OK, so you understand this is a 6-month "challenge"....but what exactly does that mean? We hope after reading this, it'll be more clear. 1. This is a contest about ACTION not about OUTCOMES.....this means, we're not tracking things like weight loss, strength gains, or body-fat changes. You may want to do this on your own, because if you get involved and push yourself to stick with these actions, ALL of those things will likely change (along with several others), but this is about creating habits, not about getting to any specific finish line. EVERYONE is unique, and therefore has unique goals; and as long as there are unique goals, there is no one-size-fits-all magic bullet.......so we're going with what WE KNOW WORKS, healthy actions applied over time. The object of the game: is simple.....to PREPARE AND EXECUTE. FIRST prepare your team (min of 3 people) by completing enough of the actions (or a few of the actions consistently enough) to qualify for the finals. Every action you complete has a point value and adds to your team's total. Score enough points (all the while establishing the routines that help you to achieve your personal health goals and getting the support from the community and professionals involved to do just that) and your team will qualify for the final event: "the Tour de POWER" a.k.a. "the most ridiculous ultra-relay ever conceived"......and if you make it this far, you're ready to EXECUTE. How the final champion is determined: Win the final event of course......now before you say "I'm not running 200 miles" (which, unless you're part of the less than 1% crazy enough to attempt it, we hope you say)....understand that there is WAY MORE to winning than being the first (or only) person to cross the finish line. REMEMBER this contest is about "ACTION"......and it take MANY MANY actions to make a successful event. Perhaps you want to walk a stretch? Great! Maybe you're more interested in supporting those who do? That scores too. 2. We've identified (so far) 65 different actions that can be completed to score points. Some of them are a one-timer, some of them can add multiple points everyday.....some are bonus-point eligible (meaning you can do more of the same action and get more points) and almost all of them have a consistency bonus (string several days together and score big). ALL of them are things that research has PROVEN to have an impact on health or longevity or quality of life or risk reduction......do all of them, and you'll blow away the competition.....do some of them and you're off to a good start.......get other people to do so too and you're going to be very good at this game. 3. Teams/Divisions/etc......the idea behind this game is to combine the natural excitement that goes along with competition and the power of social networks. Without getting deeply into it, research on the topic is clear: your friends, their friends and even their friends have the ability to influence your health. So by forming teams and competing, we're tapping into the power of these social bonds. If you have at least 3 people, you can form a team.....the more you add, the better. 4. Growing your team vs. aligning with another team: to keep it fair, we've attempted to separate levels of competition. This means that eventually, if you keep growing your team, you may "out-grow your pond". Here's the breakdown: 3-10 players = team (will only play against other "teams") 11-25 players = crowd 26-50 players = community 51-100 players = network 101-250 players = nation 250-500 players = world >500 players = universe You can either choose to "wall-off" and keep all of your points to yourself and totally go-it alone (and therefore change the level that you are competing if you grow your team) or you can choose to "align" with other teams to pool your points together, in effect playing at multiple levels. For example:
This decision to either wall-off or align (and if so, who to align with) is important and may have a pretty big strategic effect, so choose wisely. 5. Qualifying for the FINAL EVENT: Part of the concept of the challenge is to prepare for (by completing the actions along the way) and do something extraordinary this year. The bottom line is, as ordinary as we all are, we all have an enormous capacity to do amazing things. Think of all of the "amazing people" you've met in life.....are they truly amazing (i.e. somehow biologically different than you)? or are their ACTIONS (accomplishments) the really amazing part?.....are you amazed by the person or amazed by what the person DOES or HAS DONE? Usually the person is quite ordinary....but their ACTIONS are extraordinary.....this is great as it leaves the door open for all of us "ordinary" people to do some cool stuff too. Unfortunately, most of us will NEVER realize even the slightest bit of our potential for such "extraordinary" experiences......Pro-Activity sees this as a terrible shame......we all work hard, we all have the potential.....but yet only a relative few will get to experience some of the amazing things life has to offer..... Through this challenge, we're aiming to change that and to demonstrate the amazing things we're all capable of, from 8/13-8/15 (or about, depending on weather), Team Pro-Activity will trek (human powered only), point-to-point relay from the northernmost qualifying team's locale to the southernmost qualifying team's locale......so if a team in High-Point scores the minimum qualifying points and a team in Cape May does too, we're lacing up our shoes and pumping up our tires to go the +/- 200 miles (talk about an extraordinary "something".....gulp!)* HOWEVER, if only teams in Clinton and Flemington qualify for the final event, you've made our lives VERY VERY easy as we cover the whopping 15 miles......remember this is about ACTION, so the first order of business is to get your "locale" qualified. *note that we are reserving the right to stay within NJ (or the contiguous areas) since we can't afford to take the time off of work to do much more than that [if you want to sponsor us however, we'll be happy to go as far as you'll pay for :).....] 6. Is the final event ONLY open to Team Pro-Activity? Absolutely NOT! We'll go-it-alone if we have to, but for those teams that qualify for the "final", your involvement will make or break your bid to win the challenge......get some people on your team to participate and score BIG points for every mile of the route you cover. REMEMBER it's relay style, so if you're not big on "human power"......this might be where having many people on your team (or strong alliances) might come in handy.....you'll not want to miss this part of the challenge.....so start scoring early. 7. Reporting & Scoring: A common question is: "how do we report points".....this will ALL BE DONE ONLINE.....otherwise, it's just too hard to track. Online tracking can be done any number of ways.....but here are 2 options:
8. Points POLICE: Your automatic question after reading #6 is - "how do we know other teams aren't cheating".....well, you don't. And wheres this challenge certainly has the "you're only cheating yourself" clause......there will be 1 rule which relates to cheating: If you can PROVE that another team is cheating, the judges (us) will take ALL points from the cheaters (zeroing them out) and apply them to your total.......we strongly recommend that if you are doing "the minimum" reporting keep a little pad that tracks the actions so that if/when you get accused you can defend yourself. |