Anticipation

One night, when I was maybe five or six years old, I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat and a fever.

As my mom tucked me back in after a dose of Tylenol, she leaned in and whispered:

“Go back to sleep. The Dukes of Hazzard is on tonight.”

Now I can’t speak for any of you, but Bo and Luke Duke were my jam on a Friday night, back when you couldn’t cue up shows on demand and had to actually wait for a specific day of the week to see it.

I loved everything about the show - I collected their action figures, had three versions of the General Lee, several t-shirts and a massive crush on Bo.

I mean, who didn’t?

*I also remember the theme music to the show Dallas, because the minute that came on, we had to go to bed, and I always wondered who shot JR.

As it turns out, my mom was tapping into a very important emotion that helps to give us the motivation and persistence to keep moving forward, even during difficult times.

Anticipation.

(Cue Carly Simon song..)

Anticipation implies some type of future reward and as humans, we like rewards. The habit loop from Charles Duhigg’s “The Power of Habit”, is cue-routine-reward. There is some type of cue (boredom), that sends us off on a routine (across the hall to your co-worker’s office), which is followed by a reward (your co-worker has chocolate on her desk.)

We’re introduced to the habit loop very early on. I remember that as kids, we looked forward to Sunday mornings, not because of church, but because we visited my grandmother after church and grandma had donuts. Church was the routine, and donuts were the reward.

As human beings, we need things in our future to be excited about and optimistic about. It doesn’t matter if it is something small or trivial in the mind of someone else. What matters is that you have something to help give your mind a positive view for the future.

I actually came across a study in researching this post that found when pathological gamblers were asked to think about a future experience – such as an upcoming vacation – they were better able to curb their impulses and choose long-term gratification over short-term gratification.

One of the reasons 2020 has felt so difficult is that we have little to look forward to. Vacations have been cancelled, sports seasons delayed, activities put off until who knows when. Who knows what the holidays might look like.

So we need to focus on what we can. Sometimes we look forward what we brought for lunch that day. Sometimes it’s donuts on Sundays (I’ve carried that tradition into adulthood). It’s my first cup of hot coffee in the morning, and snuggling with Vinnie when I come home at night (provided he’s actually sleepy).

Take a pen and paper out right now, and make a list of things that you can look forward to. It might take some time and effort, but you’ll be glad that you did.

Double Whammy

It’s a big week in the Spurling household.

Today is Megan’s 31st birthday and Thursday is our 4th wedding anniversary.

We’ve been together for nine years, we actually started dating the year I started the gym in 2012.

We knew each other long before that…

We both went to college at University of New England (UNE), just up the street in Biddeford.

She actually dated my roommate in college, so I would see her over our house, but we were never really super close.

She tells me she was actually afraid of me in college :)

After I graduated and started the gym I was renting a house in Kennebunk, it had a second bedroom so I decided to throw it up on Craigslist to see if I could get someone to help out with rent.

She happened to see it on social media, she was wrapping up her final semester at UNE, and it was the perfect short-term housing solution.

Well, as they say the rest is history.

She moved in, and within a month or two we went from roommates to dating.

She’s been through it all with me.

She remembers the years I spent waking up at 4am, getting to the gym for 5am, and not walking in the house until 9 or 10 at night.

It was years of that, yet, she stuck around.

I’m super grateful for that, and I think it was “easier” back then.

We didn’t have kids, we were renting a pretty simple house, and she was in her Masters program on her way to becoming a Physician Assistant so she was in school or studying all the time.

As time went on I was able to create a bit more of a “normal” schedule, and that fell just in time for her getting pregnant.

In 2017 our son Kaden was born and that changed everything, like those that have kids know, it truly changed everything.

Even throughout the chaos of having a newborn at home and working, she would still support all my crazy endeavors.

Back then, I was traveling a lot more for industry stuff, and she didn’t bat an eye when I told her I had to fly to Kentucky for three days.

Now, with Ellie here as well, 10 months old, and navigating her medical stuff I’ve written about in the past, she still shows up everyday and keeps the Spurling train running.

She has helped lay the turf at the gym, she’s assembled lobby furniture or equipment on Sunday nights, she’s run errands to pick things up when I can’t get there, she’s edited 1001 blog/social media posts, she’s made 700 loafs of coffee cake for the team, and most importantly, she’s been my sound barrier, therapist, and partner in crime throughout all our crazy adventures.

When people ask how many team members we have at Spurling I say 10.

When you add up the coaches, the client experience team, and myself you get to nine.

But without Megan, the 10th team member, I’m confident Spurling wouldn’t be half of what it is today, and she never gets enough credit for what she does.

So why do I say all of this?

Well one, she never gets the spotlight on her, and she deserves it.

But two, who is on your team helping you support your dreams?

I don’t just mean in your personal relationship, but in all of your endeavors.

Do you have a workout partner who holds you accountable?

Do you have a coach that supports you, encourages you, empowers you, and shows up for you each and every time?

Do you have a mentor or support network challenging you to grow and go after your passion?

Life is a team sport.

Who’s on your team?

1% Better.

Dedicated To Your Success,

Doug Spurling

.1%

.1%

Do you know what that represents?

Not 1%.

.1%

If you live 30,000 days, (about 81 years), .1% is a single month of that.

One month of your life.

.1%.

Just think about that.

I’m going to take you down two paths.

