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

## Change and Leadership Starts With You

May 6, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

On Sunday, April 21, I started a new 100Pedals 100Day Challenge. My challenge is to “consult” the I Ching or “Book of Changes” for the 100 days. On the recommendation of a friend, I purchased this book. I found the inspirational perspectives resonates with much of how I live, think, and feel. They provide great insights for living and the fresh insights from inspirations are most enjoyable. Upon occasion, I will share my daily inspirations. Below is the inspirational thought from yesterday’s consultation.

Saturday, May 4: 39. CHEN/OBSTRUCTION and 37. CHIA JEN/ THE FAMILY (THE CLAN)

> “Surrounded by obstructions, one must first retreat, the seek the direction of the sage.”

> Obstructions are the byproduct of our own thinking. Judging others obstructs our peace of mind and our progress. See the best in others, allow them to pass through your life, and focus on self-improvement.

> ”A healthy family, a healthy country, a healthy world — all grow outward from single superior person.”

> For others to follow you, you must first be live what you believe and how you believe. Strong families are built on the values of love, faithfulness and correctness. To be the change we desire, to create the change we expect in others, to have others embrace our leadership, we must be the embodiment of love, faithfulness and correctness.

100Pedals Lesson:

The obstacles I have in my life are ones I have created through my own thoughts and deeds. Removing these obstructions first requires a change in my behaviors, attitudes, and habits. It is through this process of continuous self-improvement that I become pretty prepared to support, guide and encourage others in their lives.

Inspiring and supporting others to follow the path of change, means I must already be consistently on that path. Encouraging others to embrace the change I see possible in their lives requires they see the incredible opportunity and energy that comes from my living this change.

Before I can build a community that changes the world, I must be prepared to live and lead in the manner that is consistent to my commitment to faith, love and correctness — living without fear or judgement. The task is clear — change from within; lead and grow from there.

Filed Under: Embrace Responsibility Tagged With: embracing change, inspirational leadership, inspired leadership, leadership behaviors, leadership skills, leading through change, learning from within, learning through change, learning to lead

## The Most Powerful Force In Inspiring Change

April 22, 2025 by Dave Cooke Leave a Comment

Motivation based on beliefs, choices and actions is more powerful and lasting than motivation based on feelings and emotions. ~ Mark Sanborn

It took me a few reads before I felt like I understood the message in this quote. I am a big believer in the power of emotion. I have encouraged many people to embrace the calling of the heart — the heart being the emotional intellect that exists within us. Connecting with and embracing this component of thought is the place where logic — fear, doubt, experience, worry, past history — is not as strong.

The emotional intellect — the heart — is where our dreams live. The mind is where our dreams go to die. They die in our minds because our mind only has the ability to embrace what it knows as true or possible; hence, it limits the options in our future because it is references only what it knows about the past.

At first I struggled with the notion that there may be a more powerful motivator than our feelings and emotions. The more I thought about it, our feelings and emotions are most powerful when they are driven by what we conceive and believe and what we choose to do to take action toward it. Feelings and emotions can inspire us to take action; however, the intensity of that action is defined and driven by the passion, energy and commitment we bring to it.

One of the Four Wheels of Personal Leadership is “Live with Passion.” To live with passion means that we discover and embrace our D.I.G. Our D.I.G is what drives, inspires, and guides us. The energy that comes from this point of consciousness is far more powerful than simply having a feeling. It is more powerful because there is something more tangible about this inspiration — it is a conscious commitment to live or create a life that is driven by what we value, love, enjoy, and get energy from. This level of awareness and the related commitment is an incredible force because it is well defined, uniquely personal to us, and reflects what is at the core of our value system and personality.

As you seek to create change or begin a transition in your life, focus first on your D.I.G. Clarity here will provide you the confidence and the inspiration to drive forward with greater passion and commitment.

Filed Under: Focusing On Your Vision, Inspirational Perspectives, Live With Passion, Living Your Purpose, Seizing Opportunity Tagged With: change, effective outcomes, effective results, embracing change, Mark Sanborn, The Four Wheels of Personal Leadership, transformational change, transforming change

## A Change Mindset

March 4, 2025 by Dave Cooke 2 Comments

“Embracing your reality only serves to inhibit your ability to change it.” ~ Dave Cooke

“This is my reality” is a concept I hear a great deal about. Whether I am talking to sales professionals, business owners, parents, or individuals there is often a need to emphasize how much I need to know and understand their current situation. What I have discovered is that the more passionately someone goes to explain, clarify, defend, or return to their current reality, the more difficult it becomes for them to believe they can change it.

Where we are and what we are experiencing are incredible motivators for change. However, they need not be a measuring stick or a barometer for how hard or difficult that change is going to be.

