Resolutions

Resolutions, I know I’ve made several in my day. I’m going to lose weight. I’m going to exercise more. I’m going to read the bible, and these are just some of the resolutions I’ve made over the past year! The list could get long for some of us.

I wanted to touch on resolutions because it’s one of the main components behind the Mental Fitness Challenge.  In his book Resolved 13 Resolutions for LIFE, Orrin Woodward 2011 Independent Association of Business award winner sets the stage in the introduction to his book on how some of the Founding Fathers of our Country, (Washington, Franklin and Edwards) used what we would call today resolutions, as a guide for how they intended to live their lives.

For instance, I’ve been fortunate to read Ben Franklin’s (auto)biography, and I would highly recommend its reading to anyone who wants to get a clear glimpse of Franklin’s life. It used to be a free download on Amazon, but I’m not sure if it still is or not. To his credit, Orrin Woodward throughout Resolved and subsequent information in the Mental Fitness Challenge shows how Franklin by his 13 Virtues was able focus on certain aspects of his life, and by this deliberate focus was able to smooth over some of the rough edges of his personality which epitomizes the Franklin we so admire today.

I don’t want to spoil the entire book, but it’s a must read for anyone wanting to jump start themselves on a journey to finding direction in their life. Orrin in the book shows how the same type of focus on resolutions by great minds of the past can be applied in our lives today, and gives both past and present day examples of  people following what Orrin’s considers his 13 Resolutions for LIFE.

Below are some of the different themes/resolutions that are touched upon in Orrin’s book. I would highly encourage anyone to pick up the book as a great guide to writing their own resolutions towards living the life they’ve always wanted.

Purpose

Character

Attitude

Programming the Elephant

Game Plan and Do

Keeping Score

Friendship

Financial Management

Leadership Resolution

Conflict Resolution

Systems Thinking

Adversity Quotient

Legacy

Over the past several months, I have been privileged to be involved with an innovative leadership business development group called TEAM.  My choice to get involved with a leadership development group, I’m sure is not unlike most others in the business professional world, or even those involved in life coaching/mentoring: you wanted to get better at what you do currently.

I quite frankly wanted to be better in several key areas that I knew I was lacking. 1. Purpose  2. Planning 3. My People Skills

I started noticing several years back that I was working extremely hard at my job, but I was feeling frustrated and was running around like a crazy person.  I wanted to stand out; change what I had unintentionally branded myself. To give you a picture, imagine a somewhat brash energetic mid-20’s young professional, working hard, but lacking focus.  

I was involved in networking organizations and work related training, but nothing seemed to really give me the power to take control, and actually work on improving areas where I was lacking.  I would start something for awhile do really well then fall back into old habits.  So last year I was happy when my friend invited me to check out the LIFE leadership development program and the TEAM organization.

There are so many different products that the LIFE organization offers, from personal and leadership development, along with life coaching, and Christian based spiritual development. For the purpose of starting this blog, I wanted to start off by talking about the Mental Fitness Challenge©. This is one of the LIFE organization's flagship products. It has inspired me to follow through on my idea of starting a blog, which I started and didn’t follow through with last year.

I have always enjoyed learning, and I was blessed with a love for reading. So, after coming to the realization that I needed a program to help me with my areas of weakness, I started the Mental Fitness Challenge© as a way to develop habits in those areas where I was lacking.

I’m almost done with my 90 days into the challenge, and all I have to say is WOW. What I love about this product is it mirrors some of the stuff my company does already. What makes it unique is that it personalizes to help individuals develop self resolutions. This is something I had never participated in before in a leadership development program.  It is something though that some of the great minds in the past have always done, so I was excited to try it.

The program also helps by giving you 360 feedback from peers on what they think are your strengths and weaknesses. I was shocked at some of the feedback, which goes to show sometimes we don’t know where we have issues.

I would encourage everyone to take the 90 day mental fitness challenge and let me know how it has affected your life!