Attending the Empower Fitness Conference in Chicago, I gained a weekend of new findings in health research, new exercise tips, and very inspiring motivation from hundreds of presenters. One in particular shared an empowering talk which I would like to share with you. Todd Durkin is an internationally recognized performance-enhancement coach, personal trainer, massage therapist, author, and speaker. He challenged the crowd to answer, “What’s your investment to your health?” We all think about the financial investments for the future, our significant others’ well-being, our children or grandchildren’s health, but when was the last time you invested in your own health? Your health has a direct correlation to your life expectancy. Your longevity provides more years to spend with people you care the most about. That could mean meeting or not meeting your grandchildren, great grandchildren, or great great grandchildren.
Todd focuses on IMPACT to help shape our investment:
I: Inspired- live inspired, what are your dreams? Your life goals? Pick out the destination and then plan the steps to get there.
M: Master your craft-Be great at what you do, learn, read, do something for 30 min per day to educate yourself. Education doesn’t end in school, continually push to excel and make yourself better.
P: Play at World Class-Get your mind right. If you have negative thoughts coming through your head, try putting a rubber band on your wrist and every time a negative thought crosses your mind, snap that band (snap out of negative thoughts). Make it your job to be your own motivator, be the team, be ALL IN! You only know your don’t like something if you go ALL IN!
A: Action- What do you want to do in your life? What’s your playbook look like---every team (coach and players) has a playbook. In most sports, coaches and players do not just pull a "Hail Mary" out of the sky for every play they run. No, the team has practiced and practiced and practiced their playbook. Sometimes the play goes better than planned and sometimes it goes worse, but the team has planned for those incidents and has generated that playbook. Be a strategist not an opportunist! Make the plays, don’t just let them happen!
What are 5 things you love to do or are good at? Do your life goals involve these things? Why or why not? When you have a playbook (plan, map, outline) you make decisions better. Some parts of your playbook are in your lives for a reason, you really enjoy these things and they are important to you. Some parts need to be removed; they take your time away from someone or something you truly enjoy. It is alright to say no. If something fits in your playbook, you agree to include it in your life, if it does not, say NO!
C: Condition for greatness- Grab a partner: give each other a 60 second massage! Woo that felt great huh? The power of touch is something that is very powerful. The first language learned by humans is the one of physical contact. Touch can communicate an even wider range of emotion than gestures or expressions, and sometimes do so more quickly and accurately than words. Physical contact has also been linked to enhance performance, feelings of support, and being cared for.
What your condition is like has a significant effect on the condition you can provide for someone else. What is your health condition? Needs improvement, satisfactory, or excellent? In every emergency, the directions are to put your oxygen mask on first, then help someone else. You must provide life for yourself, before assisting life for someone else.
Check out the advice you give to those you care about, when was the last time you took your own advice? Are you doing what you are telling others to do? It may be time for you to hire a coach for you!
T: Tenacious-be tenacious! Fully immerse yourself, fully engage, and listen to the positive energy, thoughts, and suggestions around you. Who are the most important people to you? When something happens to you, who is it that you call? Create a support group with these individuals by sharing with them your goals, fears, and struggles. Being held accountable makes you 50% more likely to carry on. Motivation is in the head, inspiration is in the heart.
Can you make an IMPACT on yourself?
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