God is good. All the time.

49 "This I Believe" reflections on my 49th Birthday + 4 videos of me speaking

Today is my 49th Birthday! Below the photo of me and my R2-D2 cake on my 7th birthday in 1979 are 49 "This I Believe" reflections, along with 4 videos of me speaking:

1. It is a blessing to be 49 years old. I don't regret getting older. I only hope I'm growing a bit wiser! :)

2. The top 5 priorities in my life in order are: Faith, Family, Health, Career, Community. Here is a 2-minute video of me talking about these top 5 priorities in 2018:

3. God is Good. All the Time. Even in hard times in our lives, I believe God is working all things together for the good of those who love Him.

4. My wife Marcia is an angel. I love her so much!

5. My two daughters are such a blessing. I love them both so much!

6. Volunteers of America Colorado is an incredible nonprofit organization serving over 150,000  Coloradans annually through affordable housing, emergency shelters, hunger and nutrition services (Meals on Wheels), and veterans supportive services programs.

7. In honor of my birthday today, can I ask you to make a donation to Volunteers of America Colorado? Thank you in advance! Please donate here now:  www.voacolorado.org/give

8. I wanted to make $1 million by the age 30. Fortunately, God had a different plan for my life, and I ended up raising $1 million for charity by the age of 30. Here's the story in a 3-minute video (with shout-outs to Roxane White, Jamie Van Leeuwen and John Hickenlooper):

9. Work is love made visible.

10. Food is medicine.

11. Be curious.

12. Be kind.

13. Sleep is medicine. Here is a 2-minute video of me talking about the importance of sleep and FitBits (with a shout-out to Luke Wykoff):

14. Friends are pure gold.

15. Stay humble.

16. Gratitude is the best attitude.

17. Exercise is medicine.

18. Assume positive intent.

19. Don't worry. Be happy.

20. Habits determine success.

21. Life is beautiful.

22. Life can be hard. Keep going. Don’t give up. 

23. Life is Love. Here's a 5-minute video of me talking about the books The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying and Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning:

24. Books are magic.

25. Goals are good. 

26. Your health is your wealth. 

27. Job searching is an art and a science.

28. We all have daily struggles. 

29. Keep it simple.

30. Have a bias toward action.

31. Always a student, never the master.

32. The journey is the destination.

33. Do or do not. There is no try.

34. Focus is a superpower.

35. Calm is a superpower.

36. Empathy is a superpower.

37. Fail forward.

38. Grow your emotional intelligence.

39. Nobody else can do your sit-ups for you.

40. Early to bed and early to rise indeed makes you healthy, wealthy and wise.

41. Be brave.

42. The past does not equal the future.

43. Your brain is a muscle. Exercise it.

44. Enroll in "Automobile University" with Audible.com or Podcasts. Learn while you drive.

45. Practice loving-kindness.

46. It's all grace. Amazing grace.

47. Colorado is heaven.

48. Life is short. Don't miss it.

49. Chris Tomlin is my favorite singer/songwriter on the planet and here he is singing my favorite Psalm 23:

Thank you for reading these 49 reflections on my 49th birthday! I hope they provide you with some encouragement and some food for thought today.

God bless!
Mike

p.s. The  purpose of this blog is to encourage you to live a more disciplined life by God's Grace. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails to alert you of new blog posts at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

 

Can your family adopt or foster a child in need of a home?

Friends, have you ever considered adopting or fostering a child? Please allow me to encourage you to consider doing so in this blog post. It is one of the most amazing things you can do in your lifetime! My wife and I have been blessed to adopt our two daughters from Ethiopia. I will share 10 resources below to help you to consider adoption or foster care. I'll start with this opportunity for you to join a Zoom adoption information session this Wednesday, February 10th at 6:00 PM Mountain Time (or the 2nd Wednesday of each month), which you can sign up for at www.ccaifamily.org/InfoMeeting/InfoMeeting

1. CCAI Adoption Services is a wonderful adoption agency that helped my wife and I with both of our adoptions by doing our home studies. We personally know both Josh and Lily, who run the agency, and we know several of their wonderful staff. CCAI is a great adoption agency for you to work with and they've facilitated over 13,000 adoptions to date. Learn more about how CCAI can support you on your adoption journey on their website at www.ccaifamily.org

2. Rainbow Kids is a wonderful website that helps special needs children all over the world get adopted with loving families like yours! As I type this, they have 3,604 children waiting to by adopted by families like yours, with 35 adoption agencies that will help facilitate. Please take some time to explore their website at www.rainbowkids.com

3. AdoptUSKids is a national project that supports child welfare systems and connects children in foster care with families like yours. Today there are more than 100,000 children and teens in foster care who are waiting for the love and security that a permanent home like yours provides. Learn more about foster care adoption at www.adoptuskids.org

4. If you live in Colorado, learn about how you can provide a temporary home for children in foster care at www.co4kids.org/foster-learnmore Also, Project 1.27 is a great resource for Christians and churches in Colorado to be trained to provide homes for kids in foster care at www.project127.org

5. Also if you live in Colorado, I have had many friends adopt children through Adoption Options and speak very highly of their services. This may be a great adoption agency partner for your family that you can learn more about at www.adoption-options.com (I believe they work with families outside of Colorado too.)

