The Journey so far...

Thought I'd toss out a few observations on what this experiment has accomplished in me so far. I don't think I've been nearly as consistent as Robert has, but I'm still trying and it's producing good things for me.

G -- I've been most consistent here. Several weeks before we started this, I began sitting with my daughter (20) each morning for some scripture reading and application. We've continued that faithfully and it has provided stability for me in this part of our quest. Grade: A

R -- Reading, listening, etc is not generally difficult for me, as I am a voracious consumer of ideas. Our quest for 30 GREAT days though has helped me improve my selectivity. By nature, I tend to be pretty indiscriminant -- wasting much time on materials that are NOT all that intellectually stimulating. Pretty consistent here too. Grade: A

E -- This has been the most visible change for me. I hate just about all forms of deliberate exercise except raquetball, swimming, and occasionally softball -- and rarely make time even for those. But I've done fairly well at taking time from my lunch breaks for a brisk walk outside. Grade: B- (but most improved!)

A -- Nearly a total miss here. Just seem to run out of time / energy / opportunity before I get to this most days. I did, just last night, get started on my intention to create some instructional screencasts on Linux topics though. First effort was too long -- but it was an effort. More to come! Grade: F

T -- It's been a pretty hectic and distracted time for me. Between the Election, Halloween, and an atmosphere of uncertainty at work I've had trouble focusing and performing at my peak. Grade: B-

In all, though, it's been a good thing. I'm forming habits that will help me be more the man I want to be. If you haven't joined it yet, I'd encourage you to consider it. Finish out our 30 days with us -- or start your own count. Spread the word -- and have a G.R.E.A.T. day :-)

Scott

G.R.E.A.T. Day #6

Almost back up with everyone. After a weekend of watch cars turn left at a blistering 185 miles per hour for 800 miles I spent the entire day in bed. No really.  I woke up after 8 a.m. and stayed in bed til 5 p.m. Got up to do the one thing on my task list for the last day of vacation (see below) and still managed a G.R.E.A.T. day. Let me approach this is reverse order today.

T - Tasks: My one job was to go pick up the dog from the sitter. I needed to get out of bed so I did. Dog is home and doing well.

A - Art: Managed a solid 30 at the six string.  I now have 4 songs I can pick at with the 5 chords I know. Believe it or not, this is fun.

E - Exercise: 40 minutes on a brisk walk in the non-daylight saving time evening of this cetral Texas indian summer. I promise some cardio...some cardio. And while walking...

R - Read: ...that's right, I got further on my reading in ROTH. Good stuff.

G - God: Spent some of this beautiful evening just having a conversation with the creator. His presence was evident.

I hope you are getting as much out of this exercise as I am. I've discovered that I do alot more of the reading area then I have given myself credit for. I listen to 3-4 podcasts daily that all fill me with great thoughts from other people. I want to discipline actual reading more but I do get this area covered pretty well.  This is an observation I had missed previously.

G.R.E.A.T. Day #4 and #5

Catching up after a weekend at the races. I hope you had a great weekend.

G - God: Saturday I got to review Psalm 5 while sitting at the track getting ready for the Nationwide race. All I have to say about that is David is a warrior for sure. Sunday oddly enough the day got rolling early and went late into the night and I didn't get dedicated time hear.

R - Read: Continued on both Saturday and Sunday to get through Renovation of the Heart. Slow steady plodding and a great deal of insight from Dallas.

E - Exercise: For those who have attended a NASCAR event, I don't have to explain this area for Saturday and Sunday. But for those of you who haven't, I easily walked 3-5 miles in those two days and that does not include the 30 flights of the bleachers at the track. I got my exercise in.

A - Art: Managed some time with the guitar both days and I am developing some respectable pads on my finger tips.

T - Tasks: Saturday was about the the Nationwide race and some time with my high school and college buddy, Jim. Sunday was about the Sprint Cup race and hangin with my racing crew. We had a blast both days and my daughter got to watch her favorite drive win on Sunday.

In the end Saturday was G.R.E.A.T. inspite of the Longhorn loss and Sunday was R.E.A.T. My first miss on this adventure.  I expected some and we keep marching on.

Hey, how are you doing?

G.R.E.A.T. Day # 3

Early entry for Day 3 as I'm heading this evening to the NASCAR races in Ft.Worth this weekend. So far day 3 is a G.R.E.A.T. day. Hope you are having a great day too.

G - God: Once I got up and around this morning I got to spend some real time with Psalm 4, and guess what? This is the "Evening" Prayer of Trust in God. Go figure. I was focused for some reason on vs 6 and 7. 

Why is everyone hungry for more? "More, more," they say. 
"More, more." 
I have God's more-than-enough, 
More joy in one ordinary day"

Awesome thought for a great day.

