The Data Warrior

Changing the world, one data model at a time. How can I help you?

Archive for the tag “Health”

05 Nov 2012
3 Comments

Breaking a non-Fitness Habit

After writing about creating a new fitness habit yesterday, I had my own little ah-ha moment today about a bad habit I had formed..

For lunch today, I went downstairs to the building cafe and got a pretty healthy sandwich and some steamed broccoli (instead of fries) and headed outside to eat. There are a few shaded tables outside our building in a little garden-like area. Good place to sit and eat in relative peace. (I even kept my phone in my  pocket)

It was a nice day, only about 75 degrees . (That might seem warm for November, but for Houston that is bordering on cool.)

After eating, I realized I had about 30 minutes to spare before needing to get back to work. So I decided to take a little walk along The Woodlands Waterway, which is a few blocks from the office. Figured I could get in a quiet little stroll.

As I was walking, it occurred to me that, at least this time of year, I could probably do this most days.

Hmm…that could be a little fitness habit for me to start.

That was not the ah-ha moment though…

The ah-ha part was realizing that, in fact, I had walked at lunch everyday since I started this new contract.

Huh? How could that be?

Well since last week was my first week at a new location, with a new client, and new co-workers, I had actually gone out for lunch everyday (not something I normally do). Due to the location of the office, I had walked to get lunch every day since there are a bunch of restaurants and shops along and near The Waterway.

So, even before I wrote the post yesterday, or had read the post on Zen Habits, I had actually already started forming a new fitness habit.

Cool.

Getting more regular exercise was one of the reasons I took the new gig with the shorter commute.

Check! This is a good start.

However, there was also a more dramatic ah-ha in all this.

In starting this new habit, accidental as it was, I had actually broken a really BAD non-fitness inducing habit that many office professionals (you know who you are) do on a regular basis:

Eating lunch at your desk!

That really is not a healthy habit for a bunch of reasons (which I hope I do not have to explain to anyone).

Today I realized that I had fallen prey to that bad habit over the last 2+ years while I was working at my last assignment. I ate lunch at my desk, on average, up to 4 days a week (unless I went out to lunch with someone).

Four days a week eating at my desk, while reading blogs, writing blogs, or reading email!

Bad Data Warrior! 

Good way to become a Data Zombie.

Well that’s over! With my little awakening today, I plan to making it a habit to NOT eat at my desk and to get outside and walk 15-20 minutes at lunch at least 4 days a week.  If the weather is too hot, or raining, I will check out the fitness center in our building (free to use!). Worse case, there is a treadmill.

So, what is your story?

Do you eat lunch at your desk trying to be more productive?

Stop that now (you are not being more productive, really).

Get up, get outside. Even if you don’t go for a walk, at least eat somewhere other than your desk. Get away from that computer. Talk to some real people – in person. Or talk to yourself.

See the world outside your cube. It’s pretty nice out here.

Later.

Kent

P.S. Side benefit of my walk today was that I found a hidden Zen Garden and Koi Pond along the way. No idea how long it had been there, but I know where to go now for even more peace along the already pretty peaceful waterway. Might be able to proactice a little Tai Chi or Chi Gung there while I am at it.

My secret Zen garden

 

Posted in Chi Gung, Fitness, Tai Chi, Work-Life Balance and tagged , , ,
04 Nov 2012
3 Comments

Do you have a Fitness Habit?

With my new assignment comes new opportunity.

One of those opportunities is the time to exercise a bit more (I just eliminated a rather long commute).

What to do and when to do it? How to arrange my new schedule efficiently to get in a work out , do my job, do my user group activities, write blog posts, attend school functions,  etc.

Several years ago I had a very regular exercise routine. Then things changed, as happens in life, and my routine had to change.

Now that things have changed again, the hardest part is getting started again. I got out of the regular habit.

Seems to be a common problem as evidenced by this recent post on Zen Habits:

In the last few months, I’ve spent a bit of time working with a group of fantastic fitness experts to create a fitness program that I think could change people’s lives.

But what I’ve found in doing research and working with beta testers is that the most important thing isn’t some secret ideal fitness plan … but forming the habit of fitness.

It’s the habit, not the plan, that makes all the difference in the world.

It’s fascinating, really. I’ve found that you can give beginners 10 different fitness plans — yoga, running, Crossfit, TurboFire, P90X, bootcamp workouts, MoveNat, etc. — and they can all fail. Why? Because it doesn’t matter how good the workout is, or how good the diet is … if people don’t actually follow the plan.

The problem isn’t that people don’t know what kinds of exercises to do … they generally do know what they should be doing. And really, no matter what people choose, it’ll generally be better than nothing.

via » Why the Fitness Habit is More Important Than the Plan :zenhabits.

So that’s where I am. I know what I should do…I just have to do it.

What about you – do you have a fitness habit?  How did you form yours? Please share your experiences (and suggestions) in the comments.

To your health.

Kent

 

Posted in Fitness, Work-Life Balance and tagged , , , , , , , ,
21 Jul 2012
2 Comments

Being Part of the Solution: This Tech Company Got it Right!

Last week I posted an infographic about how many Americans are working more that 40 hours weeks and ranted a bit about how crazy we all are and asked are you part of the problem or the solution.

Well here is a tech company, FullContact, in Denver, Colorado, that decided to be part of the solution.

Well, actually one of the founders (and CEO), Bart Lorang, had this wild idea:

The past few years I’ve had this totally insane idea that just wouldn’t go away. It kept gnawing at me.

Last week, I finally decided to do something about it.

