What Are Your Health And Fitness Standards?
Setting Clear and Definable Lifestyle Standards for Long Term Health
Hello, my friends! I hope you are treating life well and realizing just how amazing it is! This week, I want to share a principle that will immediately change your life if you take true and sincere action.
I often observe clients at both the personal and corporate level who struggle with their health and fitness. Although they thrive in many other areas of their lives, they just can’t seem to get it right in health and fitness. To illustrate my point, I often see junior or senior level corporate executives from multiple companies who are brilliant and successful, but they totally neglect their health and their fitness. How can this be?
What is the true reason for this lack? Is it that they don’t have time? Could it be that they are too busy with other “more important” tasks that they can’t exercise or eat well? Is it because their lives are just too hectic? With years of personal observation coupled with studying psychology and personal development, I can answer all of the previous questions with an emphatic NO. So what is the true cause?
The True Cause of Any “Failure”
You will notice that I put the word failure in parenthesis. The reason for this is because I don’t believe in failure in the sense of being a failure. Failure to reach any goal is nothing more than a learning opportunity. In the case of my aforementioned executives, the reason that they “fail” in this area of their lives is that they do not carry a sufficient STANDARD of health and fitness.
To further illustrate my point, I want you to think of the most healthy and fit friends who you know very well. If you were to ask them what nutrition, health, and fitness rules or standards they have, I guarantee that they could give you all sorts of standards that they abide by. For example, if you ask them what their nutritional standards are, you will get answers such as, “I don’t eat processed food”; “I eat natural foods and keep my sugar intake very low”; “I eat at least 4 servings of vegetables per day and eat fruit as my treats”; or “I don’t eat white bread, soda pop, or refined sugar.”
Now, ask that very same question to one of your friends who are overweight and/or obese, and I guarantee that you will get a very different answer. You will hear generalities, and half-hearted statements uttered with zero conviction such as, “I know I should eat well, but I usually don’t,” or “I try to stay away from pop as much as I can,” or, “I know that eating healthy is important, and I ought to try a little harder, but I am stressed out and I usually give in.” I have personally heard all of these answers, and they are often accompanied with a nervous laugh riddled with a tone of guilt.
Notice the difference here, my friends: The former answers were definite, definable, clear, and absolute, while the latter answers were vague, nebulous, and nervous. Why? Because the former answers came from a person who had CLEARLY DEFINED THEIR HEALTH AND FITNESS STANDARDS, while the latter answers came from a person who has not even set a standard! It is truly that simple! Remember, the same people who have no fitness standard had mastered other areas of their lives by creating standards that they abide by every day!
To make sure that you are not neglecting your health and fitness, I want you to CLEARLY define what standards you want to have in the following areas.
Nutrition
Write down what your standards will be in the following areas:
-How many treats will you allow yourself in a day/week? Will you allow yourself a weekly cheat meal or will you just have a small treat per day or will you never have a treat? Define what is true to your soul and write it down.
-How many veggies will you have per day?
-How much water will you drink?
-How much processed food will be in your diet?
Exercise
–How many days per week will you exercise?
-What kind of exercise will you do?
These are just sample questions that you can answer to get you started in the right direction. Here is the key: Once you decide on a standard, you must treat it as sacred and with respect– just as you would with a spiritual or religious view. In other words, don’t trivialize your personal standard. Once you set your standard, it BECOMES YOUR PERSONAL LAW! This does not mean that you will be perfect, but your standard will be.
All right, my friends. Go take action on this right this very second, and reap the rewards for so doing. Have fun with it and remember: Life is good!
God Bless,
Griff
