Here at the frontier, the leaves fall like rain. Although my neighbors are all barbarians, and you, you are a thousand miles away, there are still two cups at my table.


Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn, a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter. If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.

~ Wu-men ~


Wednesday, February 06, 2013

The 2013 Lenten Challenge

Every year, I throw out the Lenten Challenge to my martial arts buddies. It has nothing to do with Christianity or religion (unless you want it to). We are simply using this time as a convenient reminder to rededicate ourselves to our training. It’s kind of hard to miss either Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras, the last day before Lent, which is also Paczki Day!) or Easter Sunday (Bunnies, candy, colored eggs; that stuff). Several of us have been doing this for years now.

The challenge is this: from Ash Wednesday (Feb 13) until the day before Easter (Mar 31), train every day, without fail, no excuses; even if you have to move mountains. Simple enough said, a little harder to do.

It's not as easy as it sounds; things come up. Some days, you might only be able to get a few minutes of training in; but the point is to do it everyday, no matter what.

It doesn't have to be martial arts training either. Whatever it is that you need to really rededicate yourself to: studying, practicing an instrument, walking, watching what you eat, immersing yourself in something new; anything - do it every day, without fail.

In the past on some forums, people have posted what they’ve done everyday. I think everyone who’s done that has become tired of writing, and the others get tired of reading it. How about you just post if you’ve had some breakthrough, or you’ve had to overcome some unusual circumstance to continue your training? Maybe just check in every once in a while to let everyone know you’re keeping at it, or to encourage everyone else to keep at it. I plan on tracking my progress on lift.do (Lenten Challenge - Rick Matz).

I've been tracking some of my activities on lift.do since before the Advent Challenge. As of today, I've trained for 71 consecutive days. I am hoping to keep the streak going at least through the Lenten Challenge. It's amazing how motivating it is to make a couple of clicks every day.

If you fail, no one will hate you. If you fall off of the wagon, climb back on board. Start anew.
For those of you who already train everyday anyway, by all means continue and be supportive of the rest of us. For the rest of us who intend to train everyday, but sometimes come up short due to life’s propensity for unraveling even the best laid plans, here is an opportunity to put a stake in the ground and show your resolution.

Won't you join me?

Best Regards

Rick

5 comments:

walt said...

Well, darn. I was just getting set for some late-winter sloth and acedia ... and now this!

It's just as well, as I have been "toying" with some new ideas for the past month or so, and your Lenten Challenge has caused me to make a plan of action. So that's a plus right there. I'll track it thru the end of March and report in.

Rick Matz said...

Spring is just around the corner. This is a good way to welcome it.

Felicia said...

I'm in! :-)

Rick Matz said...

Welcome aboard!

Compass Architect said...

Walk the circle.