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| Panama City Beach shoreline, where I'll complete the 2.4-mile swim leg of a full IRONMAN Triathlon. |
After a fresh and salty 2.4 mile swim in the ocean, I will hop on my road bike and peddle nearly halfway to the Georgia border and back, covering 112 miles in the process. When that is complete, I will lace up my running shoes and tackle a full marathon—26.2 miles—all the way to the finish line for a grand total of 140.6 exhausting, yet invigorating miles!
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| This event will begin bright and early and end well after the sun goes down. |
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| My first ever race number. A 5K event in my hometown of Monticello, Utah, on July 26, 1986. I was 6 years and 11 months old and finished in 26:16. |
Oh, phew...
I just checked online... the Panama City Beach Outback Steakhouse stays open til 11:00 p.m. on Saturday night, so as long as I am done by 9:00 p.m., I should still be able to make it to my always-anticipated "Finisher's Feast!"
In today's blog article, I discuss my preparation for this intimidating and mammoth event, something I have been building up to generally for the past 38 years—and more specifically, for the past five months.
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| Finishing my first 10K on July 4, 1988. Freedom Run ~ BYU Track ~ Provo, Utah. Eight (8) years old. |
I competed in my first official athletic endurance competition—a 5K road race—on July 26, 1986, in my hometown of Monticello, Utah, when I was just shy of my 7th birthday.
A couple of years later, I entered my first 10K road race—on July 4, 1988—in Provo, Utah, when I was just shy of my 9th birthday.
I have entered scores, if not hundreds of similar events—including dozens of half marathons and marathons—in the intervening years.
Despite participating in so many distance-oriented athletic competitions throughout my life, the full IRONMAN triathlon did not seriously cross my radar until earlier this year, at age 44.This is a little bit surprising to me because I've been a middle- and/or long-distance runner all my life—including competing at semi-elite levels in high school and college.
And I've been foraying into triathlons since 2018.
Despite all of this experience with endurance-esque training and competitions, I never really felt the ambition or "itch" to go all-in on the "Big Mamou" until this spring when I was preparing for my second half IRONMAN 70.3.
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| With my collegiate All-American citation certificate and championship medals. Provo, Utah ~ March 2003 ~ Age 23 |
But now that all three of my kids are in school full-time, and with Freedom Focused continuing to germinate by gradually deepening its roots vis-a-vis the Freedom Focused blog and SAL Life Leadership Textbook—as opposed to sending its trunk and branches sprawling skyward in a more public fashion—I realized I had time right now to train for a half IRONMAN 70.3 last May, and that if I wanted to, I could stretch that training just enough to make the full IRONMAN 140.6 a realistic goal by early November.
After completing the half IRONMAN 70.3 event in Panama City Beach on May 11th of this year, it became clear to me that the "Big Daddy" FULL 140.6 was within my grasp if I wanted it.
I decided that I wanted it!
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| Sporting a Half Marathon finisher's medal The Woodlands, Texas ~ March 2015 ~ Age 35 |
All of my life, I have embraced ambitious challenges and strived to do hard things. Thus, all of my previous athletic—and life—experiences have prepared me for this moment.
You might well say that this full IRONMAN Triathlon is something of a summit achievement for me, at least from an athletic and physical standpoint.
I have not, of course, completed the event yet; that will come on Saturday—and I'll report back next Wednesday to let you know exactly how the race went, whether or not I finished, and what my finishing time was.
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| Jackson, Mississippi Marathon Coolest Finisher's Medal ever! January 2014 I have completed the marathon distance 15 times. |
The main reason I am confident I will indeed finish this epic event is that I have properly prepared for it. Simply stated, I have trained amply for the event, both mentally and physically. This preparation includes the following stats completed in my personal training since June 1st of this year:
Swimming: 1,271 minutes—or 21 hours in the pool
Biking: 1,551 miles on the road
Running: 590 miles on the treadmill
Prior to June 1st of this year, I had previously spent many months preparing for the half IRONMAN 70.3 event held on May 11th—also in Panama City Beach.
Given this combined training of the past year, the real question is not: will I finish? But rather: how fast will I go and how will I feel throughout this long day of grueling and unrelenting physical exertion?
I don't know all the answers to these questions... yet.
