Fail with integrity

Now that I've fought for my life

- and won -

it's time to fight for

the quality of my life.



Ever since I was in my early 20s

I've known how to raise my vibations

and get that glow going that gets me

excited to get out of bed in the morning.

I started going to consciousness raising

seminars around that ages. That's where I learned  that setting difficult but attainable goals and being held accountable to them was a sure fire way to fan the flames of enthusiasm (some might call it hypo-mania...lol).



But what happens when you fail?

I've always been damned good at being a 100 percent-er.

I remember attaining all my goals that I set back in my Landmark The Forum days. Though some of the exercises they gave us might seem mundane, they took a lot of commitment and integrity and some painful getting over one's ego. One of the homework assignments was to pick a buddy from the seminar and check in with them once per day by phone live, no answering machines, it had to be live.

Sounds easy right?

It wasn't.

Even if you were 100% accountable you had to motivate the other person to be just as accountable. They had to pick up the phone and if they didn't you both failed. I remember sneaking in just under the wire by connecting with my accountability partner just before midnight (this was long before cell phones).

But I nutted it! And we kept our agreement.



So, when I made my commitment to watch a Josh Rubin video once per day until Christmas,

I knew I could do it no problem.

Except that yesterday I forgot.

For real.

That's the actual reason.

I plum forgot.

Yesterday, I posted a short, original motivational quote because my friends were over and I didn't want to be rude to my company by writing a full blown blog (yeah, yeah, I could have blogged earlier yesterday before my company arrived but that's not how it went down).



Today, my friend Miriam wrote on my Facebook wall,

"You didn't post a Josh Rubin video on your blog yesterday.

Did you watch one yesterday??"



I wrote back,

"Uh oh. No I didn't.

35 push ups for me!"



I meant it.

Remember those modified push ups Dr. Joe taught me?

Well, I did 35 of them.

Why?

Not as a punishment, I did them as a reminder that I had made a mistake and needed a catalyst to get back on course. Just admitting the mistake would not have been as effective for me. The mistake required an anchor, a physical marker after which I could proceed with renewed integrity.



It would have been easier to just backtrack and attach a video to yesterday's blog, but after Miriam's reminder,  I wanted to see what it felt like to miss a day, you know, make a real mistake, and bounce back from it. (I also wanted to see if I could do 35 modified push-ups. I could.).



Mistake made.

Push-ups done.

Integrity about to be repaired...





*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

A student asked me if I thought skim milk from the store was "healthy".

I told her to email me privately.

This would be one of my responses to her.

click here or click below