‘You’ve got the job’, you will start tomorrow’ Tears welled up in my eyes as I took these words in and at that moment I knew it had all been worth it.

I had just accepted my dream job, to work with elite athletes at the age of 23 and months before even graduating. At this time I was one of the youngest (if not the youngest) coaches in the country. Some people within the industry were shocked and openly questioned whether I was ready for this level of responsibility. But as I have come to learn, whether you feel ready or not is irrelevant when it comes to taking your chances and performing on the big stage.

What the doubters didn’t realize was that I had been single mindedly working toward this moment for 5 years. When I arrived in Melbourne I could not even get a job at a local sports store let alone work with elite athletes. I knew nothing and no one, the only thing I knew was what I wanted to achieve.

At my first university lecture I was told: ‘on average there are five full time strength and conditioning positions within Australia each year, there are also well over five thousand graduates from this course. Competing for these five positions will also be people who have already had experience from this country as well as others’.

What matters most is how you see yourself, not how others see you

After 5 years of up-skilling myself, accelerating my learning by doing well above and beyond what was required within and without of the course, and working for free or a pittance, I felt that had paid my dues and deserved the chance I had been handed. So there was no hesitation on my behalf when I was offered this job. I knew I may not have been ready, but I sure as hell felt worthy of the opportunity to live my dream.

Recently, two players debuted in the same game for the team I am contracted to. One player was a first round draft pick, who had been earmarked for greatness from a young age. The other was a mature age recruit who had been repeatedly overlooked for years before getting his chance.

When it came time to perform on the big stage the mature age recruit made more of an impact in my opinion than the first round pick. The funny thing is, both players were picked in the same draft and had both spent the summer training together for this moment, one was no more prepared or ‘ready’ than the other. However I believe the mature age recruit felt more worthy of his chance and this accounted for his greater influence on the day.

Knowing both athletes well I can tell you that there is absolutely NO difference in their desire to succeed. And both are first class people. The simple fact is that the older player has had more life experience and had dealt with more adversity related to fulfilling his dream. These factors combined to mean that on the night, the older player was able to access and express more of his ability, despite the fact that they had trained together in preparation for the occasion.

I have come to realize that we can never be ‘ready’ to take the chances we are given, because it is impossible to fully account for the unknown. In my case I believe it was because I felt worthy that I have been able to live my dream, not because I felt ready.

To test this assumption I recently asked a group of elite athletes the question: ‘when you got the chance to live your dream and compete at the elite level, did you feel ready?’ Every single one of them said no.

For me, I needed to believe I was worthy of the job I was offered. This meant I had to feel comfortable with the fact that people would doubt me, I would make mistakes & learn many lessons. Because I felt worthy I took the risk (of falling flat on my face) and approached my job with assertion and confidence. And this has proved to make all of the difference.

Self worth (the opinion you hold of yourself) is very important when it comes to accepting the opportunities that constantly present themselves. Your level of self worth occurs in direct response to the stories you tell yourself about who you are and what you have experienced.

Feeling worthy is paramount in order to give yourself permission to take these chances when they arise in life. Time and time again I have seen athletes who ‘can’t seem to catch a break’. These are usually people who on some level do not feel ‘comfortable’ or that they ‘belong’. I have noticed that these are the athletes who tend to under-perform (relative to their ability), are frequently injured and recover slowly from injuries.

I believe these type of comments may elude to a lack of self worth. The crazy thing is, this is rarely a truth. The first round draft pick was no less worthy than the mature age recruit. Both trained hard and did what all that was required to get their opportunity. However it is the perception, which makes all of the difference.

A lack of self worth can rob us of the expression of our skill and ability since we might hesitate to take the chance (or not take it at all). We doubt ourselves; avoid taking risks, being proactive and bold like we normally would in our ‘comfort zone’.

When 1% makes all the difference, preparation is not the only factor.

The key to performing at the highest level is rarely how much training you do or how much you might know (since everyone at higher levels trains hard or has a lot of specialized knowledge) but how worthy you feel of the opportunity.

The key to self worth is to look inside and ask yourself the simple question: do I feel worthy? If the answer is an emphatic yes then you have nothing to fear. If the answer is no you would be wise to ask yourself another simple question and challenge its response: Why not?

