How do you #LiveALittle? | Blog Series | Featured Member: Robert in Topeka, KS

Robert in Topeka, KS

When did you start to #LiveALittle?My journey started on January 15, 2014. I hit the "restart button" as my New Years Resolution. I had begun to eat right and exercise.
Dieting and exercise is not new to me. I have rode that diet roller-coaster many times. I always started out great but I would lose motivation and drive shortly after I started. 6 months ago I came across the #Livealittle project. With this group I found my niche. I learned how to set goals, maintain motivation, and changed my perspective. I have made many new friends that are very positive and supportive.  

What do consider your main accomplishments?
My main accomplishment isn't the weight I have lost or the 5K's and Half marathon I have finished. My main accomplishment is the change in my way of thinking. I learned that I have to #Livealittle for "me" first. I can't change anyone and they can't change me. I have to love myself enough to change. I learned that I am worth something. I am not a fat, ugly and worthless person. I have something to offer. Each and every day I am surprised by the people that tell me I am helping inspire them #Livealittle. People that I had no idea were even paying attention tell me how they have been following my journey.

What does everyone around you notice as 'different'?
The one thing I hear the most is that people have noticed my unrelenting drive and determination. My never quit attitude. Every time I get knocked down I get up again. 

What qualities do you look for in the people you hang out with and allow into your inner circle?
I look for people with positive attitudes. People that genuinely care about others and want to help. People willing to love others and not care what others think. People willing to take time and invest in others to help build them up. You never really know how much of a difference you are making in others lives. 

How would you describe your personal #LiveALittle lifestyle change?
My personal lifestyle change has been to not be afraid. To take the chances and see what happens. To not settle for the status quo.

If you wanted to create an environment where motivation can thrive, what’s the first thing you would do?
I would surround myself with positive self motivated people. A core group that is there to keep each other accountable. People that are going to encourage and motivate you. People who help pick you up when you are down and celebrate you success with you! With a great core of support you can move mountains.

How do you show that you believe in yourself?
I show show that I believe in myself by not settling. My goal this year was to do one 5K. It was outside of my comfort zone but I overcame my fear and did my best. I learned an important lesson that day. I learned that the only thing holding me back was myself. I keep looking for new challenges and strive to better my 5K times. I am never satisfied. I want more. Since my first 5K I have ran six more and I have constantly improved my time and have cut 20 minutes off my time. I have also completed my first half marathon. That is something I would have never dreamed of at the first of the year. Now I am already setting goals to prepare for a full marathon.

Who, Whom, and/or What has influenced you the most?
I have several people that have influenced me but my parents, Joey Little and the #Livealittle project have made the biggest impact. My late dad always told me, "Unless your reach exceeds your grasp, how do you know what you can attain and don't!" My mom has always been my rock. That unwavering love and support for me to never give up. Joey has shown me to change my perspective and never settle. To take chances and look beyond my comfort zone. To love and support others in their journey's. The #Livealittle project has introduced me to several wonderful people that are committed to the #Livealittle philosophy and to help others #livealittle. I love seeing everyone's posted whether it is about a success or failure, a need or encouragement.  

What do you do to challenge yourself when you're not motivated?
I work hard at being consistent. I have formed new habits by sticking with my routine everyday. it has become second nature to me and now I feel lost if I don't exercise.  

When is breaking the #LiveALittle rules okay?
For me, breaking the rules is not okay but you shouldn't beat yourself up if you do. There is no shame in hitting the restart button.

What does 'working on’ yourself mean to you?
This means always striving to do better and be better. To not settle in all aspects of your life. Not just health but in your relationships, career and anywhere else you can think of to #Livealittle.

How and where do you find inspiration?
I keep positive people around me. I have a 12 year old daughter and I want to be healthy for her and to be a good example for her.

Whats the best way to keep your eye on future results or maintaining?
Setting goals. I set short term goals and long term goals. I write them down and post them in several places as a reminder. I have done the same with the #Livealittle rules.

What values are you committed to?
I am committed to being positive and honest. To love myself and others. To show others the love I have and hopefully inspire them to love others.