However, I have put in the necessary work, including strategic build-up and tapering phases. I have also completed the complete distance for all three disciplines (swim, bike, and run) in training, albeit not all of them in a single day.
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| Key West, Florida July 2024 My first triple digit bike ride (116 miles). |
The closest I have come in training to this daring feat was a 77-mile bike ride followed by a 26.2-mile treadmill run, something I accomplished earlier this month on Saturday, October 5th.
It took me just under 11 hours to complete this 103.2-mile biathlon. I hopped on my bike at 7:03 a.m. and stepped off the treadmill at 5:58 p.m.
And I felt capable and strong to the very end and have derived much mental and physical confidence from this workout in particular.
I prefer running on the treadmill to running outside because I can watch videos, read news, and check emails while I run/walk.
Thankfully, treadmill running prepares you pretty well for actual road racing—something I learned in my build-up for the half IRONMAN 70.3 earlier this year.
In preparation for this stepping-stone race in May, I did all my running/walking on the treadmill and discovered on race day that I was sufficiently strong on the actual road after putting in enough miles on the treadmill. This was a relief because I was initially worried that the treadmill would insufficiently prepare me for the actual road, since a treadmill surface is softer and has a lot more "give" than asphalt or concrete.
Below is a copy of the SAL Daily Task Tracker I used to record my precise preparation over the course of the past FIVE months. Numbers on this chart represent the miles I ran and biked, and the minutes I swam.
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| SAL Daily Task Tracker JJ's IRONMAN Triathlon 140.6 Training Log June - October 2024 |
White boxes represent rest, vacation, or other days when I did not do any training. Yellow boxes represent SUNDAYS in my training schedule. As you can see, those days are all completely blank.
I never train on Sundays.
I follow this habit partly for reasons of religious worship. I also do it because my body legitimately needs a complete physical and mental rest from training at least ONE day each week.
As the old saying goes: "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
A similar philosophy exists in almost any kind of athletic training. A corresponding mantra might go like this: "All work and no rest makes Jack tired, burned out, and/or injured." Thus, in athletics, your rest days are just as important as your training days.
A similar principle exists in music: if there is no space between the notes, then all you have is noise. It is the balance between on-and-off—training followed by rest—that maximizes your performance capacity on race day.
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| It is a SATISFACTION and JOY to be dropping some unwanted weight in the process of my training. |
As anyone in their 40s or above well knows, the older you get, the harder it becomes to drop weight—and especially those extra stubborn pounds that have been hanging around for a while.
My 45-year old body — thanks in large part to my eating habits — naturally gravitates to the #200+ pound threshold. I may be 6'1" tall, but as a lean ectomorph with small bones, #200 pounds is too much for me. I always feel heavy and yucky when the scales rise to the two-century mark.
So, getting down to #190 pounds is a BIG DEAL for me! Ideally, I'd still like to lose 10-15 more pounds, as my quintessential weight is closer to #175 or #180.
But it might take another of these IRONMAN Triathlons to accomplish that lofty status on the scales!
Or... I'd have to finally buckle down and eat fewer sweets and drink less soda—a tall order for me and my 32 "Sweet Teeth"—a feat that, to date, I have been unsuccessful in achieving.
My baseline goal (Tier 3) is to complete the 140.6 mile course in under 15 hours. This is a realistic goal—even if I experience some unexpected issues along the way (like a flat tire) that slow me down more than anticipated.
My main goal (Tier 2) is to finish in under 14 hours. This is also a realistic goal, but will require extra drive, effort, focus, perseverance, and luck (no flat tires or injuries) to achieve.
My IDEAL—or ultimate goal—(Tier 1) is to finish under 13 hours.
My tier one goal is probably not realistic given my present level of experience and training. However, if everything goes perfectly, and I give it everything I have, this threshold may not be out of the question; if not this Saturday, then certainly next May if I decide to enter the Woodlands, Texas (Houston) full IRONMAN Triathlon in the Lone Star State. I'm about 95% sold on giving this thing another go-round in Texas six months from now. We used to live across Interstate 45 from The Woodlands, and have many friends in that area, so we're thinking of making a family trip out of it.
We'll see about the other 5% and an official Round TWO entry after I have completed Round ONE!
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| Christopher P. Neck, Ph.D. Full Professor of Management Arizona State University W.P. Carey School of Business |
As always, CHRIS gives good advice!