On the way to work one day I was listening to a local radio station and caught the end of a very interesting interview with a man named Josh Wood. Josh is a paraplegic; he explained that he had severed his spinal cord in a snowboarding accident when he was young.

The tone of the radio host’s was one of disbelief and bewilderment at his story. Despite being told he would never walk again, Josh not only walked, but got back on the snowboard, went water-skiing and jumped a 50foot ramp on his motocross bike.

During the last part of the interview Josh mentioned that he had taken his recovery into his own hands, broken all the ‘rules’ and completely ignored most the advice he was given by his doctors. This guy and his story fascinated me, and in typical fashion I just had to learn more.

One of the best things about working with athletes is that I often get access to lots of amazing people and professionals as a result of my association with elite performers. Since my work involves assisting and coordinating athletes in their recovery from injury I often use this to my advantage to ensure those I am working with get exactly what they need and more.

I contacted Josh and his family and asked him to come down to meet one particular athlete I was working with at the time. This athlete had just undergone a major operation and there was a chance he might never compete at the elite level again. The time Josh spent with us was invaluable and actually I think I might have learned just as much as the athlete.

In detailing his injury and his miraculous recovery Josh mentioned that when the doctors tried to outline the nature of his injury and the implications it would have on the rest of his life, he simply refused to be educated. ‘I never wanted to be told what I could not do, because if I never learned then there was no reason not to try to recover’ he said.

Josh Wood's story is one of self belief and determination.

Since he was not aware of what he could and could not do, Josh set out to regain function of his legs (much to the disdain of the ‘experts’). Slowly but surely he regained use of his toes, then his feet followed by his legs. ‘That’s great’ the doctors said, ‘but that’s all you’ll ever be able to do. You will not be able to support yourself to walk’.

When Josh wanted to try anyway they did not offer to help, citing that it was pointless for man with a severed spinal cord to do so. The impression Josh got was that he was wasting their time and a nuisance. Still not knowing (or caring about) the extent of his injury he pressed on anyway and eventually regained use of his legs to the point where he could stand of his own accord. He has since proceeded to prove to those who ‘know’ that their assessment was incorrect in every way.

I learned a valuable lesson from Josh: that there are both positives and negatives that come with knowledge. The upside is obvious but we might not always consider the downside. Upon reflection I realized that as an ‘expert’ some of the knowledge I had gained and the way in which I identified with it could potentially have limited the possibilities and performance of those I work with.

I realized that it might be possible that the more I had learned about the human body and its ‘capabilities’ the more limitations I unconsciously placed upon others and myself as a result of acquiring this knowledge. The more I learned about what you ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ do the more I could get caught up in dogma and the less I might act on and trust my own intuitions. This can lead to indecisive action and at times no action at all.

A man by the name of Cliff Young demonstrated the downsides of knowledge and expertise by winning the Westfield Sydney to Melbourne ultra marathon. Young (61 years old) turned up in overalls and gumboots and pitted himself against professionally trained elite athletes much younger than he, and who had months of specific preparation and industry expertise behind them.

Young was a potato farmer who claimed that he would often chase his sheep for days. This was quite amusing for those ‘experts’ who considered Young’s attempt more of a comedy act than a genuine challenge. Though these experts were no longer laughing when Young won the race convincingly and broke the race record by almost two full days!!

Cliff Young highlighted the downside to knowledge

Cliff Young had the advantage of NOT knowing what the ‘experts’ knew and that is the reason he won. He actually ran MUCH slower than everyone else, although each of the other six competitors broke the previous race record Young still beat them convincingly. Young won was because he did NOT have any coach or ‘expert’ telling him how fast he should run, when he should eat sleep and take a break. So he didn’t! He simply continued to run while the other competitors slept.

The thing is: research, understanding and knowledge ALWAYS follows practice. That means that before something can be researched, there needs to be a pattern or result being created which is new or different. The researcher is the person who observes this new result or pattern and sets about trying to understand it and develop a new understanding of what they already see.

