100 Pedals

Recovery for Parents Dealing with Addiction in their Families

## Every Day Is a Celebration!

June 25, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

“Embrace everyday as an opportunity to celebrate, learn, grow, and love – live positively and trust the outcome.”
Coming off the high of my most recent speaking engagement in Germany, I have been tempted to figure out a way to make that happen again. Once I remind myself how indirectly that success came to me, I adjust my mindset. I have every intention of living that incredible experience again. I simply need to remind myself that the outcome in Germany was a byproduct of a series of commitments, behaviors, and tactics. It was not something that I obsessively focused on accomplishing or making happen. It was in the consistency with which I shared and lived my passion over time that made that desire a reality.

I used to get all caught up in how I can make things happen. I attempted to control and influence outcomes in obsessive, reactive like tactics. My strategies for my business and my life were like chasing rainbows. I would get an idea and chase after it for a while – all in the quest to get to a defined outcome now.

Over the past fifteen months, I have completely transformed my attitude and my behaviors. Though I am not always consistent to them, I am discovering more opportunity, more results, and more peace in this approach. When I get nervous or tentative about the immediate future, I remind myself that when I trust in the outcomes for my future good things happen.

I really don’t need to do anything except embrace and celebrate every single day as another opportunity. The great outcomes in life are defined by the consistent application of little celebrated accomplishments. Unless you win the lottery, you cannot be rich overnight. Unless you go on an unhealthy starvation program, you cannot lose weight overnight. And, you cannot simply put on a pair of sneakers and run a 26.2 mile marathon.

Every accomplishment in your life takes time, commitment, vision, and trust. Part of any celebrated accomplishment is the journey and the lessons learned along the way. You can attempt to speed up or short circuit the process and you may even get to your desired outcome; however, the lessons in the experience are lost. In fact, all you likely discovered was as long as there is an easy way to get to something, you can accomplish anything. Life has an interesting rule: there isn’t always a short cut to success and getting to success doesn’t mean you understand how to enjoy or celebrate it.

Every day is a gift. It offers you an opportunity to enjoy what that day brings you. It is there for you to live in focused commitment to who you are, what you have to offer others, and what you can learn on your journey. At the end of the day when you are winding it down, instead of focusing on what you didn’t do, take a moment to embrace in celebration what you did accomplish and enjoy. That is the gift of every day.

Progress is not measured by daily results. Progress is celebrated through daily accomplishments. Put positive energy and joy into your life by living and celebrating your journey. Because you know where you are going, your journey is the source for experiential lessons which enable you to better appreciate and celebrate the outcome of your accomplishments. Embrace the journey, trust in the trip, and enjoy the lessons and the experiences – the adventure helps you appreciate everything else that much more.
Have a great, positive, and peaceful week!!

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Focusing On Your Vision, Inspirational Perspectives, Living Your Purpose, Make A Commitment Tagged With: adventure, celebrating accomplishments, celebrating progress, celebrating success, embracing adventure, embracing the journey, trust

## The Power of Your Perspective

June 18, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

“The realm of possibilities is defined by the limitations you assign to them.”

The way we approach and view the present and future opportunities for our lives has a significant influence on our overall mission and vision. It is these perspectives that ultimately influence and define future outcomes.

Everyone sees the world in a different way. Though our individual realities are not the same as others, it does not mean our perspective is wrong. It is our perspective and it is valid for us from where we stand. Our reality and our reflections of our personal experiences do not need to be accepted, believed, affirmed, or validated by others. It is from our reality, our view, which is the starting point from where we move forward in life.

While your relevant view is valid, it is important to be open to the reality that there may be other influential, insightful, and informational perspectives, as well. The emotional perspectives of your past experiences and of your present reality are very powerful resources. Understanding and recognizing how they define and influence you are essential to your future development and accomplishment.

The other powerful influence is your ability to learn from the accomplishments and insights of others. It is from these perspectives that your view is broadened and greater opportunities are discovered.

