I and many others are promoting the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle, but what does that actually mean?  In general, most would agree that a healthy person doesn’t smoke, is at a healthy weight, eats a balanced healthy diet, thinks positively, feels relaxed, exercises regularly, has good relationships, and benefits from a good life balance. 

Maybe I should start by trying to look at a few definitions for the word - lifestyle. A definition in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language says : ‘A way of life or style of living that reflects the attitudes and values of a person or group’.  

In an Encyclopedia of Public Health: Lifestyle is defined as:‘In public health, “lifestyle” generally means a pattern of individual practices and personal behavioural choices that are related to elevated or reduced health risk’.  

The World Health Organisation in 1946 defined health as ‘A complete state of mental, physical and social well-being not merely the absence of disease’. 

Wikipedia: defines a lifestyle as the way a person lives. This includes patterns of social relations, consumption, entertainment, and dress. A lifestyle typically also reflects an individual’s attitudes, values or worldview. A healthy lifestyle is generally characterized as a “balanced life” in which one makes “wise choices”.  

A final definition of lifestyle is:“The aggregation of decisions by individuals which affect their health, and over which they more or less have control. … 

What is the definition of Healthy Living?  

The World Health Organization (WHO), defines Health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not simply just the absence of disease.

The actual definition of Healthy Living is the steps, actions and strategies one puts in place to achieve optimum health.  

Healthy Living is about taking responsibility for your decisions and making smart health choices for today and for the future.   So healthy living would consist of:

Physical (For the body):  

• Good nutrition, eating right
• Getting physically fit, beneficial exercise,
• Adequate rest
• Proper stress management.

Emotional Wellness (For the mind):  

• Self-supportive attitudes,
• Positive thoughts and viewpoints
• Positive self-image.

You also need to give and receive:  

• Forgiveness,
• Love and compassion;
• You need to laugh and experience happiness;
• You need joyful relationships with yourself and others.

Spiritual Wellness:  

• Inner calmness,
• Openness to your creativity,
• Trust in your inner knowing.

And all aspects of one’s self, must work in harmony to achieve wellness, so you need to create a balanced life.   

Why is it important? 

A healthy lifestyle is a valuable resource for reducing the incidence and impact of health problems, for recovery, for coping with life stressors, and for improving quality of life.  There is a growing body of scientific evidence that shows our lifestyles play a huge part in how healthy we are.  From what we eat and drink, to how much exercise we take, and whether we smoke or take drugs, all will affect our health, not only in terms of life expectancy, but how long we can expect to live without experiencing chronic disease. 

Conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, joint disease, and mental illness are responsible for a vast number of deaths and disabilities. Currently, we rely almost exclusively on the provision of clinical care by highly trained health professionals as our major strategy to deal with these conditions  Many health problems can be prevented or at least their occurrence postponed by having a healthy lifestyle. 

Why don’t you have a healthy lifestyle? 

It’s a busy life for most of us. And keeping ourselves healthy is all too rarely near the top of our list of ‘things to do’. Convenience often wins - we are all so busy that convenience is at a premium. 

Good Health is ’simple - but it’s not easy’. 

It is so important to make ‘keeping healthy’ a part of our day-to-day living habits. Your health depends on what you do throughout the day, everyday. A healthy lifestyle is absolutely vital. Here is a real simple solution - slowly improve your lifestyle in a step-by-step way. If you take one new health step every two months, for example, in two to three years you will be among the healthiest ten percent of people in the Western world. And boy will you see and feel the benefits. 

Improvements do not have to be large steps; take one small step for your health today, keep that one going, and add another one every two months. Have a plan - maybe introduce 6 improvements over the course of a year. 

Can you adopt a healthy lifestyle? 

Whatever your age, fitness level or body shape, its never too soon or too late to start thinking about living healthily. You can take a step towards healthy living by making one change now to your daily life. That won’t be so hard will it? 

Are you living a healthy lifestyle? 

Do you wake up with enthusiasm for the day ahead?Do you have the high energy you need to do what you want?Do you laugh easily and often, especially at yourself?Do you confidently find solutions for the challenges in your life?Do you feel valued and appreciated?Do you appreciate others and let them know it?Do you have a circle of warm, caring friends?Do the choices you make every day get you what you want? 

