100 Pedals

Significant Outcomes in the Face of Adversity

## Five simple steps to creating change in your life

December 2, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

When you find yourself at that place where you are not celebrating the outcomes you desire in your life, you have two choices — do something or do nothing. Ultimately the situation will not change until you decide it must. The easy part is knowing what to do; the hard part is making the commitment.

Rather than getting all hung up on an overworked action plan, here are five steps you can take to change your future outcomes:

1. Declare: “I am not satisfied with where I am.”
2. Inquire: “What can I do differently?” or “What can I do better?”
3. Explore: “How will this change the outcome I am experiencing?”
4. Confirm: “This is what I need to do!”
5. Act: “I will…” Make the commitment, challenge yourself, do the work!

Whatever the situation, there is a solution. Everything begins with embracing personal responsibility for the outcomes in your life. Once you openly, honestly, and receptively explore the options you will find the answer. Armed with the solution, the only step remaining is taking action and making it happen.

The answer is usually quite obvious. What holds us back is not the solution; it is the work, the risk, and the task of implementation. Have the courage to trust your path and embrace the challenge. Successful and incredible outcomes to change are just around the corner.

On Sunday, December 1, I challenged myself to step up and make some changes in my life. This challenge reflects behaviors and activities that I were once part of my life routine and that I had fallen out of. I have challenged myself to actively focus on making the necessary changes in my life to get back into those routines for the next 100Days. I will be sharing comments from my daily experiences on my 100Day Challenge Facebook Group. Please join me and follow along with my experiences and thoughts on this journey.

Filed Under: Make A Commitment, The Four Wheels of Personal Leadership Tagged With: change, change behaviors, commitment, creating change, embracing change, focus, personal responsibility, The 100Day Challenge

## Get After It!

February 4, 2026 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

Pursuit of your dreams requires consistent, focused effort! Every day that you don’t is another day that you haven’t. Every day that you haven’t interrupts progress.

My dream and my mission is the 100PedalsRide - a 4500 mile, 100 day, 14 city bike ride where I will be speaking to young adults across the country about the opportunities to make powerful choices in their lives.

Even though I got hit by a car in December, while riding by bike, I will not let this incident interrupt my plans. Despite a totaled bicycle and a broken wrist, I am still training and still working the dream.

Adversity is what life throws at you. The intensity of your commitment through any adversity is what defines the outcomes of your dreams. You have to keep moving. When you stop, you concede all momentum and progress.

Chasing a dream requires that we stay on task and do something every single day in pursuit of that outcome. It doesn’t require hours of activity every day; but, it requires a focused commitment to the outcome.

Nothing is more boring, mind or butt numbing than sixty to ninety minutes on a trainer on the back porch every day. This week I will go past 700 miles on that trainer. After that, I do something else — planning, recruiting, fund raising, etc — to keep the 100PedalsRide moving.

This is my dream. This is my commitment. And, this is my challenge. If I submit to adversities of time, health, inspiration, or other perceived priorities, I am interrupting the progress of my dream. My focus and my commitment are so clear that I simply will not allow that to happen.

When you take that challenge remember — get after it every day and stay after it every day and you will get there!!

Filed Under: Focusing On Your Vision, Inspirational Perspectives, Maintaining Focus, Make A Commitment Tagged With: celebrating progress, celebrating success, dealing with adversity, honoring commitments, honoring the challenge, honoring your commitments, living your commitment, maintaining momentum, maintaining progress, managing adversity, staying committed, taking the challenge, The 100Day Challenge

## The Geology of Life

December 3, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

“Life is like cycling — you have to keep on pedaling!”

Technically you do not have to keep moving; but, you are moving whether you realize it or not. If you are not moving forward, you are moving backwards. Either way, you are not standing still.

Sometimes progress is painfully, frustratingly, agonizingly slow. It is hard to believe that on those days where nothing goes right, that anyone could possibly be moving forward. When everything is going wrong or gets messed up, how can anyone see progress in these failings?

Good question.

Ever witness your hair growing? Do you see it getting longer by the day? Yet, you know that if you let it continue without being trimmed, cut, or shaved (that’s me) it will end up being longer than it was thirty days ago. You cannot see your hair grow, but you know those hair cells are constantly moving and growing. A consistent effort over a period of time. Though you actually can’t see the progress, you can certainly see the results over time.

