Ready, Set, Achieve!: A Guide to Taking Charge of Your Life Creating Balance, and Achieving Your Goals

By Yuri Diogenes, Jodi Miller and Greg McCoy

An organized guide to turning a dream into a reality without sacrificing achievements in other areas of life.
 
Studies have shown that personal health directly affects professional well-being and vice versa. As one decreases, the other suffers. Conversely, as one increases, the other rises as well. By learning how to effectively and evenly pull the strings of both aspects of life—avoiding a collision of priorities—all goals can be reached with less stress and better health.
 
Ready, Set, Achieve! digs into the psyche of setting a goal, creating a plan of action, carrying out those action steps, finding support systems, and cycling back around to do it all over again for a new and higher goal. Personal anecdotes from authors Yuri Diogenes and Jodi Miller punctuate each chapter and give an inside view into overcoming their own struggles and turning them into tangible success stories.
 
Both authors rely on real-life experience to shed light on how to transform one’s mind and body and still create balance. Diogenes shares the tale of his amazing 100-pound weight loss and subsequent appearance on a national-qualifying bodybuilding stage in one of the biggest states in the country, while rising to the top ranks in his IT career. And Miller describes her feat of lifting almost three times her bodyweight at national- and world-level lifting championships, while remaining well rounded in both her athletic and career worlds. Ready, Set, Achieve! shows the road to just that: being your overall best.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jul 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781630475901

Yuri Diogenes

Yuri Diogenes started working on IT field as computer operator back in 1993 using MS-DOS 5.5 and Windows 3.1. In 1998 moved to a Microsoft Partner where he was instructor for computer classes and also wrote internal training materials such as Windows NT 4 and Networking Essentials. His initial experience with security started in 1998 when he had to setup the Internet security connectivity using Microsoft Proxy 2.0 and Cisco routers. In 2001 Yuri released his first book (in Portuguese) about Cisco CCNA Certification. In 2003 Yuri accepted the offer to be a Professor in a University in Brazil where he taught operating system and computer networks classes. In December 2003 he moved to United States to work for Microsoft as a contractor in the Customer Service and Support for Latin America messaging division. In 2004 he moved to Dell Computers in Round Rock, Texas to work as Server Advisor in the Network Operating System (NOS) Team, dealing primarily with Windows, Exchange and ISA (2000/2004). Yuri returned to MS as a full time employee in 2006 to work again on the Customer Service and Support for Latin America, but at this time to be dedicated to the platform division. There I was responsible to primarily support Windows Networking and ISA Server (200/2004/2006) for enterprise customers from Latin America. In 2007 he joined the Customer Services and Support Security Team as a Security Support Engineer where he was dedicated to work with Edge protection (ISA Server and then TMG). In 2010 Yuri co-wrote the Forefront Administrator’s Companion book and also three other Forefront books in partnership with Tom Shinder. During this time Yuri also wrote articles for his own blog (blogs.technet.com/yuridiogenes), TechNet Magazine, ISSA Journal and other Security magazines in Brazil. Nowadays Yuri Diogenes works as a Senior Technical Writer for the Server and Cloud division Information Experience Team where he writes articles about Cloud Infrastructure with security functionalities baked in. On his currently role he also deliver presentations at public events such as TechED US, Europe, Brazil and internal Microsoft conferences such as TechReady. Currently Yuri is also working on his Master degree in Cybersecurity Intelligence & Forensics at UTICA while also writing the second edition of his Security+ book (in Portuguese). Yuri holds several industry certifications, including CISSP, E|CEH, E|CSA, CompTIA, Security+, CompTIA Cloud Essentials Certified, CompTIA Network+, CASP, MCSE, MCTS, MCT and many other Microsoft certifications. You can follow Yuri Diogenes on Twitter @yuridiogenes

Book preview

Chapter 1

IT’S TIME TO CHANGE!

Introduction

Every time I watch the beginning to a Dreamworks production, I wonder what life would be like if we really could climb up to the moon, settle into the crook of it with our legs dangling, attach bait to a fishing line, and swing far and wide to catch our dreams. Would we have the same appreciation for our achievements if it were that simple? I doubt it.

But the starting line of reaching our goals actually does exist in a farfetched, fairy tale-like world. We typically see another person doing something we wish to do, or we experience a change in our lives that sparks our desire to move to a different rung on the life ladder. Whatever it is that initiates the spark, that ember is a very necessary part to our ability to grab a fishing pole, hook bait upon the line, and swing with all of our might to catch the big one.