The Components Of A Healthy Lifestyle 

Eating Healthily – the right nutrition is necessary to live a healthy lifestyle. Your body requires a well balanced diet every day in order to maintain the adequate amounts of vitamins, nutrients and minerals needed to maintain a healthy body. 

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” - La Rochefoucauld 

An Active lifestyle - you will need to include fitness as part of your life.  Physical fitness keeps your weight in check, helps you sleep better at night, prevents heart attacks and strokes and other health problems, and generally prolongs your life. Basically there are so many benefits of exercising that you really can’t live a full life without it.   

Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness.  ~Edward Stanley 

Stress Management - Emotional stress plays an important role in many illnesses, both directly and indirectly. People are also more likely to smoke, overeat, drink too much, work too hard, argue with others and so on, when they are feeling stressed. Thus, stress management is an important part of your new lifestyle, and meditation and relaxation techniques are truly a key part of living a healthy lifestyle. 

Diseases of the soul are more dangerous and more numerous than those of the body.  ~ Cicero 

Make friends with yourself - Loving yourself is a key to a healthy, happy lifestyle. Self-esteem is all about how much people value themselves; the pride they feel in themselves, and how worthwhile they feel. Self-esteem is important because feeling good about yourself can affect how you act.  

The power of love to change bodies is legendary, built into folklore, common sense, and everyday experience.  Love moves the flesh, it pushes matter around…. Throughout history, “tender loving care” has uniformly been recognized as a valuable element in healing.  ~Larry Dossey   

Powering up your Mind and Body - programme your mind for total success. Develop a vision, a compelling future that excites and inspires you, and focus on it daily. Don’t let anything knock you of course, or make you question its possibility.  I promise you, by taking control of your thoughts, you will improve your life in a big way.  

In minds crammed with thoughts, organs clogged with toxins, and bodies stiffened with neglect, there is just no space for anything else.  ~Alison Rose Levy 

Life Balance - If you want to achieve a healthy lifestyle you must take steps to ensure you maintain a certain level of balance… spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, mentally and financially. You need to balance work and family, and all the other areas of your life without spreading yourself too thin and having a guilt trip when you do one thing, but think you should be doing another. All of the key areas of our lives overlap and interlink, effecting each other. Unless we create for ourselves satisfaction in each and every part of our life, we can never truly be fulfilled, or live a contented, happy and healthy life.  

“No success in public life can compensate for failure in the home.” —BENJAMIN DISRAELI 

Being Healthy is so important. Just change one thing in your life today. Have a Healthy Life beginning now. Living a healthy lifestyle will bring you happiness, health and the life of your dreams. You can fit into your favourite pair of jeans again. You can enjoy all the benefits that perfect health offers you. You can feel your best at all times of the day. 

The Optimists Creed

I’m sure many have found this before me. For those of you that haven’t, I just had to bring it to your attention. I love this - so I thought I’d share it with you.

Promise Yourself

To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.

To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.

To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on your side, so long as you are true to the best that is in you. 

The Optimist Creed by Christian Larson

Since discovering this, doing research with regards to the  HELENA project, on http://www.optimist.org   I then found it on the http://www.thesecret.tv/optimists-creed/optimists-creed.pdf . As The Secret in my mind is the most powerful personal development book/film there is, then to find this there, just meant to me … lets get as many people as possible to read it, to enjoy it, to live it.

We all have the ability to change and improve ourselves and our lives. I started this blog so that I could contribute my knowledge on healthy lifestyles, playing my small part in offering people the information to make their world a better place, 

Moving from an average to a brilliant life will require you put in a load of effort. It isn’t easy. But it’s possible. You have to change your mindset, your behaviour, actions an habits.   To be brilliant you have to take responsibility for your own life, thoughts, behaviours and actions. But many people run away from their personal responsibility, by using one very popular word… EXCUSES. 

The only thing that can stop us adopting and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is ourselves. The main way we will do that is to make excuses why we can’t.  So what does this very well used word mean.

