All posts filed under: Adventure

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

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 …

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 …

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

How do you make your own Sonic Break?

Published by Colin Nanka

Ask yourself powerful questions and watch ESPN 30 for 30 Sonic Break How do you want to experience yourself? Let that one marinate over you for a second. That is what psychologist Dr. Gervais asked Felix Baumgartner to answer for himself through the final few months of the 5-year journey in jumping from a balloon from the edge of space. Remember that red bull guy that broke the sound barrier hurtling through space faster than a speeding bullet?  That guy. He was having doubts that he could do this, that he could survive.  Obviously. He needed to change the relationship between how he was experiencing himself. Simmer on the question.  Answer if for yourself. Watch the 30 min episode….and redefine your personal narrative. Colin  

My Turning Point to High Performance

Published by Colin Nanka

I didn’t realize that I had anymore to give until I was running on empty. Three-quarters of the way through a week-long 160 Mile/250 Km adventure race in Iceland, I was on my last leg. Literally. Battered by freezing winds and pouring rain, I was running a marathon a day over jagged volcanic rocks,  which caused me to develop a high ankle sprain. I was at the end of my rope. I had attempted two races previously, only finishing one. Somewhere deep within myself I knew I had the capacity to finish another one, but my foot (now swollen to twice its normal size) was telling me different. When I awoke for the final day facing 45 miles and 70km up ahead, I could barely put weight on my right foot. Unsure if I could run, my tent-mates and teammates Ash and Jesse encouraged me to get out there and just put one foot in front of the other for as long as possible: To get into the arena and do the best I could. …

Three Ways Focusing On Mindset Makes You Win

Published by Colin Nanka

I remember the time specifically when I realized I could be better than I was.  It was grade 9 and I was running in the 800 M Track & Field City Semi-Finals.  I always competed but was never relevant in placing.   I for once took our coaches advice about visualizing the outcome and playing it in my mind the night before. It was on the 3rd turn with 200 M left that I felt I may have some gas left in the tank and could pass other runners.  Let me be clear, I was not up all night thinking about it.  It was 10 min.   Wouldn’t you know it, on race day at the 600 M mark, like a birdie sitting on my shoulder, I had a nudge to run as hard as possible to the finish. I remembered seeing the way to the finish.  The 800 M is often a big lumpy crowd of 10-15 runners.  I was in the last 3rd and I shot myself up into 4th place and passed a …

Images are a powerful

Published by Colin Nanka

Why People Think They Can’t Draw What I have learned over time is that if you put text on a screen or slide and then speak to people, they have a hard time retaining what you are saying. Think about it the next time it happens to you. It’s difficult to read and listen at the same time! A friend passed on a great video that shows you how to draw the basics of characters/cartoons on a whiteboard. Images are a powerful way to communicate your message. Have some fun learning to draw! Colin