The pace of summer seems to have heated up over the years. Does anyone else feel that way? Is it because we are older and want to milk it for all it’s worth knowing it’s short? Reminding ourselves to slow the pace and soak in the heat, focus on the sounds of bugs and lawn mowers—yes even those—or breathe in the smell of hot pavement after summer rain is a prescription for en-joy-ment of the season. And it’s all about joy.

I’m saying all of this because I, too, need reminding.

If doing the above suggestions seem too simple to provide any real joy or pleasure, think again. Don’t dismiss something that looks simple or “beneath you” on the surface. Many of us say we wish things were simpler but when something simple but different comes along we roll our eyes or just move on without considering the possible impact on our day-to-day lives.

Do I think we need to try everything that comes across our paths? Not at all. I’m simply suggesting that on occasion we might find joy, save time, learn or discover something we end up loving if we can only be open.

So open your mind to a simple book with a Bus on the cover.

The recipe is simple but the flavors complex and the presentation pure summer simple. In the article, What One Thing, you might find the lasting kind of power to change in a little idea.

Put those feeties in the grass and say Ahhhhh.

Return to Top

Why do we tend to complicate things?

Perhaps we have too many choices. Is there too much pressure to have the “best, biggest, smartest (kids), fastest, coolest,” etc? We seem programmed to bypass the simple idea in favor of one chosen after exhausting research. (And plenty of glancing at the Joneses to see what they have decided.)

The definition of simple includes “lacking sophistication.” Initially thinking this was a bad thing I checked on the word sophisticate(d). Interesting find.

The first definition in Webster’s Encyclopedic is: “Sophisticate: v; to deprive of simplicity or sincerity by making artificial or affected.” Further along it says, “Sophisticated: adj; elaborated, made complex, too affected, artificial, lacking in naiveté or naturalness.” Really.

Planning a short trip to SeaWorld with the kids recently took on a life of its own. My first instinct was to call AAA to book the trip. I know them to be a reliable resource of safe, clean, and affordable lodging. But AAA is definitely not the sophisticated choice and seemed too simple. “I should do some comparison shopping on the internet,” I reasoned. With myriad offerings to save money, get free stuff, and generally make myself nuts I spent one week not booking the trip and saved no more money than I would have with AAA. I went with the simple idea after all.

This idea that we (I) complicate things is a good one for me to keep an eye on. One goal of mine is to keep things simple and work smarter not harder. This said here is a simple but powerful idea that can be applied to anything you are doing at any time and anywhere.

The concept starts with a question, “What One Thing?” for short. You can put this question in front of anything you encounter and I guarantee it will bring you back to simple.

Look. Let’s say you want to lose weight. You get a book—no doubt one that I have reviewed—set some goals down on paper, join the gym, get new running shoes, and go to bed with the intention that “tomorrow it starts, the plan to get healthy, take off 20 pounds, and feel great.”

The next morning you oversleep and so the gym is out. You realize you forgot you’ve got meetings all day so won’t be able to get to the quick healthy food place for lunch and there’s no time to prepare anything. You are beginning to give up on your plan for one more day when suddenly the question, What One Thing, comes to mind. What One Thing can I do right now, before I leave the house, the will keep me on track with my goal? Got fruit? Got yogurt or cottage cheese? Grab them and off you go with something that will satisfy your need to eat breakfast and it’s a healthy one. You only need to think about what’s happening in the moment. If you begin to look at all the things that will derail you in the next 12 hours you will go back to bed and give up. Ask the question again and again.

For now, your one thing—fruit and something for breakfast-- means you are still in healthy mode. As the day unfolds keep the question in mind. Will you get 30 minutes in between meetings that you could use to take a walk outside? If it’s hot outside can you do 10 flights of stairs in the air-conditioned office building?

What One Thing can you do—in this moment—to keep you on track?

Sounds simple enough, no? Let’s look at it on a large scale. Here is the question and the full answer I came up with.

What One Thing can I do to make my life or the life of those around me—known and unknown—better, (healthier, easier, less stressful, etc.) in this moment?

A 70-something-year-old neighbor down the road has a broken pelvis but she’s a sharp, independent lady who wants no coddling. She called the other day and asked me to move a chair and put water in her bird bath. I was home, had a few free hours, and was happy to help out.

After I left I asked myself if there was one thing she might like to have but wouldn’t ask for. Nothing came to mind just then. I found myself thinking of her yesterday and asked myself that question again. What One Thing would she accept without feeling incapable? Her birdbath would surely be dry again and her flower beds as well. Off I went and began my watering. She peeped out of the window after a few minutes and smiled. We did not visit beyond that. There was no need. The answer I got to my question, What One Thing, blessed me and her simply.

This is not a revolutionary idea, I realize. What makes it powerful though is using it throughout the day for your own life, and for the bigger life around you, like the planet. What One Thing can I do today to lessen my environmental footprint?

It works anywhere, even in business.

In Seth Godin’s blog recently he talked about telling your team just one thing at a meeting or selling one thing and selling it deep and well. One idea or one product allows us to focus and focus means power. What One Thing do you want to tell your team today to create sales or more effective marketing?

