Monthly Archives: May 2013

Energy

Elephants don’t bite. Mosquitoes do.

That’s what he said, my wise, 82 year old friend, as he entered the gym one day. He called out as he walked in saying,

“Paul, young man, be careful of the little mosquitoes. They bite. Elephants don’t!”

My dear departed good friend, I introduced in my previous blog (God bless his soul), had a very unique way of getting your interest and focus from the way he phrased his sentences. He got you exercising the most powerful tool we have: OUR MIND.

He got your neurons firing … your brain cells working … basically, got you THINKING. I love that, and that’s one of the reasons I loved him.

“What are you talking about … what do you mean?”

“Well,” he said, “take care of the little mosquitoes, the little things in life, the little habits, the small gestures, like a smile … because if you don’t take care of these little mosquitoes their bite can cause huge problems, like dengue fever or malaria. Many people put all their energies in to searching for and pursuing the ‘Elephants’ or the well-marketed, big things in life like money, career success, buying their ideal car or house, travel etc. Whilst these are all important, the pursuit comes at the expense of their health and their relationships”.

Wise man, he was.

Most of you are probably practicing elements of this little, but powerful message already, in your DAILY HABITS. Yes, that’s right, through your daily habits. These represent the ‘little mosquitoes’ in your life. Let’s put this in perspective: Say, you had a goal to lose weight, say 10kg in 3 months. Whilst the physical reduction in weight is celebrated, acknowledged and praised by family and friends, the real miracles occur in the application of your daily habits. Specifically, in the CONSISTENT and PERSISTENT application of KEY DAILY HABITS that are aligned with your GOAL.

In my body re-engineering programs, that I’ve helped hundreds of people with, I get them to FOCUS on performing 5 or 6 KEY ACTIONS every day (that become habits). That’s all they have to do. I remind them that the final tangible result (10kg lighter and healthier and fitter) is the compound effect of execution of these identified personal mosquitoes or daily habits. My clients maintain, what I call a weekly routine register, on which I have listed these 5 or 6 habits. Each day they place ‘1’ in the box if they have done it or place ‘0’ in the box if they have not. There should be a total numerical target of ‘7’ for the week for each habit and, if there isn’t, they need to provide a valid explanation. Personal governance, in relation to their goal is exercised here, reflected through ‘self-regulating behaviour’ through the execution of these mosquitoes or habits. They take charge of the process and more importantly, become accountable. Studies show that efforts directed toward establishing self control of the new behaviours are essential to success.

Clients that achieve the best results tend to be very diligent in maintaining their daily routine registers. As a project management tool, the register is very useful. It allows my client and I to make weekly reviews and make necessary changes in a timely fashion. The other management principle in use here is “If you cannot measure something. You cannot manage it”. Measure it, we will.

Try this; Look at the key areas in your life, it doesn’t have to be physical fitness … it may be managing relationships; financial goals; emotional growth; career progression etc. Choose one area. Now, think carefully. Ask yourself what 5 or 6 KEY ACTIONS you need to take, DAILY, that would get you up to 80% or substantially completed before that area of your life, becomes too risky and overwhelms you and becomes a big and costlier problem.

A little mosquito or action that my wife and I practice to help is simply making each other a little cup of tea or coffee almost every day (she just brought me second one). It may be small thing, like a mosquito, but I think very important. Someone once told me that it’s the little things in life that matter. Whilst big, grand gestures aren’t bad, don’t get caught up in the big, over-the-top gestures that you see in Hollywood movies (the elephants). Focus on the mosquitoes.

Good luck!

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a better life, action, adaptation, ageing, asking questions, awareness, Beliefs, better choices, change, choices, Energy, examined life, game of life, habits, Imagination, life, long-term perspective, needs, risk, self, self discipline, self improvement, self-respect, truths, Vitality, you, your life

Managing your funnel better

Less abdominal fat is not only poses less health risks for you, it gives you a more aesthetically pleasing physique. Knowing what ‘to leave out’ in your diet is vital to achieving a tight mid-section

Friends for life.

I’ve met a lot of intelligent people in my life, the smartest person (Intelligent and wise) I have met (thus far) passed away earlier this year at 82.

We were friends for about four and half years or so. I considered a friend for life. You know the type, I hope you’ve got a few friends that you can honestly look at and say, yes, you are a friend for life.

Our friendship lasted for just over four years.

We had all the characteristics of good friendship – honesty, trust, care, inter-dependence, willingness to provide a shoulder to lean on when one needs help, forgiveness and a genuine desire to help the other become a better person.

I miss my friend. A lot.