This is the geology of accomplished life — little bits of continuous pressure will move mountains. Similar to the evolutionary events associated with glaciers, ice, rock and time, the constant pressure from the earth causes things to move. This is our life. We certainly cannot observe the movements and shifts in the geology around us, yet we all know that mountains are moved by the forces of consistently applied force.

As I work on my current project, the 100PedalsRide, I have experienced some of the same frustrations many of you feel when you take things on. Examining my progress from one day to the next, or in relationship to a time frame for completion, or simply looking for some measurable momentum, at times I have been quite disappointed. These disappointments creep into my head and impact progress. On the days I am not feeling energized about the progress associated with my commitment or the mission, I also do not keep the pressure on. I let my frustrations distract me and those distractions lessen my effort. As a result, progress is interrupted. Continuous pressure keeps things moving forward. Intermittent pressure results in a loss of momentum.

The other night I was at a 100Day Challenge Meet-up and I was inspired by the energy of those around me regarding the 100PedalsRide project. Three months ago many of these people were just starting to understand and comprehend the project, now they are my most enthusiastic cheerleaders and supporters. I didn’t really know I was making any progress until I had a room full of people demonstrate how much progress I had made in ninety days. Though I was concerned I was sharing my passion and commitment for this project into an open space where no one was hearing, listening or being inspired, I realized that everyday I was connecting and touching and sharing my story with someone, I had created more enthusiasm for my project. What wasn’t measurable or obvious on a day-to-day assessment, became very apparent when I was able to measure this incredible progress over time.

Your life, your projects, your commitments face similar challenges. They cannot be measured, assessed, or affirmed, in short periods of time. The consistently applied pressure of your passion will move mountains. You cannot stop. You must continue to push even when it seems like nothing is really happening. And, you have to trust in the passion of your vision. Getting to your significant accomplishments is just like riding a bicycle — to get anywhere you have to keep on pedaling!!

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Focusing On Your Vision, Maintaining Focus, Make A Commitment, Managing Adversity Tagged With: celebrating progress, celebrating your passion, dealing with adversity, enjoying the journey, keep pedaling, The 100Day Challenge

## When You Understand Your Vision…

July 16, 2025 by Dave Cooke 1 Comment

Inspired transformational change involves living in passionate commitment to our vision.

Life’s most inspiring choices and what leads to the most compelling results is when we realize that accomplishment is success by addition.

Success by addition.

I repeated this because I would like for you to think about that for a moment before reading on.

People talk about realizing a goal, celebrating an accomplishment, or getting to an outcome all the time. Most of the conversations involve giving something up to get there. In reality, this may be true. In that same reality, we might be challenged to remove something we actually enjoy having in our life — easy, convenient, fun, satisfying, a habit. Extricating something we enjoy in our life to get to an outcome we desire for our life is a lot to ask, sometimes very difficult to accomplish, and often, not very inspiring.

How can we possibly find change a positive when the first step is a negative action — eliminating something we are attached to?

For example, take food and weight loss — the world’s most popular goal. Whether it is a diet or a lifestyle choice or a healthy eating commitment, it doesn’t matter. When you make a decision to eat better, the first thing you discover is you have to give something up — cheeseburgers, beef, french fries, ice cream ,desert. For me, it would be pizza! It is hard to make a choice to give up something you love in the name of better health or weight loss. Unless…

Unless you frame it differently. Closely examine why you are making a commitment to better health. Envision what better health means to you — how you look, how you feel, what you can accomplish, the energy you have. Now, decide if that outcome is something you truly desire. Focus on becoming more emotionally connected to how you feel and look when you realize that outcome? How does this success make you feel? Are the emotions you feel about this vision of accomplishment worth the effort and the commitment?

