All posts filed under: Gratitude

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

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 …

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

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