Thank You, Dr. Neck!
Given the fact that I am not an elite triathlete and will not be winning any awards or prize money—no matter how well I personally perform on Saturday—it makes a lot of sense to avoid becoming a slave to the clock and really focus in on enjoying the journey.
This concept of "Enjoying the Journey" is a golden metaphor for LIFE as well... something Dr. Neck has been coaching me on for a while now—to my benefit!
Nevertheless, the fact is that I am, by nature, a dedicated competitor and therefore enjoy pushing myself to achieve time goals as an athlete.
For this reason, I will remain aware of the clock and strive to do my best—without being too hard on myself or feeling depressed if things don't go exactly to plan; and in a race this long, there are bound to be some unexpected challenges and other wrinkles along the way.
Wish me luck; and meet me back here at the Freedom Focused Blog next Wednesday to not only read a report and review of my first ever full IRONMAN 140.6 triathlon, but also to receive an update on the progress of my online, serial publication of the SAL Life Leadership Textbook (7th Edition) as well as the pending hardcopy printing due out in late 2026 or early 2027.
Like completing a full IRONMAN Triathlon, publishing the SEVENTH Edition of this comprehensive Life Leadership Textbook is gonna be a BIG DEAL.In fact, it'll be about 10 times bigger a deal than this IRONMAN triathlon!
After all, I've spent thousands of hours training for long-distance racing events over the course of my life; but I've spent tens of thousands of hours creating the SAL Life Leadership Textbook.
Why is the SEVENTH Edition of the SAL Textbook going to be such a big deal?
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| Doctoral degree/diploma in Education Fielding Graduate University 2013 Zoom in to see the "Tucker Tracks"— my newborn son's spit-up on my shirt. |
That FIRST Edition was the work of a much younger and less experienced and polished JJ. It was long before I earned a "Doctor of Education" title before my name, along with its corresponding credentialed letters (Ed.D.) after my name.
That initial work back in 2006 was unquestionably the work of an amateur—an ambitious, driven, highly motivated, obsessive-compulsive, talented, and visionary amateur, but an amateur none the less!
In the words of one of my cousins—a talented writer herself—"Jordan: your writing is about 10,000 times better than it used to be." She wrote this comment to me point-blank about a decade after I published the FIRST Edition of the SAL Textbook.
She was right!
And that was a decade ago.
I've come even further as a writer and thinker after adding yet another decade of life experience and writing practice.
I recently had an opportunity to hear the famous Leadership author, coach, and guru—John C. Maxwell—speak.
Maxwell travels, speaks, and consults all over the world. But he lives near us in South Florida, and his home church—Christ Fellowship—is located in Palm Beach Gardens, just a mile from where my family and I live. A little while ago, some of our neighbors invited me to attend their church to see and hear John speak.
I had heard Maxwell speak before—at Joel Osteen's legendary Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas—and John lived up to his high-billed reputation.
He was fantastic!
Afterward I bought one of his books on leadership and had the chance to meet him and get my book signed. He's a big, nice, smiley fella who radiates love and optimism everywhere he goes! Thus, it was a pleasure to get to hear him speak live once again, as he is one of the finest orators and presenters I have ever had the privilege to see and hear.
Well into his 70s, Maxwell has had a lifetime to practice, refine, and polish his craft; and his experience shows! There are few, if any, better speakers on planet Earth than John Maxwell.
In the presentation I attended, John said something that really resonated with me about his own experiences as an author. |
| At Freedom Focused, we're hopeful SEVEN will be the SAL Life Leadership Textbook's Lucky Number. |
"When I wrote my first book, it wasn't very good. But I did it again, and I did it again, and I did it again; and by about the SEVENTH book, I got really good at it, and my career started to take off from there."
In the decades since, Maxwell has authored some 70 different books in total, many of which have become huge bestsellers.
I do not share this story simply to suggest that the SEVENTH Edition of the SAL Life Leadership textbook is destined to finally fill the full measure of its creation.
Maybe it will; maybe it won't.
At this point in my career, I'm not overly concerned with the details of timing—something that's often outside of my immediate control. I'm simply committed to continually honing and polishing my craft and taking the pointers of my Boss and mentors, whatever they encourage me to do, and wherever they direct me to go.
