together we sit down and determine we’ve been putting in 100% or if we’ve been slackin’. if you’re me, you might be slackin’.

say “slackin'” again.

slack. in.

get Charlamagne tha God’s audiobook “Black Privilege” here. if you’re new to audible, you can get a 30-day trial with 2 free books.


whats cookin, never gonna be good lookin?

we talk about goals nearly episode.

the entire reason i began this podcast was basically as a journal of my progress.

when i was young i took my health for granted. as i got older i realized that there is more to being “happy” than just indulging your ego.

my journey to be the best version of myself has come in fragments, over time. 

the reason for this, i think, was the lack of example.

as someone who is mostly introverted, my adult life was literally work and school until i was 27.  i was committed to making as much money as i could, and working toward my useless sociology degree. those were my only goals.

any and all free time was either girlfriends or music. i actually didn’t start watching much television until i was around 24 or so. whenever netflix started their streaming service. 

god, the good ol’ days of only pirating televisions you actually wanted to watch. 

now we spend so much time binging on low to medium quality crap like we forgot to have other hobbies.

as a result, my self-accountability has been on the lower end of the scale, but it fluctuates. 

at times in my life where i have friends or i’m being more social, i tend to be more loose in my goals, especially if it’s interfering with my selfish social time.

when i’m broken and alone, i tend to overindulge in certain physical habits like running. i mean once i’m over the binge drinking, that is. 

so let’s all of us reflect on our accountability. this is a no judgment zone – i like to think of it more as a reflection pool.

we’re just gonna strip ourselves down to the nitty gritty, no bullshit, no excuses. hold that mirror up to ourselves so we can be a better person for it, whatever that means.

so i have a few questions for you guys.
and remember, we’re being honest with ourselves because that’s the whole point, right? to hold each other accountable?

did we set goals and what were they?
were these career goals? financial goals? was there some fitness milestone you wanted to hit, more yoga, spend more time painting?

setting a goal is the first step. start small. not every goal you set has to be some gargantuan task to conquer.
some well rounded intentions keeps you motivated and focused.

think about aaaaaaall of the things you’ve been telling yourself you want to do in your spare time.

maybe you want to finally sit down with that book you bought last month, or you decide to give up alcohol for a while.

maybe you finally start searching for that job you deserve, or make the move to a new city and stop being such a scaredy cat.

oh, i bet you’ve been trying to nail that 60 second plank, or finally get through 5 really solid pushups.

no, of course i’m not talking about myself, i can totally do more than 5 pushups man i am a damn liar i dont think i even know what a pushup is to be honest.

this is my confession

so if you can’t think of a single goal you’ve aimed for, i’m not really sure why you’re listening to this thing and not some bro podcast where three guys talk about their sexual conquests like some prepubescent howard stern ripoffs. if this is you, then maybe reconsider your weed intake. my gut tells me that could be a major demotivating factor.

but i have faith in my small but loyal audience, so i know each of you set at least one goal.

personally, i set myself a lot of goals, depending on the flow of my life.

but a quick run down of a few over the last year and a half:
drinking more water
meditation
HIIT
BWF from reddit
no alcohol
better nutrition
podcasting

okay next question.

did we achieve them?
sometimes we got a really good streak going on, but then it gets a little wobbly and we fall off.
and because we’re our own worst critics, we tend to pretty hard on ourselves, to a flaw even. 
in our moment of weakness, we convince ourselves that it’s better to not try at all than try and fail.

did this happen to you at least once? did you pick yourself up and continue your habit, or did you surrender because it seemed “easier”?
did you convince yourself you just didn’t have enough time?

you know, a lot of people use time as a reason as to why they can’t accomplish what they want.

i’m guilty of this myself. but ask yourself, how often do you find yourself on facebook, instagram, reddit, tmz or some other mindless bullshit you can scroll through and double tap with nothing more than your thumb?

even if you believe you’re not using it as often as i may insinuate, if you look at your phone for 1 minute, and then take into account that americans ages 18-24 check their phones almost 80 times a day, that’s at least an hour and twenty minutes you could have used.

and that’s not counting your netflix or hulu subscription.

but i mean who are we kidding, i dont know you and maybe i’m wrong about all of this.

i’m just saying take a look at yourself, be truthful with yourself and think about WHY you fell off and figure out where you can plug the holes.

we are all capable of this. but if you’re listening to a podcast for the uninitiated, i know you ain’t the busy bee you claim… to be. damn, i really could’ve worded that differently.