The thing is, we cannot simply grab that pole and catch our metaphorical fish in any body of water. We have to determine what type of fish we wish to catch, where the best place is to catch such a fish, what type of bait will attract that variety of fish, and what we will do should changes in weather, lake levels, or boat maintenance change. This means that while achievement of goals begins in the recesses of our imagination, order and organization must exist if we expect to actually attain said goals with any measure of success. This chapter will delve into how we can go about doing exactly that.

Setting a Winning Goal

We could begin this section with a discussion of desire, but in all honesty, desire is the easiest part of this whole process. So instead, let’s jump straight into the deep end and examine how to set a goal. One word sums up this process well: SMART.

Figure 1-1: SMART

The SMART acronym, as shown in Figure 1-1 displays the following five necessary components to successful goal setting:

1.  A goal must be specific.

If a goal is vague, the outcome will be blurry and fuzzy as well. If we wish to have crisp, sharp, precise changes in our lives, then our goals must have the same clarity. We cannot simply state we wish to lose weight and expect a considerable shift in our appearance. We must narrow the focus of our goal. Is this one pound or 20 pounds? Is it fat we wish to lose or muscle? Do we care from where we lose the weight, or are we focused on our derrieres? Do we have a lifetime to lose this weight, or are we trying to fit into a bikini or bathing trunks for a summer vacation? When we add details to the goal at hand, we see our eventual results better and can plan a precise path to our change more adequately and appropriately.

2.  A goal must be measurable.

This sounds redundant to the specific portion of the SMART acronym, but this is where a little mathematics comes into play: numbers and percentages. We will stick with the losing weight scenario to explain this since ultimately this book is focused on your ability to transform your body in today’s society. What if you set a goal to lose 20 pounds? That seems specific enough, right? But how will you measure this goal of 20 pounds? Will you weigh yourself at the end of your designated time for achieving this goal? What if you are building muscle and don’t lose 20 pounds but actually look better than you did if you only lost 20 pounds of fat and didn’t gain an ounce of muscle? Would that mean you failed? No. So determining a specific measure for this weight-loss goal is extremely important to ensure you are attaining the exact change you wish to achieve. You might instead have a goal of fitting into a size-six bikini or a 32-waistline for men’s swim trunks and seeing the outline of your obliques when that time comes. Now, with a measurable element in hand, it is okay if you do not quite reach a 20-pound weight loss since you would presumably gain muscle while you simultaneously work towards this overall goal. As you can see, we have taken a specific goal and added a measuring tape to it.

3.  A goal must be aligned to one’s life or attainable with one’s resources and time allotment.

The Biggest Loser and other weight-loss reality shows often depict massive weight loss achievements. We are talking 100-pounds or more in a very short span of time. What we forget when we talk about these shows the next day around the proverbial water cooler at work is that the contestants on these shows are spending upwards of six to eight hours per day sweating, grunting, running, lifting and also have access to very vocal, passionate coaches who watch their every move like a hawk waiting for road kill. Most of us don’t have this luxury of time, amount of energy, or monetary expenditure; thus setting a goal to lose 100 pounds in less than six months would not only set us up for failure but would be a truly unhealthy, rapid result in the span of our lives. So after adding specificity and measurement to our goal, we need to assess our budget, our schedules, the people with whom we share our lives, our other goals (since we can and should attain more than one goal at a time), and many other influences in order to determine if we can reasonably insert this goal into our lives without driving ourselves insane in the process.

4.  A goal must be realistic.

There is a distinct difference between a dream and a goal. Winning the lottery fits into the category of a dream because it is dependent upon so many factors outside of our control. No matter how diligent we are, we may never achieve the correct selection of winning numbers. In contrast, a goal is typically chosen based upon one’s time, resources, and capabilities. And these are the factors that determine whether the goal is truly realistic. If I am a size 12, can I realistically fit into a size-four bathing suit within the next two months without causing damage to my metabolism? Additionally, do I have a gym membership? Do I have the funds for a personal trainer? What is my work schedule like? Is my partner someone who is understanding and supportive, or will I experience a hint of sabotage and jealousy that might slow down my progress? Is a size four even the right size for my body type? Maybe I should give myself six months to reach this goal rather than just two months. And maybe I should alter this goal to fitting into a size six pair of jeans by the fall months rather than a size-four bathing suit by the summer months. This way, I give myself a fighting chance to capture this goal instead of setting myself up for failure before I’ve even put bait onto my fishing