Latest Posts

Schedule Your Inspiration

Published by Colin Nanka

If you don’t schedule it, it may not happen.

I find my best days are when I connect with mentors, growth mindset peers or people I am mentoring. I have learned over time that life gets really busy and before you know it, 6 months have passed and you have not connected with some people that really inspire you.

I schedule in bi-weekly and monthly meetings with these type of people so that every week I have inspiring conversations to look forward to.

February Challenge – Schedule your inspiration.

Defeating Average Daily.

Colin

The truly civilized man is marked by empathy

Published by Colin Nanka

“The truly civilized man is marked by empathy.”

– Malcolm Kerr, from a collection of Essays 1967 (and Father of Steve Kerr, NBA Coach)

Whether you are a fan of the Golden State Warriors or not, NBA legendary player and coach has a lot to teach. This is a great conversation where he talks about what he learned from USC and Seattle Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carrol about how he learned to be a great coach, after leaving his first NFL job.

Listen to Steve Kerr, Golden State Warriors Head Coach from Finding Mastery: Conversations with Michael Gervais in Podcasts.

Also, hear about why having a vision is only the start of the journey. Have a vision, share the vision and allow it to shift from the input. Instilling values, bringing everyone along and reflecting on them daily has been a critical learning for Steve and his team.

More great nuggets, highly recommend.

Have a great week.

Colin

92% of New Years Resolutions Fail and Here is Why

Published by Colin Nanka

92% of New Year Resolutions fail and this is why

Resolution is defined as:
 
a firm decision to do or not to do something.

Synonyms: The intention, resolve, decision, intent, aim, plan; more

Resolution is the inspiration, decision, the intention to make a positive change….and the achievement of that change are in Action, Commitment, Discipline.

 

Commitment is either on or off like an old computer program 1 (True) or 0 (False).

How do you help fulfill a commitment to yourself?

When the goal or habit gets tough, know who and what are in your corner.

What is your why behind the goal? Is it strong enough? 

  • I find thinking through and writing this out is helpful

Who are you accountable to?

  • It needs to be more than yourself. 
  • Your partner? Are their people you can collaborate with that are looking for a similar outcome? 

How are you getting momentum on your goal?

  • What is one small thing you can do today? Email somebody and tell them, or book a meeting.
  • One big thing you can do towards it? Take all the junk out of your cupboard today.

What are the potential obstacles you may encounter?

  • When you think through what could derail you, you have a better chance of overcoming when it actually happens.
  • Think about the satisfaction of sticking to a goal and how it will make you feel.

After a whirlwind tour around the world and much celebrating in the last couple months, I will be taking a break from wine in the month of January…and may be reaching out to a few of you to help hold me accountable!

To your best year ever.

Colin

Why you could be wild for Wanaka

Published by Colin Nanka

Everyone needs to recharge and restore.

I’ve stared 1,000 miles into the abyss of some incredible places. Four incredible deserts, three magnificent mountain ranges and across the blue ice of the last continent, Antarctica.

We have seen (and still are on the road!) and experienced some amazing food, culture, wine, and people.

New Zealand is absolutely spectacular.

Don’t get me wrong, Australia has been a blast. Beautiful sights, people, beaches, sun, food and of course toasted banana bread!

There were three times I stopped and just stared in disbelief at the beauty around us and smelled and absorbed as much of it as possible. I could feel a restoration filling my body. Queenstown, Milford Sound, and Wanaka.

I grew up near the snow-covered hills, alpine, and mountains, those type of places will always be my place to restore.

Blake and I sat at a winery and stared across the crystal blue lake to the green mountains in Wanaka and both said this is one of the most beautiful places we had ever seen.

It may be across the world and closer to Antarctica and then to us but we’ll be back and take Tess to put her toes in the water again.

Colin

It took me 20K hours

Published by Colin Nanka

There was a time in my life I didn’t read much or focus on learning. My 10K hours was spent trying to find shortcuts in life. I was smart of enough to get by, get good enough marks and do a good enough job…until I wasn’t.

That’s when the next 10K hours began. It was slow at first, I had some small wins and of course many failures along the way. I had to decide if being Average was good enough for me. There was a lot of work below the water line, and finally, some ice started to shine through the top.

I remember about the time I decided it wasn’t. I adopted “the hard way is the easy way as one of my mantras.”  I said yes to everything hard, gave every ounce of effort I had for an entire year. To see what was possible.

I found out a lot.

It starts with intent. A new season, a new year is coming round the corner.

I’ll be writing this year about “Defeating the Average” within.

What’s one small thing you can do to gain momentum on your next 10K hour journey, today?

What’s one big thing you can commit to starting this week?

Colin

The most underrated and simple phrase you are not using enough

Published by Colin Nanka

Thank You

Saying thank you will directly impact your success and enrollment of people around you.

Some people do work for money, most do it for pride, purpose and connecting with others. People want to feel engaged and appreciated for the work they do and contributing to something bigger than themselves.

When you say “thank you”, give one or two examples in how they contributed to your success.

A project or deal is not done until you thank everyone who made major contributions.

Add more thank you’s into your upcoming weeks and you will see the difference a few minutes of your time makes.

Thank You for being a reader and giving me the inspiration to continue to write.

Have a great Thanksgiving long weekend for those in the US.

Colin

My Interview on Netflix – Cheating Death

Published by Colin Nanka
I had an interview earlier this year for a show called “A User’s Guide For Cheating Death” and episode 6 focused on mindfulness, well-being and how people cope with life in a stressful world. 
 
My example is how I used mindfulness to cope with anxiety in Ultra races and how that can translate back into life. My part is 30 minutes in and I encourage you to watch the whole episode as Timothy Caufield travels all over the world to find experts who have the answer.
 
Enjoy.
 
Colin

 

I was in a funk and needed a reboot

Published by Colin Nanka
Our daughter has not been sleeping well the last week, so neither have we!  Sleep is my ONE thing. If I get a good night sleep, I can conquer the mountain.

After getting through the morning, getting some work done, and the family fed, I had 3 hours to myself as the girls were visiting friends.

I knew 3 hours was a good amount of time to take on the tasks I had outlined…cleaning the closets, a couple blogs, and a workout.

So what did I do?  I slowed down.

I realized I had pushed right past my regular morning meditation with the hairiness in the morning, so I started there.  After the 20 min meditation, I used my “Calm” app and did an additional 20 min body scan to slow the breath down and gain some “creative intelligence.”

I rose refreshed, recharged and with 100% more vigor to go after my tasks.  Even the inspiration to write this blog. 🙂

Sometimes we need to SLOW down to ACCELERATE forward.

Colin