Today marks a clean slate. This may be a little unusual for my first post, but I have battling obesity for what seems my whole adult life. My aim is to break this vicious, psychological cycle of yo-yo dieting! Work hard, lose weight, regain, rinse, wash, and repeat.
I watched a 5-year old video by an esteemed tech-guru, educator, and “YouTuber” named Eli the Computer Guy discuss the topic of CompTIA A+ troubleshooting procedures. To my surprise and bewilderment, one of his main topics of discussion just so happened to be about professional appearance. From a business owner’s perspective, he goes in on technicians who present themselves as unkempt, messy, and literally stink of bad hygiene. What resonated with me were his thoughts on physical conditioning (always a touchy subject for me).
The points he makes on personal appearance really do hit home, because I have dealt with similar setbacks when I was an active service member in the U.S. Army. In the Army, you are judged by your peers, subordinates/employees (Soldier’s you are charged with), and supervisors, first and foremost, by your appearance. If you’re even moderately obese, you are going to look sloppy in your uniform and no matter how good of a Soldier you are, it will overshadow your true abilities, especially if you’re in a leadership position. This is the soundtrack of my leadership run in the Army. I was always good, but never good enough.
Eli states the better physically you look when presenting yourself to clients, customers, and supervisors, the better they’re going to deal with you. Below are some of his class notes.
Present yourself well:
- Groom yourself
- Brush your teeth
- Shower/deodorant
- Clothes clean and well kempt
- Smoking smell bothering people
- Your physical conditioning matters
- Being respectful and professional
My physical presentation, to include the overall feelings of being uncomfortable in both my body and clothes, are my biggest motivators to lose the weight and keep it off. I must strive to take better care of myself. I recently assembled a multi-gym in my apartment, purchased some supplements like creatine, and actually used both! I am guilty of buying things, using them once or twice, and letting them collect dust and cobwebs. Now that I have retired from the demands of military life, successfully changed careers from HR to tech, and have free time to grow professionally, there are no more excuses NOT to do the right thing.
I weighed in this morning at 237 pounds (I’m 5 feet, 10 inches). This for me will be a marathon and not the usual race I’m used to. I’m focused on eating less throughout the day and most importantly above all else, being consistent. I have been completing labs and practicing daily to improve my skill set. In VirtualBox, I established a domain controller and client machine using Windows 10 to learning system administration. I have been working with cmd, PowerShell, Windows tools, basic scripting, TCP/IP configuration, Active Directory, and ticketing/documentation. I recently accepted a written offer to perform as contractor for an I.T. solutions/biomedical research company called LEIDOS as a Systems Specialist. As of now, I am preparing to be called in to go to work!
I will continue to press on and update this blog. The first day of the rest of my life. A new beginning with a clean slate to start living a greater life!
