Make Monday Awesome

We just got back from time in Florida with the whole crew. The whole crew in this case is the four of us, my parents and my mother-in-law. It was awesome! I can’t remember the last time I got to spend so many days in a row with my parents. One thing that I was struck with both my parents and my mother in law was how little they complained, how hard they worked, how little they expected and how grateful they were for what was happening. It was amazing to see in action. I know all of their back stories, I know how they grew up, I know they’ve seen their fair share of crap and struggled through hard times. I have a hard question to ask you - I don’t mean it in an insulation way, but in a reflective way… Are you being too soft? I asked myself a couple times when I had time to pause and reflect. There are times when I feel hard-done-by, or grumpy about something that really is a first-world-problem. I believe I can be more grateful. Hanging out with these awesome people a great reminder to me about the basics in l

Have you ever wondered “what’s wrong with the world?” You have? Ok, good, I thought it was just me. When I initially planned this episode I was going to rant for 10 minutes on what, I think, is wrong with the world but then I knew that not be helpful to you, and it might even be a little scary to listen to; I have a habit of yelling. So I thought that something more helpful would be, what am I trying to do about it? The answer to this question comes in many forms - my chosen career and what I advocate are part of the that answer but the other part is what I’m teaching my children and how I’m doing it. I would love to hear your thoughts on this episode - if you disagree - great, just be polite and respectful and we can chat about it, and if you agree let me know it as well. -Dr. Kresimir Jug

Oh anxiety, how I would love to end our relationship all together. For me, there is nothing more frustrating than losing yourself in a cascade of horrible thoughts and scenarios that haven’t even happened yet, and are very unlikely to happen. Yes, anxiety is something that has bothered me my whole life, so I can related very well to it. I know anxiety can be very complicated with many different causes, one of the things that has really helped me has been to look at my level of clarity around the area that has been causing anxiety and if that level of clarity is low, I’ve been very (or at least extra) anxious. When I’ve been able to increase my clarity, my level of anxiety has always decreased. -Dr. Kresimir Jug

I just finished Digital Minimalism and, like I mentioned last week, it gave me a lot to think about and digest. My other big take away was the chapter/lesson on free time and what to do with it. I have been looking online for similar articles to site but with no such luck, all that means is I’m going to be telling you what I took away and how I plan to apply this to my life. Happiness is my currency and the most important thing we hold in life. Newport brings up the point about people who have achieved, as he puts it, FI or financial independence and what those people have been doing with their lives - the short answer is working, or engaging in tasks that could be mistaken for hard work. The reason? Because your mind needs something to do. Yet, when we think about free time we often think about unstructured time doing nothing, which Newport argues, and in retrospect I have experienced, more boredom, more procrastination and more laziness. -Dr. Kresimir Jug

'Without solitude, no great work is possible.’ Pablo Picasso Do you spend time alone with your thoughts? Are you finding time to learn and reflect? I recently began listening to Digital Minimalism (by Cal Newport) and at first I didn’t like it. I don’t believe social media is to blame for it’s addictive nature and I don’t believe social media is making us any worse as human beings, it’s just exposing who we are. We are told that people lie about the ‘things’ they have so they can appear cool on social media. I agree and, I don’t see any difference between lying on facebook to your followers vs. lying to your friend’s face 15 years ago when we’d go out for coffee or drinks together. The platform might have changed, but human nature is the same. All my negativity towards the book changed when I read heard the chapter on solitary. In my personal experience alone time has been a powerful time to reflect, learn, think and strategize. Some of my best experiences in life have come when I am all by myself. Newport pa

What a time we live in. I will be dating myself here but I remember growing up and watching a cartoon about a futuristic family named the Jetsons. The Jetsons didn’t drive, they flew. George (the dad) had a conveyor belt that he stood on every morning that would shave him and get him dressed and they a robot maid (Rosie) that would take care of their chores. The most amazing thing were their phones. They didn’t just talk, but they could look at the person they were talking to, and I remember thinking how nice that would be because I wanted to see my grandmother who lived in Croatia. That technology - the one to look at people when calling them - now exists along with much more. It truly is an amazing time to be alive, and although it’s not perfect, it’s still pretty amazing. Yet, when we look around are we happier than we were 20 years ago? Is mental health in a better place? Do we feel more connected and alive or more scared and anxious? Happiness, joy, and the emotions we want to experience are not found ou

