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Introduction 1 - Master Potential 2 - Master Goals 3 - Master Time 4 - Master Money & Work 5 - Master Small Business 6 - Master Real Estate 7 - Master Health 8 - Master Mind 9 - Master Relationships 10 - Master Life Conclusion |
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Lesson Seven - Master HealthOperational Guidelines
As a Master of Success, you feel good, secure, confident and ready to take on the challenges of successful living. To the best of your ability, make a personal commitment to look and feel the best you've ever looked and felt. Your smile, your posture, your mannerisms and the spring in your step will all shout "Success!" Your confident manner and awareness will help protect you from harm. This lesson will deal with physically prepping you for your success journey.By following the Action Principles® and the Master Success System, you will become financially independent. Your challenging life may not be stress-free, but having time and money gives you many stress relief options. You'll be in a position to buy good food, exercise, meditate, vacation, travel, and play life sports. You want to be fit and energized to enjoy your life fully now and during all your golden years. The Truth about Diet and ExerciseAs a Master of Success, you accept the reality that food is comforting, exercise hurts and, very often, there is pain before gain. When you feel stressed, delicious food can be your soothing friend. Eating makes you feel good. Snacking is one of the easiest ways you can spoil yourself. You don't need scientific studies to tell you that chocolate, French fries and steaks are wonderful mood elevators. Saving for your children's college has a long-term benefit. Eating a blueberry pie with ice cream has an immediate benefit. You have to be rich to buy a Porsche. Anyone can buy a bacon double cheeseburger. Eating two donuts in the morning won't have an immediate negative impact on your profile. You can eat a bag of donuts before you reach 3,500 calories and gain a single pound.We love food and food loves us back. Food is a constant temptation that requires strong willpower to resist. Who wants to order a side salad for lunch when the rest of the office has ordered pizza? It takes willpower. Who doesn't want to eat the fries when we take the kids for fast food? It takes willpower. Who wants to eat no-fat foods that taste like cardboard? If it were not for the calories, very few people would choose low fat frozen yogurt over high fat ice cream. You can eat well and sensibly. Forget the pyramids and charts. You already know what to do. You already know that broiled, light, fresh, steamed and poached are good words. You already know that fried, stuffed, buttery and au gratin are bad words. You already know that you should eat more fruits and vegetables. You already know that you should be doing healthy things like taking a multi-vitamin and drinking eight glasses of water per day. Adding a dash of lemon or lime helps. Female Masters must be sure that their calcium and iron intake are sufficient. Managing your diet is an easy way to challenge yourself, build your self-discipline and feel good about being in control of yourself. You want a candy bar or an ice cream sundae but you fight the temptation. Not eating these things does not make you a better person. There is nothing wrong with eating an occasional candy bar or ice cream sundae. They are treats and treats are important to our psychic well being. You are not a better person just because you're thin. When you do indulge, make sure that you aren't mindlessly shoveling in wasted calories but rather, in the moment, savoring the treat. Are you bored, anxious or really hungry? As a Master of Success, eat mindfully, take smaller bites and savor your food.
DietThis isn't complicated. If you are overweight and you go on a diet, you hurt. It is our obsession with quick fixes that gives us trouble. You can follow any number of popular diets and diet gurus. All of the diet advice about not eating or eating some things and not others probably will work if you are persistent. Eat fewer calories than you expend and the diet works. The problem comes from the cravings. You will be hungry. This is the tough part, the hungry part. When you start to get hungry, your body will tell you that it doesn't like what is happening and you become grumpy, nervous and irritable. Some around you will be less sympathetic with your quest for thinness and will beg you to eat a cupcake and to stop acting like such a jerk. They will give you permission to eat.You have to prepare yourself for the inevitable negative consequences of the weight loss process. When you want to lash out, you have to stop and take a breath and envision the new you and all the compliments that will inevitably be showered upon you when you become the leaner you. Here is a mantra;"Nothing tastes better than thin." Get in the habit