Who's Watching? EVERYONE!

The Give Team is proud to announce three of its alumni are moving on to the next chapters of their lives. Jeff is attending Morehouse College. Paul is on a path to pursue a 4-year college degree DEBT FREE. Jean has enlisted in the US Marines, and will learn more about what's next in the weeks ahead.

Jeff wants to stay involved with The Give Team, even though he's six hours away. We've promised to keep him involved via a weekly letter that will be posted on The Give Team blog. The letter will include the mission each week for the fall season.

From THE GIVE TEAM WORKOUT performed at Lake Druid Park in Orlando, Florida. The short kid was admiring our work, so we invited him to participate in our team picture. GIVE TEAM MOTTO 23: You never know WHO is watching so act like EVERYONE is watching because SOMEONE is always watching. BE STRONG! GIVE MORE!

Dear Jeff:

It’s week two of the fall season. Not sure how successful you were in getting in your  work this past week. Nobody sent me their four words and Akim was the only one to proactively “check in” on doing The Give Team 15 this past week. You weren’t here when we had breakfast last Saturday. If you were, you would’ve heard us talk about accountability; about the fact we go much farther together than we do alone because we hold each other accountable to a higher standard. We talked about GIVE TEAM MOTTO 17: The most important promises we make are the promises we make to ourselves. The easiest promises to break are the promises we make to ourselves. Your team can help hold you accountable, and motivate you to get the work done when that weak voice in your head tries to convince you to hit snooze ONE MORE TIME because that pillow is so comfortable and there might be a saber toothed tiger waiting outside and doing The Give Team 15 will be good but it can ALWAYS be done later in the day.

We also talked about GIVE TEAM MOTTO 45: We only do what we need to do.  The only reason we do ANYTHING is because it’s something our mind has decided - either consciously or subconsciously - that it needs to be done. ​MOST of what we do is because of HABIT. The Give Team ACHIEVE 

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GREATNESS Program addresses how to create habits that drive to your goal, establishing and maintaining momentum on the path to doing great things.
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​After breakfast, why didn’t anyone send me their four words? Why didn’t anyone post or forward a pic doing the work last week? One reason. It wasn’t important enough. If it was important enough, it would’ve been done. 

I’m guilty too. It wasn’t until Wednesday I realized  my hypocrisy with ACCOUNTABILITY. Up to that point, I hadn't posted ANYTHING about me doing THE GIVE TEAM 15, so I started posting. What did I learn by doing The Give Team 15 every day this past week, nice and slow focusing on form? My fitness level declined following a summer of doing nothing. I told myself a lie for three months, that I was in decent shape. Reality hit this past week with The Give Team 15. Even going slowly, I was sweating.  I added some “hanging” at the end, where I’d do a progression of pull ups, bent arm hangs and dead hangs. At the beginning of the week, I was WEAK.  

The good news? After a week  doing The Give Team 15 every day, I’m seeing results. I’m able to make it through without having to “cheat.” I’m stronger at the bar - both with dips and pull ups. I was able to shut down that whiny voice in my head by realizing IT’S ONLY FIFTEEN MINUTES and I didn’t need to put out maximum effort. 

GIVE TEAM MOTTO 16: Quitting is the second easiest thing to do.

I also didn’t share my four words. Those four words are words defining who we are and who we STRIVE to be. As we do what we do over the fall season through December, we’ll use those words to measure our actions and ensure what we’re doing is consistent with those words. 

COACH’S FOUR DEFINING WORDS:

1. Disciplined
2. Reliable
3. Persistent
4. Strong

For the week ahead, the focus for each team member will be the same thing. FOUR WORDS and THE GIVE TEAM 15 EVERY DAY. Nice and easy on The Give Team 15, and post it on IG or to the group text. You don’t have to post a pic of yourself doing the exercises. It can be a pic of the area where you’re doing the work - immediately before or after the workout. Whatever. Just do the work, then post something about it.

Next week we’ll get serious about goal setting by putting together our two goals: (1) a physical goal; and (2) and academic or financial goal.