Early this week a good friend of mine and practice member sent me an article of a man who was diagnosed with vitamin D toxicity resulting in kidney failure. It took the medical team a long time to figure out what had caused the problem and the M.D said something that I think is applicable to every aspect of life – when it doubt, test. This whole thing could have been avoided if this individual had their blood tested to see the levels of their vitamin D. My question to you this week is do you have objective data available for everything that you’re trying to improve in your life? Of course it’s important to know how you feel about it, but do you have numbers around it as well? If not can you get some and can you repeat test on a regular basis? -Dr. Kresimir Jug

Do you spend time facing the things that truly make you uncomfortable in life? Not uneasy, not “I’d rather not.” But truly - I’m scared to do this? 19.5, the last workout of the open, created that sense of dread in me. Feel free to laugh, I can’t see you - other peoples fears are often funny and quirky to us since we don’t see the big deal. I grew up in a very safe place, my parents did everything to protect me and shelter me from stress and pain and this can was more than obvious in the physical realm. Over time I grew to shy away from physical pain and that dark physical place. Enter 19.5 20 minutes, I knew I wasn’t going to finish, of Thrusters and chest to bar pull-ups. It didn’t get more painful than that. And yet, I lived to tell the tale and even grow from the experience. -Dr. Kresimir Jug

Have you ever had one of those days where the wheels just came off? I recently just had one and the most interesting thing about it was when I reflected on the day, nothing ‘bad’ or exceptional happened, but it felt like all the wheels came off. Your day is composed of various chunks and different tasks. You don’t just go to the gym. You wake up, make coffee, go to work, pic up your children, go to the gym, have coffee and a million other smaller chunks through out the day. Also stress and negative emotions can get transferred to the next task. If someone upsets you while you’re at the drive-through those negative emotions can get transferred to your next task creating feelings of stress, anxiety, uneasiness and even anger. This week, and I’ve been applying this with great success so far, I’ve learned that managing the transitions - releasing the tension and setting expectations for the next part - has been a key to help keeping the days together. -Dr. Kresimir Jug

Every once in a while I hear or read something that directly attacks the ego and claims that your ego is the root of all your problems, while simultaneously destroying the world. I disagree, completely. Your ego is you. It’s your consciousness or, if you like, the unique part of you that makes you an individual. Or put another way - it’s your mind. The part of you that values somethings over other things, the part of you that makes judgements, the part that wants to choose and think. It’s not surprising that the ego is vilified, society tells us they celebrate uniqueness and independent thinking but they really don’t. Being different (ie. thinking differently about fundamental values), and I mean truly different, not superficially different is scary and upsetting to most people. This is not to say that different is always better - independent ideas are just as capable of being wrong - but it’s much easier to make you feel guilty for being you - attacking the concept of ego, then you challenging societies beli

Isn't being wrong the worst, yet the best? There is nothing worse that that cold chill followed by complete embarrassment when your deepest conviction, the one that you vocally and passionately supported, was found to be completely wrong. There is also nothing better because you have dropped an incorrect habit or belief from your practice. This week I wanted to discuss how you can leverage the fact that other people think radically different than you to your advantage.

There is nothing quite like a good romp around social media to see how great, beautiful, ripped, wealthy, successful, attractive, happy, vacationing everyone is and how we are lonely loser who isn't doing, or doesn't have any of those things. We all know what it feels like to compare yourself to someone else and how small and miserable it can make us feel. Is there anyway to stop it? Is there anyway to prevent this chronic comparison with others? That's the topic of today's episode

Dan Sullivan of Strategic Coach - you should really look him up if you’re an entrepreneur - has a concept he calls “The Gap” or being in ‘the gap.’ The gap is the mental space you fall into when you have something in mind that you want to achieve yet you’re not there yet. The gap is described as that feeling associated with the frustration of not having achieved your end result while feeling like you’re a failure because there is so much left to go. I was reminded of the gap just yesterday, while doing the thrusters that were programmed for me in my training, how easy it is to feel like you’re not enough and you will never get there. Of course when I turn around and look at all the good things I’ve done since the last open I feel proud of myself, but if you’re not trained to do that, it’s normal to get discouraged and quit. Enjoy -Dr. Kresimir Jug