As I clearly state and plainly affirm in...
JJ's Personal Creed
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| Click HERE to learn more about how to write your own PERSONAL CREED. |
Despite this relative lack of concern about the timing of the SAL Textbook's future public success, one thing is for certain: this comprehensive Life Leadership textbook—my life and career magnum opus—has come a very long ways since the FIRST Edition published back in 2006, and I have a hard time believing that my Boss would allow me to continue to spend so much time over so many years (and even decades now) continuing to perfect it if He did not have significant plans for it in due time. So, as always, I defer to His judgment and timing; but no one can ever say I didn't do my due diligence and play my part to the best of my imperfect ability.
In preparation for the publication update, which will come next week after my racing report, let me now whet your whistle with the STORY behind this massive, lifelong project.
The Story of the SAL Life Leadership Textbook
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| My First Two Handwritten Journal Entries Mesa, Arizona, USA ~ January 1-2, 1987 |
My journey creating a comprehensive Life Leadership Textbook—Self-Action Leadership: A Textbook and Journal for Life—began on January 1, 1987.
It was the day I penned my life's first journal entry.
I was in first grade and my spelling was terrible!
Subsequent entries improved dramatically thanks to a lot of practice and the help of my older brother Joe—eight years my elder—with whom I shared a bedroom that had adjacent writing desks facing a wall.
Thus, began a journey with pen and paper—and later computer and digital files—that would last a lifetime and eventually fill up many thousands of pages of text.
That same year, or perhaps early the following year—1988—I attended my first Time Management seminar.
I was eight (8) years old.
What was a second grader doing at a professional Time Management seminar for adults?
Good Question!
The answer is that my uncle was the late Hyrum W. Smith, an originator of the famous Franklin Day Planning System and a co-founder, along with Dr. Stephen R. Covey, of FranklinCovey Company.
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| Hyrum W. Smith 1943-2019 Co-Founder of FranklinCovey Company My maternal Uncle had a monumental influence on my life and career. |
In the famed fictional parlance of the silver screen's Jerry Maguire, you might well say that Uncle Hyrum had me at: "Prioritized Daily Task List" and "Values and Goals."
I was hooked!
For the rest of my life, I would be focused on—even obsessed with—personal leadership principles, practices, habits, theories, mantras, poems, and quotes.
And it all began when I started keeping a personal journal—and started toting my own Franklin Day Planner along with me to school as a second grader.
I know...
I was a weird kid in more ways than one!
Heck; I'm a weird adult in more ways than one.
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| At my desk with Franklin Day Planner in 2nd Grade at Nathan Hale Elementary School Mesa, Arizona 1987-88 |
Between OCD, depression, bad personal habits (i.e. laziness and a lack of focus, discipline, and desire for high marks), a preference for sports over school, and few academic aptitudes for math and science, I struggled in school—more so than any of my six siblings.
I started off well enough in elementary school, but junior high and high school were different matters, and I graduated in 1998 from Ferris High School in Spokane, Washington with a 2.9 GPA and a very average college entrance exam (ACT) score of 21.
For comparison's sake, my brilliant and talented wife, Lina, scored a 33 (out of 36) on her ACT and a 1590 (out of 1600) on the SAT.
I didn't even take the SAT.
It wasn't even on my radar at the time.
And now you know why Lina ended up at Georgia Tech—an elite, Top 5 school in her field of study (mechanical engineering)—and I ended up at a local State College (Utah Valley) that welcomed anyone and everyone willing to pay tuition.
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| My Student I.D. Card at UVSC (now UVU) |
Utah Valley State College (now Utah Valley University) was good to me, and I'm super proud to be a Wolverine alum and former harrier on their men's NJCAA cross-country and track teams (they are now NCAA, Division 1).
Indeed, come what may to the end of my days, I'll always proudly bleed "Green" not "Blue" or "Red" or "Purple" or "Navy" (those familiar with Higher Education in Utah know what these colors mean).
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| JJ leading a collegiate 800 meter race while proudly wearing Wolverine "GREEN" Weber State University Track April 2003 |
I was, not surprisingly, rejected by this more elite school and ended up getting my bachelor's degree in English in 2003 from UVSC (now UVU) instead, where I managed to improve my GPA from a 2.9 in high school to a 3.2 in college.