6. Adoption.com is a website that has many articles and links to local adoption agencies and resources in all 50 states that you can explore at www.adoption.com 

7. Other adoption agencies I've had friends have positive experiences with that you might want to explore include Lutheran Family Services, Hope's Promise, American World Adoption and Bethany Christian Services, to name a few.

8. Please know that there are so many adoptions agencies out there and many of them are great. However, frankly, not all of them are great. Some can be downright shady. You will definitely want to do your homework before signing up with an agency.  Do google searches. Join Facebook groups. Make sure your adoption agency partner is ethical. Read this article titled How to Be an Ethical Adoptive Parent at this link.

9. Also please know that adoption and foster care can sometimes be very challenging for a family for a variety of reasons. You'll want to make sure you family is an a stable situation to adopt or foster a child. You'll also want to go through all of the required adoption education classes with your eyes wide open to make sure you can handle potential challenges that could arise. The New York Times has a helpful article titled What to Know Before Adopting a Child at this link.

10. Adopted for Life by Russell Moore is a great book for Christian families considering adoption. I read it during my family's adoption journey, and it encouraged me greatly.

I hope this blog post encourages your family to consider adoption! I'll close with this verse that inspired Project 1.27 (mentioned in point #4 above): "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." -James 1:27 NIV

God bless!
Mike

p.s. The  purpose of this blog is to encourage you to live a more disciplined life by God's Grace. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails to alert you of new blog posts at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

GameStop + Robinhood + Bitcoin + Vanguard John Bogle's book

The U.S. stock market has been cuckoo for cocoa puffs this past year! Particularly this past week with Game Stop GME, Robinhood App and Wallstreetbets on Reddit dominating the news. If you are looking for a "signal in all the noise," I highly recommend you read The Little Book of Common Sense Investing by Vanguard founder John "Jack" Bogle. This book lays out such a simple investment strategy for all of us common people, which can help you "Guarantee Your Fair Share of Stock Market Returns," as the subtitle of the book reads. If you only read one investment book in your life, I strongly believe this is the one book to read. Below are my 9 takeaways from this wonderful book. (Please note that I am not giving you investment advice. I'm reviewing the book.)

1. "Don't try to find a needle in a haystack. Buy the haystack." Jack Bogle advocates that investors should simply invest in low cost index funds and not try to pick individual stocks nor invest in high cost mutual funds. He details in this book how challenging it is for even the smartest investment advisors and stock pickers to beat the S&P 500 market returns over a long period of tine. When you put your money with investment advisors who are promising to invest in the "needle in they haystack" you might pay fees of 1% or more that will eat into your investment returns. Instead, you can buy all-market or S&P 500 equity index funds with low .05% fees. He advocates for all-market equity and bond index funds to create an asset allocation strategy, which I'll discuss more below in point #7.

2."The Relentless Rules of Humble Arithmetic." Bogle makes a compelling case in this book about how low cost index funds returns for individual investors will beat out mutual funds and investment advisors stock picks over a long period of time. This book is a simple read for anyone, even in you don't currently understand equity markets. You'll quickly learn Bogle's points on how even "hot" investment advisors or mutual funds (or GameStop) will eventually cool off while the humble index fund keeps chugging along. Like the old tortoise and hare fable, the tortoise (index funds) will eventually win. Bogle shares in the book that the S&P 500 average annual return between 1926 - 2016 is 10.0%.

3. "Reversion to the Mean." Bogle does such a great job describing how the equity markets can have bubbles (maybe now) or big corrections (in 2020) and yet over time the markets return to their average, or the mean. The ups and downs will average out while the equity markets continue to go up over time because they are backed by companies with actual cash flows, earnings and dividends.  (unlike, say, Bitcoin or other commodities.)

4. "Cash is an opportunity cost." Bogle shares that cash or money market funds are good for savings, such as an emergency fund, but that cash is not a good investment strategy. Cash becomes an "opportunity cost" over time when you could have been investing in equity or bond index funds, which should at least beat out inflation.

5. "Invest now and invest often." Bogle stresses how important it is to start investing for your retirement as soon as you enter the workforce and to continue investing regularly until you retire. When I started in my career at Deloitte, a wiser older CPA told me to "invest 15% of your salary now and you won't miss it." It was such great advice that I followed for a while, but then stopped following over time. I am now again investing 15% of my salary in index funds for retirement. At the very least, make sure you are maximizing your company's match on your retirement savings, if your company offers a match. If 15% sounds like a lot of your salary to save for retirement, then what about 10%? Or 5%? And then perhaps start building up your percentage of savings over time, such as increasing your savings 1% a year.