Path one…

Just think about the mental frustration you put yourself through because you had a “bad month.”

Maybe you didn’t make it to the gym, you didn’t eat that well, you’re rehabbing an injury, you didn’t get done what you wanted to get done, or life is just smacking you in the face.

So what?

It’s .1% of your life.

We have the chance to make the other 99.9% awesome.

In the grand scheme of things, one month is a speckle on the graph of life, yet we beat ourselves up because we only made it to the gym twice, or we didn’t get the results we wanted.

When I hear people wanting to stop something, take a break, or give up on a journey because of a bad month, I continue to remind them that although in the moment it seems like such a long time, in the grand scheme of this life long journey we’re trying to build, it’s really just a blink of the eye.

If you had a bad September, if you didn’t get what you wanted out of it, if you didn’t show up enough, if you didn’t start what you wanted to start, don’t fret, it’s just .1% of your life.

Today is a new day and the chance for something awesome.

Path two…

Just step back and think of everything you can accomplish in 30 days.

Think of everything you can see and do in just .1% of your life.

In 30 days…

You can start something new…

You can change bad habits…

You can make a difference in the world…

You can meet new people, make new friends…

You can feel better, look better, and move better…

You can become happier, more mindful, and filled with gratitude.

You can change.

In .1% of your life you can change and make a difference.

How freakin’ cool is that?

Imagine a few of those stacked together?

The possibilities are endless.

We overestimate what we can do in a single day and underestimate what we can in a single month.

Depending upon where you’re at in life and what side of the bed you woke up on this morning one of those two paths resonated with you.

Either way, it’s a new day, a new month, and it’s time to make a change.

A change for a better version of yourself.

.1%

1% Better.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Doug Spurling

How to Start On Your Fitness Journey 

The first sentence in a blog post is always the hardest to write, and the first step in your fitness journey can feel like stepping off a ledge into the unknown.  

Where do you start? 

Do you start with your nutrition? Not a bad place to start. 

Do you start by getting a gym membership? Maybe.

Do you tip-toe in, like your acclimating to lake water, or do you dive in? Both approaches can work.

Start With Action 

Start with what you can take action on. Think, what can I do in the next moment to get closer to my fitness goals. Your action step does not need to be a giant heroic leap, like cutting all carbs and sugar out of your life till the next solar eclipse* 

Think smaller action steps, less stepping off a boat on to a dock, and more stepping over a crack in the sidewalk. 

Example: Getting outside for a 5-10 minute walk three times a week. 

Start with Doing Before Don't-ing  

What do I mean by this, and is, don't-ing even a word? My answer is: I'll explain, and I don't know. 

Doing: 

  • Getting out for a walk

  • Eating vegetables 

  • Sleeping more 

Don't-ing

  • Don't eat seconds 

  • Don't eat carbs 

  • Don't scroll social media before bed 

As humans, we are loss averse. Meaning we like to protect what we already have. On the flip side, we enjoy receiving and gaining things more the having those things taken away. When starting your fitness journey, keep this in mind. 

It is easier to add something than to take something away. That is why most people's fitness journeys start with exercise and end with nutrition.

Example: It is easier to say yes to going out for a quick walk three times a week than saying no to a glass of wine three times a week. 

Putting It Together 

Ask yourself: What is the smallest, most simple step I can permit myself to do in the next 24 hours? 

That is where you start your fitness journey. 

Coach Josh

*April 8, 2024, or at least that is what a quick google search said. 

Interrupting the trance of suffering

We are all suffering right now.

In many ways I feel like the kindest action we can take for another human being is to remind ourselves that the people around us are suffering.

One client last week said that she was experiencing “environmental fatigue.” There is a constant battle for all of us right now – we are all living on the edge of a sword, unable to rely on much of anything. We are living in a constant state of uncertainty.

And that uncertainty is exhausting.

We are living in unpredictable times and we are all struggling to figure out what to do with ourselves in this current situation. Recently, I’ve returned to my personal (non-formal) study of Buddhism as I try to figure out how to handle myself and my interactions with others right now.

And this is the list that I’ve made. For what it’s worth.

1.     Remember that we are all suffering.


Have you ever had an interaction with someone who just seems genuinely unhappy and miserable in life? They say everything with an air of sarcasm tinged with bitterness, are perpetually frustrated with everything and everybody, and you can almost feel the anger radiating from them? Those are the people are incredibly difficult to be around – and they are also people who are suffering most.

They are also energy vampires - those people who consume most of our energy. For one reason or another, they take up most of our mental bandwidth for one reason or another. So we decide to process our feelings relentlessly - to the point where we’ve absorbed their own suffering into our own.

But what do you do? Well, recently I stumbled onto a phrase that I find helpful to interrupt that trance – do not ponder others. When I find myself obsessing over why a person said or did something, I interrupt the thought with that phrase. Do not ponder others.

And that helps.

In my better moments, I can take that self-talk a step further and think to myself, may you be free from suffering.

Many of us live inside our thoughts. Having a go-to phrase is a great way to get outside of those thoughts. Even for a moment.

2.     Take a deep breath.

We are remarkably bad at breathing as a society. So much so that there is entire field of study called the Postural Research Institute. Essentially, we breath ourselves into poor posture. Which is one of many reasons that training ourselves to take deep breaths can be a helpful strategy for breaking up our trance and getting out of our thoughts and into our bodies.

