Choice

Reese Witherspoon, who has never revealed the reasons for her divorce, did reveal that she vowed never to ‘lay blame’ on Ryan Phillippe for their relationship breakdown.

She added to Parade magazine: ‘There are things in my life that are hard to reconcile, like divorce. Sometimes it is very difficult to make sense of how it could possibly happen. Laying blame is so easy.’

‘When you make wrong choices, you have to take responsibility for them, ‘What part of this do I own?’ I struggle to figure out what made me make those choices. All I can hope for is that I’ve learned something from it and won’t make the same choices again.’

Blame is giving your free will and responsibility away to someone or something else. The truth is that we are responsible for our thoughts, feelings, and actions and there is no room for blaming in that equation. If you want to move forward with your life you need to accept responsibility for your life and take all situations into your hands. Who better to solve your life’s travail than you?

Blame is the desire to avoid whatever experience you are going through. If you had peace and equanimity about it, you would simply let it be, and move on, but when there is a desire to avoid the experience, then you must find a reason for it so as to control future experiences to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Any time there is blame; there is always a lack of surrender to an experience. It puts the resolution of your emotional pain into the hands of someone else rather than yourself. Ultimately, you cannot insist that someone else take responsibility for your feelings or actions, only you can make that choice when you are ready.

Choice denotes the act, power or right of selecting alternatives. As good as it feels, initially, to blame others for your disagreements, there’s actually very little you can do to change other people’s behavior. You can, however, concentrate on what you can do to alter the situation, or at least the ways you respond in the future.

Know how to take responsibility for your own choices. Refuse to blame others for your decisions or for your need to make a choice. You and you alone have the privilege of final responsibility for your choices. Take responsibility for the problem. Make the right kind of choices, the kind that will enhance your life rather than diminish it. When you blame others, you give up power to change.

Did you do your homework?

Whenever making a decision in life, I cannot stress how important it is to do your own homework. This goes for anything in life which has a high risk of failure. You do not want to be the victim, simply by not doing your own homework before making a decision; especially when it comes to money. Without doing your own homework, there is only one person really to blame; yourself. This especially holds true if you are thinking about ever investing money in the stock or housing market?

Take this for example: You see an acquaintance from high school at the shopping mall. You have not seen him for over 10 years and he comes up to you and you start talking. He continues to talk about how he is a stock broker and would love to make you money. He introduces to you the latest project he is working on; a gold company based in Mexico which sounds too good to be true. He highly suggests you start up an account with him as this stock is just about to take off. The question is do you listen to him or not? Well, the correct answer is listen to his advice, do your own homework and then make a decision. In all big decisions in life, it is ultimately up to us to make our own decisions, but we must not forget to take advice from people.

What should you look for in this example with the stock broker?

• Where do you know him/her
• How long has he been a stock broker
• What firm does he/she work for
• Research the stock he is promoting and make the calls
• Ask advice from friends or people who know the stock market
• Are you going to lose sleep over this if you lose money
• Do you have extra money to play around with
• Make sure you understand how the stock market works
• Lastly, make sure you believe in the company or product the stock broker is promoting

I can recall a few times in my life where people I did not know well at all, told me about projects he/she was working on or investments which will make me rich. A few times I did my homework and there were a few times where I got literally screwed because I was lazy and did not bother to do my homework and took their advice.

Creatures of Habit

I remember walking through the Quad, on my way to meet a friend for lunch... and I was kind of lost in thought. I looked down at my watch, and realized that I was running late...

The crowd was going nowhere, fast, and I was getting very frustrated because nobody seemed to be in any particular sort of rush - which was just holding me up more and more. Just as I was on the verge of losing my mind, I looked over everyone's heads... and noticed that the reason for the crowd was that each and every one of us was funneling into a single door - a complete bottleneck.

Now, this is not the "a ha" moment... no, that came a couple of seconds later when I further realized that there was an entire wall of doors leading into the Student Union Building, but being the automatons that we were, no one was using any of these other doors - we were ALL waiting to go through that single door.

I mounted my own rebellion - I broke off from the crowd, and opened another door... which was when I said "a ha". As I walked through this door, I looked back over my shoulder and saw that a second stream of people had been created, going through both the original door AND the one that I had opened.

A living and breathing metaphor.

In this age of fear, greed and blind following all I ask is that everyone reading this take just a moment and look to see if there's another door to go through... because I guarantee you'll bring others with you.

~Guy

Keeping ones focus

As the holiday season is upon us, we are so easily distracted and swayed to miss/skip out on our physical path. It’s too easy to hit the snooze button to bypass that early morning run or have a bigger lunch and feel ‘too full’ to hit the gym early evening.

But for those of us that have a destination in the middle or past the holiday season we are kept on track. The best way to combat those dinner parties or feeling like you need to stay and entertain is to have a destination that you are training for.

I was personally reminded about this the other week. I was at a function with some friends, mingling and sampling the appetizers being carried around the venue. Two girls walked up to me and asked me if I was at a Halloween party the previous year dressed as a lumberjack.