There is nothing more limiting in life than exclusively embracing our world view. Our view — accurate for us as it is — is extremely powerful, controlling, yet limited. Our view is merely one set of lenses. It is through the broadened perspectives of other people’s views that we are able to discover other experiences, insights and opportunities. It is through the viewpoint of a different set of lenses that we can define a greater vision for our lives.

Our life experiences began with a fearless beginning. In the enthusiasm of our innocence, we simply started doing and being. As we lived, we learned. As we learned, we discovered happiness, accomplishment, joy, and success. We also discovered hurt, pain, failure, and defeat. Over time the voices in our head and other external voices started to influence what we thought and believed we were and what we were capable of. We started to embrace these messages as valid and began to allow them to define our future outcomes.

It is time to recognize the positive aspects of our lessons. It is the how we embrace the accomplishments in our life that help us define a broad potential for our future.

We also need to be better aware of how much we are influenced by our more negative experiences. How we view ourselves defines where we are going. A strong negative influence creates invisible barriers to what we will allow ourselves to accomplish. It also facilitates enforcement of our fears, worries, and concerns.

Start by adjusting your view. Discover and embrace all the components of your journey that made you successful, happy, accomplished, and at peace. Create visual images of these incredibly positive emotional events. Mentally place those images in the front of your mind and take them with you wherever you go. In doing so, those images become the most influential part of your current reality.

Next, celebrate and learn from the passions, experiences, successes and energy of others. There are lessons in these experiences that will inspire, guide and drives you. Avoid the feeling of inadequacy or failure when you are listening and learning from these conversations. Everyone is on their own journey. Their experiences are an opportunity to learn, grow and experience. They are not an assessment or evaluation of your progress or accomplishment in your journey. You will be inspired the accomplishment of others when you allow yourself to discover what the success means to them in their journey.

Finally, embrace without limitations, the passionate direction for your life. Living in confident awareness of your success and embracing the inspirational lessons of the accomplishments of others, provides you an open road for your future. Removing the limits of your negative energy – failure, envy, low esteem – allows you to freely embrace the next great outcome in your life.

When you embrace the potential and opportunity for unlimited accomplishment in your life – you will discover and celebrate it.

Filed Under: Focusing On Your Vision, Live With Passion, Seizing Opportunity

## It’s Your Turn To Deliver Positive

June 11, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

Positive is ours to live, give, and be — make those around you positive, too!

There is nothing I enjoy more than being around people who energize and inspire me. It is in this interaction where I obtain perspectives and information that enlighten and educate me. I thrive on it — who doesn’t?

Unfortunately there is the other reality — those that have not yet found their peace, joy, or passion. It is often these people who challenge us most. They are the ones who inadvertently and unconsciously inject their dissatisfaction and unhappiness in our lives. Their intrusion into our positive existence is painful, distracting, frustrating, and challenging. Negative people definitely interrupt my commitment to be more positive in my life.

If we could, we would like nothing other than to surround ourselves with positive, inspiring people everyday. I know a lot of people who have made a commitment to cut negative people out of their lives. While this is a choice that I completely understand, I would like to offer a different and more challenging alternative.

We all come to this place in our lives from different backgrounds, experiences, and lessons. Who we are and how we got to this point is the result of a wide ranging combination of relationships, choices, successes, and failures. Our ability to see or think clearly about the positive aspects or opportunities in our life is a byproduct of the people who stepped in and guided us when we ourselves were not so clear or happy. The gift of their enlightenment and their love to us is part of what brought us to our positive, aware place.

Because we benefited from the love, guidance, teaching, and inspiration of others in our darkest most challenging moments, do we have the right to withhold that same energy from the people who need us most? Think about it for a minute. I am pretty confident you see where I am going with this.

Lost, unhappy, and negative people need us more than the positive ones. Those negative people who exist in your life are the ones who can benefit most from your focused commitment to the positives in your life. This does not mean that you have to change their viewpoint or tell them what they need to do to turn their life around. They probably wouldn’t get it or understand anyway.

