cycling workouts. When I look back, mostly what I see is pretty unimpressive: I don't ride that far, and certainly never very fast. I know I live in a hilly area, but have no idea how much climbing I do.

Here's what Strava tells me:


* In 2015 I rode 2,778 miles. This is the distance from Atlanta to Seattle. I could have rode my bike to Seattle!
* I climbed 112,533 feet. This would be a 22 mile climb - basically I climbed almost to the outer bounds of the earth's stratosphere!
* I rode over 247 hours. This is basically equivalent to riding for 11 straight days without stopping.

http://2015.strava.com/video/IJ4koEF

See what data analytics can tell you? I think it's really important for all of us to be able to see our accomplishments in context of the bigger picture. When we look back at something, rarely do we ever see the bigger picture. Small and seemingly unremarkable accomplishments sustained over long periods of time reveal huge and very significant accomplishments.


This year we have an opportunity to apply this way of thinking and measuring our success to some very important aspects of our lives. Here are a couple suggestions:

1. Your Relationships
2. Your Health
3. Your Work & Finances





Take some time to look back at these. Are you where you want to be? Do you know why? These are important questions, because until you can answer them, you'll be unable to change your course and do something about it.

The second two are pretty easy to track: For your health, get a Fitbit, use apps like Strava and LoseIt! to start generating data for your exercise and diet. For your finances, most banks now have financial tools to help you budget your money and track your net worth.

Now for the important one, your relationships. This is far more qualitative and subjective. This may actually be the most important one because it will likely be the motivation for you to get your arms around the other two (see what I did there?). Use a journal app like Penzu to get a benchmark on where you are with your relationships. Be honest with yourself. Here is a link to a blog post I wrote that talks about the three types of relationships in each of our lives (thanks to Hank Henley for sharing the TD Jakes sermon!):

http://markbears.blogspot.com/2011/11/rule-of-three-theres-song-dickey-betts.html

Where are you in your life journey? Are you where you want to be? 

What are you going to do about it? 

I really want to know! 

Why I ride my bike - and why you might want to as well

"Bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle bicycle bicycle

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride my bike

I want to ride my bicycle

I want to ride it where I like" - Freddy Mercury - Queen

When I was a little boy growing up in a northern suburb of Chicago, I was one of 6 boys in my family. Being the 4th youngest, I always seemed to get my share of hand-me-downs, however one thing my dad always did was made sure we all had our own bikes. See, this was the only mode of transportation for us in those days. Although we all got drivers licenses as soon as we could, noone had their own car (and even if my dad could afford to buy us each one, he never would have even considered it because, well, that's just who he was and how he raised us). 

We rode our bikes everywhere! School, to the store, to friends houses, to work (we all caddied at Glenview Country Club) and of course just out playing everyday we could. Eddie Vedder (yes, that Eddie Vedder :-) lived just down the block from us and he and my brother Chris were good friends and would play together, riding bikes and getting into all sorts of trouble. They are still friends to this day. Every Pearl Jam concert in Chicago Eddie leaves 4 tickets for Chris at the box office. At one of the last shows, in between songs he gave Chris a 'shout out', telling a story about how he and Chris used to terrorize the neighborhood on their Schwinn Stingrays. It was pretty cool!  

One of my favorite things to do when I got paid from my caddy job: I'd get my backpack, hop on my bike and ride to my favorite record store, Record City, in Skokie, I'd bee-line it to the 'cut out' bin in the back of the store and I'd rummage through every single album in the bin. These were basically records the store had deeply discounted to get rid of them. They were identified by having the left edge of the cover cut off. They were usually $1, so I could buy 10 for the $10 spot I had burning a hole in my pocket. If all I found was 1 or 2 songs I liked on one of these I considered it a score. I quickly built my record collection this way. Today, I have over 3000 vinyl records and still play them!  

One of the best summer jobs I've ever had involved my bicycle. It was the summer of 1979 and my sister, who was and still is the Administrative Assistant to the Chief of Police in Morton Grove, told me about a cool new summer job that the department was rolling out. It was called the 'Bicycle Patrol' and it involved a handful of 'bicycle patrol people' riding the streets and bike trails in Morton Grove promoting bike safety. I applied and got the job. For three glorious months that summer I got paid to ride my bike all day long! Best. Job. EVER! (Ironically, none of us wore helmets). 

I didn't have a car when I went to college, however I did have my bike. I rode it everywhere in the small town of Gunnison, Colorado. The problem I had there was that it was in the mountains and 8 months out of the year there was snow up to my ying yang and it was cold as a wiccan's bosom (with apologies to all my wiccan friends - you know who you are!). I would ride to class often bundled head to toe with winter clothes, only to have to change into a tee shirt putting everything else into my backpack for the afternoon ride home. It was crazy.

Enough reminiscing, let's fast-forward to today. I started running my junior year of high school in 1977. I started in order to lose weight and get into shape. It didn't take me long to really find my stride (see what I did there?) and quickly escalated my mileage to where I was running between 5 to 8 miles a day. Well, I quickly lost tons of weight and got down to a svelte 160 pounds. The best part was the 'runners high' I became addicted to. This is very real and real good! I kept running through college and into my 30's, and 40's. However around my 50th birthday my arthritic knees and bad back got so bad that my running days were coming to an end. This is when I decided to try cycling to alternate my workouts. I started with a mountain bike, and worked up to a road bike. Besides the physical benefits of riding, maybe the best part is what happens to you mentally and emotionally. You get the benefits of endless endorphin's washing over your brain and body, but the sense of vitality, endurance, freedom, and the sheer power of your own body is not only exhilarating; it's transcendent!  

My whole point in writing this today is that I want to clear up any misconceptions of why I ride my bike and what you're missing if you aren't riding yours. I ride to feel the wind in my face. I ride to get exercise. I ride to get away from the stress and strain that is my life. I ride because it makes me feel so alive. You'd be so surprised, shocked even, how quickly the transformation happens. 

I ride because it makes me feel like a kid again.