Friday, February 28, 2014

Call Me Kim

by Kris Pitcher

For some reason when someone doesn't know my name, or can't remember it, they call me Kim. It's been happening for years. Regardless of the situation, context, social or professional...Kim it is.

"Thanks Kim!" or, "Kim, your tag is showing." I even get, "Kim, your sister sent us the nicest card." (No, not that one! Yet.) I must just look like a Kim.

Is there "name" energy? This week I was wearing my name tag at a board meeting..., "Great work Kim." Crap. Now, it would have been acceptable from one of the Veterans in the retirement home we were visiting. But it was from a board member.

Am I not making a strong impression? Sometimes people get it right away and apologize correcting themselves. Other times I simply smile and let them off the hook. Nothing wrong with Kim. Perfectly acceptable.

Kris and Kim are similar. Drop a letter, swap a consonant, same vowel and there you go. Maybe the year I was named, which shall remain nameless, there were just as many Kim's as Kris'. Oddly, I don't get variations on Kris.

Krista, Kristie, Kristyn, Karen or some other close proximity. It's always Kim. So, here's homage to all the Kim's. Cheers! And should we ever meet and you can't remember my name, just call me Kim.

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Prepping, Priority Number One

by Kris Pitcher

On a sunny Saturday last February, I was shredding downhill on my skis when I thought to myself, "This is dangerous!" If you're planning to compete, you have to make it to the stage.

I love a good Yogiism. It was that sunny day I decided my prep was the most important thing. On my way to compete at the national level for the first time...I made a choice. See, if you're hurt you won't make it.

Now, things happen. Injury isn't always like a blaring neon light flashing in front of our eyes. Prepping in a smart way is all about minimizing exposure. Exposure to excess, exposure to unintended injury, and exposure to energy expenditure you can't afford.

Aside from feeling a little exhausted, I was enjoying the scenery. Jacques and I looked at each other at about the same time on the chair lift back up and gave the nod. This would be the last time. It wouldn't be until June that I would hit the stage. June! But if I was going to make it, I needed to actually make it.

Lots of people do all kinds of extra-curricular things during prep. More power to you! For me, I'm all about minimizing loss. I'm all about focused effort. And I'll be darned if I'm doing any extra cardio. For some clients, my husband designs their entire program around their adventure sports. Hiking, paddle boarding, surfing, skiing, riding and what ever else they're into.

At a certain point you choose. Search my blog for muscle fiber type for a reminder about training type A and B fibers. There's a point at which you're competing against your own goals. So, I focus on one thing at a time. I'll have plenty of time to recreate off season.

So really there's two issues here. There's getting to the stage without getting hurt. Then there's training specificity. Sure, most of us can afford a day on the mountain this time of year and it's not going to make or break our prep.

Unless of course we're escorted down the hill...with a broken wrist, or arm, or leg. You get the idea. With all the hard work going into prepping for a contest, it just makes sense to protect your investment. And actually get to the stage.

Again, we can't go around in a bubble avoiding life. But, we can avoid the unnecessary by being smart about what we set out to do. When prepping is your number one priority, go all out and get to the stage. Minimize your risk and avoid the avoidable. I'll see you on stage!

Friday, February 21, 2014

Getting Lucky

by Kris Pitcher

An interesting question came across my path this week. Do you feel like you're lucky? As a panelist in an interview process, this question was a favorite of one of the other participants. I have a number of thoughts about this...

The first was, "What color are you?" Followed by, "Are you a square or a triangle?" Innovative corporations like to ask questions to which there are no real answers. But this one, I do have strong feelings about.

Do you feel like you're lucky? Do things happen to you, or do you make things happen? I have a lot of ideas about this. I believe strongly that you attract things to you. I believe in the self fulfilling prophecy. I believe you create opportunity.

I am also acutely aware of my fortune. I am fortunate to live in a place where I have certain freedoms and liberties. I am fortunate to have been born into the middle class family I was born into. Luck? Not really. Definitely fortune.

As for being lucky in life...that's a question of how you see things. Do you see opportunity in situations? Or do you fall to your knees in desperation when things go bad. When something is presented to you, do you take a new direction...or are you stuck where you are?

Can you will things, or attract things, to you? I believe you can. When you focus on certain things, your energies go toward those things bringing them to you. When you want something, putting it at the forefront of your thought allows you to create patterns, habits, choices, which draw it to you.

Is that luck? Or have you created that? So, I believe in fortune, but luck? Not so sure. I believe you create opportunity. I believe people who appear to have "luck" have worked very hard to attract certain things to their lives.

Luck, fortune and happiness are not to be confused. I know some people who have lots of fortune, but no happiness. Plenty of people who have what would be considered by many to be good luck certainly live their lives out in an unhappy, unfulfilled way. Again, it's all in how you see it.

So, do you feel like you're lucky? It's an interesting question. It's one I think about when I consider wanting what I have versus having what I want. It's one I think about as I make choices about who I spend time with, and how I prioritize.

Getting lucky is mostly about your perception of life. Your ideas about how you see yourself, what you do with opportunity, and what you will to yourself. What are you willing to work to create in your life? Go and get it!

Friday, February 14, 2014

My Valentine, I Pick ME!

by Kris Pitcher

LOVE is in the air! But love shouldn't only come one day a year...one big, red, commercial day! When I think about it, it's a good reminder to take care of those around you and also yourself.

I keep my ears perked around me and I hear a lot of dismissed compliments and even more personal cut downs. So today I'm reminding you to be your own valentine. Give yourself some love! Start by accepting a compliment.

"Thanks but..." and that's when you go into the laundry list of why you don't deserve the compliment. Just stop at, "Thanks." When you compliment someone, you don't want your compliment handed back to you. Neither do the people sending compliments your way. They want you to keep them.

You deserve them! It feels good to take them. Try it. The other thing I hear so much of is everyone cutting themselves apart, compartmentalizing, and outright talking negatively about themselves (and their body parts!).

Stop that! This is just a bad habit. It feeds your self-loathing and poor body image. Why would you continue to do that? Be your own valentine and show yourself some love here. If you start with something, well, you've got...something!

What DO you like about yourself, or your body? Recognize one thing, maybe there are more. It's perfectly fine not to be 100% satisfied with everything in your life. That's normal. But broadcasting it and reinforcing it verbally to yourself and the world isn't the way to improve it.

Want to work on it? Great! Work on it. Set some goals and go for it. This week I'm tired. I've caught myself loathing about it several times. Then I decided to stop being a big crybaby! It's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Sure, I had some travel, nights away from home...lost some sleep. Guess what? I'll be FINE. I adjusted my schedule so I could get enough sleep, I am making sure I get my water and my BCAAs in, and I'm eating all my clean meals. I'm getting right on track! No one wants to hear a complainer.

So stop complaining about all your parts. Begin to love yourself, just a little. Turn your perspective to the positive. It's all your choice whether you are your own valentine or not. I pick ME! And you should pick YOU!