Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to talk to take the marine corps fitness test.

This was a hard one to accomplish, especially with the amount of time that it takes. I know that this is important, but I have to say that lately I have been having difficulty finding the time to work out. I know if is important as I have already mentioned, but as I have mentioned in my post about Play, when I get home at the end of the day, I find that I want to spend time with my girls and my wife, and not working out. In the morning, I find that I am trying to blog lately. So how do all of you do it? For those of you that have a family, job and still work out, how do you fit it all in?

I have a pull up bar in our basement and can usually do quite a few sets of pull ups. The way that I do pull ups though are different than others. I do a quick pull up and then do an 8 count drop, as a Phys Ed Professor once told me that in doing weights or pull ups that this was the best way to build muscle and to take the most out of these exercises.

I also have been trying to get into a routine of running again. The other day I did a 3 mile run and ended up finishing with about 24.5, which was not the best time that I have ever had, but ok in the sense that I had not run in a while.

I need to get working on push ups, crunches and leg lifts to try and get myself into the best shape that I can.

So what do you do to work out? How do you find time to do this?

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Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to talk to start a book.

I enjoy both reading and listening to good books – both fiction and non-fiction. At this point I am listening to two audio books, both from The Modern Scholar Series, one on the Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin and one on Islam and the West. Now I know these are divergent topics, but they are both quite interesting and I would recommend this series for anyone! I also am reading Clive Cussler’s new novel, Medusa. I have always enjoyed Cusslers’ different series for both their adventurous nature and characters that he has built.

I am trying to share this love of reading with my daughters, and we have read to them constantly since they were born. Dive-J loves to read and it is still a bit too early to tell about Diva-PJ, but she does not always have the same amount of interest to sit and listen to a story that Diva-J had at her age, but every child is different, so we will haave to see what happens.

I would also encourage guys to get out there and try and write your own book. I am lucky to be someone who is already a published editor/author. I have to say that it is an amazing feeling to see your name listed on a book that people are buying, but it is a labor of love to do this and is not for the feint of heart. All-in-all though there is a magical aspect to getting your own thoughts on paper and reading them back. Now you may always see ways to make your writing better, but that is ok, and is a positive step in self learning.

So what are you all reading today?

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Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to talk to play!.

I find myself as a father of girls always playing. I work all day and when I walk in at night I hear “daddy!” and from there it’s playtime. Playtime usually consists of rolling around on the floor, tickling matches, playing outside, dancing around the living room, reading stories, and other fun things such as this.

It lightens my heart to set aside the burdens of the world and work to see the world through my kids’ eyes. It always amazes me how kids see the world in such a black and white nature and how we get so worked up over some things which kids would see as strange.

So today I challenge all of you as Brett does to get down on the floor and play with a child. How and what do you do to play daily with your child?

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Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to talk to start a debt reduction plan.

I am always working to try and lower our debts. I am not always successful, and we continue to see large educational loan debt that does not seem to get any less (which is frustrating). I always try and pay more than I owe on my loans to work to pay off the loans earlier than the length of the loan, but again, I long to see more results, but they are slow in coming.

I think as humans we crave results, we crave to see things alter in a better direction. It does not always happen, but we still wish for it.

Every now and again I find myself saying, “Maybe I’ll win the lotto – but I’ll have to buy a ticket first” as a humorous look at the fact that wouldn’t it be nice if our financial situation changed for the better, but instead we continue to find ourselves being financially stable, but not moving forward with leaps and bounds like I would want. Yet, I must still say that we are stable and are able to do the things that we want to do, so I guess that is a positive thing, and it is something that I should not be complaining about as there are others that are in a much worse state of affairs.

So today, I am working to come up with other new ideas about how to bring in other money to try and pay down our debt slowly but surely.

How have you done it, what tricks and tips can you share?

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Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to talk to learn a manual skill.