That means that if your waiting for research to validate your action or actions. You might just be ten years behind what those at the forefront already KNOW. Don’t get me wrong here. I like to have evidence to support my actions as much as the next coach. But a closed mind leads to limited possibilities and I believe mediocre results. I believe that optimal results occur when you can remain open minded but also critical. There is a principle I learned from Dr. Wayne Deyer, which states: ‘Have a mind that that is open to everything yet attached to nothing’ which echoes this point.

If you are a knowledge worker and people depend you on for advice and guidance daily. Consider how your knowledge and approach might help or hinder those around you based on how you identify with it and how you communicate as a result of this.

If you are thinking about doing something new or different and worried that you haven’t ‘looked into it’ enough. Don’t less this belief stop you from just jumping in and giving it a go. I believe that thoughtful action is just as valuable as educated action.

I once had the privilege of meeting Lute Olsen (a college basketball coach who’s widely regarding as one of the most successful and respected coaches in any sport) and hearing him speak. In answering a question as to why he had not accepted numerous offers to coach at the professional level he said: ‘I am not interested in working with people who think they know it all, I believe its what you learn after you know it all that counts’ This stuck with me at the time & soon after this I learned exactly what he meant.

Lute Olson, coach of the UA Wildcats

Whilst coaching a group of athletes recently I had an interesting challenge when providing some constructive feedback to an athlete within this group. The reaction to my feedback was along these lines: ‘You cant teach me anything here, I’ve played at the elite level for over 7 years, a veteran of this team and one of its best and most consistent performers’

As you can imagine, this type of reaction can be quite jarring when your obvious intention is to improve this person’s performance and help them succeed. Why would any athlete at the elite level NOT wish to improve anymore??? I first wondered if the reason for this response was due to the way I framed the information.

Over the next few weeks though, I became aware that this guys response was always the same with regard to feedback regarding his technique and skill level (in terms of athletic movement and efficiency) on field. It seemed he was un coachable in this area. Now this athlete is by no means unskilled in this area, but a few simple tweaks here and there could improve his performance dramatically, reduce his risk of injury and potentially help him recover faster on field. Useful information right??

His summary of himself was spot on though; he has performed at a high level for a long period of time and is certainly one of the highest performers in his sport in the world.  The question is though, at what point does someone decide they no longer need to or want to improve? And how do they come to this decision?  Especially at the elite level where 2-3% improvement can mean the difference between winning and losing, or in this athletes case MVP or also ran. Its fair to say this one had me stumped!

Funnily enough, it turns out the answer lay with a bunch of primary school kids. Some research using primary school children by Carol Dweck (a professor of psychology at Stanford University) led to the theory that people can fall into one of two mindsets within different areas of life. The fixed mindset or the growth mindset.  Dweck found that these two mindsets where the result of the type of feedback the children received and this could also dramatically influence their subsequent behaviour.

Those who were praised for their results and ability in a task chose not to challenge themselves on further tasks, whereas those praised for their effort chose more complex and difficult tasks with greater potential for learning and development. Consequently those who continued to challenge themselves were much more likely to improve their results. Whereas those who chose not to continue to challenge themselves saw a drop or plateau in their performance.

In the growth mindset, people believe that hard work and dedication can lead to success. They believe that people have the capacity to learn and improve their intelligence and skill at any task with practice. This belief influences their behavior accordingly. People who possess the growth mindset are prepared to put in the hard yards and accept failure as an inevitable stepping-stone on the path to success.  These are the people who choose to continue to challenge themselves and usually these are the people who create exceptional results.

Champions embrace a challenge and thrive on the opportunity to learn

In the fixed mindset, people believe that talent and intelligence are traits people are born with and cannot be modified in any significant way. Those with a fixed mindset believe that in the end natural talent will trump hard work dedication to a task. This belief causes people in the fixed mindset to view hard work and failure as direct feedback on their talent (since only those who lack talent are likely to have to work hard and are the ones who more often than not fail repeatedly) and subsequently they avoid both like the plague. As we will see, this can have dramatic implications for potential and success.