I love that the idea of self love, self esteem and self care are becoming more and more popular and talked about. I love that people are aware of the mental health struggles that we are having as a society and that they inherently recognize that we need to care for ourselves and that it’s ok to love and value yourself. But how do we do that? On today’s episode I discuss what I did to make the largest leaps in my feelings of self worth and self esteem. Enjoy -Dr. Kresimir Jug

Are you a step ahead or are you step behind? If you’re like me then you are both. Some days I’ve got it figured out and then other days I feel like I want to hop on plane and never come back. One of the things that I’ve noticed has made a huge impact in enjoying my days is my ability to prepare for the day ahead. If I’m able to do that, it makes a massive impact. But how do you that? I know there are various ways, on this episode I’ll share what I do. I hope it can help. Enjoy -Dr. Kresimir Jug

Am I the only person who was the best, most knowledgable parent in the world, before I had kids? It’s funny how experience is a great and humbling teacher. I wanted to share something, a way of thinking, that has been very helpful as a parent and I’m hoping you can take it and use it. The idea is not sacrificing the long term for the short term. What does that mean? For example, my children eat too much junk food for my liking. And every time their grand parents give them junk food I get a visceral reaction to it. I don’t believe my response is correct; I want to tell them (passionately) that it’s unhealthy and they shouldn’t eat it. But then I think, if I do that, what would be the long term affect of that action over time? My answer - probably a negative emotional association to food - A very bad problem to have. My simple point - be conscious of the big things that you want your children to learn from you and don’t let the ‘in the moment things’ get in the way. Enjoy -Dr. Kresimir Jug

Pretend your life is one room with only one door leading in and out. The only way anything - a person, a career choice, a partner - can enter your life is through that one door. Likewise the only way they can exist is through that door. At the door stands a door man carrying a list. On that list is a set of your values and nobody is allowed to get through the door and into your life unless they are on that list, meeting your values. We’ve all had people, or things, in our lives, that we knew at the very beginning we shouldn’t associated with or let into our life. They don’t mesh well with us and they have brought pain an suffering. I’m not saying they are necessarily bad people, just not right for us. The best way to avoid these things happening is to block these people from getting into your life in the first place. Use the door man principle to help. Enjoy -Dr. Kresimir Jug

It’s been a hard week. I had to say goodbye to a close family member. Someone I grew up with, had many experiences with and will miss tremendously. During the whole process I noticed how the grief, trying to come to terms with the situation, and saying good bye, affected me. I was anxious, more judgemental, edgier and would do things - like bicker with my wife - for no good reason. I also notice that when I was alone I would listen to music much more. I would want to hear songs that were familiar to me, that I knew the words to… and then I realize why I was doing this. I was using music as something to ease my pain, to make me forget, to shift my focus, I was using it like a drug to help me cope, and I also realized that I’ve aways used music in that way. Enjoy -Dr. Kresimir Jug

If you’re old enough to remember the classic Seinfeld episode where Jerry Makes a reservation for a car rental you’ll quickly understand the most important point of this video. In the episode Jerry is disappointed because the rental that he made, and was confirmed by the rental company falls through since the car is not there. The classic line was “Your great at taking a reservation, not so much at keeping the reservation.” The same can be said with New Year’s Resolutions; it’s easy to make them, harder to follow through with your New Year’s Resolution, which is the topic of today’s video. Enjoy -Dr. Kresimir Jug

Have you ever had a goal that you wanted to start pursuing? Maybe it was creating a product, launching a business or even going to the gym and getting fit? You had this massive excitement built up, but then, when it was time to pull the trigger and execute you just couldn't do it? Eventually, you stopped altogether and then (this is worst part) you started telling yourself a story, I'm lazy, I just procrastinate, etc. Lately, I've noticed for myself, that if I lack clarity on a task or goal, I am much less motivated and inspired to accomplish this task. That's what this week's episode is all about. -Dr. K