According to the Oxford Dictionary… ‘A reason, either true or invented, that you give to explain or defend your behaviour’. In Collins Essential English Dictionary definition of excuse  as a Noun - an explanation offered to justify an action which has been criticized or as a reason for not fulfilling an obligation.As a Verb:1. to put forward a reason or justification for (an action, fault, or offending person) 2. to pardon (a person) or overlook (a fault) 3. to free (someone) from having to carry out a task, obligation, etc.: a doctor’s letter excusing him from games at school 4. to allow to leave  

We often use excuses to hide from our fear that we can’t really change or that our life can’t be any different.  Our excuses can often prevent us from achieving brilliance. Making excuses is a bad habit that keeps you from being as successful as you can be. 

We have been making excuses right from the beginning of the bible. When God asked Adam if he had eaten of the tree he was commanded not to, Adam went into excuse mode, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:12) And when God asked Eve what she had done, she also gave an excuse, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” (Genesis 3:13) 

I found a great poem by Alanis Morissette -Excuses lyrics:  Why no one will help me I am too dumb I am too smart They’ll not understand me I am lonely They’ll hate me And there is not enough time It’s too hard to help me And god wants me to work No resting no lazy  These excuses how they served me so well They’ve kept me safe They’ve kept me stoic They’ve kept me locked in my own cell  I’m too far from home It takes far too much energy And I cannot afford to No one will ever see me  These excuses how they served me so well They’ve kept me safe They’ve kept me stoic They’ve kept me locked inside my cell  These excuses how they’re so familiar They’ve kept me small They’ve kept me blocked They’ve kept me safe inside my shell  Bringing this into the light Shakes their foundation And it clears my side Now my imagination Is the only thing that limits The bar that is raised to the heights  No one can have it all see I have to they want me to And I can’t let them down I’ll never be happy  These excuses how they served me so well They’ve kept me safe They’ve kept me small They’ve kept me locked inside my cell  These excuses how they’re so familiar They’ve kept me small They’ve kept me stoic They’ve kept me locked inside my cell 

The definition of stoic in the Collins Essential English Dictionary is one apparently or professedly indifferent to pleasure or pain. Excuse-making is a huge barrier to self-improvement.

We often use excuses that prevent us from doing something that in truth could be easily accomplished.  Eradicating excuses can set you on the path to accomplishing nearly anything you want. 

Having worked in the fitness industry for many years, you can bet I’ve heard nearly every excuse for not getting started on introducing exercise into somebody’s lifestyle. Here are some of the excuses that I’d liked to have received £1 each time I’ve heard it. I would of amassed a fortune by now. “I hate the idea of exercise.” “I’m too tired to exercise.” “A person my age would look ridiculous Working out.” “I feel fine, I don’t need to exercise.”  “I’m too heavy to exercise.” “I don’t have time.” “Exercise will make me hungrier. I’ll eat more and put on weight, not lose it.”  Often these “so called” obstacles are really excuses to validate the fact that they can’t be bothered making the effort to get into shape. Also where the pleasure of the results that would be gained is still less than the pain in their minds of exercising. As well as many are afraid of failing at any attempt to improve their health and fitness so they blame something else for their lack of trying as the easy way out. I’m not being critical here, or offensive. I love exercising, as much as I love the benefits, and the greatest pleasure to me is when a client succeeds by achieving results from following through. The greatest frustration to me is those I can’t help, because they won’t make that first step. 

Here are some great quotes:

• An excuse is worse than a lie, for an excuse is a lie, guarded. Alexander Pope
• Every vice has its excuse ready. Publilius Syrus
• He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else. Benjamin Franklin
• An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; for an excuse is a lie guarded. Alexander Pope
• Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure. Don Wilder
• Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you, never excuse yourself.Henry Ward Beecher
• Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible. Francois De La Rochefoucauld
• The best job goes to the person who can get it done without passing the buck or coming back with excuses. Napoleon Hill
• I attribute my success to this - I never gave or took any excuse. Florence Nightingale
• People with integrity do what they say they are going to do. Others have excuses. Dr. Laura Schlessinger

When you make excuses, blame other people, complain, or criticize, you give your power away. You turn over control of your emotions to the people and situations you are blaming or complaining about.

We all can find excuses as to why we can’t do something. Making up excuses takes a lot of energy and time. Instead of focusing on what we can’t do, lets focus on what we can do. Instead of coming up with all kinds of excuses why it won’t work, lets focus on why it can work. Recognize when you are making excuses and propel yourself toward action, toward accomplishing all the things you want to do, and ultimately, toward self-realization and happiness, and living with a healthy lifestyle. 