Instead, avoid giving audience to their negativity and interrupt it with your positivity. When someone says something negative or demotivating, respond with your positive, inspiring take on the same thought. Three things happen when you do this. First, their comments are not validated. Second, you left them with something to think about. Finally, you validate your passion for the positive aspects of your life that inspire you and keep you moving forward.

There are plenty of lost and hurting souls in this world. It would be easy to make a commitment to moving them out of your life. This is neither productive or giving. Instead of cutting negative people out of your life, make a commitment to consistently share the positive perspectives that you celebrate in yours. If they don’t see it, hear it or understand it — that is their challenge. It is up to you to give them that opportunity to discover it; for I am confident someone did it for you at one point in your life!

Filed Under: Embrace Responsibility, Giving Love, Live With Passion, Make A Commitment

## It Starts With Trust

June 4, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

“You know what you need to do, trust yourself enough to do it!”

We have all heard the term “paralysis by analysis.” It is a process people go through in constantly analyzing an idea, thought, or strategy before taking action. Eventually, the process becomes the action and no real progress is made. Ready, aim, aim…

In my most recent article I offered perspective on how big goals can have a tendency to create big expectations which generate huge expectations and burdens. The sheer size of a goal can be the very load that impedes accomplishment. Instead of generating a monstrous goal, focus on the vision of success and make committed progress toward that outcome. The momentum generated from consistently applied and relatively small accomplishments toward your vision will drive you, with confidence, to a very successful and desired outcome.

Generating the momentum necessary to get to this point starts with TRUST. In most cases, we already know what we need to do or to be doing. We know exactly what the first steps toward any successful outcome is. Instead of trusting that inner voice that reminds us what to do first, we start to think about that direction and advice. We analyze and examine that simply, easy step for validation and opportunity. And, we begin to explore alternative ideas or a measured sense of, after that step, what would be next. In this process, we unintentionally block our progress through our analytical thinking. This creates room for doubt, hesitation, and fear to enter into the conversation.

The key to getting started and staying on your path to accomplishment is to TRUST yourself. Trust that very first message your internal voice gives you. When you seek an answer listen to that very first, honest voice. It is your inner voice – the good one – offering you the best advice and direction you will ever receive. The solution, the action, and the next steps are right there. Respond to that voice by taking immediate action in that direction.

Last week I met with a very inspiring father, Barry Adkins. Barry lost his eighteen year old son following a night of binge drinking. As he was going through the process of dealing with the news of his son’s death and making plans for his funeral, Barry instinctively knew what he was going to do. He and his son talked often about building a ranch on property he owned in Montana and his son, Kevin, would move there and be the caretaker. Knowing his son always wanted to live in Montana, Barry knew that he had to take Kevin to Montana. Once that was decided, the rest was a series of simple internally driven steps. In the end, Barry walked from Chandler, AZ to Montana with Kevin’s ashes in his backpack. Along the way he shared his story with anyone – students, parents – that wanted to listen.

Kevin’s Last Walk is an inspiring story about a father’s love. Barry knew what he needed to do, he allowed himself to take the steps necessary to do it, and didn’t let the practical details get in his way. He simply took action in that direction. The outcome of that effort is an incredibly courageous and moving story about his love, his commitment, and his journey.

I began the 100Pedals journey as an unfiltered response to my quest to get control and clarity in my life. I asked myself a question and embraced the answer. I didn’t spend any time thinking it over. I trusted the progression of my thoughts and took action. The resulting journey has inspired me, touched others, and transformed my life. I have been blessed by the experience, the insights, and the outcome. None of this would have been possible if I had not simply trusted the answers I received.

The outcomes and successes in our life are not the result of creating or building incredibly big ideas or setting huge goals and then implementing them. They are the result of us trusting our instincts to do what we need to do and taking that first and subsequent step in the defined direction. You know what you need to do. All it takes is a little TRUST!

Filed Under: Focusing On Your Vision, Inspirational Perspectives, Maintaining Focus, Make A Commitment