of reading food labels. Eat until you feel full and then stop. In restaurants, order less food or cut your portions in half and take the rest home in a doggy bag. Skip the appetizers and share the desserts. Eating fruits for dessert or snacks is a positive life habit. Be aware that it takes 15-20 minutes for the food you put in your mouth to reach your stomach and register in your brain, so slow down your eating. Wait the 15-20 minutes. Then, you can pat yourself on the back. You will be full sooner than you realize. The basic rule of thumb of eating is that if you are aware of what you are eating 90% of the time, you don't have to worry about the other 10%. Eat all of the fruits and vegetables you want whenever you want and the odds are overwhelming that you will lose weight and look great. In this case, you can ignore Mom's advice and push the plate away. Today, Americans eat almost a third of their meals out. Watch the portions. Many restaurants strategically market to overstuffed diners. Yes, there is a direct correlation between super sized fries and super sized thighs. Safe, long-term weight loss involves losing only a pound or two per week. This doesn't sound like much but cumulatively equals 50 to 100 pounds a year. Remember that as a Master of Success, the strongest thing about you is your mind. Weight lose is simple math. To lose a pound a week, you need burn or lose 3,500 calories. Just eat 240 fewer calories a day and exercise enough to burn 300 calories (a brisk 40-minute walk). Keep to the program. When Masters of Success fail, they try again. Take small steps. Continuously improve. Feel the power of self-control. Be realistic. There are new diet pills that seem to imply that you can eat all you want and still lose weight. And, from clinical trials and testimonials, there is evidence that the pills work. The pills allow food to bypass the normal digestion process. However, the digestive side effects can be unpleasant. Dieting is too tough to continue feeling anxious and guilty over the long term. You don't want to live a yo-yo life of going on and off diets. If you can, you want to go on one diet and never diet again. You want to set a goal to reach a healthy weight that you can maintain for the rest of your life. You make this decision. If you're a little chunky but this doesn't bother you and you feel energetic, then relax and allow common sense to be your guide. Current research suggests that while being a little bit skinny is pretty good, being a little bit overweight may not be so terrible. It is preferable to be a little bit overweight and fit than to be skinny and unfit. However, one third of Americans are now classifiable as obese meaning that they are 30 pounds or more overweight and another third are overweight. The same percentages apply to children. Obesity kills 300,000 Americans each year. Masters of Success do not waddle. Make your choice.
Exercise
As a Master of Success, you take pride in how you look. Just as you commit to diet and brave your way past harmful addictions, you commit to a lifelong exercise schedule. Many health problems and diseases can be alleviated through dedication to a daily exercise regime. Being physically fit, you'll live longer, reduce your risk of heart disease and colon cancer, lower or control your blood pressure and help to prevent diabetes while promoting healthy bones, muscles and joints. Working out alleviates feelings of depression and anxiety while promoting psychological well being.There are other incentives to stay active. Most men and women reach their maximum strength levels between ages 20-30. By age 65, individuals who haven't exercised may lose as much as 50% of their youthful strength. In another fifteen years, at age 80, they may lose another 50% of their strength. You do want to eat but you have to do less of it. You don't want to exercise but you have to do more of it. In other words, you have to make time for exercise when you could be doing something better like eating. Exercise can be repetitive and boring. Exercise makes you sweaty and smelly. Frequently, vigorous exercise hurts. To get from unfit to fit, prepare yourself for aches, soreness and discomfort. When you exercise, your body fights back. Fortunately, our bodies are such physiological marvels, that we don't require much physical conditioning. We just can't abuse our bodies for the ninety plus years they house us. Some people can stay overweight and live long healthy lives. Most can't. Some people can smoke cigarettes and pour in the heavy booze their whole life with little noticeable effect. Most can't. Common sense translated through moderation is your guide. You don't need a lot of food and you don't need a lot of exercise. You just need some of each. This does not mean that living a moderate lifestyle is easy. It isn't. Be strong. Fortunately, by following the Action Principles® and the Master Success System, you will be strong. Eat less. Exercise more.