A decade later, I would surpass all of my past academic performances to earn a better-than-perfect 4.049 GPA in my 4-year Doctoral program in Education at Fielding Graduate University.
Suffice it to say, I was a classic "Late Bloomer" academically—as well as physically, emotionally, socially, and professionally. |
| My Visiting Student I.D. Card at BYU |
In fact, the single-most important class I ever took was a summer course in LEADERSHIP at BYU during the valuable time I spent there as a visiting student.
I soaked up every minute of that wonderful class!
In lieu of a final exam, my classmates and I were assigned to create and compose a comprehensive "Personal Leadership Statement." Mine ended up being about 15 pages long and was the single most important and valuable school assignment I ever completed in all 19 years of my formal education. The concepts involved hearkened harmoniously back to the same dreamy childhood experiences I had enjoyed as a second grader planning my hours, days, weeks, months, years—and life—out in my Franklin Day Planner.This idea of a Personal Leadership Statement later served as the basis of the Self-Declaration of Independence and Self-Constitution principles and practices I outline, teach, and promote in the SAL Life Leadership Textbook curriculum.
The day after I graduated from college in Utah in July 2003, I fulfilled a personal ambition and dream to move to the beautiful Southern States—a part of my beloved country (God Bless the USA) to which I had never been—where I aimed to search out adventure, "Seek my Fortune" and hopefully "Find True Love." |
| Georgia on my Mind Atlanta, Georgia 2003 |
I eventually found all of the above in lavish measure throughout the glorious SOUTH, which is also where the seedlings of my first personal leadership seminar sprouted at Lassiter High School in Marietta, Georgia (metro Atlanta) in the fall of 2003.
Like my Uncle Hyrum, his colleague Stephen Covey, and other self-help gurus I admired and had studied, I aimed to produce my own work and become a published author.
I first realized this dream and goal in 2006, when I self-published a FIRST edition of the SAL textbook.
Aimed at a high school audience, it was entitled: I Am Sovereign: The Power of Personal Leadership. I also secured a literary agent, who began shopping the book around to major New York publishing houses.
I was hopeful and excited about the prospects of getting a real publishing deal from a major house.
But it was not to be.
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| The FIRST Edition of the SAL Textbook Self-Published with BookSurge, now Palmetto Publishing out of Charleston, South Carolina |
My agent's pitches were all rejected.
No one wanted to gamble on an unknown and relatively inexperienced author in his mid-20s.
Though this book was destined to remain in its self-published form, I was able to sell several hundred copies of this FIRST Edition and teach dozens of seminars or speak to high school audiences in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, Utah, Colorado, and California—all through my own, grassroots marketing efforts.
I operated these efforts on a shoestring budget of credit cards and personal (family) loans and incurred a measure of business debt as a result. It took Lina and me until 2012 to finally remit our last payment.
It was a painful and important lesson that I had to learn the hard way; I will never go into that kind of debt again.
In 2007, I finally landed a publisher for a SECOND edition of the SAL Textbook, also aimed at a high school audience and entitled: Leaders for Life: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide to Self-Leadership.Sadly, the unscrupulous, second-rate publisher I signed a contract with dishonestly reneged on our written agreement, and that manuscript remains unpublished to this day. It is the only edition of the SAL Textbook that was never published. In hindsight, this event was almost certainly a blessing in disguise, but it was frustrating and irritating at the time.
Later in 2007, I began a side career as a professional contract seminar facilitator, first with Fred Pryor Seminars and then later with SkillPath Seminars. By early 2016, I had added to my resume 600 all-day courses taught to corporate and public audiences all over the U.S., the UK, and Canada.
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| Dr. JJ's 4-Volume Doctoral Dissertation THIRD Edition of the SAL Textbook |
I completed my Doctoral studies via Fielding's "Distance Education" program over the next four years while concurrently teaching in Houston for a year, after which I shipped off on sabbatical to St. John's, Newfoundland, where my wife, Lina, was stationed for two years with her corporate job.
In early 2013, I published a THIRD Edition of the SAL Textbook in the form of my Doctoral dissertation—a 1,049-page, 4-volume academic tome that introduced Self-Action Leadership, a new theory and model of self-leadership and action research rooted in autoethnography, existentialism, and Aristotelian philosophy.