‘Well yes I was’ I replied with a smile.
‘Ya, you had to leave early to run a ½ marathon or something…’ she responded…

It hit me that if it hadn’t been for that ½ I had to get up for the next day that I would have stayed out late continued to party it up at that party…

Fast forward 1year. My new commitment is a spin class that I coach on Sundays and another ½ marathon that I am running in a couple weeks. Those are my focuses these days and have been for a while now. I still manage to get out and enjoy my social time, but I have promise to myself to be prepared for my physical obligations.

Just to get you up to speed, Ill miss a workout here and there and do my best to make them up, but for the most part (like 95%) I’m on-point with my training, recovery and it feels great.
We can see it in our customers when they are dialed. Arriving early, nutrition (fuel), stretching (flexibility) and their focus is on the task at hand.

In a week we are leaving for Vietnam and then traveling to Cambodia to run a ½ Marathon and we are seeing it in real time with those that are registered for Cambodia, Honolulu and even the UBC Triathlon.

You know what’s coming…

Destination + commitment = focus
As

Challenge + Adversity = Victory

What are your plans for 2009?

As 2008 comes to end, we start to think about and plan for 2009. Some of us have a set plan in what we want to achieve in 2009 and others are still brainstorming and considering the options that are out there. We work in an environment where we are constantly leading others through example and being role models; the pressure and expectations are there for us to have a plan. Before working at IF, I was never constantly asked or challenged for what my next step is, where do I want to go, or what do I want to achieve. The leaders here are planting a seed and helping me think about what I want to do next, just like we do to our customers.

I think the most important aspect of planning and setting up goals for 2009, is to be realistic. Set achievable and realistic goals so that you can plan and achieve success rather than failure. I feel we get influenced and side tracked by others to do everything and anything, which for some people that is possible but for others they might get too stressed and burned out.

We are all different, we all go along at different paces to achieve our goals and those that achieve their goal faster must not sidetrack us. You should not worry about what others are thinking and you must do what you feel is right. We are surrounded by such a great support system, that we are lucky that we can turn to anyone to help us plan and think about our goals for 2009, where else do we have the opportunity to do that

'V' Formation

In Canada, the geese fly in a V-shaped formation with one side of the 'V' longer than the other. There are scientific and practical explanations for this and we should use this nature's wonder to understand the need for synergy in effective teams.

During the flight, each bird's wings create an uplift for the bird behind it. This enables the entire wedge of geese to fly 71% further than a bird flying alone. By tapping on the collective strength ofindividuals with a common goal and direction, we all stand to benefit.

When a goose starts to leave the formation, it can feel a drag and resistance of a solo flight and will quickly get back into the 'V' formation. The lift and thrust of the flapping birds in front lighten the burden of the birds behind. In the same manner, we can be special and choose to fall out of the line, but it will make our journey to success a much tougher path to travel as we do not enjoy the support of the people around us.

Just like our leaders, the leading goose may feel the strain and pressure in taking charge. When it drops to the back, another goose immediately takes over the helm. In perfect teams, the mindset should not be one of ‘your job’ or ‘my job’ but ‘our jobs.’ The responsibility is shared and each team member should be prepared to cover each other when the need arises.

Geese do not travel in silence and we hear their honking in flight. Maybe it is their merry singing, but it could very well be their way of encouragement to those in front to keep pace. We don't have to go to the extreme of a cheerleading team. However, words of praise, encouragement and support go a long way in raising the morale of our team members.

Can geese fall sick? Yes, they can and when that happens, at least two other geese will follow a sick bird to the ground. They will protect the bird and when it is well again, they travel together to join the rest of the flock. We should not forsake our team members who need our help especially during difficult times.

Which are you - are you the leading goose? The number two who is always able to take over the number one? A noise maker and morale booster? A ready helper? Does your team fly in a 'V' formation in the first place?

A good team is not formed overnight. There must be some form of magnetism that pulls them together - a synergy. Disputes and arguments are common and there is no reason to expect none of that in the teams. Personalities aside, the solution towards harmony is often a process of realignment of duties and tasks.

Yes, we are the Professionals

Let’s face it coming to Innovative Fitness is a luxury bonus which only few people can afford. Many people are suffering or will soon be affected by the economic crisis in some way or another. When financial hardships occur in our lives and money becomes tight, then we start to invest money into the things which are the most important in our lives and drop the things which are a luxury bonus. With the average cost of each personal training session being $70.00, the question is are our customers getting more than what they are paying for. Everybody loves to get more than what they pay for and if a customer cannot justify they are getting what they pay for, then they will either look elsewhere for a better bargain or discontinue the luxury of having a personal training coach.

What can we do as professional training coaches to keep our customers loyal during these challenging times in our economy:

• BE THE PROFESSIONALS!!

• Have customers aware of his/her program so they can see the value of our service. Program = accountability.
• Be on time. Be out on the training floor with a towel ready before the customer arrives. Greet them with a smile and create urgency from the start they walk in through the doors. Give your customer a quick review of their game plan for the hour.
• Energy/Excitement. A Customer is coming to IF to get energized before a long day at work or to build excitement and feel good after a stressful day at work.
• Little Things. The little things is what separates us from other personal training companies. These little things go a long way.

Are you being the professional?