okay, so for myself, going down the list:
i drink more water, especially at work, but probably around 40 oz consistently. and then weekends i suck.
why do i suck?
because i don’t buy water to take home. because i’m scared of the grocery store.
what am i gonna do about it?
i guess at some point i should stock up on some water and not leave it in my trunk this time. apparently you’re not supposed to drink bottled water that’s been left in a hot car because of the chemicals blah blah blah. 
but i’ll be real and say i’d rather not risk it. i’ll buy new water.

okay next. meditation.
meditation is the one goal i take seriously. even though i don’t do it every day, i typically won’t miss more than a couple of days at a time. i’ve never completely fallen off the wagon with this one.

some days are difficult because of where i am mentally, but i still do my best to be more mindful. i definitely fail at this sometimes, but practice makes perfect.

so why do i suck? why do i not do it every day?

different excuses. sometimes i know, or i think i know, that it won’t be as effective because my mind is in a bad place, but it’s quite easy for me to believe that using that moment to be mindful and self-aware is EXACTLY what i need to do.

and i should know this, but for some reason, it really just clicked in this moment.

i think this can be said for a lot of things you find enjoyable. 
running, yoga, any form of creative outlet. 

instead of allowing your mind to dictate whether or not you should do this thing you really love, just do it, nike style.

be stronger than that voice telling you you can’t or you shouldn’t. 

alcohol.

i gave it up on april 9th and slipped on a couple of dates earlier this month, but i’m back where i need to be, and i’m not killing myself over it. 

i know how bad alcohol is, and i know i’ll find something to take my mind off drinking.

besides, it makes me feel disgusting, and i know that. so let me continue on not thinking about it, and we’ll see what happens.

so where did we fall short?
it’s okay if you dropped some habits out of your life. it’s possible you could have set too many goals at once. 
sometimes if you set too many, and you fall off half of them, it’s kind of discouraging, so i understand why it might make you take a step back and say “nah, cant do this. whats the point?”

man, i fell really short on nearly all of my physical goals.

for several months, i was actually waking up at 4:45 to get in 7 minutes of HIIT before work. it wasn’t a lot, but it was consistency i needed.
a small goal that served both as motivation and a major health benefit. it added a boost of energy to my day starting off this way.

but once i moved in with my roommate, i haven’t done it. not because of her, but honestly, now that i think about it, it’s because i don’t have a sturdy chair.

so there you have it, folks. haven’t done it because i don’t have a goddamn chair.

after i finish this, i’ll check out the move routine on the subreddit /r/bodyweightfitness.

i’d begun… began? with the recommended routine, but i think the length was too discouraging, so after doing it semi-consistently for about a month, i ran out of steam and fell off completely.

i did notice there are some other routines, so i will make a goal to find at least one exercise to do consistently.

but remind me later.

my eating habits have been so-so. up from utterly shitty. 

maybe 4 days out of the week are okay. i bought a blender to take to work, but i get grossed out by the idea of a smoothie, even though its not really that bad once i start drinking it. i guess i get bored with it, so then i end up having nothing at all.

i also have a box of oatmeal in my desk i haven’t even tried to eat. 
but it’s better than nothing. by undereating, i’m losing weight, and not in a good way because i’m already straddling 100 lbs. 

and i’d rather eat nothing than to drive over to a fast food place and pick out some garbage i know isn’t even going to be satisfying.

so have we been holding yourself accountable?
how are you holding your own feet to the fire? do you have a workout buddy? are you keeping track of your progress?

the only way i truly do that now is with this project, so i count on feedback from my listeners, so thank you to everyone who shoots me an email and lets me know how their progress is coming along. it helps keeps me extrinsically motivated, and it is greatly appreciated.

and if you haven’t started setting goals yet, why not?
some stuff to think about the next time you tune in.

if you’re into hiphop culture at all, i just got done listening to charlamagne tha god’s audiobook “black privilege.” he narrated it, it’s really really good, and i got the bulk of it in maybe a few days, and i’m the worst with audiobooks so if i can do it, you can do it.

you can snatch it over on audible.
if you’re new to audible, you can sign up for a 30-day free trial and get two free audiobooks. 

if you’re having trouble getting into reading, this is a good place to start. this book has the perfect mixture of humor, self-awareness and no bullshit advice – you should expect nothing less from charlamagne.

subscribe and rate on itunes, and shoot me an email at blue@hihowareyou.us.

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