If we can learn to interrupt our trance of business and stress with a deep breath, we can learn to kick on our parasympathetic nervous system and interrupt our thought patterns.

3.     Offer a phrase of true compassion.

I alluded to this in number one, but finding some phrases of true compassion in your own words can be an exceptionally helpful way of breaking up that pattern of living inside your thoughts.

May you be well. Maybe you be free from suffering. May you feel happiness.

There are any number of phrases you can use. But see if you can find some words that feel genuine to you, and that you can honestly say and hold in your heart when it comes to another human being. Find an expression of compassion that feels authentic to you - hold onto it - and repeat it every time you feel frustration or irritation in the moment.

We can control our reactions to our present moment. And we must be intentional about doing so.

In The Drive For Fitness, Don't Forget Wellness

We all work so hard trying to get our bodies in shape that we forget why we’re working out and eating healthier in the first place. Everyone starts a fitness journey with a goal, I want to lose 20lbs, I want to gain muscle, I want to be able to be more active for my family. One thing we often overlook though is the “why”, and that’s easily the #1 motivator to achieve those goals. For someone who’s goal is to lose 20 lbs, their why is because they don’t like how they feel and they’re not happy with their current self. For someone who wants to gain muscle, they may think that’s a desirable quality to have. For someone who wants to be more active for their family, they could be a parent or grandparent who wants to keep up with the rugrats even though they’re not as young as they used to be. These are all perfect goals and exceptional “why’s”, one thing we all need to continue reminding ourselves is the phrase “Be kind”. Be kind toward others working hard to achieve their why. Be kind to yourself working as hard as you can to achieve yours. They say fitness is a journey, and it’s a long one. You need to make sure when your body reaches the goal you set for yourself, your self worth is still intact. A journey has stumbles, you may fall, you may even lose ground. Responding with negativity only ensures failure, surround yourself with kindness and support and whatever your “why” is, you’re guaranteed to achieve it.

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Don't Leave It To Chance...

According to high-performance psychologist Dr. Michael Gervais, as humans there are only three things we can train.

  1. Our Craft

  2. Our Body

  3. Our Mind

The best in the world don’t leave any of these three up to chance.

And that’s they key.

We are going to be proactive in our approach to make sure we prioritize (podcast 81 coming out on Thursday is all about this) our day to assure we have these three basis covered.

We often talk about training our bodies, that’s things like good exercise habits, healthy nutrition habits, etc.

Training our mind could be things like meditation, but also working on things like optimism, control, grit, calm, confidence, focus, etc.

Working the mind is a murky subject, but the important thing is you “train” it every day.

That could be things like journaling, mindfulness, going to therapy, mental exercises, etc.

And finally, we must train our craft.

What is your purpose and passion?

What do you do every day, whether that is your actual job or a passion project, what are you trying to be the best in the world at?

We must not only do our craft daily, but we must train to get better at it.

It’s the never ending pursuit of getting better, 1% Better.

It’s challenging the way you do things, finding better ways to do it, and connecting with those who want to support you along the way.

So, here’s my question for today…

Your body. Your mind. Your craft.

Are you training these three things or are you leaving it up to chance?

1% Better.

Dedicated To Your Success,

Doug Spurling

Lighthouse

As we walked the property Nubble Lighthouse was in the backdrop.

In 2016 Megan and I got married at Dockside, down in York, Maine.

After looking at a few venues, it’s a bit like buying a house, once you pull in the driveway, you just get that feeling.

The setting was great, the inn had accommodations for our families, and of course, we could grab that “Maine” picture of us in front of the lighthouse.

But, we all know, that’s the not the real purpose of a lighthouse.

It is a tower with a bright light at the top, located at an important or dangerous place regarding navigation.

The two main purposes of a lighthouse are to serve as a navigational aid and to warn boats of dangerous areas. It is like a traffic sign on the sea.

It’s a strong structure that can withstand almost any storm.

Quite often, in normal circumstances, the lighthouse is not needed.

But in times of distress, when the seas are rough, it can be a saving grace for boats.

The bright, shining light, it’s a source to count on.

So, here’s my challenge for you.

Who can you be a lighthouse for?

Someone is in distress, and is counting on you to be their shining light, to be their anchor, they’re counting on you to help them navigate the rough seas.

And on the flip side…

Find that lighthouse in your life.

Hopefully if you’re a client at Spurling it’s our team.

They are always there, you can always count on them, and they are your shining light.

I try to be the lighthouse for our organization, our team, and of course, my family.

We all need a lighthouse right now.

Be a lighthouse.

Find a lighthouse.

1% Better.

Dedicated To Your Success,

Doug Spurling

98 Days Left

There are 98 left in 2020…

I see it all the time.

“When is 2020 going to be over?”

I get it, I’m right there with you.

It’s been a sucky year on many fronts.

And…

That doesn’t mean we need to just throw in the towel and expect there to be a magic reset button on January 1, 2021.

Yesterday the team and I met for our quarterly planning meeting.

We made some decisions on what we want to tackle the rest of the year to continue to improve the client experience, how we need to improve our communication, recoup some of our losses, and strategically assuring we keep working towards a “family-feel” within our community even though it is spread between online and in person, people are in pods, and it’s just a weird energy year in general.