6. "Set it and forget it." Bogle does such a great job explaining why investing in index funds can save you so much time, costs and even stress by simply "setting it and forgetting it." Sure, it is probably more exciting to invest in individual stocks like GameStop and use apps like Robinhood and maybe even dabble in some crypto currency like Bitcoin. However, over time the humble index fund investment strategy will statistically beat other strategies.  Bogle does allow for 5% of your investment portfolio to be what he calls "funny money," where you can invest it however you'd like. However, he says to track your returns over time in this funny money category compared to a core index fund investment strategy. Hint: the "boring" long-term index fund strategy will probably win.

7. "Asset allocation is key." At the end of the book Bogle does a nice job of explaining how a mix of an asset allocation of equity index funds and bond index funds can maximize your retirement savings while minimizing costs and risks. Bogle actually advocates that the percentage of your bond allocation should correlate to your age.  Meaning, at age 20 he says you should have 20% in bonds and 80% in equities/stocks, at age 50 you'll have 50% in bonds and 50% in stocks and at age 70 you'll have 70% in bonds and 30% in stocks. He confesses this is a conservative strategy. He does like target-dated retirement funds that adjust your asset allocation automatically, as along as they are in low-cost index funds.

8. "Stay the course." I've read this book twice in my life and it has benefited me greatly in saving for retirement. Though I will caution you that when I first read this book many years ago, the market dipped and I lost a decent percentage of my retirement savings. Well, thanks to the "reversion to the mean" I recovered those losses and over time have had gains that correlated with the overall market. Just FYI that following this book's investment advice could cause short-term losses. Bogle does a nice job in this book reminding us all to "stay the course" on his humble index fund investing strategy because equities will eventually "revert to the mean."

9. "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." Matthew 6:24. These words of Jesus are not in Bogle's book, but are words I think apply to this investment conversation to close out this blog post. Why should we care about investing for retirement? I believe it is so we don't become dependent on others and so that we can bless others. What I like about Bogle's simple "set it and forget it" index funds investment strategy is that I don't have to obsess daily about the stock markets ups and downs. I can spend my time, energy and attention on serving my family and my community now, rather than watching and stressing over the stock market. I want to serve God with my life and not serve money with my life.

There is so much more I could write about Bogle's book - I love it! I hope this blog post encourages you to read the book and then make decisions for yourself on how you might want to best save for retirement.  If you have other helpful resources related to investing, please do share them in the comments below.

God bless!
Mike

p.s. The  purpose of this blog is to encourage you to live a more disciplined life by God's Grace. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails to alert you of new blog posts at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod (book #1 in 2021)

What is your "one word" intention for 2021? Mine is: "MORNING." To get myself motivated to wake up earlier each day I just read The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod as book #1 on my quest to read 52 books in 2021. (and I plan to blog about them all!) Are you a morning person? Do you want to be a morning person? Read this blog post for some encouragement and then read The Miracle Morning. Below are 5 takeaways of mine from this terrific book.

1. Hal Elrod shares an inspirational story of turning tragedy into triumph in this book. It is truly a miracle how he turned his life around. And he shares how waking up early in the morning and having a morning ritual to start his day was pivotal for him transforming his life. Hal's love of the early morning hours reminded me of retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink, who wakes up at 4:30 AM daily. I won't be waking up that early! A consistent 6:00 AM wake up time is my goal for 2021.

2. Hal shares in the book 6 morning practices that he calls "The Life S.A.V.E.R.S." This acronym stands for: Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading and Scribing (writing). He describes each of these practices in detail and says that the ideal amount of time to spend on these 6 practices is 10 minutes each, for a total of 60 minutes every morning. He graciously gives options for doing each of these 6 practices for a shorter period of time as you build up your morning ritual stamina. He shares how you can do these 6 practices for just 1 minute each, or for 6 minutes total to get your day off to a great start.

3. Hal discusses in this book his belief that we don't need as much sleep as we think we do. He describes how setting an intention before you go to sleep to wake up energized will do the trick, even if you only get 4 hours of sleep.  This is one point that I disagree with in this otherwise great book. I'm a huge believer in the importance of sleep, particularly after reading the book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. My plan for 2021 is to not reduce the number of hours I sleep nightly so that I can wake up earlier, but rather to simply get to bed earlier. My daily goal is a 10:00 PM bedtime with a 6:00 AM wake up.

4. The Miracle Morning encouraged me to think through how I might enhance or add to my current morning rituals, which are below. I shared these morning rituals as a devotion at work last year along with some related Scripture verses.