You exercise your muscles to the point of fatigue and you feel the effects tomorrow. Tomorrow you go back for more of the same. You should plan on exercising three to five days per week, forever. It is tough to stick to a regular exercise schedule forever. You do it anyway. Challenge and adventure are the hallmarks of the master. The Three Levels of FitnessThere are three basic levels to fitness. Most people aren't even on Level One. They are on Level Zero. They do zero. Seventy-eight percent of adults do not do enough exercise to qualify as preventive health maintenance.There is Level One, which is the level where people work out to avoid premature death. This is the very basic twenty minutes three times a week of cardio at 60% to 80% of maximum heart rate. Walking on a treadmill or pedaling a stationary bike while listening to your iPod, watching TV or reading are preferred choices. People on Level One will occasionally think about taking the stairs instead of the elevator. People at this level may or may not be in good-looking shape but nobody's laughing either. If they do look really good, they can probably thank genetics. They are comfortably staying alive. Level Two people are into fitness. Exercise becomes an important part of the day on four or six days per week. Exercise sessions generally last from forty to sixty minutes. Workouts are planned to include aerobic work for the heart, anaerobic work to build strength and flexibility training to improve range of motion and to help prevent injuries. Level Two people frequently cross-train between various athletic disciplines and may be competitive in one or more sports. A person who can stay on Level Two is going to look relatively good as well as feel pretty good. There is Level Three. Here is an athlete or someone who wants to be known for his or her body. They don't exercise but rather, they train. People on this level can range from serious fitness buffs to those for whom exercise becomes their principle identity. Other aspects of your life may take a backseat to working out. They keep careful and detailed training and performance records. The majority of their friends are "into" the same sport's lifestyle. They may train ten or more hours per week. They probably are being coached. They know all the applicable clubs, magazines and websites for their sports. If you really want to look like a magazine model, plan on Level Three. If the point is to be healthy, then any of the three levels are acceptable. Moderate exercise or better is the goal. Exercise shouldn't be relegated to the weekends. Exercise should become a habitual part of your daily routine. On Level One, you are healthy but your physique may not draw comment. On Level Two, you are healthy and look good. On Level Three, you are healthy and are on call for the magazine cover shoot. The only bad level is Level Zero. We can all make a decision to try to live to be 90. Babies born in this new millennium may well live to be 100 and beyond. We are all subject to genetics and accidents but we can be in control of most of the rest of what's important about what we eat and whether our activity level is sufficiently high to be considered exercise. There is no such thing as old age when it comes to lifting weights or training to run in a marathon or studying to become a black belt in karate. Get over the excuses. Realize that there are no shortcuts. Realize that healthy living takes some degree of sacrifice and some degree of discomfort. Make healthy living a gift that you give to yourself. Choose a Life SportFor all but a few hearty souls, exercise alone may become stale. A good way around the tedium is to choose a life sport. A life sport is one that you can enjoy at 9 or 90. Online research can get you started. Every sport will have magazines and websites and associations and forums.Here are a few suggestions:
What changes can you make in your daily routine to improve your life? If you can feel and look great, why not go for it? Your minimal goal should be to burn 1,000 or more calories per week through exercise. Walking is a good start. Begin your program with daily sessions of about 15 minutes, gradually building up to a half-hour or longer per day. An exercise program doesn't have to be complicated. Here's a simple program: walk 10,000 steps a day. That's it. Get a pedometer and start walking your 10,000 steps. Pick up litter on your journey and you'll be accomplishing both goals of the Action Principles®: to improve yourself and help others. If you are over 50 or someone at high risk for heart disease, you should check with your doctor before significantly increasing your activity level or radically changing your diet. You may find that as the compliments start to roll in and you start feeling younger and younger, healthy living will become one of your best habits. To become proficient at a sport, you dedicate yourself to diligent practice. For example, the average person can earn a black belt in karate in three to four years if he or she takes classes and practices an average of three to four times per week. It can be done with patience and perseverance. In learning a new sport, take care to build upon a solid foundation of fundamentals. Slow down and practice your basics. The natural tendency is to want to seek new material and to rush ahead. This is usually a mistake that frequently leads to early burnout.
Personal StyleYou know that life provides endless choices. Healthy living is not being 50 and trying to look 20.At any age, healthy living represents vim, vigor and vitality. The more active your lifestyle the stronger will be your ability to ward off feeling old and tired. No one will ever know you better than you know yourself. If you feel that you can and should do more, then do more. You will be faced with choices. One choice will have immediate satisfaction. The other choice will be an investment in a better future. As the Action Principles® Pledge reminds; be aware of the choices you make. Seek a balance in your decision making between short-term gratification and long term benefits. However, simply by being aware of the choices that you are making, you will, over your lifetime, tend to make better choices. Masterful Life ChoicesHealthy living is more than just weight control and nutrition. There are many damaging substances and behaviors you must guard against from abusing drugs and alcohol to road rage. As such, the anxiety that you may feel as a dieter is not limited to food consumption. These same feelings may be felt and amplified if you try to stop drinking, smoking, taking drugs or even limiting caffeine and driving safely. It will be tough and often physically uncomfortable to eliminate bad habits. You must be tough. There are patches and pills and counseling sessions to help, but in the final analysis, the breaking of long-term, negative habits will require your inner resolve to be successful.Go HardcoreTo succeed you must be physically prepared for the hard work that being extraordinary demands. You need energy and enthusiasm. Develop healthy habits by demonstrating the willpower to control your impulses. It is easy to stay sedentary. Get moving. It is easy to gobble fast food. Plan ahead and cook a well balanced meal. Being fit and healthy is really very simple. Begin eating healthy foods and exercising and keep doing it for the rest of your life.Choose a life sport, a physical activity that interests you that you can enjoy for a lifetime. Given your age, have a goal of becoming an expert at your chosen sport. For most sports, consider ten thousand hours of practice as a guideline for excellence. Keep moving. Eat mindfully. |