But we’re confident we can make progress the rest of the year…

And that’s my point.

You can too.

Now, it’s doesn’t have to be perfect progress, and it probably won’t be as much as you’d like, but you can still make improvements.

1% Better, right?

So my action item for you...

Take a few minutes today and make a list of what you want to make improvements on in the next 98 days. 

Look at the goals you had for 2020…

What’s left?

Be specific. 

Don't just say lose weight or get stronger…

How many pounds?

How much body fat?

How many workouts are you going to get in?

Make it specific so you know what success looks like in the end. 

You can also do this for things like financials(how much will I save in the next 100 days?), books read, days in your gratitude journal, a number of nights with more than 7 hours of sleep, etc. 

Get it all down. 

Then, take relentless action. 

I'll be doing it too, so I hope you can join me. 

Who's ready to finish 2020 STRONG?

1% Better.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Doug Spurling

What is enough?

There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. – Leonard Cohen

In fact, if I think of myself as a pot for a plant, I’m not a nice pristine pot with a crack in it. I’m more of a pot with multiple cracks, pieces missing on the top and dirt spilling out on the sides. I don’t need to worry about the light getting in, I need to worry about all of the dirt falling out.

And that’s how you take a metaphor too far…

We all have cracks in ourselves or our lives. We all have parts of ourselves that feel, in some way, broken. And many of us, myself included, react to those cracks with criticism, shame, and disgust. We are embarrassed that we even have those cracks in the first place.

We spend our lives trying to hide or ignore or fix those cracks, and then feel disgusted with ourselves when we can’t.

But what if, right now, in this one moment, you could accept yourself exactly as you are? Nothing to change, no need to do more or be more or try harder.

We fall into a pattern of self-judgement about all of the things that we are not. We live in a place of never being enough. Nothing that we do is ever enough because we don’t even know what enough is. Our culture doesn’t teach us what it means to feel satisfied. If you stop right now for just one moment, can you think about what would help you feel like you are enough? That you are doing enough?

Yesterday in a conversation with a client who is working on a career change, she talked about all of the things that aren’t happening in the process. But when I asked her what she was doing, there were a lot of actions that are propelling her forward. But the self-judgement about what’s not happening felt all-consuming and understandably frustrating for her.

We live in a culture where it becomes difficult to recognize what’s going well because we learn – we absorb into the very fabric of our being – that we are not enough. That what we’ve done is not enough. That there is always more.

And it is that self-judgement that keeps us trapped. It’s the constant stream of self-criticism that keeps us in what Buddhists call a trance. And it can be difficult to break that trance.

I’ve been re-visiting the book “Radical Acceptance,” by Tara Brach, a Buddhist teacher and psychologist, so working on acceptance is top of mind right now for me.

The book addresses feelings of deficiency that for so many of us, are right around the corner. For so many of us, it doesn’t take much more than hearing about someone else’s accomplishments or successes to go spiraling down the rabbit hole of all of the things that we are not.

But it’s that rabbit hole where the real suffering happens.

I don’t have an answer on how to break the trance of that harsh self-judgement. Try to notice it. Try to acknowledge it.

And because I like sticky notes, write this down somewhere that you can read it:

In this moment, right now, I am enough.

Because you are.

K.I.S.S

K.I.S.S 

Keep it Simple Silly 

When thinking about how you could improve your nutrition. Don't complicate it with fancy numbers. Simply stick to the basics. Print this off and stick it on your fridge. Each of your meals should be looking like this and be coming from whole food sources.

If you are looking to lose some weight, or just simply gain some more energy and be healthier, there is no need to go down the rabbit hole that is nutrition information, if you are not first doing this on a consistent basis.

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Control The Controllable

For similar reasons, and yet, for different reasons, 2020 has been a pretty stressful for you, right?

Thanks, captain obvious.

There is so much in life we can’t control, especially right now.

However, we can control how we react to it, our attitude towards it, and how we deal with it.

Control the controllable.

Personally, it’s been a long year, in fact a really challenging 18-24 months.

Two years ago I lost my dad to what we think was a heart attack, we found him passed away in his house, so we’ll never truly know.

Megan and I had some challenges with some pregnancies, and then when Ellie was born ten months ago it was the kick start to a long road of medical things we’re navigating with her.

Just when that started getting under some type of “normal” the world decided to have a pandemic, drastically impacting our business and all of our clients.

It’s been a long road.

I’m sure you have your own version of a “long road” over the last year.

We can’t control every situation and its outcome, but we can control our attitude and how we react to it.

The fact is, that is 1% Better.

Doing what you can with what you have, and trying to focus on what you can control.

Crazy days, a busy life, stress, anxiety, you name it.

No one has it all figured out, and if they tell you that, give them a smack because they’re lying.

I think I just aim to focus on what I can control.

I can control thinking positive…

I can control my actions…

I can control what I’m going to do about it TODAY.

And certainly, the last thing I’m going to do about it is nothing.

Whether we’re talking about personal stuff, work stuff, or fitness and lifestyle stuff, we often can’t control the outcome.

What we can do is control the process.

We can take charge of our mental health, we can think more positive…

We can take charge of our schedule and block off some time for self-care, even if it’s 15 minutes.

Trust me, as most of you know, I’m all for having big dreams, and long-term goals, but let’s face it…

Most of life is just showing up this week and saying, “What can I give?”

