Meet Mediocrity

My conversation with Paul Dauber: Paul Dauber is a work colleague, a mentor, a teammate and a good friend.  He's a very accomplished endurance athlete - having finished dozens of half marathons, marathons and triathlons of various distances.  Because of Paul's enormous resume of races and because of his background in marketing in sales, he has a bunch of great stories... and he's a great storyteller!

This conversation uses endurance races as the backdrop to some very good life-lessons any of us can apply to setting and achieving our goals.  And, perhaps the most important lesson is the lesson of being true to yourself.  

As you'll hear, sometimes setting a goal, starting your activity and moving towards your goal - even if not explicitly meeting your goal - should be considered a HUGE SUCCESS.  In many ways, this is what we mean when we use the phase "meeting mediocrity".  It's not about striving for mediocrity. It's about accepting that mediocrity is sometimes part of the process on the path towards something even greater!  

My conversation with my good friend Kelley:  Kelley is my go-to person for so many things - restaurant recommendations, book recommendations, movie recommendations, contractor recommendations, and so much more!  Kelley is a self described "good researcher" and "life concierge".  She often fills that life concierge role for me.

Kelley and I discuss her reasons for choosing a compassionate, plant based diet.  Kelley is very passionate about her choices and very articulate about how she approaches her diet.  HOWEVER, Kelley is also pragmatic about how she approaches her choices and she is very accepting of other people's choices. 

After discussing diet, Kelley and I ventured into some book recommendations for our consideration.  

My conversation with Kelley was recorded about two weeks prior to the COVID-19 pandemic surfacing, but the conversation is still fun, relevent and timely.

My conversation with Renee Weiss Weingarten: Renee is the founder and administrator of Renee's Reading Club Facebook group.  What started as a small group of Renee's friends looking for a good book recommendation has now become a respectful, friendly, nurturing, caring, informative community with over 11,000 members!   During my conversation with Renee, we discuss how Renee's Reading Club got started, how it has evolved and her hopes for the group in the future.  We also discuss important ways that reading books positively influences our lives, especially during stressful times.  And, of course, Renee gives us a few good book recommendations - recommendations that are particularly fitting for our current world events.

My conversation with Jeffrey Kaufman: When I'm facing challenging times, I enjoy interacting with positive, pragmatic and sensible people.  Those are the people that keep me grounded, give me good ideas and help me manage my stress.  JEFFREY KAUFMAN is very high on my list of great people to speak with when I'm in need of good advice. 

Jeff and I were work colleagues first. We worked very closely together for many years until he retired from our Firm and moved into various consulting roles.  Quickly after becoming work colleagues Jeff and I became good friends - and that friendship continues to this day.  

In this conversation, Jeff gives us three approaches he is taking (and we can all take) to deal with today's challenges.  Importantly, these messages don't just apply to the challenges we all face in today's world, they are timeless.  Jeff is a great storyteller, so this conversation is not just a "to do list" - it's a fun conversation with good stories we can all relate to!!

My conversation with Tommy Herbert: Mediocre Mitch's lifelong friend Tommy was a star swimmer in high school.  He added running into his repertoire and eventually triathlons.  But Tommy doesn't just look at his time and finishing place.  He's competitive for sure, but he also values putting forth his best effort regardless of the result, and he also values overall experiences.  When asked why he has only competed in one full Ironman length triathlon despite clearly being capable of doing more, he responded that the experience he had was so amazing it would be virtually impossible to top it!

Tommy's fitness does not only revolve around racing - he's an all around outdoors person. He appreciates challenging hikes, paddling kayaks and being at the beach.  He is also an experienced physical therapist with a wide range of experiences with injuries, illnesses and setbacks that impact people's physical well being.

Tommy's well rounded experiences provide him with valuable and pragmatic insights and perspectives. This is both an informative and FUN conversation.

My conversation with Dan Flanzig:  Dan is a minor (very minor) celebrity among bicycle riders in the New York Metropolitan area because of his personal injury law practice that specializes in representing injured cyclists - making Dan the "New York Bike Lawyer"!  Don't worry though, this podcast is NOT about bicycle law!

This podcast is about a lifelong wellness journey.  For Dan it started at a moment in college after finishing a platter of 13 hamburgers.  At that moment he said "I'm tired of being a fatty"! We all have moments like that, but our wellness paths are never a straight line.  Life always seems to get in the way.  Dan's key to success is one that Mediocre Mitch has also subscribed to - JUST KEEP GOING!  Keep trying new things and never give up on yourself.

Given today's COVID-19 global crisis, this conversation is a nice diversion and a nice reminder of what a successful (and human) wellness journey looks like.  All aboard!!

Mediocre Mitch takes us on a walk with his dogs Molly and Maggie... while walking his dogs, Mitch reflects on the anxiety caused by the current Corona virus crisis and how good wellness habits (and a strong, encouraging community) can help us get through it - and hopefully get through it in a stronger place than we are today.  

As we all know, this is a quickly evolving situation, but at this very present moment in time Mediocre Mitch (and hopefully most of you) are tapping into his toolbox of good habits to stay healthy - both physically and emotionally. 

My conversation with Jennifer Prensky: Being able to transform yourself and then help others transform themselves is truly inspirational.   Over the past two years, Jennifer lost weight, gained fitness, gained confidence and became way more comfortable in her own skin.  THEN, Jennifer became a certified Optavia health coach where she uses her own journey and her training to inspire and help others.  I've seen Jennifer at work. She is nurturing, knowledgeable and empathetic.  Her clients benefit from that to become better versions of themselves. To top things off, Jennifer is a single mom.  Her transformation has helped her become a more active and engaged mother.  Both she and her son are benefiting from the transformation!!

My conversation with my good friend Scott:  Scott hates when I say this, but he's a "regular guy". By that, I mean he's a person that many of us can relate to - tough job, business travel, family obligations - a lot going on.  It would be easy for Scott to put his wellness on the back burner - and there were many years when he did. Then the transformation began - slow and steady, layering one good habit on top of the other and having patience with himself.  Over time, Scott collected a set of healthy habits he enjoyed.  And, because he enjoyed them, he could maintain them.  Today, Scott is many years into his transformation and his maintenance.  In our conversation he shares a lot of useful tips that work for him - tips we can all consider making part of our wellness mindset.