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Weekend Challenge #09 (March 21-22, 2020) BAKE FROM SCRATCH

HERE IS YOUR WEEKEND CHALLENGE: BAKE SOMETHING FROM SCRATCH

you weekend challenge has arrived

Listen to this weekend’s Weekend Challenge

Welcome To The Weekend. It is time for another challenge.

Welcome to the weekend. This weekend is probably one of the most uncertain weekends ever in modern history. I would say it certainly is the first most uncertain weekend of the 21st Century. However, it is also a unique opportunity to do things we have not had the time to do or just been too busy to even attempt.

This weekend’s challenge takes into consideration that as you are sequestered at home, self-contained, self-isolated or whatever you want to call it. There you are with nowhere to go because no place is open and the places that are open are there for you to grab and go.

So, while you are home and you have the time, here is the challenge: Bake Something from Scratch.

Take the time to bake something from scratch. By this I mean, gather the ingredients, mix them together, and get to baking.
Seriously, when was the last time you baked a piping hot loaf of bread? Made a cake from scratch? Opening a box and pouring the dry ingredients into a bowl does not count. I am talking about breaking out the ¼ teaspoon measuring spoon and mixing by hand or whisking the batter. Knead the Dough by hand?

Nothing lifts my spirits more than smelling bread baking in the oven or watching made from scratch lemon icing spread on homemade lemon-vanilla cake. In these trying times, we all could use some lifting of our spirits.

Now, if you are not sure what to bake from scratch. Well, famous English food writer, chef and cooking show host, Nigella Lawson, shares a simple, yet great bread recipe, “Basic No-Knead Bread” by Jim Lahey on her website (visit: https://www.nigella.com/recipes/guests/jim-laheys-basic-no-knead-bread).

There are only four (4) ingredients in this recipe; flour, salt, instant or active dry yeast, and water.

Sounds simple enough. Folks, this challenge also serves as a unique opportunity to do something with the family, especially the school age kids, as they get to do something other than to stare down at the small screens. They get an opportunity to not only wash their hands but to create something with those same clean hands.

Parents, you are also giving them a skill that they can carry on for their lives (sustain themselves) and you also now give them a positive memory that they will one day tell their grandchildren about how “during the Corona Virus Pandemic, not only did we hunker down but all of us, the family, baked bread from scratch and it was the greatest tasting bread ever.”

You can do it, as I said, it is not like you don’t have the time.

Get To Baking and Get To Work!

Thanks for your time,
David

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Weekend Challenge #08 (03/14-15/2020) Go Outside

HERE IS YOUR WEEKEND CHALLENGE: GO OUTSIDE

you weekend challenge has arrived

Listen to this weekend’s Weekend Challenge

Welcome To The Weekend. It is time for another challenge.

Welcome to your weekend challenge. This weekend’s challenge is another one that is simple to do but yet for some reason many find it difficult to do.

GET OUT OUTSIDE!

Yes, that’s it. Get outside. Let the sun hit your face. Feel that Spring breeze move across you.

I am not talking about going out and being around large groups of people. Especially in these trying times, large gatherings a no-no.

What I am talking about is go visit your backyard. Take a saunter across you front yard or be daring and drive out to a local park, find an area not being overly saturated with other human beings and go for a walk.

Being outside will do you a world of good. Getting a little exposure to the sun will help your body generate Vitamin D. That’s right, with the aid of sunlight your body makes Vitamin D.

In a nutshell, it works like this: Sunlight hits your skin, “the sun’s ultraviolet B (UVB) rays hit cholesterol in the skin cells, providing the energy for vitamin D synthesis to occur.”

Now, who couldn’t need a little extra Vitamin D? According to the WebMD website, there are an estimated 40-75% of people are Vitamin D deficient. That deficiency is associated with bone loss and osteoporosis. As people get older they spend less time outdoors, they tend to get less Vitamin D thus leading to bone problems.

But wait there is more. Vitamin D can aid in the prevention of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and much more. Sounds not too shabby.