R - Read: Did a little multitasking here. More in Renovation of the Heart while taking care of weekend needs. I could bore you to death on this book or I could simply get you to read it. Today the focus was mostly on the problem of modernity and humanism.

E - Exercise: I got the day rolling with about 20 minutes of Yoga. Once my non-vacation, normal life comes back during election day next week, I will make sure I add some cardio to this effort.

A - Art: Today a solid 30 minutes on the six string. Taught myself two new songs that should carry through the weekend.

T - Tasks: Today I needed to get some things ready for the weekend and make sure the dogs are covered while we are on the road.  Everything is pretty much ready to go.

I will be at the Texas Motor Speedway this weekend and may be sketchy in my updating. Incase I don't get to it, could some of you keep the conversation going for me? Have a fun and safe Halloween and a great weekend.

G.R.E.A.T Day #2

Good evening everyone. Hope your great day has been as great as mine. I promised you last night that I would get "G" in before going to bed and I promised to spend it with Psalm 3. What's amusing is that Psalm 3 is called "Morning Prayer of Trust in God", and I was working it at night. Late at night. So I'm gonna give day 1 a small "g".

As you know I had a battery of tests run today at the doctor and that absorbed most of my day, but I still managed to have a G.R.E.A.T. day.

G - God: I decided to spend more time this morning in the 3rd Psalm. This time during the morning. It was enjoyable and I particularly enjoyed the final refrain, "Salvation belongs to the LORD; Your blessing be upon Your people!" Awesome thought as I walk into the hospital for heart tests.

R - Read: Continued another chapter in Renovation of the Heart. I highly recommend this work of Willard. If you want to understand the fundamental construct of the Soul and how it functions within the context of human life, Willard is insightful.

E - Exercise: Part of the battery of tests today included a heart stress test on the treadmill. If you don't mind, I'm counting that as my exercise today. Got my heart rate up over 160 bpm all while having diodes on my chest and a blood pressure cuff on my arm. Thank you, Steve Jobs, for my iPod Nano.

A - Art: I only got about 15 minutes in while my daughter was at soccer practice but I'm improving my transitions between chords.  I've only been at this about a month. I think I'm starting to get the hang of it and the calluses are building up. My father called midway through my guitar time to see how the tests went and that ended my practice.

T - Task: Again, I'm on vacation and my task list is rather loose, but I did get the doctor stuff done which was the biggie and managed to send some follow up emails from my trip to Mexico earlier this week. All in all I'm satisfied with the results. Next week I promise to dive deeper into this area so you can see how this really functions for me.

I really appreciate all the comments and the support we are getting here and on Twitter and Facebook. See you tomorrow for G.R.E.A.T. day #3.

G.R.E.A.T. Day #1

Let me start this evening by saying thank you to all of you out there who have decided to join me on this journey. Whether you are cheering me along or attempting to have 30 G.R.E.A.T. days of your own, thanks. I want to specially thank Scott Purcell who helped me to birth this idea and give it feet. I hope this is the beginning of great things for Scott.

Now, how was day number one?

Let me preface the day by telling you I returned form a last minute trip to Mexico City last night and I woke up very worn from the trip. Also, I'm on vacation this week which means that the initial days are very flexible on my part.

G - God: I have had small moments so far today but no dedicated time. I promise you and Him that I will get that in before putting down for the night.  Check back tomorrow to see if I made good on that promise. FYI, I'm working through the psalms in my meditation and will be working Psalm 3 tonight.

R - Reading: So I am going through Dallas Willard's Renovation of the Heart. Many of you know that Willard has become a big influence on me over the last several years.  I've gone through most of ROTH several times but have never finished it.  So with that said I hope to wrap it up in this effort. A college friend of mine accused me of never reading anything but practical.  So, once I wrap up ROTH I will grab something from Leo LaPorte's reading list and add it to mine.

E - Exercise: Went for lovely walk this evening with my wife and the dog. It's getting a bit nippy outside but it was still a great time.

A - Art: While in Mexico I didn't have my guitar, so it was enjoyable to pick it up this evening and see that I still know the G, C, D, Em, and A chords. Tomorrow I hope to teach myself a new song with the chords I know.

T - Tasks: Truthfully, as I'm on vacation my Todo list was very loose, but the next few days will keep me hopping so this will be more formed.  I did get the big three on my list, lunch with Bob, sent a file over to a work associate, and pressure washed the inflatable castle.  My wife and son really pitched in on the last one. Thanks.

Tomorrow I have a battery of exams to complete at the doctors office so will be squeezing things in between tests. Again thanks for joining me and feel free to let us know how you are doing.

P.S. - I started a new medication last week. Found my temper a bit short today.  Need to figure if its the pressure of a great day, the meds or the fact that I'm still tired from the trip.