• Prayer: I pray in the car on my way to work and throughout the day. I try to pray using the A.C.T.S. acronym:  Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication.
  “But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you.” Psalm 88:13
  “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
  
  
• Wisdom: I read/listen to the One Year Bible in the car on my way to work. My goal in 2021 is to read/listen to 4+ books a month using www.Audible.com, typically on the drive home or when working out.
  “Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7
  
  
• Worship: After prayer and the Bible, I often listen to worship music in the car on my way to work, such as Chris Tomlin, Phil Wickham, Casting Crowns, Matt Maher, or K-LOVE radio.
  "But I will sing of your strength; I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning." Psalm 59:16
  
  
• Health: My ideal morning is that I get my heart rate up with 15 to 30 minutes on the rower daily in my home gym. I plan out my meals daily. Ideally I get 8 hours of sleep nightly. I track my steps, heart rate and sleep with a smart watch.
  “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? Therefore, honor God with your bodies.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

5. Do you want to wake up earlier each morning?  The Miracle Morning will encourage you to do so! Do you have a morning ritual? If not, this book will definitely help you create one. I don't think you need to necessarily do all 6 of the Life S.A.V.E.R.S each morning that Hal describes, though he makes a compelling case for each one. Please do give yourself grace as you embark on an earlier wake up time - which I have to do for myself often! Changing habits takes time, but is well worth the effort. Check out James Clear's terrific book Atomic Habits for some great tips on how to build habits.

I hope this blog post encourages you to wake up earlier and to develop your morning rituals! Please do post up in the Comments section below if you have any advice or resources related to this topic.

God bless!
Mike

p.s. The  purpose of this blog is to encourage you to live a more disciplined life by God's Grace. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails to alert you of new blog posts at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

7 Tips for Losing Body Fat in 2021

Stop me if you've heard this one before: I lost 20 pounds and now I've gained it all back... Yep, that's me. Can I blame my weight gain on the pandemic? Perhaps, but that is simply an excuse. We're at the start of a new year, so I'm energized to start moving the needle back in the right direction! However, here is the needle I'm focusing on in 2021: Body Fat Percentage. Yes, tracking weight is useful, but I'm realizing tracking body fat percentage is even more useful. Do you know your current body fat percentage? Read on as I explain these 2 charts below from my FitBit app over the past 4 years and share 7 tips about why knowing your body fat percentage is so important.

1. The chart on the left is a graph of my weight from January 2017 through January 2021. I wrote a blog post with 10 tips on how I lost 20 pounds in 2017 at this link. I definitely need to "eat my own cooking" and re-read and re-implement the 10 solid tips I wrote about on that blog post to lose weight!

2. The chart on the right is my body fat graphed over the past 4 years. It is encouraging to see that my body fat dropped dramatically in 2017 and hasn't risen as much as my weight has gone up. Why? Because I've built up muscle mass over the past 4 years, which is a very good thing. I wrote a blog post on this topic titled 9 Tips for Elevating your Heart Rate! Rowing + Home Gym + Strength Training.

3. Body fat percentage is an important indicator of your overall health. A higher percentage of body fat puts you at risk of obesity-related diseases such as heart disease, a stroke, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Your body fat percentage is calculated as the percentage of your weight that is made up of fat. Over 30% body fat indicates obesity, so you really want to be under 30% body fat and ideally under 20%. Check out this link for detailed charts of body fat percentages for both women and men.

4. You can easily track your body fat daily with a digital scale. I have been tracking my body fat over the past 4 years using FitBit's Auria scale. It is so simple to use! You just step on it and it tracks your weight and body fat percentage to your FitBit App. You don't even need to own/wear a FitBit tracker to use this scale. A helpful list of several digital scale options is at this link. (Thanks to this link, I actually just bought the Body Cardio digital scale from Withings... I'll let you know if I like it better than the Auria! It looks like it tracks so many more useful metrics.)

5. Getting a good night's sleep actually helps you lose body fat. Does this sound strange to you? It's true! Check out this blog post I wrote about the importance of sleep and 2 fantastic books on this topic: Sleep Smarter and Why We Sleep.

6. Intermittent fasting is a useful practice my friends have used to decrease their body fat. I have to confess that I have not (yet?) done intermittent fasting, but my many of my friends have and they say it is transformative. A good overview of how intermittent fasting works is at this link. A buddy of mine recently lost a lot of body fat by using a system called Belly Proof, which might be helpful to you. If anyone reading this has tried intermittent fasting and has additional tips, please do share in the Comments section below.

7. Developing your character is more important than physical training. Why should we worry about our body fat percentage and try to stay healthy? Well, I believe so that we can love and serve others in our lives with as much energy and for as many years as possible. Yet, let us not forget from 1 Timothy 4:8 that developing a godly character is infinitely more important than simply being physically healthy: "For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come."

I hope the 7 tips above are encouraging for you as we embark on this new year! Perhaps you will join me on a journey to decrease body fat in 2021? I will report back on this blog in January 2022 about how 2021 goes for me.