What can I give for effort?

What can I give to others?

Most importantly, what can I give to myself?

Each week will look different, each day will look different but aim not to worry about that.

We can’t control the future, we can only control our current actions, what we’re thinking, and what we’re doing about it.

Control the controllable.

1% Better.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Doug Spurling

10 things that make me smile

Last week I casually opened the drawer in our kitchen with aluminum foil and FOUND A DEAD MOUSE . A. DEAD MOUSE. FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS SACRED AND HOLY. 

I screeched into the living room like my hair was on fire and jumped onto the back of our couch, panting.

Sheila was sitting on the chair, and, after I finally explained the horror of the situation, she started to laugh. Really hard. And then she laughed harder at my indigence.  

“I can’t help it – it makes me laugh,” she said.

That’s the best segue way I can come up with for today’s post – which is 10 things that make me smile. The idea came from a quote I recently read the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh:

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.”

 So with that in mind, I decided to make a list of 10 things that make me smile.

1.     Not mice

This one might seem obvious, but I thought I’d start with it. Tiny critters that have tiny paws and tiny whiskers do not make me smile.

But apparently when I react like David from Schitt’s Creek it makes Sheila smile. So…someone smiles there…

2.     An Iron City Light Beer Poster from 1986

Iron City Beer and the Pittsburgh Pirates have two things in common – they are both pretty bad. And they both remind me of home. One year when I was a kid, I stopped with my dad at one of the local clubs where he belonged. He had a beer, I had a coke and bag of Combos, and I saw that there was an Iron City Beer poster featuring the baseball cards of some former Pirate players. When the season was over my dad asked the bar tender to save it for me.

My dad never took me to a Pirate game. He hates cities and he hates crowds. Be he brought that poster home for me, because I loved baseball, and I smile every time I notice it on the wall of my office.

3.     My first cup of coffee in the morning

‘Nuff said.

4.     My mom’s frugality

Last week I signed into a webinar for my parents’ local electric company in Western Pennsylvania. They’re not very tech savvy and if they signed into this event, they saved ten bucks. So I signed in on their behalf last Thursday night.

It would have been much easier to give my mom 10 bucks. But that’s not the point then, is it?

I used to roll my eyes at things like that. Now it makes me smile.

5.     Dogs, especially dogs hanging their heads out of a car window

Without fail, when I see a dog hanging his head out of a car window, I can’t help but smile. Because they always look like they are living their best life.

6.     Draft beer with pepper on it

What makes bad draft beer better? Nothing. But my dad and his brother always put pepper in their beer to keep the foam on it and so I’ve picked up the habit. Every time I do it, I can’t help but smile. (No, I don’t do it with quality craft beer…just the cheap stuff.)

7.     The song “Just One Look” by Doris Troy.

Sheila and I walked in to this song for our wedding ceremony. I smile every time I hear it. Also singing “Super star” by the Carpenters at the top of my lungs makes me smile. Ok, maybe every Carpenter’s song.  

8.     My talking Mr. Rogers desk buddy

A few weeks ago, one of the clients gave me a talking Mr. Rogers to put on my desk. Every time I push the trollye, Mr. Rogers says one of his familiar lines. I smile every time I push the trolley.

9.     Inflatable animal costumes

I’m pretty sure an inflatable T-rex costume is a cure for everything. And you can’t wear it or watch someone else where it without smiling. Having said that, I also think an Avocado costume would make me smile. Also a rubber chicken purse. Actually rubber chickens too. Ok toys. Toys make me smile.

10.  Dancing

I can’t dance without smiling. Especially when the “Conga” comes on. I mean who can keep a straight face while dancing to that? That is pure joy.

Make a list of things that make you smile, and put that list on your laptop or desk top or fridge or spouse’s forehead.

And smile.

Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients

Produce

  • 2 Bananas, very ripe

  • 3/4 cup Pumpkin, canned

Refrigerated

  • 1 Egg

Condiments

  • 1/4 cup Maple syrup

Baking & Spices

  • 1 tsp Baking powder

  • 1 tsp Baking soda

  • 1 tsp Cinnamon

  • 1 tsp Pumpkin spice

  • 1/4 tsp Salt

  • 1 tsp Vanilla

  • 1 3/4 cups Whole wheat flour

Dairy

  • 1/4 cup Butter

  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

  • 1/2 cup Milk

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 425. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners or spray with cooking spray. Set aside.

  • In one bowl, mash the bananas. Add the butter, maple syrup, yogurt, milk, egg, pumpkin, and vanilla extract, mix well.

  • In another bowl whisk together the flour, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

  • Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until just mixed. DO NOT over mix or your muffins will be tough. A few lumps is fine.

  • Divide the batter between the 12 prepared muffin cups.

  • Bake muffins at 425 for 5 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees.

  • Bake at 350 for another 20-22 more minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Baking them at the higher temperature at first helps them rise and gives a nice rounded top.

  • Remove from oven and remove from the muffin tin as soon as possible Allow to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or individually wrap and freeze for up to one month.

*Credit to :https://www.pinterest.com/pin/3237030972130756/

My Struggle With Weight...

I share this in hopes that you too will share your #spurlingstory…

So, you read my posts, you check out the Spurling website, maybe you see the words “we change lives” in the lobby, and you might think “Yeah right, what do you know about changing lives? 