Take a mental picture of these emotions and internalize the visual image you created from that visioning exercise. Put this “picture” in front of you wherever you go. That image is you living and experiencing your vision of better health. When you carry it in front of you, you are living in that commitment to your vision. The next time a “cheeseburger” shows up on your radar, you clearly know it is not part of your vision so you skip it. You are now loving that chicken salad more because it supports your vision of who you are and where you are going. Did you give up cheeseburgers? No. You added chicken salads because they better support your vision of health in your life. And, you can still have that “cheeseburger” for it does not change who you are in relation to your commitment. You will not make that “cheeseburger” choice because it does not support your vision of accomplishment in your life. In the clarity of you vision and commitment you consistently make decisions that supports the direction you have defined in your life. And, you have not given anything up to get there — you are simply making different, inspired choices.

Too many of us get caught up in the impact of taking things out of our life instead of celebrating what we bring into our lives. Making a conscious, impactful change in our lives is a cause for celebration. It is not a time to reflect on what we are giving up to get there. Rather, it is a time to celebrate what we have discovered and introduced in our lives that we know will make a difference and contribute to our vision of accomplishment.

Change your perspective, focus on transformational change by addition, and live your vision every single day!

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Focusing On Your Vision, Inspirational Perspectives, Make A Commitment Tagged With: creating a vision, embracing your vision, focusing on your vision, The 100Day Challenge, understanding your vision, visioning your success

## Change Starts With A Challenge

July 9, 2025 by Dave Cooke 2 Comments

“Challenge yourself! Success is not defined by achieving a big goal; it is realized in pursuit of a clear vision and the consistent celebration of little accomplishments!”

Most recently I kicked off a 100Day Challenge through a Facebook Group. The purpose for the Challenge was twofold: to discover how a community of like-oriented people would engage around sharing their vision and commitments and to learn more about what accomplishments are inspiring people.

The response has been very exciting. While there are a smaller percentage who have shared their commitment to the 100Day Challenge, I am convinced there are some private participants who have not yet shared their objectives with the group. And, there is a third group, that haven’t stated their intents or interest whatsoever. I am curious as to where they are.

As people started to explore a 100 Day Challenge and the commitment associated with it, I enjoyed the coaching conversations I participated in. There were about three main themes associated with these conversations:

1. “I don’t know how to set a goal like this“: The first aspect of the 100Day Challenge is to pay close attention to the 100Pedals mantra — define your vision for accomplishment in your life. I have shared my perspectives on goals in the past. Goals are a wonderful benchmark of progress. They can often be the tangible measurement of achievement, like a defined outcome. A goal, however, means nothing without a vision of what achievement of that goal looks like. Simply losing weight, making more money, getting that new job is a defined outcome. It means nothing unless you know how it benefits, impacts, or improves your life and the lives of those around you. Instead of setting a goal, focus on a vision of peace, joy, happiness, or success in your life. It is that vision that gets you thinking about what needs to occur in your life -actions, behaviors, activities- that make this change possible and the effort worthwhile.

2. “I have so many, how do I choose which one?“: Focus on the aspect of your life that is fundamentally most important to you. In many of my conversations, people were dividing between personal and professional; or, health and intellectual. They are all important. Only one transformation project is most important. Moving toward your vision for the one component that is most important will facilitate progress toward realizing accomplishment in the others later. Start with the most important, essential element first — the rest will follow.

3. “What if I don’t really have anything?“: If you do not really have anything to improve, tweak, or change — that is great!! Since you are in a place where you are at peace and happy, celebrate that. There is an opportunity for you to remind yourself and celebrate those aspects of your life are in alignment. As we often lose momentum when we are working through a storm, we can also lose momentum in a place of peace and accomplishment. Celebrating your gratitude for your life is a great and productive activity. Make that your “challenge.”

One of the great discoveries on my 100Pedals journey is that I am never alone. Whether I am celebrating or struggling, there is a huge community of people who are also on their own personal journey. They are looking for what I have to offer and they are offering what I am looking for. The 100Day Challenge was created to create and build a community where this interaction would be visible, accessible, and productive.

Leverage the opportunity to challenge, to grow, to learn, and to share. Your path to accomplished change involves making a commitment — take the 100Day Challenge to help you get there!

Filed Under: Celebrating Accomplishment, Focusing On Your Vision, Live With Passion, Make A Commitment Tagged With: celebrating accomplishments, change, Facilitating change, The 100Day Challenge, transformational change, transformative change