Dwecks’ research showed that these mindsets could actually be the result of conditioning. she showed that teachers, parents coaches or anyone charged with influencing people can actually push people into one of these two mindsets as a result of the way they frame their feedback. Dweck found that when praising someone for their results by describing them as ‘gifted’ or ‘a natural’  etc  the message these people are receiving is: wow you are good at this task, I value your ability to complete it successfully.  Positive feedback when framed in this way can actually work to push high performers into the fixed mindset. This is because the feedback is solely focused on the outcome.

Now if the feedback were framed in a manner which acknowledged both the outcome AND the process, as in: ‘Gee you do that very well, you must have worked quite hard at it well done!’.  The message the person receives is: I value the effort and persistence that was required in order to for you to have produced this excellent result! Now this feedback although only marginally different, produces very different results. This feedback fosters the growth mindset in those who receive it.  These people will be more likely to persist at a task and their response to failure is one of gratitude since they value its role in teaching them what is NOT working.

Great teachers and coaches have always focused on the process over the outcome. John Wooden, the man who is pretty much universally regarded as the greatest coach of any sport ever, (John’s UCLA basketball teams won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years, 7 of which were in consecutive years and an enjoyed an 88 game winning streak) was so process focused, that when he first coached players he took them to the dressing room and showed them how to put their shoes and socks on correctly. He did this so that they would avoid any blisters.  Blisters John reasoned, could cause you to lose focus.

Great sports stars; performers and business people all possess the growth mindset. It is well known that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he openly values failure as the reason he has succeeded in sport and afterward. Elvis Presley was fired and famously told ‘you aint goin nowhere son’. Steve Jobs dropped out of college and was fired from his OWN company. All of these people were obviously of the growth mindset, since failure did not deter them. In fact they used failure as feedback for future success.

Sure there are talented individuals who have done quite well, but never have they become legends as the three above did. John McEnroe was a very good tennis player, but his violent and aggressive reactions to failure and the fact that he was negligent in his training and preparation suggest that he was firmly entrenched in the fixed mindset. And what is John remembered for? Not his tennis that is for sure.

John McEnroe typified a fixed mindset throughout his career.

The tragedy is that the world may have been robbed of the full expression of McEnroe’s genius as a result of the feedback he received when growing up.  I wonder how good he might have been if he had grown up a lifelong learner as all of the highest performers are.  The fact that he was able to be number one for around four years with in this mindset is actually quite amazing, however it is no wonder he was such an angry person.

If you are a parent, teacher, coach, manager or anyone who is in a position to influence others, consider how this information might benefit those around you who listen to you and respect your opinions. Is it possible you may have crippled those around you with outcome-focused feedback?? If so, how could you adjust your communication to ensure you foster a growth mindset in those you have the honour of influencing.

Also, consider how this information could impact your own life. Look at the different areas of your life and assess where you might have a fixed mindset. (I’ll give you a clue here, these areas will usually be areas where you show or have shown little or no improvement and have had limited success) Alternatively, identify areas of your life where you show an obvious growth mindset. Notice how this mindset and its implications have worked to create results within these areas.

Thanks for reading

TC

While shopping at my local supermarket recently in St Kilda I chose four of the shiniest apples and as I looked up to grab the clear plastic bag to put them in I saw that the bags were all gone. No big deal I thought, and started walking to the next crate full of fruit where I could see some of the bags I required. As I walked I heard a muffled voice calling ‘sir, sir!’ When I realised the voice was calling out to me I turned and saw one of the supermarkets employees rushing to me with a plastic bag for me to put my apples in. I was a little surprised and just managed to say ‘thanks mate!’ as the man walked away smiling.

Little gestures like this one from a man who obviously takes pride in his job are often the catalyst for big results. Notice in the first line of this post that I said ‘MY local supermarket’? Now I certainly dont have any money invested in the supermarket or the company it is a part of. However evidently I seem to feel a sense of ownership toward it and do most of my shopping there even though there are other markets closer to my house. I dont think I am on my own here either. I have noticed that this particular supermarket always seems to be busy and I always see the same people shopping there. Coincidence?? I doubt it.

A waterfall begins with a single drop of water.

