Groundhog Day is Saturday! 
  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLT1FdjbaWw 

Anger is an emotion.  Anger is not a sin and is not something we can eliminate from our lives.  Anger, like any emotion that we may experience, should be properly controlled and managed so that those emotions and feelings do not result in improper behavior and actions.  Being angry for a long period of time will not only eat at our own character and attitude, but it pours out into our behavior.  Unfortunately, justifying our anger is a natural human response.  It is very easy to find a reason that our anger is "right".  Sure, there are times when we are angry and soon after we quickly identify that we were impatient or "hangry" and then feel bad about that anger.  Unfortunately, more time's than not, we find a reason that our anger is the right way to react to something or someone.   And then, that anger leads to incorrect behavior and actions.  Identifying our anger and then taking time and putting in effort to understand why we are angry will help us to then address the anger and not allow it to lead to improper actions.

Humans give up too soon and get frustrated much too quickly than what is reasonable or mathematically realistic.  Malcolm Gladwell, in his book "Outliers", introduces the concept of "10,000 hours".  The idea is that to become an expert or achieve mastery of a skill, it takes about 10,000 hours.  That is a lot of hours.  2 hours of practice a day, 6 days a week.  12 hours.  16 weeks in a typical season.  192 hours.  That equates to 52 seasons to get to 10,000 hours.   That won't work unless you plan on getting a third major.  How about ... 2 hours of practice a day, 6 days a week for 50 weeks a year.  600 hours a year.  17 years.  That is a lot better ... assuming we work hard during the summer, off season and only take a day off each week.  17 years is a lot more than one week or one season or one career for most people and unfortunately, most people get frustrated for their lack of progress or their failure to reach goals in too short of a period of time.  Some people get frustrated in one practice and want to quit (maybe not the sport but they quit trying to improve on a particular skill).  But that 17 years is a lot shorter when we put in more time each day through workouts, visualization, eating right, getting sleep, watching videos about our events, mental rehearsal and mental preparation.  That 17 years is a lot shorter when we focus on progression and improvement and not merely the end goal and results.  ”The thing that distinguishes one performer from another is how hard he or she works. That’s it. And what’s more, the people at the very top don’t work just harder or even much harder than everyone else. They work much, much harder.”  Malcolm Gladwell.    And today, that "harder" equates to "longer". 

​Average is ... average.  Average isn't bad unless your goal in life is to be more than average.  Average is most people.  Average is normal  Most people are average because most people behave the same way and do the same things.  Being overweight is normal in the United States because most people lack the discipline and motivation to watch what they eat and exercise more.  If you want to be better than average then you need to do the things that others are not willing to do.  You need to do more when others are fine with less.  You need to do different when everyone else is doing the same.  In order to become above average or exceptional, you need to do what others won’t do to succeed.  Enjoy pain, crave hard workouts, seek out tough competition, welcome correction, get uncomfortable, be intentional about building your own self-confidence, and make more sacrifices.   Be abnormal!

Most people value a day off.  It is usually a day off from school or work or some other daily activity that requires time and effort.  A day off provides the opportunity to either rest or get caught up.  Successful people understand the need for both.  If you have been working hard and burning the candle at both ends in order to be successful, and rest has been put on hold, then a day of rest has been earned and should be utilized.  Rest and recovery is essential for any improvement.  However, if we have found ourselves less productive, in a season of procrastination or have had some other form of either voluntary or involuntary rest, then using the time to catch up on things that have fallen behind or even use the time to get ahead is wise.  Days off are a break and there needs to be some intentional thought put into their use so that they are most beneficial to future goals.

In legal terms, there are two ways to be wrong.  Omission and Commission.  We are most familiar with commission, as in "committing a crime".  Commission refers to "doing something you aren't supposed to do".  If we steal something from someone, that commission.  We did something wrong by doing something we shouldn't.  Omission refers to "not doing something we should have".  Neglect is an example of omission.  We failed to take care of something or someone.  We usually recognize when we do something wrong when we do something we shouldn't.  We often are oblivious to doing something wrong when we fail to do something we should have done.  As an athlete, we are wrong when we do something that we shouldn't have done.  However, we are also wrong when we don't do what we should be doing.  As we continue to work toward our goals, we need to make sure that we are not only avoiding things that we shouldn't be doing but insuring that we do all of the things we should be doing.  

More is not always better.  More is better when more is required.  More effort.  More time.  More focus.  But sometime different is better than more.  Risking to do something differently will often get more out of us.  Move differently.  Recover differently.  Study differently.  Pray differently.  Work differently.  Communicate differently.  Stretch differently.  Ice differently.  Practice differently.  Think differently. 

​Two beneficial tools to have in your toolbox - being intentional and being proactive.  Waiting around for success to happen will only result in a lot of waiting.  Furthermore, only reacting to life as it happens will either keep you treading water or cause you to sink.  If you want to move forward in life, be intentional and be proactive.  Do something.  Anything.  Even if you fail at it.  At least you are trying and you are learning something and eliminating bad options.  And if you can't move forward right now in a certain area, then instead of trying harder, try different.  Like the paralytic at the well (John 5:1-15), don't expect someone to throw you into the water ... if you want to be healed, pick up your mat and walk. 

When we find ourselves in a slump, we need to be counter-intuitive.  The natural inclination is to work harder to get out of the slump.  We feel that we need to do more to figure out why we are not improving or why we may be going backwards.  The solution to any slump is to focus less on ourselves and more on others.  When we direct our attention to others and have a goal of making others better, we take our attention off of ourselves and allow natural growth to ultimately ensues.  Make someone better today and the result will be that you will be become better too. 

​If someone comes to you and says "I am stressed out!", you wouldn't respond by saying "Congratulations.  That's great news.  I am so happy for you".​  Our society views "stress" as a negative and something to be avoided.  Stress is defined as "a demand placed on something".  Stress is a neutral term and is often positive.  In order to get stronger, we stress our muscles in the weight room.  In order to gain endurance, we stress our cardiovascular system.  In order to gain knowledge, we read and listen to lectures and take notes to stress our minds.  Stress, in the proper amounts is what helps us to grow.  Stress only becomes distress (defined as "a demand that causes harm") when we don't respond properly to the stress and allow it to be "too much".  Too much exercise with not enough rest can cause harm (even as "stress fracture").  Too much demand on our mind or emotions, without coping with those "stressors", can cause harm.  Instead of getting "stressed out", we need to "get the stress out" by addressing the demands that life places on us by coping with the demands and not ignoring them.  First we need to identify the stressor and then we need to determine the harm that it is causing us and then we need to make a plan to deal with the stressor.

A plan with only one option, is not a plan.  Plans must be flexible and they must have several options or alternatives for them to be effective.  Life is messy.  Life is unpredictable.  It is not "if" something difficult or unexpected will happen but "when" will it happen.  A good plan requires several contingencies and alternatives.  When we plan our day, we need to have a good plan but a good plan must include the ability to adjust or respond to obstacles thrown in our way.  We should have a Plan A, but also a Plan B, C and D waiting in the wings when A doesn't work.