What dreams and goals inspired you to succeed?
My dreams and goals are constantly changing. My initial goal was to do everything possible to be a good example for my daughter, in health and in life. As my health gets better my dreams get bigger. I have a dream of completing the Boston Marathon, the NY Marathon and an Ironman.

Warning: Accountability is not included.

Not only does someone need goals to succeed but they also need promises. Self promises. It is incredibly hard to make self promises when you don't have very much self love, worth, or esteem. You can't trust yourself. You've already spent years of breaking promises to the one person you are supposed to love completely unconditionally, yourself. That was my dilemma. With this new #LiveALittle lifestyle I needed to make some self promises but I needed to get down to the nitty gritty of what they should be.

My first promise needed to reflect why I was even making an attempt at a new #LiveALittle life. I wanted to get out and be more active. Seeing the world was becoming more of a priority to me and my new job was giving me the opportunity to get out more.  A flight to Las Vegas via Southwest Airlines put a huge scar on my self esteem at the beginning of my journey.
Got to the airport early, grabbed a coffee at the Starbucks, read some articles on my iPad waiting for my flight at the gate, got A list seating, boarded the plane, took out my laptop, sat down, buckled my seatbe........ Try again, buckled my seatb.......... Damn, suck it in fatty. Buckled my seatbel............Holy shit. I'm too fat for the seatbelt. This was one of the biggest eyeopening experiences of my life. It was all making sense, how could I travel and experience new things if I couldn't fit in normal airplane seats? I also had recent memories of how I couldn't ride the roller coasters at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City because the safety bar wouldn't latch due to me being too big. This was serious.
Promise #1: Live a healthier and more active lifestyle. 

Sitting for long periods of time in front of the television watching entire seasons of shows like Sons of Anarchy, Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and Mad Men used to fill my weekends. I didn't know anyone in Kansas City and I didn't have any intentions to meet anyone so getting out and about was detoured again by bullshit. If I wasn't too fat to do it, I was too lazy. Notorious for always mumbling to myself, on the long lazy ass weekend of extreme Netflix watching, "Damn, I'm so bored". How in hell could I be bored?! I lived in amazing city with hundreds of things to do. I had no right complaining that I was bored. Choosing to stay at home and not venture out was my own doing. Laziness was my problem and a fear of change or trying something different. A change my pattern is what I needed, and to live outside my current comfort zone. Focus on starting local, and go from there. Needed to look for activities happening in my community like Waldo Days, Irishfest, Union Station, or just garage sale driving, and venture more out from there. With this new way of thinking I would hardly be at home. Always be moving.
Promise #2: Never complain about being bored.



Not only would I complain about being bored sometimes I just wouldn't want to move. Just lay in bed. Making excuses why I couldn't meet new friends for happy hour or go on a 12 mile bike ride through Lenexa & Overland Park. Lying to myself was something that came very easy. It's something I still struggle with daily. Constantly want to lie to myself and make up excuses to not live a little bit more. To just give up and lie. This is possibly the toughest of all of the promises. Still struggle with it but I've come so far.
Promise #3: Stop making excuses & lying to yourself

The fourth promise I needed to make to myself, in order to live a better and more productive life, seems like it would be a tough one but it's really not. I compare it to removing a bandaid. What's the least painful way to remove a bandaid? You guessed it, just rip it off. I needed to get the negative out of my life. Negative people, vices, habits, thinking, everything. I've got to be really careful here because some of you reading this might take it personally and I think I'm talking about you when I mention getting the negative people out of my life. If you are taking it personally and think I'm talking about you you're absolutely right. Only negative people would think that way. If you haven't heard from me in awhile then at least you know now why. So at least it's a win/win? Getting rid of negativity was like I was having a fire sale. Everything negative must go! Smoking cigarettes, GONE! Shitty unloving girlfriend always complaining and talking mad smack on all her friends, GONE! Getting liquored up weekly, GONE! I still enjoy a drink now and again but seriously, if you're over 35 and enjoy getting schammered daily or weekly you might want to reconsider your choices. But hey, its your life, this is just a promise I needed to make to myself.
Promise #4: Cut out all negativity