30 G.R.E.A.T. Days

Before I tell you about my humble plans for 30 G.R.E.A.T. days, let me tell you a little about myself. I'm an average 41 year old man with an average American middle class life. I love my wife and kids, like the town I live in and am okay with my career. I'm out of shape, easily 50 lbs overweight and have recently been diagnosed with hypertension. I love God and want to live my life by His will, but often find myself falling short of what that means. I believe in continuously growing and developing myself, but find the discipline too often too much for an average man to handle. All that to say I'm no one in particular. That is probably why I'm making this challenge for myself. I am going to attempt for one month to experience 30 great days in a row. That's right, 30 days in a row that I go to bed knowing that I had a great day starting Wednesday, October 29th.

Why 30 great days? The average American male lives 75.2 years of life. That's 27,448 days to accomplish anything he wants. At 41, I've lived in excess of 15,000 of those days, leaving me with less than 13,000 to go. (All assuming an average life span, and my blood pressure may have something to say about that.) As I reflect on the first 15,000 I'm certain I can pluck 30 of them out of that list that were great. I might even be able to find ten times that many. But, I guarantee you that I would be hard pressed to string 30 of them together in a row.

Why 30? It has been said that if you do something repeatedly for 21 days  then it will become a habit. Everyone is different, some will take less time and some will take longer. 30 days should be a good round number. It was good enough for Morgan Spurlock the Supersize Me dude.

Why October 29th? Well, frankly, why not? Actually, starting on the 29th will make the 30th day November 27th, Thanksgiving day. I can't think of a better way to wrap up this attempt then to spend the day with family and friends considering the journey of the previous 30 days with thankfulness.

How am I defining a G.R.E.A.T. day? What makes a great day can be defined differently by different people. As this is my attempt let me tell you how I will define it for this journey.

• God - Spend 20-30 minutes with God. This can be done in any number of ways and I will not attempt to nail down specifics here. Could be prayer, meditation, praise and worship, silence and solitude, or any other number of methods.  The point is to spend the devoted time with God daily for 20-30 minutes or longer.
• Read - Read 20-50 pages of a good book. In order for me to grow and develop, I need to take time daily to expose myself to stimulating ideas from other people. My mother is a copy editor for a publishing company and always grouses about how little her adult children discipline and simply enjoy reading books. Now, I will be liberal here. An audiobook satisfies reading a good book for my purposes. I may even treat a trip to the movie theater as a book reading. I don't want to get hung up on the specifics of books here as much as I want this to represent exposing myself to the stimulating ideas of other people.
• Exercise - Spend 20-30 minutes in physical exercise. I've already explained the roundness of my shape and the lack of conditioning that is now manifesting itself in the form of high blood pressure. I simply ignore this area of my life. For this 30 day effort I want to reignite this part of my life. I will again be liberal here. There are lots of ways to get exercise in. I do not wish to make this whole great day thing difficult, but I do wish to see myself moving toward the things that are beneficial for my life.
• Art/Skill - Spend 30-60 minutes practicing my art or improving my skill. My wife picked up a guitar for my 41st birthday. I've started learning to play it, but I want to keep pushing myself here to really learn to play for my own enjoyment. I've opened this up to skill because anything that one wants to learn or improve at could be considered art. Art is often about reaching down inside of who you are and discovering what you are capable of or could share with the world around you. If I were a welder, I might want to practice turning that skill into it's maximum potential. If I were a juggler or wanted to be I could learn to improve this skill into something that truly inspires me and those around me. Maybe its quilting or darts or skydiving. Does it inspire you? Does it inspire others? If yes, it's art. For me, for now its the Takamine G-series  in the corner of the room.
• Tasks/Todos - Manage the priorities of the day. For some the Todo list is the pinnacle of significance in the day. While it is important, this is an attempt to lower that importance from the top to the middle of the priority list. For some, the tasks of the day are overwhelming and hard to face. While it may seem overwhelming, we all know a little planning and attention to the job at hand can really help us get ahead in life. I will be loosely following the Demming Cycle  of Plan, Do, Check, Act. I'm simplifying it for my purposes to Plan, Do, Review. Plan my tasks daily, Do my tasks, Review the results. The advice of Ivy Lee to Charles Schwab to number the daily list by importance and do them in that order is the practice I want to attempt here.

That's it. Pretty simple. This is what my great day will look like and I want to invite you to join me. I will be attempting to blog the good, the bad and the ugly of this effort at the site.

How can you join me? - Well, that's up to you.  Here are some suggestions.

• Join me and try to have 30 great days of your own while I'm having mine. Come to the site and share how it's going for you.
• Come to the site and see how I'm doing. As I am going through this you could come encourage me. If you are trying to have your own 30 great days, then we can encourage each other.