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| SAL Life Leadership Textbook FOURTH Edition 2013 |
In late 2013, I self-published a FOURTH Edition of the SAL Textbook. Entitled: Self-Action Leadership: The Key to Everything. This rough draft of future editions served as a popular recapitulation of the scholarly work put forth in my Doctoral dissertation.
In 2015, I self-published a FIFTH Edition of the SAL Textbook. Entitled: Self-Action Leadership: The Key to Personal, Professional, and Global Freedom.It was a more polished version of the Fourth Edition.
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| SAL Life Leadership Textbook FIFTH Edition 2015 |
I initially assumed my stay-at-home Daddy gig would be short-lived. To Lina's everlasting credit, she stood ready to follow me wherever I was able to find a brick-and-mortar teaching job at the college level, which was my intention when nothing materialized with the 5th Edition of the SAL Textbook.
However, after applying to 100 positions at over 70 different colleges and universities all over the world—and two high schools in our area—I received zero offers of employment. I did land three interviews—two of which were at local high schools—but all three positions were awarded to others.
Nearly nine years later, in 2024, I'm still a full-time stay-at-home dad. Forgive me for a brief comment of brutal candidness here: there were many days—especially in the beginning—when this arrangement felt like a curse. Being a stay-at-home dad was never an ambition or goal written down in my Franklin Day Planner or journal, nor did I ever seriously consider filling this role until January 2016.
But in hindsight, it has unquestionably been one of the most salient and significant blessings of my entire life and career. Not only has it made me a better husband and father and drawn me closer to the four (4) most important people in the world to me, but it has also provided me with just the right amount of time needed to continue unabated my life and career's work as a writer.
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| In my home office working on my Doctoral dissertation with my first child, Tucker. Conroe, Texas ~ Spring 2013 |
The ever-interplaying power of such perpetual, precise, and pristine Providence-in-action throughout every physical and metaphysical atom of my existence is glorious beyond my limited capacity to explicate—wordsmith though I pride myself to be. I do not claim to fully comprehend the magnanimity or majesty of it all; but I do fall to my knees in humble gratitude for it—and will continue in said thanksgiving forevermore.
In so many ways, I am a very wealthy man.
Perhaps the single greatest and most concrete example of this Serendipity was the Boss's generosity in allowing me to continue my professional work through my writing, despite having to largely put on hold the speaking and training portions of my career. This divine GIFT afforded me with just enough time to not only keep the Freedom Focused blog up-and-running, but to also continue the on-going revision and pending perfection of the SAL Life Leadership textbook.
Speaking of the blog, I published its first article in October 2014—exactly 10 years ago.
In mid 2020, I began publishing weekly articles, and have continued that regular practice for 224 consecutive weeks (over 4 years) without a miss. Today's article, which are you presently reading, is my 415th published article in the past decade.
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| The 2-Volume SIXTH Edition of the SAL Life Leadership Textbooks Published by Cambridge Scholars Publishers Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom |
It was a landmark achievement for me as a writer and academic!
In 2019, Cambridge Scholars published this SIXTH Edition of the SAL Textbook in Two Volumes as:In September 2023, I began an online, serial publication of the SEVENTH Edition of the SAL Textbook right here on the Freedom Focused blog, publishing one newly revised chapter every Wednesday morning.
Sometime in late 2026 or early 2027, I will self-publish a hard copy version of the complete SEVENTH Edition of the SAL Textbook through Palmetto Publishing out of Charleston, South Carolina.
Twenty years ago, Palmetto Publishing was known as Booksurge Publishing—the self-publisher that printed the FIRST Edition of the SAL Textbook all the way back in 2006. So, you might say I have come full-circle by teaming up with Palmetto, and am looking forward to self-publishing a much better SEVENTH Edition of the SAL Textbook with a publisher that has, like me, also come a long ways over the past two decades.
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| Mock-up Cover for the SAL Life Leadership Textbook SEVENTH Edition |
In this landmark SEVENTH Edition, the Two Volumes of the SIXTH Edition will be consolidated into ONE, big, Bible-esque, 8.5 x 11-inch, two-columned, Granddaddy TEXTBOOK on Life Leadership.
This new work will be entitled:
Self-Action Leadership: A Textbook and Journal for Life.This work is now operating in its 8th title since that first edition published back in 2006, and I think I may have finally found its titular sweet spot and final home.
