Initiative

Webster's Dictionary defines initiative in the following ways: 1. an introductory step; 2. the energy or aptitude displayed in initiation of action: enterprise.  Do you have initiative?  I tried an interesting experiment last week.  I knew the weight room needed to be cleaned.  I gathered the rags, cleaner and vacuum so that I could get the job done.  Sometimes, you may notice, we have student workers in the weight room.  Part of their assigned duties are to clean the weight room; however, we can't have 100% coverage and I take care of this duty if they are not available.

On this particular day there was a student worker at the desk.  I was going to give her instructions and then let her clean the room, but I decided to run my experiment.  I went to the back room and began cleaning.  She turned on the TV.  I wiped down the equipment and then started to vacuum.  She turned up the volume on the TV.  I continued to clean, checking her activity as I went along.  She was not doing much.  I vacuumed right up to her desk.  When I finished,  I asked her if she ever thought about asking if she could help.  She replied, "I thought about it." 

Why didn't she take the initiative?  She knew cleaning was part of her duties.  I went on to explain that I wasn't trying to be a jerk, I was trying to get her to think about her future.  If you work for someone and they are performing a task and you are not very busy, don't you think it would be a good idea to at least offer to help?  When your boss writes your evaluation or if it is time for a raise or if your boss needs to lay off some employees to keep the business going, do you believe the way you reacted when she was working and you were not might leave an impression?  This impression can be positive or negative, depending on your initiative. 

If you were the boss, who would you want on your payroll, someone who watched you work and someone who  helped you work? 

Don't wait for things to happen to you.  Take the introductory step.  Do you want to get fit?  Take the introductory step.  Do you want lose weight?  Take the introductory step.  Do you want to have a winning season?  Take the introductory step.

Please squirrels, take the introductory step and then keep on marching.

Take a Challenge

Jules Verne wrote a fictional story called Around the World in Eighty Days.  At the time such a trip seemed impossible.  A young woman named Nellie Bly saw the story, not as a fictional account of a trip, she saw it as a challenge.  So she took off from the east coast of America on a journey around the world.  On January 25th 1890, she returned to her starting point in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes.  She overcame bad weather, poor transportation and troubling layovers.  She saw a challenge and met that challenge.

Have you met your challenges?  Do you need to lose weight?  Do you need to increase your fitness?  You are here at Mary Baldwin College, Home of the Fighting Squirrels.  You are young, hopefully you have dreams.  What are you doing to meet those dreams?  Nellie Bly had a goal.  She devised a travel plan to meet that goal.  She overcame numerous obstacles and succeeded.

I have had many young ladies on our athletic teams tell me they want to win.  I have had many young ladies tell me they want to be doctors.  Those are great goals.  However, just saying you want the reach a certain outcome is not good enough.  What are you doing now to work toward that goal?  Do you have a travel plan?  There is a old saying that, if you want something bad enough, you can get it.   That is squirrel poop.  You can't just want something, you have to plan, work hard and accept the difficulties(and overcome them).

What are you doing today to win tomorrow?  Nellie saw a challenge.  Find your challenge.  Overcome the obstacles.  Achieve your goals. There are no guarantees.  If you work hard, will you always reach your goal?  No.  But, if you don't try you will never know what you are capable of.

March on squirrels.  Take the challenge.

Stubby

Just a little thought for the weekend.  As you can see from the title above this blog is about Stubby.  Stubby is the nickname I have given to a squirrel I often see as I walk across campus.  Stubby, unlike most squirrels, has a tail which is only about 2 inches long.  A very un-squirrel like tail.  I wonder if Stubby knows if her tail is unusual?  I use the female pronoun here because we are at Mary Baldwin College, home of the fighting squirrels.  Stubby seems fine.  I have seen her eating nuts, running up trees and dashing across telephone wires.  Stubby seems to get along well with other squirrels.

I don't think the other squirrels notice that Stubby's tail is not in keeping with normal squirrel standards.  There are no laws protecting Stubby.  No sympathy or special treatment.  Stubby is going to make it on her own.  I think we should take a lesson from Stubby.  Many of us know what we must do to get better grades, improve our athletic ability, or just be a better person, but we want it without work.  We make excuses, we have reasons we can't do certain things or excel in certain ways.  We want teachers, coaches, or parents to help us, push us and dare I say "baby" us.

Take a lesson from Stubby.  Don't expect life to be easy.  Don't expect people to do things for you.  I don't know if Stubby was born with a stunted tail or lost it in an accident.  Stubby probably does not know or care either.  Neither do the other squirrels.  If a cat or a hawk see Stubby as a meal, there will be no remorse on their part if Stubby becomes lunch.  Stubby has made it.  No excuses, no special treatment.  Just pure determination to overcome a problem and live life.  Can you say the same?

March on squirrels.  Long live Stubby; thanks for the motivation!!

Happy New Year

Welcome back fighting squirrels.  I hope you enjoyed the Christmas Break and you ready to get back to work.  If you have decided to lose weight for the new year, let me help.  I have baseball cap from the show The Biggest Loser and it can be yours at the end of the semester.  If you have made the decision to get fit this year, but you have made the same decision for the last 5 years, make 2012 the year that it happens.  Come see me.  I will start a file on you.  I will keep it locked in my secret squirrel safe so that only you and I will have access.  I will weigh you and get you started on a workout program.  This is for women with a Body Mass Index of 25% or greater.  This is not for those of you who want to lose 5 or 10 lbs.  This is for those of you who are needing to lose a significant amount of weight.  At the end of the semester the woman that loses the most weight gets the hat and a healthier, happier lifestyle.  Final weigh-in will be April 17.

We will be looking at losing 1 or 2 lbs per week.  Mary Vannortwick, the director of Food Services, is happy to help you with a diet plan.  There are also several on-line programs that will help you monitor your food intake.  One of the biggest problems with a weight lose program is that individuals over estimate the calories they burn, and under estimate the calories they consume.  Try myfitnesspal.com, there's an ap for that.  Contact me at 887-7357 or e-mail me at cangersb@mbc.edu if you are interested.

Volleyball and soccer athletes --  There are weight training plans in the weight room for your off-season conditioning.  Champions are made in the off-season.  Many of you say you want to win, but few of you are willing to commit to win.  Stop the excuses.  Be sure to see me if you are not sure of proper form on any exercise.  Stop telling me how much you want to win and start showing me you are serious.

Sweat on squirrels.