This observation (that small things make a big difference) may not just apply to customer service and supermarkets though. It turns out that paying attention to the smaller things with regard to ANYTHING may dramatically improve results. There is an economic principle called Pareto’s law or ‘the 80/20 rule’ which further serves to emphasise this point. This principle states that 80% of results come from 20% of causes. An Italian economist by the name of Vilfredo Pareto discovered this princple in 1897 when studying patterns of wealth and income in nineteenth century England.

He found that the majority of income and wealth was linked to a minority of people. In fact roughly 80% of the nations wealth was enjoyed by 20% of the population. Pareto found this pattern was not a one off as he found the same results across different time periods and different countries. Since then the ’80/20 rule’ has been identified in many different fields of interest, and used in many different ways to increase productivity and efficiency.

In the book ‘The Tipping Point’ Malcolm Gladwell describes the ‘broken windows theory’ and how it was used to clean up crime in New York city in the 1980s. Gladwell describes how a few influential men in New York city used this theory and its premise to crack down on the smallest of crimes such as graffiti, fair evading and minor ‘quality of life’ crimes such as urinating in the street. Gladwell credits this approach  to the dramatic decline in all crimes in New York during the mid 1980s.

The Broken windows theory was championed by James Q. Wilson and George W. Kelling. The theory states that crime is a result of disorder. The example used is that a building with broken windows portray a sense of disorder within that building and that no one cares and no one is in charge. As a result more windows will eventually be broken. Once this occurs the sense of anarchy will then likely spread from the building to its surrounds and crime will escalate from there. The broken windows theory is just another example of the 80/20 principle and how the smallest inputs have the biggest effect. Simply cleaning up the graffiti on public transport and cracking down on petty crime eventually served to create massive results.

It might be worth cleaning up your neighbourhood if you want to keep your car!

I believe there is a tendency in many people to miss the little things when looking to create big results and instead tend to look for the next ‘big thing’ as a solution. Case in point: weight loss. Most people spend their time and energy searching for the next miracle supplement or fad diet in their quest to lose a few kilos. Some of these people actually eat quite well and often lead very active lifestyles. When these people see a lack of progress they often resort to looking outside of themselves for the solution. The tragedy is that often these people are so close to the results they crave but overlook the most important information. As we have seen with the broken windows theory and the 80/20 rule, attention to the smaller details often results in significant results.

I worked with a young athlete who had been training with the team I am contracted to for about 8 months. This guy was holding his own no problems in terms of his fitness. Now keep in mind the athletes I work with complete 12-20 training sessions per week of varying modes and intensities depending on the training phase. These guys train hard, and they train often. The thing is though, this young athlete’s body composition was at that point not up to scratch. He was carrying a few extra kilos and excess baggage really tends to hinder athletic performance. Once we identified this as an area for improvement the athlete spoke with the teams nutritionist and they discussed his diet and possible improvements he might make and the athlete began filling out a daily food diary. However his progress seemed quite slow and almost non existent.

After a month or so of substandard results the athlete was expressing his frustration to me one day between sessions. I asked him about his food diary and he assured me he’d been filling it out and more so, the nutritionist had said his diet looked sound. As we spoke I noticed he was drinking a coffee, I pointed to the coffee and asked him: ‘how many of those do you drink a day?’. He told me that he usually had three or four cups per day and upon further questioning admitted these coffees were always with milk and sugar. We estimated the energy content of each coffee was approximately 150 calories, we multiplied this by four and found that there was an extra 600 calories a day the athlete was not even considering!

He had not thought to document this as his belief was that drinks were not food. Once this athlete saw that a cup of coffee was the one thing standing between him and improved performance he promptly quit drinking it. He also switched from drinking orange juice to eating an actual orange each morning. These were the only real  changes he made! Within 2 months his body shape and composition completely changed. More importantly, his   fitness levels improved dramatically since his body mass had decreased. This improved fitness had a kind of a flow on effect and as a result his confidence improved, which then led an improvement on the field! All of these positive benefits occurred simply because he was able to identify the inputs (which as we know are usually quite small and seemingly insignificant) that were having the largest negative effects and eliminate them!

The results speak for themselves.

Before

After

If you are looking to change your results dramatically in any area of life it is worthwhile first looking within. Look at your results and cross reference them with everything you are doing in any way which leads to these results. The only way to do this properly is to record and document everything you are doing in relation to that which you are looking to change. Measure and document all of your inputs religiously, then use this information to determine the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of each one.