You’re clearly young and in shape…

How could you possibly understand how hard it would be to change my life?”

Well, I kind of do understand. It hasn't always been the way you might think...

Believe it or not, there was a time where I’d never set foot in a gym and I hated exercise.  

I was too busy shoving cosmic brownies down my throat. 

If you’ve met me or seen my picture on our website or Facebook page, you can see I’m a big guy.  Well, I was always a big guy – I weighed nearly 11 pounds at birth – in a big family. I had genetics working against me from the start.   

I was born into a very unhealthy family.  A loving family, but an unhealthy one.

Of course I didn't know how unhealthy our lives were.  I just did what they did, which was sit around a lot, eat lots of pasta dishes (we’re part Italian) and watch a lot of TV. I don't remember any physical activity, no weekend hikes, no sledding in the winter, nothing that broke a sweat. 

It’s ok though, I can't be mad about it. In hindsight, it taught me many valuable lessons about what not to do and how not to live. 

I went into middle school tipping the scales at almost 300lbs. Yes, you read that right, middle school. I was the "big kid" that everybody wanted to be friends with, just in case they needed a sidekick in a recess fight, but not really anything outside of that. I was bullied, made fun of, and I didn’t feel good about myself.  So much for middle school fun, right?

Going into high school, not much changed. I was feeling depressed, never had a social life, and was living a life that I had no clue what to do with. I went through my first two years of high school weighing on the other side of 350lbs; I believe my heaviest was 386lbs.

Always the brunt of jokes, breaking chairs, and laughing to hide my embarrassment.

I don't blame anyone for my weight.  I certainly don’t blame my parents.  They raised me the best way they knew how.  My mom showed love by making sure there was food (and a lot of it) on the table and in the house. No one ever said “just one, you’ve had plenty”.

I don't even blame myself, because back then, I didn’t know any different. It’s what I saw around me, what I thought was “normal”. Wake up, eat, go to school, eat, come home, eat, watch TV, eat, go to bed and repeat. Life revolved around eating and no activity. 

At 14, I was able to get a work permit and a job.  Having my hard-working parents as role models, they instilled in me a very strong New England work ethic. Today, good or bad, I'll outwork anybody. In fact, it's something I'm trying to balance better today, telling myself that “no Doug, you don't need to work 18 hours a day, every day.”

My family was also not wealthy so there was much to be gained by getting a job.  But what kind of job could I get?  Other kids were all going to work at our local grocery store but I knew I wanted something different. 

I decided to write a letter to the local hospital to see if they had any openings. I was expecting one of two things to happen:

1. No response at all.

2. They'd stick me in the kitchen or laundry to do a bunch of not-so-fun work. 

You know how you can look back at life and there are a handful of moments where now, it’s so clear that if the road hadn’t taken you a certain direction, you have no idea where you’d be today? 

This was one of those moments.

I received an invitation to interview to be a "Physical Therapist Aide Trainee." I didn't know what a Physical Therapist was or how I’d be aiding them, but man, to a 14 year old, that job title sounded sweet!

I got the job, and began working there during my freshman year in high school. I would go to school from 7:00 am – 2:00 pm and then take the bus to the hospital to work 2:30 – 7:00 pm. 

I wish I’d stayed in touch with that group of people I worked with, as I’d love to be able to tell them now, 17 years later, how much they changed my life.

After I was trained, I worked along therapists, helping people walk for the first time in a long time, seeing people return to functionality from traumatic life-altering events, and gaining invaluable life experience. In fact, for the first time, the fact I was a big guy had some advantages.  I could help stabilize patients, help the PT’s transfer patients, etc. 

The experiences I gained in that job began to create the spark of the passion I have today, to change people’s lives.  I just didn’t know it yet.

Despite the fact I was bearing witness to other people’s life-changing events, none of it resonated yet as a reason to change myself.  I was only 14 after all.  

I went to a vocational high school, one of those schools where you can focus on a trade vs. academics and college prep. Most of the guys chose automotive, carpentry, electrical, etc. I chose health occupations. 

Life changer moment # 2...

Because of the course work, I was able to train and become a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at age 16.

After receiving that certification, I left my job at the hospital and took a job in a nursing home.

Looking back at it, I'm 16, I had no clue. I was still just living in the moment. 

But that job changed my life. From sophomore year until the day I left for college, I worked in a nursing home taking care of Alzheimer's residents. I would go to school from 7:00 am – 2:00 pm and then drive over to the nursing home and work second shift, 3:00 – 11:00 pm, bathing, dressing and feeding someone’s wife, husband, mother, father, sister, or brother.

I had no idea at the time the effect this experience was having on me but today I can confidently say it was one of the top three things that changed my life. 

But still, I was pushing 400lbs. How could I be working in the health field and be so unhealthy myself?

Remember my physical therapy job? At the time I was leaving to go be a CNA, they had hired a new therapist, a woman who’d just graduated from this school up in Maine nobody heard of. The University of New England.  For some reason that stuck with me...

Senior year.  Graduation was looming.  I didn't know what I wanted to do.  I went back in my head to that physical therapy job, and thought to myself "I'd love to do that." 

So I applied to one school, the University of New England. Luckily, I got in, and was accepted into their pre-physical therapy program. 