God bless!
Mike

p.s. The  purpose of this blog is to encourage you to live a more disciplined life, by God's Grace. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails to alert you of new blog posts at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

Invitation to read the Bible daily in 2021. 3 blogs to choose from!

Friends, I invite you to join me in reading the Bible daily in 2021 with one of my three blogs! You can sign up for my free daily emails at www.OneYearBibleBlog.com, www.ChronologicalBibleBlog.com or www.OneYearNewTestament.com. Join me as I post links and audio to our daily Scripture readings, teachings, questions for reflection and a daily worship video. There are over 15,000 people in 78 countries on my email lists and 160,000 Facebook fans at www.facebook.com/OneYearBible. Please keep reading below as I share the story of how I started this online Bible Blog ministry 17 years ago.

Why am I so passionate about this One Year Bible format of reading the Bible in a year? Well, shortly after I became a Christian at the age of 28, I discovered the One Year Bible format of reading the Word daily and it has transformed my walk with God. I have read the Bible daily thanks to this plan since 2002. I humbly share with you that 2021 is the 19th year of reading the One Year Bible, and by God’s grace I believe that I will read the Bible each day in this format until I meet Jesus face to face.

17 years ago in 2004 I launched the One Year Bible Blog, 10 years ago in 2011 I launched the Chronological Bible Blog, and TODAY in 2021 I am launching the New Testament in a Year! In 2021 I'm excited to be leading a weekly Zoom Bible study at my church through the One Year Bible and also a weekly Zoom Bible study at my work through the New Testament in a Year. I also formally created Bible Blog LLC in 2020 to house all of these blogs and their activities.

Okay, so what are the next steps for YOU to read the Bible daily in 2021?

1. Subscribe to my Daily Emails: Decide if you want to read the One Year Bible, Chronological Bible or New Testament daily in 2021, and then sign up for daily emails at the corresponding blog.

2. Read online or offline: You can read along online at the blog websites, using the Bible Gateway links, or you can use your own Bible or pick up a One Year Bible or Chronological Bible on Amazon. You can also download a PDF of our full year of readings at these links: OYB, Chronological or NT.

3. Audio: One thing I want to highlight at my blog websites is that you will find links to listen to our daily readings, which is what I do on my commute to work or when working out on my rower. Tom Dooley’s readings of the One Year Bible are absolutely incredible! His voice and brief commentary are amazing. Tom Dooley went to be with the Lord in 2010, but his readings of the One Year Bible live on, and they are an absolute treasure.

4. Please email me with any questions at [email protected]. 

I do hope you will join me in reading the Bible daily in 2021! Sign up now for my free daily emails at www.OneYearBibleBlog.com, www.ChronologicalBibleBlog.com or www.OneYearNewTestament.com.  

God bless!
Mike

p.s. The  purpose of this blog is to encourage you to live a more disciplined life, by God's Grace. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails to alert you of new blog posts at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

9 Tips for Elevating your Heart Rate! Rowing + Home Gym + Strength Training

Quick! Can you tell me how many minutes a week you elevate your heart rate to a moderate or vigorous intensity aerobic level?  Me neither... But I'm on a new mission to track this figure. This blog post will encourage you to join me in elevating your heart rate regularly through aerobic activity. I'll share 9 tips that include what I've learned from my doctor (and Hugh Jackman!) and some of the exercises and equipment I use. Tip #5 will explain the magical power of working out on a rower, which is in the photo below of my basement home gym. Before we go further, let me share with you this encouraging news: your energy level throughout the day will go UP significantly IF you regularly elevate your heart rate by exercising.

1. Heart Disease is real: The older we get, the more important it is to elevate our heart rate throughout the week to keep our hearts healthy, which requires discipline. I'm sure you've heard this before, but take moment to really let this sink in: Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, causing about 1 in 4 deaths. Elevating your heart rate improves your metabolic health, which in turn also helps you drop excess weight and stay lean. Our hearts need to be exercised!

2. Consult your Doctor: One important note before we go further: please consult your doctor before embarking on an exercise regime that will elevate your heart rate throughout the week. Elevating your heart rate regularly should be a gradual building up process over time. If you overdo it too quickly, you can cause a heart attack.

3. Aerobic exercise is key: When I had elevated cholesterol a few years ago, my doctor shared with me this terrific advice from The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: "For substantial health benefits, adults should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination... Preferably, aerobic activity should be spread throughout the week." Thanks in part to this advice, I was able to reduce my cholesterol and drop 20 lbs of weight through a mix of eating health and exercise, which you can read about at this link.

