A Giving Heart

As I get older, I continue to learn more about what the concept of “giving” really means. One significant principle I have come to understand is this: The more my heart loves to give, the more opportunities I have to receive.

I don’t give for the purpose of receiving, but it is a principle nonetheless. When a farmer plants a lot of good seed, he gets a lot in return. When we learn to live in the spirit of giving, we will be on the lookout for opportunities to give. They could be as simple as:

  • Opening the door for someone.
  • Letting a car in front of you in traffic – and smiling.
  • Saying “thank you” to your children’s teachers (especially when the kids are older and we don’t know the teachers quite as well)

What can you do this week to give to others?

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Motivation

Motivation

Goal setting and actually writing down those goals are an integral part of achieving something. Now it’s time to walk the path.

After setting your goal, the next step is just that – to take the next step. Begin your journey by beginning action! While it seems easy to begin your action steps, it often proves tough to continue over time. Zig Ziglar once said, “Motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.” This is so true!

What you must have to continue down the path to your goals is to find your WHY.

When I was 460 pounds, I desperately needed my WHY to begin what seemed like an endless journey to a healthy weight. My WHY was revealed to me on evening at home! I was sitting on the couch watching television. My daughter, Mary Claire, came in and said, “Daddy, I want to be just like you!” I was so proud! Then she dropped the bomb – “I want a belly just like yours.”

I was mortified! I had a 69.5-inch stomach! How could I continue being this kind of role model to my 7-year old daughter and 9-year old son? I am the leader in my house, and I was leading my family down the wrong path! Well, that was the day my WHY was born! And on the Biggest Loser when I felt like quitting (which was a thousand times a day!), I thought of Mary, David and Darci! I wasn’t going to lead them in the wrong direction any longer! All I had to do was picture Mary’s freckled-face at 7 years old saying those words to me again and I would begin to work out even harder!

Another example is Danny Boyle, an outdoorsman whose arm became trapped by a boulder while climbing. He was trapped for 127 hours! He finally found the courage to take his cheap multi-tool and amputate his own arm. Most people would simply die there, but Danny saw a vision on his 5th day of being trapped. A small boy said, “Daddy, can we play now?” A vision of his unborn son became his WHY; he amputated his own arm to realize his vision of having a family. His experience was made into a movie and has inspired many to get through their circumstances.

Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning, was a Nazi concentration camp survivor. During his stay in the camp, he had a vision – a vision of himself standing in front of a crowded auditorium and speaking on his camp experience. From that point on, his goal was to get through each day so he could realize his vision and help the world understand the human condition when all has been taken away. He survived and has helped millions with his experiences.

What is your WHY? Have you even thought about it? Whether it’s a person, a cause, or something else, you must find your WHY and post it everywhere to remind yourself to LOSE YOUR QUIT and realize your dreams! Remember what Jillian Michaels said to me one day – “If you find your WHY, you can tolerate any how.”

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Simple Maintenance

I went to get my oil changed the other day. As I sat in the waiting room I saw another car pull in. A very overweight man got out and seemed to struggle as he made his way inside to sit next to me. I said, “I’m 2000 miles overdue for this oil change!” He answered, “I never wait. That is what makes cars wear out. It’s not the driving; it’s not maintaining it that causes serious problems.” What a true statement!

Then I asked him, “When are you going to start maintaining you?”

He looked shocked, so I thought I had better tell him who I am. He had never watched the Biggest Loser, so I pulled up my before picture on my phone. He gasped. “That’s you? Oh my! How long ago was that?” After telling him that less than 5 years ago I was 460 pounds, a tear formed in his eye. I told him he could make the choice to begin his change today. It won’t happen overnight, but if he doesn’t give up and if he will lose his quit, he will get there, too.

Moments like that make me realize how lucky I am to be alive, and especially to have been given the opportunity of The Biggest Loser. But it starts with maintaining your health day by day; and the great thing is that no matter where you are – with your weight, your debt, your marriage, or your career – you can begin today and actually repair most, if not all, of the damage done! I thank God that I quit smoking in 1996, paid off my gambling debts between 2004 and 2008, and lost 239 pounds in 6.5 months during 2009! If you didn’t know my story you might think I’d always been healthy! In fact, that is what he told me – “I never would have thought you used to be 460 pounds.”

And this is what I told him: “Your car is replaceable. You are not replaceable. Please make a change and give yourself the same care you give your car. You are too important to break down!”

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Easy Does It!

Have you ever wondered how life got so complicated? When I was young, things seemed easier. All I had to do was worry about getting my homework done, getting to football practice on time, and the girl I was dating at the time. (Alright, so the girl was a little complicated!) Have you ever thought, “Boy, life was so much simpler then, but now it’s so doggone complicated!” Well, I agree.

I speak worldwide about achieving goals, success, and living your dreams – not because I know about everything, but I do know a lot about those three things. During my season of The Biggest Loser, I lost more percentage of body weight than any other contestant in the history of NBC’s Biggest Loser. And I owe much of it to simplifying my plan.

On the Biggest Loser ranch, life once again became simple. I woke up and began my day which consisted of 3 things: keep my diet on track, get the work or the exercise in, and stay on the Biggest Loser Ranch. While I was there I had no phone calls, bills, television, internet, email, and other daily distractions we all have to deal with. My focus was completely on those three things: Diet, exercise, and staying there.

It’s funny in life how we tend to make things more complicated than we need to. The way to stay there was to lose enough weight to keep me above the yellow line. When my teammates created an alliance & threatened to vote me off, I had to get immunity. If I did that, they couldn’t vote me off. Losing the weight was the key and doing the work was the most important part, so I kept my head down and worked harder than ever! Steps 1 & 2 were that simple.

But oh the diet! So many people ask me, “What did you eat on the ranch? What was the diet like?” I’m not going to go into details here, but I will tell you it was simple. I knew what foods to eat, what foods not to eat, how to prepare them and how much to eat! But the thing that made me so successful was keeping it simple. A healthy diet doesn’t have to be complicated. It just has to work. In fact, I ate many of the same foods prepared slightly different while I was on the show! I knew that EASY does it! Complicated is just that: complicated!

Whatever you do, look for the simple way to do it. Sometimes too many details just get in the way of what we really want – success.

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