That spark I’d started as a PT Aide was growing into a real flame of passion for changing people’s lives, but I realized if I was going to do anything with it, I needed to change my own life first. I woke up one morning and realized how could I possibly be preaching healthy habits to my patients when there I stood, the big fat kid?  What a hypocrite I was.

The summer after graduation, I got serious about making that change.   

Knowing what I know today, I would kill my old self for the way I went about it. I would never recommend this to anyone, but somehow I managed to make it work.

The entire summer, I lived off tuna fish sandwiches and bananas. That's it. A banana for breakfast, a tuna sandwich for lunch, and a tuna sandwich for dinner. 

I don't know how I did it. But it worked...

Going from eating 5000+ calories a day, to maybe 1000, the weight came off fast. 

When college started in the fall, I was less than 300 pounds, for the first time since I was 12. I lost 75 pounds in 3 months. 

Again, absolutely not the way I recommend anyone accomplish this but I was an 18 year old kid with no guidance of what the right way was. 

Banana and tuna sandwiches continued, I kept losing weight and I moved to Maine and started attending UNE. 

Another life changer...

I met my mentor and good friend, Heath. 

Heath was a part of the Exercise Science program. I don't know why, but he took me under his wing, and showed me all the great opportunities that exist in Exercise Science. 

I quickly developed a passion for exercise. Heath taught me everything he could about the field and it really fueled my fire for changing people’s lives. 

I switched majors in order to continue under his mentorship. 

Now, instead of just eating tuna and bananas, I gained some solid nutritional knowledge and learned to combine that with my newfound love of exercise. 

I noticed the profound effect exercise had on me not just physically, but mentally.  By my sophomore year at UNE, I was 265lbs, which was about 115 lbs less than my heaviest weight. 

All of the sudden, I started making friends, gaining confidence, hanging out with girls, you know, typical college stuff. And how crazy - it took exercise before any of this happened. 

Through all of this, the feeling of having a calling continued to grow stronger.  In addition to wanting to change other people’s lives, I was about to change my own.

My original plan of a career as a PT was sound but if you’ve ever gone to physical therapy, it’s pretty clear that many people being treated are there because they have to be, insurance makes them, or they can’t go back to work until they’ve gone, and so forth.  Often not in the best mood or mindset to hear advice about making life changes, I wasn’t sure it was the right long term career decision.

The nursing home experience totally changed my life. I got exposed to more by the time I was 18 than many people have seen in their entire life.

But I knew I couldn't work with that population every day for the rest of my life. I give extreme credit to those (including my wife, Megan) who choose to work in the medical field, especially those who are really "in the trenches" involved in meeting patients’ most basic needs such as bathing, feeding, and dressing. It can be so rewarding, yet so draining. 

When Heath told me one day that there were actually jobs where I could do what I dreamed of - change lives – every single day for the rest of my life - I just about fell over. 

Call it what you want: personal training, strength and conditioning, I call it changing lives for a living. 

I had changed my life. 

I had lost over 100lbs. 

I was on cloud 9...

I was all of age 20 and I thought I had it all. 

On a random Saturday in October, I drove home from UNE to have dinner with my parents. I walked into their house and a chill just came across my shoulders. I knew something was up. 

I sat down at the dining room table and my mom started crying. After fighting back the tears, she spit out...

"I have cancer."

The next six months were hell. I was trying to wrap up my degree at UNE, head down to Massachusetts to see her in the hospital, and do everything I could to help her, my dad and my younger brother.

Talk about another life changing point in life...

On June 14, 2010, in a hospice house, I held my mom’s hand and watched her take her last breath. 

At the age of 52, she had died from stage four lung cancer. 

I was 21 years old, and thought I had full control of the world.

Boy was I wrong...

As devastating as losing my mom was, it furthered my passion for changing people’s lives. 

I began to exercise even more. I knew too many people that used food as their stress reliever, and they reverted back to their old habits quickly. I used the gym as my stress reliever. 

Ironically, I was in the best shape of my life six months after my mom died. I had my own life experience that proved that through healthy eating, good exercise, and some accountability, people could change their lives.

Shortly after graduating, I used the urgency that was created by my moms passing, and knowing that life is short, to open what you now know as Spurling Fitness.

Since then it’s been a fun filled nine years with lots ups and a few downs…

The up of having double digit growth at Spurling every year since opening, and we’re changing lots of lives..

The down of getting a call at the gym from Megan that they found my dad dead in his house, he died from an apparent heart attack.

The up of becoming a leader to an incredible team that run the operations at Spurling Fitness and changes so many lives…

The down of having to move the business (turned out to be an up) and cycle through a few employees before finding the right ones…

The up of getting married, buying a house, having our kids, and so many personal wins with Megan…

But it’s all good…

The ups and downs are what make life fun, and what make it such a fun story to tell.

At 31, I'm not here to tell you I've experienced everything.

I still have years to live, and hundreds of lessons to learn.

However, I am quite confident in saying I've been through some dramatic changes, negative and positive, and I live my life with one goal, to change the lives of as many people as possible. 

Yet, I still struggle with my weight, just like many of you.

It’s a daily battle, up and down.

If anything, I hope that means I do “get it.”

Of course, as the founder, I also hope my story is part of the fuel, part of the Spurling story that makes our community so great.

Spurling exists for one reason, and for one reason only, to change lives.