4. Build out a home gym: I believe the best way to get regular aerobic exercise is to be able to do it in your own house! Truly. You reduce the "friction" of working out when you don't have to drive to a gym. Ideally you roll out of bed in the morning and get your workout in before the day begins. Calculate how much per month you spend in gym memberships per year. Then, instead of spending that amount at a gym, invest it in a home gym equipment. Ideally start with some cardio equipment - a rower, treadmill, bike, elliptical - and then start building up your strength training equipment. Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink inspired me to build out a home gym, and I wrote about Jocko at this link. #getafterit

5. Rowers are magic!  Okay, if you can only invest in one piece of home equipment, I would start with a rower. It is one of the best all-body cardio workouts you can do! I honestly never used a rower until about a month ago and I'm hooked. Don't laugh, but I listened to a podcast interview of Hugh Jackman where Tim Ferris asked Hugh if he was on a desert island and could only have one piece of gym equipment, what would it be? Hugh responded quickly: "a rower." He went on to say that it is a hard workout that most people avoid, but a great workout if you want to get lean. (and I want to get lean!)  Hugh recommended rowing hard for only 10 minutes a day, 4 days a week. Well, I got so motivated by this podcast, that I bought this rower on Amazon for $260 right away. I have since been rowing 15 to 30 minutes a day, about 4 days a week. It has been incredible! Rowing elevates my heart rate much more quickly and sustainably than other aerobic activity. While I really do like the rower I bought on Amazon, ultimately I'm sure I'll invest in a Concept 2 rowing machine in the future. (Make sure you watch some rowing technique videos before you start rowing for the first time.)

6. Apple/Smart Watch: You'll see in my photo above that my Apple Watch tracks my heart rate throughout a workout, which is super helpful. I highly recommend investing in some sort of smart watch that will help you track your heart rate during workouts. One reason I really like the Apple Watch is because of it's ability to alert you to irregular heart patterns 24 x 7.

7. Strength training is important: Okay, with all of this talk above about the importance of aerobic exercise, don't forget that strength training is so important for our health too as we get older. Per the American Cancer Society, 5 benefits of two or three strength training sessions weekly are: increased muscle mass, strong bones, joint flexibility, weight control and balance. You can actually do a lot of strength training with just your body weight, such as push-ups, sit ups, and burpees. And you can invest in some home gym equipment. So far I've invested $200 in a tower for pull ups, dips, and crunches, $200 in a weight bench, and a few hundred more buying an Olympic bar and weight plates on eBay. During this pandemic eBay is one of the few places to find some sports equipment, but watch out for price gouging.

8. Audio when working out: I realize that not everyone can do this, but I have found that I can generally multi-task when working out. What I mean by this is that I can listen to an audio book or podcast when working out, so that I can learn while I sweat! :) Currently I listen to the One Year Bible's daily readings when rowing, followed by an audio book and then occasionally music when I simply need motivation. I listen to audio via my iPhone and these cheap but effective $20 bluetooth wireless headphones. (AirPods don't work for me - they fall out of my ears when working out.)

9. Closing Scripture Verse: In my life I have found that I cannot self discipline myself to workout regularly. I need God's Grace. I need the Grace of Discipline. I'll close this blog post out with this Scripture verse for you to meditate upon:  "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NIV

I hope this blog post inspires you to get moving regularly to benefit your heart health! What tips or advice have I missed? Please share in the comments below!

Blessings!
Mike

p.s. The  purpose of this blog is to encourage you to live a more disciplined life, by God's Grace. I'd be honored if you'd subscribe to my blog's emails to alert you of new blog posts at: www.mikepritchard.com/subscribe.html

Parents: Gospel of John + Superbook + Torchlighters + Spirit of Goodwill Band

Parents, it can be tough to find great video content for our kids to watch. I want to share 4 resources my wife and I have found to be terrific for our 10 and 12-year old daughters, all of which are available for free on Amazon Prime Video. I would like to hear about resources you have found helpful for your kids, if you would share in the comments below?

1. The Gospel of John is a terrific 3-hour movie that is a word-for-word reenactment of the entire Gospel. It is incredibly well acted with great scenery! It is available to watch for free on Amazon Prime Video at this link.  If you are reading this and you don't have kids, I still encourage you to watch this film! I was blessed to see this movie when it was first released in theaters back in 2003. One of my new goals in life is to watch this powerful film once a year.

2. Superbook has been a fun resource for our daughters to learn many of the classic Bible stories.  They are 26-minute animated episodes told from the perspective of two kids, Chris and Joy, and their Robot buddy named Gizmo. Chris and Joy come across an ancient Bible in their grandfather's attic that transports them into the Bible stories. Superbook seasons 1 and 2 are available for free on Amazon Prime Video at this link. Or you can download the Superbook app on your iPad or smartphone to view episodes and play some related games. Lastly, they have an interactive website and can also mail you DVDs at this link.