While I am all for making my own Vitamin D, the exposure to the sun should be at your discretion. I am find that 10 to 15 minutes several times throughout the day works. So limit your exposure but do enjoy your time outside.

Hear the bird chirp, watch the squirrels trying to get their nuts, look up and see the cloud that looks like Ireland and so on.

Remember, social distancing and Get To Work!

Thanks for your time,
David

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Accountability blog Change Choice Decisionmaking Inspiration Leadership Leadership Principles Motivation

Weekend Challenge 03 (02/08.20): HOW AM I DOING?

you weekend challenge has arrived

Remember, we are supposed to be learning from out past. The choice we made can never be undone but those choices also serve to shape our future. For every action we take there is an outcome we may or may not like.

However, when we make what we perceive to be rational and sound choices then no matter the outcome we feel we made the right choice. Whether the outcome was what we expected or not. It is when we make hasty and rash decisions that are not worth the risk that…well we get what we deserve: a hasty, rash and unsound outcome. To avoid the outcomes that are not in our favor or not exactly what we expected we have to focus on being intentional with our decision making and be prepared to deliver on a decision that may sometimes not give us what we expect or want.

One way to be intentional in our future decision making is to review our past decisions. Please read carefully: TO REVIEW OUR PAST DECISIONS and NOT TO DWELL ON THOSE DECISIONS AND THEIR OUTCOMES.

Sadly, as I write this I know there are individuals that are going to only read the last seven words of the previous sentence and all that I am writing will go to waste (on them).

Good thing, you are not one of those that dwells on past decisions only to repeat making the decisions that CONTINUE to deliver the outcomes and expectations that are NOT what you expected or anticipated. As leaders, the only common thread to decision making is ensuring that whatever the decision it is something you will learn from and become better as a leader but also as a human being.

REVIEW YOUR DECISIONS
The weekend, is the perfect time to pour yourself a cup of coffee or a cuppa tea or a snifter of warm brandy or whatever you choose to drink, and reflect on the past seven (7) days.

Use this weekend to review the following and be HONEST with yourself:

  • What decisions were made?
  • What decisions did you not make?
  • Which decisions could have been better with more info?
  • Which decisions were made in haste?
  • Which decisions were made as a form of revenge (for example, I’ll show them)?
  • Which decisions changed your life for the better?
  • Which decisions changed your life for the worse?
  • How were your relationships made better by your decisions?
  • How were your relationships strained by your decisions?
  • Did the decisions you made have a negative impact on others?
  • Did the decisions you made have a lasting and positive impact on others?
  • NOW REALLY BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF: Did the decisions you made have a negative impact on YOU?

These questions are to be used solely to IMPROVE your future. The answers are yours and yours alone, you do not have to share them with anyone but you do have to think about them but not for too long. Thinking too long is where the dwelling begins and that is NOT a good thing.

In the answers, see what needs improvement, what needs to be removed, what needs to be modified and most importantly what needs to remain. However, this will only work if you are willing to be HONEST and TRUTHFUL with yourself. It can be difficult because there are far too many individuals that truly believe they do not need to improve but everyone around them does.

Thus, I challenge you to get rid of the bad, the nastiness, the bitterness, the sadness, the distrust, the anger, the destructive, scarcity mindset and yes WE all have them to some degree or another. In case you FAILED to read that right, I wrote WE which INCLUDES ME.

I Challenge You to be better, do better, because as an adult and leader, you already KNOW better.

I Challenge You to let the good, happiness, growth and the abundance mindset in, take root and grow inside you.

I Challenge You to find the way to let the best in you coming shining through. To be the best version of you that you can be.

This Decision Review Challenge is one that you must repeat every week. Repeat it so that you are constantly improving. This challenge is actually quite simple on the complexity scale of 1 to 10. I give this a 5. Five in that, it may be a bitter pill to swallow, at first, but once you find yourself asking and honestly answering these questions it will get better. I promise it will get better and you will become better. You become better because you are aware of your actions and behaviors.

You are better because YOU WANT TO BECOME BETTER.

Well there it is, YOUR WEEKEND CHALLENGE, now get to work!