So far my promises seemed very doable. I needed to stick to them. Figuring out how to keep myself accountable was the tough part. Talk the talk, no problem. Walk the walk, "Houston we have a problem." Accountability. I figured the best way to create accountability is to tell the masses what you are going to do and the promises you are going to make. I knew the perfect place to announce my promises and ask for assistance in keeping them. In fact, asking others to examine the same promises and maybe make them for themselves might even increase that accountability. People relying on others in a full accountability circle, what a great concept. The #LiveALittle Project members were perfect for this and the promises I was making to myself fit right in with other struggles people face with trying to live a #LiveALittle life. So not only would the word of the promises spread but the word of The #LiveALittle Project would spread with it.
Promise #5: Spread the word about the #LiveALittle lifestyle and encourage others to make the same 5 promises

http://TheLiveALittleProject.com

The #LiveALittle Mission Statement | Living for those who cannot

I've been thinking a lot lately. I love the #LiveALittle Project but want to see it go to the next level. What that level is I don't know. I've been advised to write a business plan & mission, vision, values statement for the project. Making The #LiveALittle Project a registered nonprofit would require those anyway. I've been stuck on the Mission statement. What exactly is the mission of The #LiveALittle Project? There’s a few of the things I have said in the last year that The #LiveALittle Project stood for but this has been the main statement:
“Encourage people to live a little bit more every single day.”
What exactly does that mean? We are all different when it comes to living a little bit more every day. Fitness, health, losing weight, more activity, have been the issues that most of the members of the project have focused on but there are so many more issues project members getting detoured with to further their “live a little” life. Dead end jobs, terrible relationships, estranged family, substance abuse problems, and the big three: lack of self-esteem, self worth, and self-love.
Then it hit me.

In high school I met a very beautiful, funny, caring, protective, loving amazing girl named Michelle. I fell in love with Michelle within minutes of meeting her. We spent hours upon hours together. She was a true friend. We weren’t romantically involved; we loved each other in the purest form, complete respect. Over time our lives drifted apart but we stayed in touch because of modern social media sites like MySpace and Facebook. The last time I saw Michelle was when I went to visit her in

Phoenix nearly 4 years ago. She was still beautiful after all those years. Now a wife and a mom our lives had changed very much but that visit we were swept back to 1992 and giggled like high school teenagers gossiping about everyone we went to school with. About 2 years ago I received an email from Michelle telling me that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer but for me not to worry because she was going to fight it and she was going to beat it.

Six months later my beautiful Michelle died.

A lot of you may have some kind of similar story about someone you love or know being diagnosed with a terminal disease. Have you noticed the amazing thing they do after they are diagnosed? They change. They wake up from the haze that all of us seem to be in. Suddenly trees look different and are more noticeable. Smells smell different and amazing. Wind isn’t just wind, it tickles and fills your spirit. Self-love starts to prevail, self-esteem become clearer, and self worth becomes one of the most important things right next to the love of others. The definition of life for someone with a terminal disease takes on a whole new meaning and I believe that meaning is what we all are striving for. Why must we wait until we are told that our death is very near before we truly start to live a little? Why can’t we do it now? We are all dying but we ignore that. What’s the first thing most smokers diagnosed with lung cancer do when their doctors tell them that their disease is fatal? They stop smoking, because they truly find that self-love to continue to do whatever necessary to possibly continue their life even if it is a tiny chance. It took me 20 years to quit smoking. Even when I learned of Michelle’s disease, and even her death, one would think I would have stopped but I didn’t.
This is where I believe the mission statement of The #LiveALittle Project needs to come from. It’s not solely about fitness, eating right, loving your work, and trying new things, loving new people and those already in our lives. It is about LIVING.

The #LiveALittle Project’s Mission Statement:
“To encourage others to live life as though they would not see next year”

From this moment on I dedicate my #LiveALittle life to my beautiful Michelle and her spirit, and I live my #LiveALittle life for myself and those who love me.