Start Strong, Be Great, End Awesome

You Never Have to Recover from a Good Start

There is a little sponge following you around, doing everything you do, repeating everything you say, and remembering all of it! Now is time to buckle down and be impressive. Ensure you are doing everything possible to be the sort of Dad that your child is proud to have. Wouldn’t it be awesome for your child to brag about how their Dad is strong, works on cool stuff, and makes time to take them on killer adventures? Hell yeah is the correct response.

“Get up against something sturdy and protect yourself” – The Rock

A Workout-a-Day Keeps the Dad-Bod Away

You must workout. That statement alone should be enough to “motivate” a Dad to get their asses moving. There is no way around it, you cannot avoid it. Start small and keep getting better, this goes for everything you do, especially anything physical that you aren’t used to doing. Workout for your child, for your body, for your longevity, and for your future. A strong future you will be much happier than a weak one. “Get up against something sturdy and protect yourself” (The Rock – San Andreas), you are the first leader your children know so be the sturdy place for them to learn how to protect themselves.

How to Do It

• Make it a priority because it is.
• Start small with simple workouts only.
• Keep the workouts short (30 minutes to start)
• Remember you do NOT have to do what you see on tv, social media, or in magazines. You just need to do something consistently.
• Remember why you are doing it. You better not look back one day when you’re older and say “Damn I wish I would have taken better care of myself”. Family is the reason and that’s all you need.

Be Adventurous

Being an adventurous Dad is simple especially with small children. Just the other day we were chasing monsters with a flashlight throughout my house. Another day we were ninjas sword-fighting with pirate hats. Then we were hiding from Mom in a blanket fort in the living room. All these small play time rituals are extremely adventurous for a child and must be done especially with Dad.

Make sure to be creative with your adventures so that your child will learn to be creative with theirs! One thing I like to do is to get really excited when we are going to the doctor or dentist. Pretty sure no one likes going to the doctor but your child needs to go fairly often in the first few years of life and must not be afraid. We get as excited to go to the doctor as we do when going out for pizza or ice cream so hopefully that rubs off. Not to mention I like taking my son to the dentist because it is literally a space ship inside! Showing my nerd a little but I wish my dentist office had some theme other than “boring adult”.

Next on the adventure list is an over night camping trip 20 feet away from our back door! Oh yeah! It’s backyard camping, smores making, flashlight shining time!

No Recovery Needed

If we start out strong with our children and engrain in them the discipline and mental toughness needed to thrive in this world we have done our jobs. Children do not have to recover from a good start and neither do you. Today is your starting day so start strong and finish strong!

-Matt