What is most important in the process of change is not where you are, it is where you are going. Instead of fixating on the present, the focus and the effort must be on the new reality and the steps required to move toward it.

Focusing on the present is like pouring and then standing in cement. The more you do it, the more likely you are to get stuck there.

Brandon is in a wonderful spot in his life. He is actively practicing the art of focusing on the future. He has many hurdles that could easily obstruct his ability to move forward. Instead, he has been focusing on maintaining the steady, positive, incremental progress he has been making. He knows those challenges exist, yet he doesn’t let them worry him or distract him. When I ask him about them, he acknowledges they exist and I can hear the slight concern in his response; but, he reminds me and himself that he is not going to let that bother him right now. And, he maintains his focus and keeps on moving.

He knows that focusing the fears of his reality will only distract from his personal mission to keep moving and maintaining momentum.

We all have aspects of our lives that appear to have the power to block, stop, interrupt, or prevent change. This can only happen when we give those forces the power to do it. When we take control of the change we desire, our new reality becomes the change we desire and our current reality has no sway over us.

Instead of asking yourself “how can I change this situation?” ask yourself “can I change this situation?” If the answer is yes, the rest is found in the details of your commitment to change not in your fear of the present. Focus on where you are going and not where you are. The progress you make and the ideas you uncover in this mindset will move you to a new reality in ways you didn’t realize were previously possible.

Filed Under: Focusing On Your Vision, Inspirational Perspectives, Maintaining Focus, Make A Commitment, Managing Adversity Tagged With: a change mindset, change in your life, changing your life, embracing change, focusing on change, the power to change, transforming your life

## How Come Change Is So Difficult?

October 22, 2025 by Dave Cooke 3 Comments

“Embracing change requires a willingness to let go of all habits, practices, and behaviors in the quest to discover a new path on the journey.”

A little over a week ago, I took a spill on my bike. It had rained during my ride. Even though it had rained while I was riding, I managed to navigate a route that enabled me to avoid getting soaked. While my surrounding neighborhood got rained on, I can proudly exclaim I did not.

This does not mean I was able to avoid the effects of the rain. When I came racing into my complex and made my normal aggressive right hand turn, the cobblestone driveway was slick enough to dump my ever so large frame onto the pavement with much style and grace — not!

After skidding to a stop, getting up, dusting myself off and discovering that everything was bruised but in its place, I started to feel the pain. Now you would think that the right side of my body, the road rash, and the part that was bleeding was the source of the pain. It was not. The part that hurt the most — my left thumb! My left thumb was throbbing and already turning purple as though I had hit it with a hammer instead of the nail!!

It is ten days later and everything has recovered, except the thumb. It is slowly healing and is still quite sensitive. Now that we have established I have a very sore left thumb, let’s talk about adapting and learning in the face of change.

The egg peeler is broken!

The other day I was going to have a couple of hard boiled eggs for my breakfast. I tapped one of the eggs on the counter and went to peel it, only to realize then that my left thumb is the official egg peeler. Because my left thumb was still disabled from the crash, I had to ask my right thumb to do something it had never done before — peel an egg.

Peeling that first egg with my right thumb required a very deliberate, focused, determined effort. The shell was successfully separated from the egg; but, it took time, effort, and a lot of much smaller shell fragments.

When I went to peel the second egg, the entire process went a little smoother. That right thumb was a little more prepared for the task and the shell was separated from the egg in half the time with a significantly reduced effort.

This is change in our lives. We get into habits. There are aspects of our lives that we simply and almost mindlessly assign to our minds and bodies without even thinking about it. The tasks, activities and behaviors become almost second nature to us. Until we have to change our habits, routines, behaviors, or processes everything we do is done out of a developed habit and accepted efficiency.

Until someone or something introduces or interrupts us with change. Though, like the right thumb, we have discovered that the way we do things needs to be done differently. It seems harder. It certainly is much more deliberate. It looks awkward. And, it is certainly uncomfortable. In order to grow, evolve, survive, thrive, or improve sometimes change is necessary.

The next time you find yourself resistant to change or you feel like the process is cumbersome, clunky, painful, or slow, remind yourself part of the change process is simply learning to adapt to doing things differently. It is not always easy to embrace the notion of learning or discovering different behaviors. It is not always fun to embrace different habits or processes. Part of that is in the difficulty in breaking the old habit and creating a new one. Remember, the old habit began by breaking the old one that preceded it. You got pretty good at that habit when it was new. I am willing to bet you will get pretty good at peeling the egg differently this time, too.

Filed Under: Make A Commitment Tagged With: adapting through change, celebrating change, changing behaviors, changing habits, embracing change