Are there some things you are doing which are far more effective than others? or are there some things which are potentially having a greater negative impact than you realised. Find your coffee and juice and eliminate them, you will amazed at the results!

Thanks for reading.

TC

Whilst recently speaking for a crowd made up of corporate sponsors I was detailing some of the reasons why many people fail to achieve results in health and fitness, and it occurred to me that athletes actually have it easier than most with regard to success in this area. The reason is that they don’t have to work hard at all to cultivate the mindset required to change old behaviours or create new ones. And in my opinion your ability to alter your mindset is hands down THE most important factor in determining your ability to create new and lasting changes in your life when it comes to health and fitness.

Changing mindset is critical for changing behaviour

Why is mindset most important? Because your mind works to shape your perceptions of the world and is constantly filtering the obscene amount of information bombarding it all day long. Before I lose you with the nitty gritty on how the mind works, take a minute to think about this example.

Two friends set fitness goals:

The first person (we’ll call him Roy) just had a baby and wants to be fit enough to play with his child and set a good example.

The second person (lets call him Ted) wants to ‘get a six pack’ and be ‘beach ready’.

Both  have done their research and know that writing down goals dramatically improves your chancing of achieving them. And early on both see some results. however, after a period of about 2 months Ted has well and truly fallen off the band wagon, whereas it seems Roy is effortlessly continuing to improve his lifestyle and has surpassed his goals with ease. Ted is extremely frustrated since they have both been training together and has trained ‘just as hard’ as Roy. Yet his results after 3 months are relatively insignificant.

Many people fail to understand why their results in health and fitness are not sustainable

Why  are Roys behaviours sustainable whereas Ted’s begin to fall away after a few ‘tough’ weeks. The answer is that Roy set a goal which was directly related to his highest values, whereas Ted set a goal which was not even his. What exactly do I mean by this? Before i can explain we need to understand exactly how our mind filters our reality according to our highest values. I will use another example here to demonstrate how this works. Lets say Roy and I were walking down the street together and we both walked past a park. Roy (being a new dad and placing a high value on this) would see a place for his child to play with other kids, learn new skills and behaviors. However I would see a new and exciting place to train & refreshing change from the gym. Roy and I are both looking at the exact same thing. But we are percieving it VERY differently.

Now, lets say Ted and I were walking down the same street and walked past the exact same park. Ted (who places a high value on business and making money) sees an opportunity to meet new parents and network to create new opportunities for commercial gain. This perception is again very different from my own and also Roy’s. This is the reason that everyone is different. The key to behaviour change is understanding how you are different from everyone else and what you value most in life. This is THE most important thing you can do in order to improve your results not just in health and fitness, but ANY area of life.

Identifying your highest values and understanding how to use this knowledge is like finding your never ending power source. It is knowing the difference between inspiration & motivation. Think about this for a second, no one needs to get Roy out of bed on a saturday to play with his child. This is inspiration.  There’s nothing hed rather be doing because playing with his child is directly linked with his highest values which is the happiness and welfare of his child. Alternatively, there are other areas of his life in which he requires more motivation such as preparing his tax return.

Now, lets look at Ted. No one needs to motivate Ted to go to seminars and read material on building wealth. he does it of his own accord because these activities directly correlate to his highest values. He is inspired to do such things. In fact, Ted probably enjoys preparing his tax return since he gets off on saving as much money as he can or even getting money back by keeping his finances in excellent order. And just like Roy, there will also be other areas of his life for which he require more motivation.

By now your probably thinking I’ve gone all new age on you, but ask yourself? how does the above information have anything to do with the variance in success between these two people. The short answer is that Roy was and is INSPIRED to achieve his goals because it is easier for him to link them to his highest values, whereas Ted was motivated to achieve his goals and as the results have shown. Motivation has an expiry date & Inspiration is like an never ending battery! Inspiration comes from within & motivation comes from without!