Simple? Exquisitely so, in my book.

Sophistication has its place and complex systems like our bodies and minds are miraculous. All complex systems can be broken down to their simpler parts, the building blocks. Think of What One Thing like a stem cell—the body’s ultimate building blocks. Start there and you can go anywhere, build anything, and be more powerful than you can now imagine.

Every moment brings the simple power of one thing to your life. Practiced regularly it will change you in ways you have planned and ways you cannot yet know.

If the idea gets out and catches on who knows what kind of impact we can have on our bodies, lives, families, communities, countries, the globe?

It gives me chills just to imagine it.

I know, it’s simple. Simple like a stem cell.

Return to Top

Ready to begin living better? Contact me today to learn how we can work together

Phone: 631-728-2456
gregory@livebettercoach.com

Visit LiveBetter for even more great information!

Summer Tuna Nicoise Salad
Serves 6

When it’s hot and al fresco dining is the order of the day this is simple and elegant. The ingredients all bring their own unique flavor profile to the plate. The resulting symphony of colors, textures, and flavors will satisfy on many levels. If you don’t like tuna you can substitute salmon, swordfish, or shrimp.

I’m still in the mood for Rose wine but a light red like Pinot Noir or Granache would compliment the salad as well.

Ingredients for Salad

• ¾ lb. French or other green beans, trimmed
• 1 lb. small new potatoes or small Yukon golds, leave whole
• 3 Hard Boiled Eggs, peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 lb. or less of mixed greens. Use something sturdy like an Italian mix or start with Bibb or Boston and add some red leaf, radiccio, escarole and such.
• 2 large Heirloom tomatoes or 1 cup grape tomatoes
• ½ Cup Dry Cured Black Olives or Nicoise olives
• ¼ Cup Non-Pareil Capers (These are the little ones)
• ¼ Cup of thinly chopped Basil leaves
• 4 – 6 oz. tuna steak per person. Do not get steaks that are so small that they are less than 1” thick. It is too easy to overcook them.
• Olive Oil
• Course Salt and Pepper

Dressing

As a space-saving measure I would suggest you buy a good Balsamic dressing or make your favorite recipe. A Traditional French Vinaigrette with a Dijon mustard base is also a great compliment here.

Make Salad

1. The first two ingredients can be made ahead of time but the potatoes are most delicious still warm from cooking when you serve the salad.
2. Cook beans in a 4- to 6-quart pot of boiling salted water, uncovered, until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes, then immediately transfer to a bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking.
3. If you want to dress the beans don’t do so until you are serving them or they’ll turn gray.
4. Use the same water to cook potatoes. Add them once the water has come to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, until tender, 15 to 20 minutes, then drain in a colander. Halve potatoes while still warm (peel if desired) and toss with 2 tablespoons dressing and salt in a bowl. They will cool slightly but still be warm if you do this right before serving.
5. Prepare grill for cooking. If using a charcoal grill, open vents on bottom of grill, then light charcoal. Charcoal fire is medium-hot when you can hold your hand 5 inches above rack for 3 to 4 seconds. If using a gas grill, preheat burners on high, covered, 10 minutes, then reduce heat to moderately high.
6. Brush tuna with oil and season with salt and pepper.
   Do not put the tuna on until you are ready to eat or it will get cold.
7. Clean and spray your grill well, keep heat on high.
8. Grill, uncovered, about 3 minutes per side. If you want nice grill marks here is the trick.
9. Place tuna steaks down with a corner at 10 o’clock. After 1 minute, turn steak to 2 o’clock. You have not turned the steak over just rotated it to the right on the same side to form x marks. Then you will flip it over to finish cooking.
10. While you are cooking the tuna, assemble the plates or do them ahead of time so the tuna can go from the grill to the plate to the table.
11. Toss the greens, tomato wedges or grape tomatoes, and capers with dressing. Put a handful in the center of each plate.
12. Add a couple of potatoes, two egg wedges, some olives, and a bundle of green beans off to one side.
13. When the tuna is done place it up against the greens and garnish with a nasturtium.

**Note: Tuna can be cooked in a hot, lightly-oiled, well-seasoned ridged grill pan over moderately high heat.

Return to Top

The Energy Bus:
10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy
by Jon Gordon

Jon Gordon is affable, upbeat, ampy, and committed to changing the world with his message of positive energy. He is a speaker, a coach, and a consultant to companies large and small. What the heck is positive energy? According to Jon, “No one goes through life untested and the answer to these tests is positive energy. Not the rah, rah, motivational, cheering kind of positive energy, although there certainly is a time and place for that as well. But rather when I talk about positive energy I’m referring to the optimism, trust, enthusiasm, love, purpose, joy, passion and spirit to live, work and perform at a higher level; to build and lead successful teams; to overcome adversity in life and at work; to share contagious energy with employees, colleagues and customers; to bring out the best in others and in yourself; and to overcome all the negative people (I call energy vampires) and negative situations that threaten to sabotage your health, family, team and success.”