When you accept complete responsibility for your life, you will no longer make excuses or blame others for anything in your life that you’re not happy about. You would refuse to criticize others for any reason. You refuse to complain about your situation or about what has happened in the past. You eliminate all your if-onlys and what-ifs and buts, focusing instead on what you really want and where you are going. 

So make the decision to accept complete responsibility for yourself, your life, and your results, with no excuses. From this moment forward, no matter what occurs, say to yourself, “I am responsible, 100% responsible for what is happening in my life “.  Understand that you are the only person responsible for your current circumstances. You realize that you are where you are and what you are because of your own choices and decisions in the past, and since you made those choices and decisions, only you are responsible. 

You will now refuse to make excuses or to blame anyone else. You see yourself as the primary creative force in your own present and your own future.  Realize that your success or failure depends on you. It depends on the choices you make. It depends on your attitude. Resolve to start accepting responsibility today. Don’t find an excuse, find a way. Don’t make excuses, make good. Remember what Winston Churchill said, “Responsibility is the price of greatness.” 

Get real with yourself - stop making excuses. Don’t any longer let your excuses get in the way of you adopting a healthier lifestyle. Commit yourself to getting the most out of life by overcoming your excuses. Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.  

The mark of brilliant people is that they refuse to make excuses, blame others, or complain about their situations. Instead, they say, over and over, “I am responsible!” Whenever something goes wrong, resist the temptation to become angry, blame others, or make excuses. Instead, ask questions like, “What’s the solution? What do we do now? What is the next step? How do we solve this problem? How do we limit the damage? How can we prevent this from happening again? Where do we go from here?” 

I know this is a difficult subject to deal with. I know that its often automatic response to make an excuse. Often we’ve opened our mouth and made it, before we have even thought things through.  It’s an area that I take very personally. Why? As a coach it has to often been the greatest barrier I’ve met when working with others. And, a very dear, close friend has allowed her life to be stuck in a time warp, where she can’t move forward, and won’t allow herself to find happiness, joy, peace or success. Everything that happens in her life, everything that does happen in her life, she finds someone or something to blame. She has all the talents, abilities and is passionate about helping others, and the day she sees her excuse mentality, and removes it, she will move forward in leap and bounds. So will you, if you eliminate excuses from your life. Take action, start now! 

So, if I don’t have writers block, get abducted by martians, forget how to turn on my computer, or can’t get my daughter off the computer, I will be back within a week.

Many apologies for not writing for many, many days. A month, that long, ooops. Yes, I know — many of you have probably given up on me by now. Unfortunately, a number of things have caught up with me over the past month, here’s just a few of them:

·         Starting up a new business and new offices

 ·         Contending with the calm veneer of a hormonal 17 year old sitting AS Levels (sorry babes)

·         A particular job  that took much, much longer to prepare than I had anticipated

 ·         An unusual number of 1-2-1 coaching appointments

·         Running my Boot Camp Fitness Sessions

·         Too much time spent on writing my book

The excuses could go on and on.I restart my blog by apologising for not having contributed any new writings for over a month. This does not mean that it is not important to me. In fact blogging has come an area of my life that I truly feel is of paramount importance. Neither does it mean I’m not enjoying the challenge of writing articles that contribute to a healthy lifestyle community. The truth is I love doing it.

Anyway, a big thank you, to everyone for hanging around.

THE LONGEST JOURNEY STARTS WITH THE FIRST STEP 

I just wonder if you’ve ever experienced the following situation. That when your morning starts badly for you, everything seems to go downhill from there. You end up being in a negative frame of mind most of the day, you lose control of your healthy eating intentions and end up eating more food and making wrong choices, and the whole day feels like a losing battle. Just because you had a bad start to the day. So is this something you’ve experienced. If not, congratulations, you’re pretty unique. But if you have, isn’t it time you took control of your day. Facts are, if your morning starts well, the rest of the day will follow through with a positive outlook. So what can you do about it.  

The first action is simple. No more lying in bed in the morning, fighting off your alarm, grabbing those extra few minutes in dream land, and then rushing around like a headless chicken, trying to get everything done before you fly out the door. Let me make this extremely clear. Even if I know I’m sounding more like my mother every day. Waking up tired to the sound of an annoying alarm clock, hitting that snooze button multiple times, and then rushing out the door without even having time to fuel your body, that’s the purpose of breakfast, you are creating the problems that will now face you for the rest of the day. 