One of my good old friends at the gym

Opportunities disguised as challenges

He taught me much and I, him. We shared. Stories. I was fascinated with his stories of life. Not necessarily his life, but life in general, in particular where he saw ‘opportunities’ and others saw ‘challenges’.

Guess who got the rewards? Yep, “nothing risked, nothing gained”, he would tell me. Made me realise that life was a big exercise in “Risk Management” … but I won’t go in to that right now, it can be a topic for later.

Retired Ex-Australian Wallaby & Waratah’s Captain – Phil Waugh doing triceps press-downs and “feeling the essence” with perfectly performed repetitions.
A great example of a human being striving to be the BEST he can be – for himself, first and then, everyone else. All day. Every day.
If he can, so can you using my framework.

Work hard at adding life in to your years, not just life to your years

Back to my dear friend … I saw him 3 times a week (Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays) between 10:30 & 12 noon, in my gym – for our usual chats and his exercise. We had an arrangement: he listens and follows everything I say to keep him alive and I get an hour coffee and mentorship every Friday morning after his session with me.

Having only six months to live (as told to him by his doctors), my good old friend lived for another four years. He took care of the little mosquitoes, the daily habits and this along with other factors helped him live longer.

I got him to work on his breathing, sense of balance, strength, agility and keeping the ‘whole body’ in mind. The usual services that a typical gym owner and manager would provide.

Basically, make him exert enough effort to his skeletal and smooth muscles, to help make his daily activities just that little bit easier and more pleasant – like walking, walking up stairs, carrying shopping bags, doing a little gardening and breathing better.

He certainly lived a long life, but he was more interested in adding “Life to his years”, in the years I had known him.

 

Choose what to leave out – choose wisely

He was so diligent in his approach to exercise that he came in for a workout on his 80th birthday. He sat on the reclining stationary bike to warm up and I got everyone in the gym to sing ‘happy birthday’ and cheered ‘Hip hip, hooray!!’.

I think he enjoyed the attention.

One of my favourites – the Most Muscular pose.
Circa 2007.

After the singing, we started our chat and I thought I’d ask him in honour of his 80th birthday what was the one thing he could share with me that he learned in his last 40 years that he hadn’t known in his first 40 years. He stopped pedalling for a few seconds, looked up to the gym ceiling and said …

“Work on being a master of your funnel, Paul!”, he yelled whilst catching his breath.

“Don’t stop cycling, mate, keep those legs pumping!” I said

  • “Don’t think, answering my question gives you permission to stop moving.”

He smiled, gave me a look, and happily continued.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What funnel?”

He called out, over the music in the gym, “I learned how to cut out more bul#@it in my life, Paul!”

This was very interesting, coming from a man who had a huge part of his career in advertising and strategy, advising large companies on selling. Matter of fact he ran a company that employed 200+ people, which he successfully sold along with another business he started after that.

He had also acted as adviser to some of the most prominent businessmen Australia had ever seen. One such high wealth individual he advised for more than thirty years was Australia’s Richest Man at one stage – Mr Kerry Packer.

This retired friend of mine did alright for himself.

Attitude is key at winning in the Game of Life.

Rid your life of ‘stuff’

He then proceeded to say that in life, we get bombarded with so much ‘stuff’, and now more than ever, due to the proliferation of the various media types, one has to be more diligent in ‘policing’ the many sensory stimulants entering our minds through what we see, hear, who we talk to and the groups we mix with.

We have to exercise vigilance in self-regulating behaviour, in particular, with regards to the impact exposure to all this modern-day living ‘stuff’ (or in his words “bul#$@it”) has on you.

A lot of this ‘stuff’ does not really have any place in your life, and really does not in the whole scope of life. We have 86,400 seconds in a day. Use those seconds wisely.

Try this suggestion; Limit your television viewing to stimulating, special shows. If you make television watching a habit, you can become narrow-minded, tunnel vision sets in and creative imagination will vanish. All the better if you can record or download them and watch when it fits your schedule instead of someone else’s.

See how you feel in 1 week.

A famous company slogan goes something like this …. “Life is short”… we could all heed the advice from my wise friend and assess how well you are using your own funnels in sieving out the irrelevant ‘crap’ from your lives NOW … not 40 years from now.

Maybe, just maybe, we will not only add years to our life … but more importantly, LIFE TO OUR YEARS!

 

Choose wisely … & have fun,

 

Cheers & ahoy!

 

The old Cap’n Viking Pirate … & cutting out more bullshit from your life

Learning from the best at something, to be your best is the quickest way to get to where you’re going.
No one can teach you what they don’t know.

Explaining the fine points of re-engineering the physique and increased self-awareness through enhanced ‘mind-muscle’ connection..

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