To be honest here this one is going to be a bit harder for me than other tasks. I have never been a very skilled individual who works with my hands, besides in gardening and landscaping. This being said, I am always willing to try something new.

I think for me, I would like to learn more about working on my car, or at least knowing what is happening more with my car and how I can mitigate some of these issues with home maintenance.

So for today, I think I will work to try and find some online and library based resources on this topic and see where it leads.

What about you, what type of manual skill will you work on?

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Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to talk to improve your posture.

I have been trying to work on this over the past year or so. As a shorter guy, I cannot afford to be any shorter than I already am so for me, keeping my posture what it is now. I never would have thought about using a string to check my posture, but I think that I may just try this as every little bit helps!

How are you working on your posture?

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Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to talk to perform service.

I have always been one to serve others. Back to high school when I was involved with the Interact Club (Jr. Rotary), and then into College where I worked at soup kitchens and volunteered my time with church and other outside organizations. After college I continued being involved by becoming a Rotarian and giving back to the community that I loved within.

Since moving back to Michigan I have to say that I have not gotten as connected service-wise to my community and I am definitely looking for ways to do this. I have considered becoming a Rotarian again, but finances are tight and this costs money. I may look into something through church uch as Habitat for Humanity as I know they will be working on a house soon. So I know that the task today will not become one that will be finished today.

It is nice though to have a little reminder about what is important and to put things in perspective if you know what I mean.

I am still working on trying to figure out the best way to get my girls to catch on to the importance of serving others and hope that they will learn from my example regarding the importance of giving back as they get older.

How about all of you, how do you perform service?

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Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to talk to schedule a physical exam.

I am lucky on this one as right before I moved back to Michigan I had one of these, and to my happiness, I received a clean bill of health. I always fret about whether the cholesterol levels will come back up but they have been decreasing with the methods that I have been taking: See Why I hate Genetics & Why I hate Genetics (An Update).

I do have to mention that the thought of a colonoscopy just gives me the chills and from what I have heard from those that have to get them (all of us after we turn 40 – so I still have some time), it is not pleasant.

So I will just count my blessings that I am healthy now and we will not dwell on the future and live in the present!

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Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to find your N.U.T.S.

N.U.T.S. stand for: Non-negotiable, Unalterable Terms. These are things that mean so much to you that you would never leave them behind, or you would never change them no matter what happens. Today’s challenge is to identify these and live up to them to the best of your ability.

In thinking about this, some of the N.U.T.S. that I find important in my life include:

• I am faithful to my wife
• I find time to spend with my children and am present during these times
• I am honest to those around me
• I talk about concerns to people whom they effect and do not let them linger
• I welcome and look for feedback
• I will admit when I am wrong
• I will always be attracted to my wife
• I will try to carve out some time for me as often as I can
• I will work to put my family first in all situations

These are a few of the things that I can think of, but my list is one that continues to grow.

What about you, what are your N.U.T.S.?

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Brett over at the Art of Manliness is having a 30 day challenge for all of us guys out there – to become a better man. I encourage all of you to check it out and take the pledge. Today, he challenges all guys to talk to 3 strangers.

I don’t see this as a challenge today as in my job I get to talk to strangers all of the time. In my life as a College Administrator, I get to encounter strangers both in the sense of current and prospective students as well as other guests to campus.

The challenge for me revolves around talking to strangers outside of work. I tend to be find with this at work, but once I get home, I don’t go out of my way always to get to know strangers, at least not as much as I do at work.

Don’t get me wrong, I am an extrovert and can get out there with the best of them, but sometimes, I just don’t seem to go with the flow in the direction if you know what I mean.

The only other challenge that I sometimes run into is in what to talk about. I mean, you can get them talking about themselves, but then beyond that, at times it is hard for me to come up with topics at times to keep the conversation flowing. Mybe it is just me.

I will see who I get to meet today! How about all of you, how do you deal with meeting strangers both personally and professionally?

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