At our all-hands we announced the idea: something I like to call Paid, Paid Vacation. You can view the presentation in its entirety here.

In essence, not only do we provide employees minimum 15 days paid vacation plus the standard Federal holidays, but WE ALSO PAY FOR VACATIONS!

Here’s how it works: once per year, we give each employee $7500 to go on vacation.

There are a few rules:

  1. You have to go on vacation, or you don’t get the money.
  2. You must disconnect.
  3. You can’t work while on vacation.

via Paid Vacation? Not Cool. You Know What’s Cool? Paid, PAID Vacation. – FullContact.

I for one applaud his idea and love his rules to make sure people actually do take the time off.

We all need time away to relax and refresh but way too many people just don’t do it.

I know people who put in for vacation, took the time “off” and then worked through most of it!

Crazy right?

Well Bart’s move surprised many people. He even got a spot on Good Morning America to talk about it.

And…they are hiring.

Let’s hope a few more companies take a cue from Bart and follow suit.

Cheers.

Kent

Posted in Fitness, Work-Life Balance and tagged , ,
09 Jul 2012
1 Comment

Learn a Little Chi Gung with my KScope Morning Chi Gung Video

A little background…

Last year for the ODTUG Kscope conference, then-president Mike Riley asked me if there was something from my martial arts training that I could offer to Kscope attendees that would enhance their conference experience.

I proposed doing some Chi Gung moving mediation exercises in the morning, something I had started teaching at summer martial arts camps about 20 years ago.

The ODTUG Board accepted the proposal and the rest, as they say, is history.

We introduced Morning Chi Gung at Kscope11 in Long Beach, California with great success and reviews.

We did it again for Kscope12 at the beautiful JW Marriott in San Antonio, Texas, with another great turn out. I lead sessions every day, Sunday through Thursday at 7 AM. (It went so well a few folks even joined me on Friday morning after the conference for one more session.)

This year we also added organized running groups and a running meet-up sign up board to encourage attendees to network in a new way.

Fitness activities are fast becoming a ODTUG tradition, so we plan to do them again at Kscope13 in New Orleans.

As far as I know, ODTUG is the first, and maybe only, Oracle user event to offer organized fitness activities for attendees. It may be the only technology conference doing so.

Pretty cool. Hopefully we will inspire other events to add similar activities.

Morning Chi Gung at Kscope12

My morning Chi Gung group

Chi Gung – The Video

Several of the attendees this year wanted to be sure they could continue to practice the meditations after the conference was over. So they asked if I had any videos of the routines available. There are a few clips from KScope11 but none with audio instructions.

Thanks to Lori (ODTUG Social Media Maven) and her digital video camera, we have a brand new instructional video to share with everyone. Now I had to work around having a microphone with a short cord attached to my jacket, but the audio is really good so you will have no problem hearing my instructions and descriptions of the various exercises.

The video is now live online on the ODTUG YouTube Channel over here.

In the video you will see me give detailed instructions and explanations of several Chi Gung “still stance” breathing meditations. I lead the group in doing Upward-Downward, Inward-Outward, Raised Hands Stance, Tai Chi Ball, Four Forms, and the Warrior Energy Form. Each of these moving meditative sets can be done individually or in the series as demonstrated, depending on your available time and fitness level.

So if you were in my classes, I hope you find the video useful to help you continue your practice.

If you weren’t there, I hope the video will inspire you to start a new practice.

Either way I hope you will all join me at KScope13 next year in New Orleans.

Until then…Peace

Kent

P.S. If you have not done so already, please consider subscribing to this blog, or follow me on Twitter @KentGraziano

Posted in Chi Gung, Fitness and tagged , , , , , , ,
17 May 2012
3 Comments

Work is Killing You and 10 Ways to Stop It From Happening!

This has been a hot button for me for some time – if we don’t find a way to fit exercise, fitness, and some healthy eating into our sedentary lives (like we in IT tend have), we will not live as long as we hope. And life will not be as enjoyable as it could be.

This article really speaks to this all-to-common issue:

Every morning, you awaken to a new day and you launch into your familiar routines as you hustle to meet your daily obligations.

Ideally, your work excites you, energizes you, and brings joy to your life. If your work brings you more stress and fatigue than joy then now is the time to make some changes. You can introduce a renewed vigor into your work and upgrade your attitude.

You know that taking care of yourself should be your number one priority. Yet you often let your health and fitness levels fall by the wayside if you are consistently working 50 or more hours a week.

As a society, at what point did we take the wrong turn by focusing on work place productivity and relentless goal setting at the expense of our happiness and well-being?

Productivity does not have to be measured solely by the number of hours logged at work. Happiness will not be attainable when consistently working 50 hours a week. Furthermore, our choice, as a culture, to sacrifice fitness or physical play for other goals has had an impact on every part of our lives, including our fitness level and our overall happiness at work and outside of work.

The article goes on to detail 10 things you can do – today – to become more fit and healthy (and it is not just joining a health club). Check it out at  Work is Killing You and 10 Ways to Stop It From Happening! | Work Happy Now.

Get up and get moving! (after you read the article that is…)

If you want to get notified when I post articles like this, don’t forget to hit the Follow button at the top of the column to the right.

– Kent

P.S. If you are attending this years KScope conference next month in San Antonio, you can work on your fitness level by joining me each morning for some calming and energizing Chi Gung. We will meet on the lawn each morning at 7 AM.

Posted in Chi Gung, Fitness, ODTUG, Work-Life Balance and tagged , , , , ,

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