3. The Torchlighters: Heroes of the Faith is a wonderful series of 30-minute animated episodes featuring heroes of the Christian faith, such as St. Patrick, Harriett Tubman, Corrie Ten Bloom, Augustine, Martin Luther and many others.  Again, you can watch season 1 of the Torchlighters for free on Amazon Prime Video at this link. Or you can watch more episodes and related content on The Torchlighters website at this link.

4. For One in My Life is a wonderful documentary about The Spirit of Goodwill band in Miami, Florida, that my wife and I watched with our daughters last weekend. They loved it! It is a 90-minute film about a band comprised of individuals with various mental and physical disabilities who all work at Goodwill in Miami. You can watch the documentary for free on Amazon Prime Video at this link. I was blessed to introduce this film at The Boulder Film Festival in 2011, where it won the Call 2 Action award. Also, I was incredibly blessed to see The Spirit of Goodwill band perform live at a Goodwill conference in Miami in 2012. They were absolutely incredible, as you'll see when you watch this film. Below is the trailer for this fantastic film:

https://youtu.be/8aFExf4O6cM

 

Parents, I hope you find these resources to be helpful! If you would, please do share your favorite video resources for your kids in the comments section below? I would love to learn about additional great resources. Thanks!

Blessings!
Mike

Parents: The Porn-Free Family Plan + OpenDNS Family Shield. Please read. 6 tips.

Parents, okay, let's talk pornography and your kids. Not a fun subject I realize. But an important one. Your kids will be exposed to pornography at some point in their young lives. Are you up for the challenge of delaying that exposure?  Me too.  Please keep reading.

Pornography will seek your kids out, even if they never go looking for it. Pop-ups, ads, and redirected URLs will expose them to pornography at some point. Smart phones, iPads, laptops and now even the challenge of stay-at-home orders with more time spent on the internet increase the odds of our kids being exposed to pornography. Is there anything we can do about it?  Fortunately, yes.  But it will require a bit of work on your part. I trust you are up for this important work? Below are 5 tips to help you out.

1. If you do nothing else, set up OpenDNS Family Shield on your family's home internet router right now. It is free and it is pre-configured to block the majority of pornography websites on the internet. I've embedded 2 YouTube videos in this post in point #6 below that will walk you through this process. Configuring your router is the only slightly complex task and you might need to buy a new router that will allow you to update your DNS settings. Watch the videos below and then go to this website link to get started: www.opendns.com/home-internet-security

2. I highly encourage you to watch the first 39 minutes of this video embedded below which details an incredibly helpful "The Porn-Free Family Plan." It is a plan developed by Tim Challies. He gave this talk at a church in Colorado in February of 2020. Tim does such a great job of first explaining the dangers of internet pornography for our kids. Then he gives parents super practical tips on how you can protect your family.  It was this video that taught me about OpenDNS, Covenant Eyes and the Circle Parental Controls device - points #3 and #4 below. In addition to watching this video below, I highly encourage you to read Tim's blog post about The Porn-Free Family Plan at this link: www.challies.com/articles/the-porn-free-family-plan/

www.vimeo.com/394063153

3. In addition to OpenDNS, in the video above Tim refers to Covenant Eyes as a helpful website that you can learn more about at this link:  www.covenanteyes.com

4. Tim also references the Circle Parental Controls device in the video above, which you can learn more about at this link:  www.meetcircle.com

5. Parents I know have recommended the books  for kids Good Pictures Bad Pictures Jr and Good Pictures Bad Pictures: Porn Proofing Today's Young Kids.

6. Below are two helpful videos about how to set up OpenDNS Family Shield on your home internet router:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzylyyCbdrk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvI_10WGBTE

(Note that the home internet router I leased from my internet service provider would not allow me to change DNS settings, so I could not utilize OpenDNS Family Shield. I ended up purchasing this router which allows for DNS setting changes: www.asus.com/us/Networking/CM-32-AC2600)

Parents, what other tips would you share to protect your kids online?  Please share in the comments below, thanks!

Blessings!
Mike

10 Self-Care Tips during a Stay-At-Home Order

Friends, these are unprecedented times. These are also stressful times, which can cause us all to neglect our physical, mental and spiritual health. You must not let these deteriorate.  It is important for your immunity system that you stay physically, mentally and spiritually healthy. Your health is your wealth. You may have recently lost some money in your retirement funds. Don't lose your health.

Important note: This blog post does not apply to you if you have the coronavirus. You must listen to your doctors and not me. (Though, a few of the tips below around staying mentally or spiritually healthy might still be helpful to you.)

Below are 10 tips to stay physically, mentally and spiritually healthy during a stay-at-home order:

1. Eat Healthy: It is hard to eat healthy in a time of stress and also when it is literally hard to find food at grocery stores. (Interestingly, I have noticed produce sections are generally not depleted when going to grocery stores recently...  Tip: buy produce.) We all can have the tendency to eat comfort foods when stressed. Make a commitment to yourself to eat healthy and then take it day by day. Plan out your meals and snacks. Give yourself grace when you eat unhealthy. Just get back on track. Check out a blog post I wrote with a lot of healthy eating tips at this link.