In Roy’s case, it is much easier for him to link improved health and fitness to his highest values since it is easy to see how being fitter and healthier could allow him to spend more time playing, be a better example for his child as it grows (which in turn means his child will mimic his fathers new and improved behaviours which has the flow on effect of improving the childs health and wellbeing in the long term). and the mind continues to create new association linking health and fitness to the happiness and welfare of his child. Each time the Roy creates another association he moves health and fitness up higher in his values.

Human behaviour specialist Dr. John DeMartini has used axiology  (the philosophical study of values) to show  that the higher something is on your hierarchy of values, the more inspiration you possess with regard to it. In addition to this you begin to filter your environment in relation to these new values also. The more inspiration you have for something (since it is high on your values), the more order and organisation you bring to it, the more time you spend learning about it, practising it. the more energy you use on it. The more you talk about it and the more you talk to yourself about it. The lower something is on your values the more you are likely to procrastinate and hesitate. you are also less likely to retain information about it and the more motivation you require to do it.

In Roy’s case he would eventually begin to view the park as a dual opportunity. A place for his child to play and learn, as well as an opportunity to train and get fit. His everyday behaviours would reflect his new values also. He is much more likely to notice anything linked to health and fitness such as books, magazines tv shows etc. He will unconsciously start absorbing this information and as a result over time his habits will change to reflect his new values. None of this requires much effort or dedication and the majority of these changes will go unnoticed to Roy. Although he and Ted might be training together Roy’s everyday behaviours (which he doesn’t even have to think about) are quite different to Teds.

Ted on the other hand, finds it much harder to link his ‘six pack’ to succeeding in business and creating wealth. this is probably because the goal is not even his, but more likely a reflection of societies values on slim and athletic body types. Ted is most likely subordinating to these goals society has forced upon him through television, magazines and the internet. This is why Ted loses motivation and eventually falls off the bandwagon. Since the goal (in Teds mind) does not reflect his values in any way, Ted requires more motivation and does it tough trying to keep up behaviours which are not even important to him.

This is not to say that Ted could never achieve his goal however. he just needs to work harder to associate a six pack with business success and wealth. For instance if Ted knew that to get a six pack you need to be lower than 10% bodyfat and that this is mainly achieved through nutrition, he might also find out that that proper nutrtition combined with exercise has been proven to improve your quality of life, increase learning capacity (so that he could learn and retain more about business) decrease stress levels and increase productivity at work. If Ted then learned to associate these benefits of health and nutrition (in pursuit of his six pack) with increased business success and more wealth he will more likely to be able to move health and nutrition up on his hierarchy of values. Only then would he be able to become inspired to achieve this goal which  in the beginning wasn’t even his.

Setting goals (and writing them down) in line with what is important to YOU significantly improves your chances of achieving them since your mind doesn’t have to work as hard to associate these new goals with your values. This is the reason why athletes dont have to work as hard as most people to stay fit and healthy. Think about how easy it is to associate being fitter for an athlete whos highest value is success in sport. Hhmmm, if as an athlete I am fitter I can get to more contests. if I get to more contests I am more likely to win more possessions. If i can win more possessions then I am more likely to influence the game oh wow and if I can influence a game consistently then I will become  champion!!!! SHOW ME THE WAY TO THE GYM!!!!

Jeff Hugel's results are testament to the power of inspiration

So understanding yourself can have massive implications for success in your life if you know how to use this knowledge. So for those of you who have taken the time to read this post and are now wondering how you could apply this information to your own life I want to to give you a bit of a leg up. And since my area of expertise is health and fitness I want to run a little experiment here with you guys. Please if you choose to complete this exercise send me your feedback and results I am very interested in how you will do.

1. Identify your highest value (if you dont know it read the article again, I have given you clues throughout).

2. Write down how improved health and fitness can help you achieve your highest value. Write down AT least 50 examples and over 100 if possible.

3. After one week. write down ONE simple goal for health and fitness with a time limit of 3 months. Ensure that this goal will challenge you but is not unrealistic. Make sure you use an objective measurement or measurements such as bodyweight, time, distance etc.

4. Take a before pic. i know this will be hard for some but I promise you if you do this exercise well you will forever be glad you did you.

please send me your feedback here or email me at condo_2@hotmail.com

thanks for reading

TC.