Tendinitis: Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face

tendinitis christian lautenschleger

My seemingly never-ending tendinitis saga created another setback. If you recall, I previously posted about missing running. It’s turned from out a few weeks to hopefully only a month more before I can go. Ugh, soft tissue injuries. The ones that we’re not sure if we’ll be out a few days or nagging us for months. Recovery runs are those that actually help us when our muscles are sore after hard runs or races. We really don’t have anything for tendinitis. Rest and recovery are generally what the doctor orders for tendinitis (I haven’t seen one; but have done lots …

Continue Reading

Persistence: too stubborn to quit

Persistence: one of the greatest attributes of those who become successful and go far in life. It’s timely for me, because of tendinitis issues I’ve had in my foot, ankle, and lower leg (I really did a number on myself a few weeks ago). It’s persistence to a fault regarding some things, but not giving up is a strength. We’ve all heard the stories of Thomas Edison failing time after time creating the light bulb. But did he really fail? No. He used his persistence until he got the bulb to work. If we really want to make something happen, …

Continue Reading

Resolutions for next year? Let’s do this instead

calendar christian lautenschleger

It’s time for resolutions! New year, new me! Instead, why not try to do everything we can each day? The consistency of doing everything we can each and every day pays more dividends than making trendy resolutions we can’t and won’t keep. Don’t believe me? Ask a gym owner. We can only do what we can during the present moment. Which actually becomes a lot. It may not seem like it, but work on a blog a little bit each day, or work out once per day, or read a chapter in a book once per day then over time …

Continue Reading

Don’t know something? Google or YouTube it

don't know? look it up! christian lautenschleger

Today’s word of the day is autodidactic, brought to you by the internet. The internet is perfect for those who don’t know something, which is to say all of us. Today, there is no excuse to say we “don’t know” and let that be the end of it. The smartphone is ubiquitous. Literally ubiquitous. We can go to a third world country and see people living in mud huts, yet have their smartphone and iPad. If we don’t know something, it is as simple as pulling up our favorite search engine or social video site. It’s not difficult. Anyone can …

Continue Reading

Positive or negative: you are who we thought you were

positive water glass christian lautenschleger

We have two outlooks of life: positive and negative. Or if you’d rather, the glass’s half-empty or half-full. We can be one of the other. We can’t possess them simultaneously. The outlook we have in life is infectious, not only for ourselves but to others. More than likely, you are who we thought you were. Humans are social creatures. The worst thing we can do is isolate ourselves from others. We tend to want to associate and spend time with like minded people: The Law of Attraction. We are the average of the five people with whom you spend most …

Continue Reading

2016 Running Year in Review

2016 philadelphia marathon christian lautenschleger

  It’s time for the 2016 Running Year in Review, already. Man, this year flew by. It seems like just yesterday that we rung in the New Year. I started the running year with some ultras, a marathon, I thought about triathlons (because why not?), and then back to running. Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. I made some modifications. I had some long, unplanned breaks. But at the end, I learned a lot. Altra Ambassador   Early in December I learned I became an Altra Ambassador. I honestly didn’t think I’d get it. I …

Continue Reading

Waking up early to maximize our days

waking up early morning sunrise christian lautenschleger

The sun is still waking up, but I’m up. I start to write my second blog post of the day before we’re able to play a game of catch outside. Waking up early has a habit of extremely productivity, for those who practice it. They say that morning birds are the productive people of society. They’re not wrong. Waking up early means starting our days when it’s calm, void of distractions, and as a way to jump starts our productivity. Above all, it adds time to our days. Waking up early – hours before sunrise – means we have extra …

Continue Reading

How much do you want success?

We’ll have success once we want success as much as our next breath.

I’m not really one for sharing YouTube videos, mainly because most people are horrible [citation needed] at choosing which videos to shares. This video is not one.

The first time I watched that video, which I believe Entrepreneur.com featured in an article, I reflected on “as much as your next breath”. Few phrases resonate as much.

We’ve all had the experience that we must do one thing right now! that is more important than anything else. Our next breath when we’re underwater, finding a bathroom when we gotta go, or a gulp of water when we took a bite to eat too hot (okay, that’s flippant, but the point remains).

The same comes with success. Success – however you want to define it – does not come easy. To become really, really successful becomes even more difficult. We can’t show up at the door of success, knock on it, and expect to be let in — we have to break it open!

We have to plan, we have to execute, we have to spend more time away from family and friends to achieve what we want. It gets lonely. It becomes frustrating. It becomes isolating. It becomes a mental grind of everyday consistency when not everything goes right. To want success we have to really want success. We can’t sort of want success; we really have to want it. It has to permeate your soul.

We all know people who kind of want success. They wonder why they aren’t successful. Success does not come on a silver platter. Success, instead, comes on the top of climbing mountains, crossing rivers, and diving down trenches. We just can’t want success, we have to eat, breath, and sleep success.

Watch profiles about billionaires starting their companies, about how they made their fortunes. Their success was their next breath. When asked, how many say that if they had to do it over again they wouldn’t? That should tell you something about the level of dedication it takes to reach the top. To want success, we have to want it more than the next breath.

Continue Reading

Da Vinci only had 24 hours in a day

clock christian lautenschleger

How do some people get so much done? They must have extra time in their lives! No, actually, no one days. Everyone has the same exact numbers of hours each day. Although, some people have much better time management execution than others. Knowing how to use our time wisely takes skill, practice, and execution. I have a friend, Chad, who says he never has “time to kill” because he always finds a way to productively use his time. If we think about that, that makes sense. A hour “to kill” per day becomes seven hours per week. A few minutes …

Continue Reading