2. Exercise: I realize this one is tough when you are being ordered to stay home. But it is not impossible. You must find away to stay active. Many of us can still go outside for walks or runs, while keeping socially distant from others. Or, if you have a treadmill at home you can use, use it. I encourage you to set a goal of getting 10,000 steps a day. This is good for you physically and mentally. Exercise helps you reduce stress. Additionally, I encourage you to do some sort of strength training at least 3 times a week. You can do many body weight exercises at home. Check out this link for a great list of body weight exercises. Also, YouTube and other websites have a plethora of exercises you can do in the comfort of your own home. Get after it! My daily goal is to run or walk 3 miles a day and do at least 100 push-ups a day. I just read a great article about how 79-year old Dr. Anthony Fauci runs 3.5 miles a day while working 19-hour days to combat the coronavirus, which you can read at this link.

3. Sleep: Sleep is so important for your immunity! Aim to get 7 to 8 hours of solid sleep a night. Also, aim to get at least 90 minutes of deep sleep and 90 minutes of REM sleep.  The only way to really know this data is by using a smart watch when you sleep. Check out this blog post I wrote with a lot of great sleep tips at this link.

4. Reduce Stress: It is understandable that we are all probably worrying a lot during this time of coronavirus. Some level of worry is good in that it can drive us to take precautions, such as practice social distancing. The problem is when we over-worry about things we don't have control over. Worry moves into stress and then we're tense and can't relax. Worse, we can't sleep, and our health and immunity starts to deteriorate.  So, we need to reduce worry and stress. I recommend you significantly reduce the amount of news you are consuming. Stay up with the latest important news in your community, but don't obsess and read every single article about coronavirus. Also, you may want to reduce your social media usage if it creates stress for you. Lastly, figure out things you can do to reduce stress.  Pray, meditate, connect with family and friends, and exercise.

5. Connect: During this time of extreme social distancing, we need to find ways to connect with family and friends. I encourage you to daily email, call, text message, FaceTime and even Zoom video-conference with your friends! Don't let your self get isolated and discouraged. Others that you reach out to will be wanting to connect too! While I cautioned above that social media might cause stress, it also can be a positive way to connect with others. Just make sure you're using social media for connection and not news/media consumption that might stress you out. I really do love Zoom and they have a free plan for up to 100 participants and a 40 minute video-conference, which you can learn about at this link.

6. Give: Now is the time to keep giving to others. Give to your family. Give to your friends. Give to your community. Today, be the encouragement that someone didn't see coming. If you can find ways to volunteer with nonprofits, do that. If you can give financially, now is a great time to support your favorite nonprofits. For those of you in Colorado, you can give both your time and finances at this website link. Also, if you are in Colorado, I invite you to join me in supporting Volunteers of America with your time, treasure and talents at this link. (thank you!)

7. Grow Spiritually: This season can be a season of reflection, if you will let it. Revisit your spiritual traditions. Pray. Or meditate and pursue a mindfulness practice. I personally find peace and strength in the habit of reading the Bible daily, following the one year plan at this link.

8. Read: Now is the time to read the books stacking up on your night shelf. Grow your mind and grow your skills. If you are looking for a good book to read, Atomic Habits by James Clear is a great one!

9. Work: This is a complex point. I realize that some of you reading this might have recently lost a job due to the coronavirus.I encourage you to not give up on work, even if you may not be getting a paycheck currently. Work at finding your next job.  Work at growing your skills. Work on projects at home. For those of you still working at a formal job, and perhaps working remotely, continue to work hard for your employer. Don't slack off. Don't pick up bad habits that will be hard to break later. Lastly, some of you may be suddenly working to help educate your children as they are learning remotely. Teaching your children will be a unique new job for you to take on day by day.

10. Remain Hopeful: Don't lose hope. The coronavirus will impact us all in different ways. By now you very likely know someone who has the virus. You may even know someone who has died from it. Despair would be understandable. Somehow, someway, pursue hope.  If you find yourself in despair, reach out to someone. Get counseling. Here's a quote I found helpful recently: “Today, the coronavirus has thrown us all in the mud. We are cold, wet and miserable, and the dawn seems a long way off. But while we should not be cavalier about the dangers of this pandemic, neither should we feel hopeless and paralyzed with fear. Hope abounds.” -Ret. Admiral William H. McRaven, Navy SEAL, from an article at this link.  Men, if you are feeling down, one great resource to explore is a website called Man Therapy, which I encourage men to spend some time on now at this link. Men and women, if you ever feel like you're even starting to think about suicide, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 and visit their website at this link. 

I hope these 10 tips have been helpful to you.  What else would you add to this list? Please share in the comments below.

Blessings!
Mike