In The Energy Bus, Jon teaches us how to have the things he talks about above through a man named George. George is having a crappy time of life. We quickly learn that his life is a direct result of his choices--no surprise there. George happily plays the victim which allows him to wallow in his familiar misery complaining all the while. Everyone and everything is against George the way he sees it. But readers of The You Revolution know better. The people in George’s life are frustrated and ready to pull out or kick him out if something doesn’t change. Then George is forced to ride the bus to work for 14 days while his car gets repaired. Lucky for George, his life is never the same.

Jon based this book on a true encounter he had with an airport shuttle bus driver. It seems Jon was not always The Energy Guy or positive about much of anything. This person started a change in Jon that he was inspired to share with others and the book really is a gem.

Don’t be put off by the simplicity of the concept. Jon does a great job mirroring real life through real people. The book's strength lies in the simplicity of his style and story. His lessons for George are summarized in his 10 Rules that make it easy to zero in on the ones that speak to you so you can put them into practice.

Regardless of where you are on the continuum of positive-and-in-control-no-matter-what-is-happening-in-your-life vs. life-isn’t-fair-and-I’m-going-to-eat-some-worms, The Energy Bus is a quick, uplifting read. If you are sure you create your life and no one can throw you off a positive track then read it and just enjoy hearing how one man got his life back. If you are not sure that there is anything you can do about all the “stuff” that seems to “happen” to you and you feel beaten up by it all, then by all means read it and be open to the message. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Jon Gordon has based this book loosely on himself. It seems Mr. Positive Energy was not always like this. He was a negative guy who felt like everything bad that could happen would happen to him. But he learned a few things along the way. He learned because he was at rock bottom but also because he was open and wanted something to change.

Although the book uses a business model for George and his concepts, it is valuable for individuals as well as teams.

Sometimes something so simple comes along and we might dismiss it for that reason. Give this book a second look. You may find you are recommending it to a co-worker or significant other.

Return to Top

Q&A
Be sure to send your questions to Greg so she can answer them here in future issues of The You Revolution. Send her an email at gregory@livebettercoach.com to ask your question.

Q: It’s hot. I’m thirsty and I’m confused which could lead to cranky and god knows that isn’t pretty. What can I drink besides water that’s refreshing and not loaded with sugar or chemicals? Are you a card carrying member of the sugar substitute police?

A: Thank you for such an easy question this month!

There is no clear evidence that drinkiMany good questions. If it’s cocktail hour where you are I suggest a chilled white from New Zealand to enhance your receptivity to what I’m going to tell you.

I don’t believe that the most common of sugar subs (Aspartame, sold as Equal and NutraSweet in this country), can be considered safe in every situation for every human. In this month’s journal Environmental Health Perspectives, a new study with rats linked regular intake of the sweetener with increased risk of leukemia, lymphomas, and breast cancer. It also reported that when exposure to the sweetener starts during fetal life, the potential carcinogenic effects are increased.

Drink and eat these no- and low-calorie products on occasion only. Besides, there are studies that show these sugar subs to increase weight gain in some people. If the other stuff doesn’t scare you, that should!

Given a choice between being overweight and living on sugar subs I’d go for the few extra pounds which is not to say I don’t enjoy the rare Fuze or cup of Haagen Daz Extra Rich Light Vanilla. Splenda is safest of all. Read labels.

When you are exercising and feel you need to replace electrolytes use water with an Emergen-C packet or watered down Gatorade or other sports drink. Know this, the sugar content in popular sports drinks is high and out of balance with the other electrolytes your body wants when you are low. This prevents the drink from hydrating like it should. Water them down by half or juice an apple and a carrot with a piece of ginger. That’s an energy shot with all sorts of good minerals and system boosters.

Good news, caffeinated drinks like iced coffee or tea do hydrate more than “they” thought. If water is 80% hydrating these drinks are 70%--not bad when the aroma of a Starbucks beckons.

Return to Top

As summer seems busier than ever for most folks, my work schedule has slowed down. My wonderful step children arrive on July 22nd and I am going to enjoy them for the three weeks we have together. This means taking a break from newsletter for August.

Once back in September I will be bringing you more great books, Food for Thought, Articles, etc. Once we all get back into the rhythm of our regular schedules I hope to connect with more of you through the blog and meet you and your friends through A Lifestyle Tune-Up.

Mid-September I’ll be introducing a new tool called The Lifestyle Tune-up Tip of the Week. You’ll get an email offering you a sign up link. Once you have signed up—and I’ll be offering a wee gift to entice you—you will receive one email per week with an audio clip from me with motivational information to keep you on track creating the life of your dreams, body, mind ,and soul.

Til then, I’ll be blogging when something crosses my path that I think you could benefit from. If you are not signed up for the RSS feed you can do by visiting the blog and clicking on an RSS Feed link in the right column.

I look forward to talking with you in September.

Til then milk your summer moments for all the simple pleasures they offer. Be well, live in joy.

Greg

Return to Top

Thank you for reading. I know your time is valuable and that there is a mountain of information out there demanding your attention. My highest hope is that I've provided something of value for you. If you know someone who might benefit from any of the content please forward this.

Any recommendations of sites or products are items I have personally investigated and recommend with confidence.