Time will tell!
I refer to this Character Education tome as "Bible-esque" because the work is both long and focused on Life Leadership (like the Bible).
Despite this description, the work is both academic, non-partisan, and secular in nature. Thus, it will (hopefully), in its time, prove appealing to both public and private schools all over the United States and world.
Indeed, my keenest personal and career VISION has always been to get the character-centric message of SAL and LIFE LEADERSHIP into schools everywhere in conjunction with businesses, homes, and individual spaces; but perhaps especially into the schools.
It has never made sense to me that educators the world over spend so much effort, energy, money, resources, and time teaching things that have only marginal value in real life—and in the real world—while leaving most of the weightier matters of personal leadership, character development, life skills, personal finance, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, et cetera, to others who may or may not be reliable sources for providing such essential instruction to our youth.
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| Dr. JJ as a wee lad with his Mama outside the Jensen home in Mesa, Arizona, in 1987. |
It's hard to overemphasize how great and important that blessing has been in my own life and career!
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| So in love with our toes in the sand'n'surf. South Beach ~ Miami, Florida ~ March 2007 |
With the Boss's continual aid, the timeless and enduring message of SAL will eventually proliferate precisely how it is supposed to and exactly when the time is right.
When this holistic work on life leadership and character development is published in its newest, SEVENTH-Edition format, it will be nearly 40 years since I first penned that inaugural journal entry in Mesa, Arizona back on January 1, 1987.
Suffice it to say, it has been quite a journey! |
| Everything else I've achieved in my life and career pales in importance to my WIFE & KIDS. |
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| Despite any and all of my adversity, trials, and temporary poverty on the outside, I've always been a very rich man because of who I am on the inside. The same is TRUE for YOU! The question is: will you choose to unlock your own Acres of Diamonds within? |
Speaking of my many and varied life experiences throughout this amazing nation and world of ours, one of the unique things about this singular, comprehensive work—the SAL Life Leadership textbook—is that my own life story, and the narratives of other great self-action leaders (men and women) I have either known or studied, are inextricably woven throughout the entire tome, which, when complete, will be 2/3rds as long as the OLD TESTAMENT and one-half as long as the Complete Works of Shakespeare.
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| The Immortal Bard The greatest of my literary heros |
Having always been an enthusiastic admirer of the incomparable Immortal Bard—and the august authors of the Bible—accomplishing this massive project has been exceedingly fulfilling, rewarding, and satisfying to me.
Length, of course, does not guarantee quality or substance.
Nevertheless, like my hero—William Shakespeare—I have striven diligently to trim the fat without lacerating the muscle of this, my mammoth magnum opus over the course of seven, long, independent iterations spanning 22 years of tireless revision.
I invite YOU to join me and my other readers on an adventure of a lifetime by tuning in to this Freedom Focused blog every Wednesday morning, where a new book chapter (or other article) will be published and made available to you and all the world, FREE-of-charge.
Then, when the complete work is published and made available via hard copy TEXTBOOK in a couple of years, I invite YOU to buy the book, study it, complete the SAL Master Challenge and enter the Freedom Circle. Then, I invite you to share it with others you love and encourage them to do the same, thus allowing the work to benefit those you care about most for the rest of their lives (and yours)—just as it has so enormously helped me.
Yours in SAL, now...
And FOREVER!
Remember to join me again next Wednesday to learn how my IRONMAN event went... and more about the progress of the online, serial publication of the SAL Life Leadership textbook (7th Edition)—a project 10 times more ambitious and infinitely more rewarding and (potentially) impactful to others than completing a full IRONMAN Triathlon—epic though that certainly is, in its own right!
—Dr. JJ
Author's Note: This is the 415th Blog Post Published by Freedom Focused LLC since November 2013 and the 224th consecutive weekly blog published since August 31, 2020.
Click HERE for a compete listing of the other 414 FF Blog Articles
Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL QUOTES
Click HERE for a complete listing of Freedom Focused SAL POEMS
Click HERE to access the FULL TEXT of Dr. JJ's Psalms of Life: A Poetry Collection
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Tune in NEXT Wednesday for another article on a Self-Action Leadership related topic.
Click HERE to buy the SAL Textbooks