We get to now do that through multiple avenues including our fitness community that some call a gym, our charitable work where we’ve raised tens of thousands of dollars and donated our time to those in need, and through our business coaching where I get to help gym owners organize and scale their business and show them how to have a big impact on their clients and team while creating a life they love.

We’re just getting started, and you have not seen the last of the Spurling Community and all the ways we can help inspire positive change in YOU…

but it’s been quite the story already.

Everybody has a story.

Every person.

Every organization.

Everybody starts somewhere.

What’s your #spurlingstory?

1% Better.

Dedicated to Your Success,

Doug Spurling

A Hero...

I remember I was sitting in 7th-grade history class, the phone rang in the classroom, and my teacher started crying.

She had family in the New York City area and obviously didn't know if they were okay or not.

After school, I still remember being glued to the television, watching the devastation with my parents.

It was a day none of us will ever forget.

I know some friends and clients who lost family members that day, and I can't even imagine the pain they've been through.

There's a lot of bad going on in the world, and I hate to say it, I think there always will be.

Whether it's terror attacks, the damage the pandemic has done, or the racism and political issues, it's easy, and always will be easy, to find the bad in this world, bad people, bad things.

We can beat ourselves up, get into a negative mindset about it, or we can focus on the positive, surround ourselves with positive people, take action, and change the world.

We can focus on the military and first responders who put their lives at stake every day trying to help others.

We can focus on the teachers, the healthcare workers, or the woman who helped her neighbor carry in the groceries.

I truly believe most of us in this world are good people.

I try to spend my time not complaining about the bad, but instead, do something every day to leave the world a little bit better off.

At our core, I think that's what motivates us.

Whether it's our job, being a parent, or donating a few bucks to charity, we're motivated by helping people, making an impact, leaving a legacy, and being a hero to someone else.

There were a lot of heroes on 9/11/2001, some that were remembered and spoken about, and I’m sure plenty that did things without anyone noticing.

There are heroes everywhere we look, I realize we all have our definition of what a hero is, but I also believe we can all be someone else’s hero.

We can all do good work, lift someone up, be there when they need it, change lives, make a positive impact on people, and leave the world a better place than we found it.

1% Better.

Dedicated To Your Success,

Doug Spurling

Three random thoughts as we head into fall

I’ll go ahead and take a minute to state the obvious here:

 It’s been a weird year.

Despite all of the uncertainty and strangeness that we are all negotiating on a day to day basis, I find something very reassuring and even refreshing about September – it feels like a good time to hit the re-set button, a time to begin that project or new habit or new book that we’ve been putting off all summer.

With that re-set in mind, here are a few andom thoughts as we head into the fall season.  

1.     Be kind, and listen

“One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what another has to say.”  - Bryant McGill

There are a lot of conflicting opinions about how to handle the situation that we are in, about school, about work, about…everything. We all hear it every day, on the news, in the break room at work, on social media. In fact, the more social media and news outlets that pop up, the easier it is to find a source of news that serves only to reenforce the opinion that we already have.

Which can sometimes mean that when we find ourselves among people with differing thoughts and perspectives, we find ourselves not listening, but waiting for our chance to speak. We are not hearing, we are waiting to be heard. Which leaves little more than a lot of competition for very little listening.

While I don’t always know what to believe, I choose to believe at least one thing:

Everyone out there is doing the best that they can, and the best that they know how to do.

I’m around teachers every day. I’m around my wife, who works in state government for the CDC. I’m around parents and coaches and administrators and retail workers. They are all doing their best.

So I beg of you - be kind. These are not easy times, and there is a lot of suffering.

 

2.     In the moment when we most want to be in control, it’s important to do nothing


In the 1950’s, a few highly trained pilots were attempting to fly at altitudes higher than had ever been achieved. The first pilots to face this challenge responded by frantically trying to stabilize their planes. Unfortunately, the more they did to try to correct the problem, the worse their situations became, and many pilots died in the beginning of these experimental flights.

That is, until one of the pilots, Chuck Yeager, inadvertently found a solution. When his plane lost control, he was knocked unconscious. He came to seven miles later when the plane re-entered the planet’s denser atmosphere where standard navigation could be implemented. As it turns out, the only life-saving response that worked was to take his hands off of the controls and wait.

I don’t need to belabor the point. I’ve written before about the benefit of taking what Buddhists call the Sacred Pause.  

There comes a time when life gets really crazy and our instinct is to do more and more and more - and to over-correct and over-correct and keep fidgeting with the controls. But really, our best response might be to stop what we’re doing, step back from the situation, and breathe.

And do nothing.

3.     We are resilient

Nineteen years ago, I watched the second tower fall on a black and white t.v. in the small weekly newspaper office where I worked. Tuesdays were the day we put the paper to bed, and I was making my final edits when we heard on the radio that the World Trade Center had been hit. We plugged in the old t.v. and fiddled with the rabbit ears and watched the terror in New York City, and D.C.

And Shanksville, PA where Flight 93 crashed, just 52 miles from my. office. I’ve written before about my experience that day – the shock – the confusion – the way the world absolutely stood still for days.

Sometimes in the midst of difficulty, you are not yet permitted to see the way out. Sometimes, you don’t know exactly what it’s going to take to get through, to get by, to survive.

You know only that you - we - all of us - are resilient. So while we don’t know exactly how we’ll get by - we can be promised, by the experiences of all those who came before us, that we will get by.

Be well.