So what am I suggesting instead. I want you to create for yourself a happy, relaxed, productive day, where you have a positive mind and an energised body right from the start. 

The magic is to programme yourself to get up one hour early. Yes that right, one extra hour in the morning can and will make such a significant difference to your day ahead, as well as your life.Getting up an hour earlier than you normally do. Now don’t pull that face! I don’t know you but I do know what your initial reaction is. You are questioning my sanity! You’re about to give up reading my blog, because I’m suggesting something so impossible! But am I, or perhaps am I giving you the key to unlock your potential, to now be able to achieve so much more than you ever have before. Am I not giving you an uninterrupted one hour ‘MY’ time! At this time of day you will have your own private time.  This is the time of the day that is truly your own private time ‘Me Time’. You will now have one hour, every day, to programme yourself for success.  

You have to make it a priority in your life. A great start to the day will make a huge difference to you. Eliminate any excuses, give it a go, and get started creating your perfect morning each morning. I call it my Morning Power up Session. Give it a try and see the difference it can make to your day 

OK SO I’M UP, WHAT DO I DO NOW? 

Your overall health improves when you treat your body to habits that stave off stress and support a balanced lifestyle. Here I give to you the first step of my morning power up session: 

GET INTO CENTRE – Tune in your mind and body. It’s like pressing the starter motor of a car. Within five minutes of waking, you will have gone from the early morning brain fog, to an alert, powerful fully functioning brain, with a strong and powerful body. You’re going to feel like you can walk through a wall, internally in an excited voice you’re going to say ‘come on, bring the day on!’ 

BREATHE – Breathing correctly will flush out the bad energies and inhale fresh and positive energy. Every cell and organ will benefit from you breathing in fresh oxygen and removing all that nasty stuff. Concentrate on your breathing. You have to breathe to live. When was the last time you noticed, how you breathe? Breathe in deep through your nose, exhale it completely out through your mouth, Bring it in and out from your diaphragm. 

MOVE – Get your muscles and joints fully oiled. Give them a stretch. Neck, arms, shoulders, chest, back, move down to your butt and your legs. . Now how about getting out and do a power walk, or go out on your bike, maybe even pull out your exercise machine in your garage. Get your heart and lungs pumping. Move your body. Purposely, with power. You’re now a winner no more slouching, no more ambling.  

GRATITUDE - The act of focusing with gratitude on everything you have in your life. and then using those positive thoughts to create a happy, productive day will calm your mind and create energy for your day ahead. Cut out the negativity, we can all find troubles in our lives, things not going as they should. We’re the best at seeing these. But now find the good things. You found one a minute ago. Your breathing, so you’re alive. Now start to live, make each and every day better than the one before. 

AFFIRMATIONS - use positive affirmations. Tell yourself positive things, such as “I am a winner’, ‘I am a great person’ whatever words that will highly charge you, motivate you, that will get you into a confident and positive state.Please don’t tell me you like telling yourself, how you can’t do this or that, how you weren’t meant to …, how you’ll never … Stop! That’s no longer you! Get positive, compliment yourself, be who you want to be. 

VISUALISATION – Get a mental picture of you achieving your GOALS. See the day ahead working out brilliantly for you. Hey, your choice, morning television, yawn, or watch a video in your own head of your new wonderful successful life. Welcome to the big screen. Step on and watch yourself go. 

MULTIVITAMIN - Nutritional supplementation is a good source to ensure you receive all the vitamins and minerals you need for a correct daily allowance.  

DRINK WATER - Your body needs to re-hydrate, especially after being without fluids all night. And just tell yourself you love the taste of water, keep telling yourself and eventually you will. How do I know you don’t. Because as a fitness trainer I’ve heard it 1000’s of times, and once upon a time, I thought wrongly that I didn’t like it either. Your body needs water right through the day. So get started. 

That’s all there is to it. So achievable in 30 minutes, an hour if you want. What a difference it will make to your life. .I spend 30 minutes doing that, then I still have time to do three more things before I start my ‘normal day’ 

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY - WorkoutGET MYSELF INTO FOCUS – Knowing my outcomes (goals) for the dayTOP UP MY TANK - Eat a nourishing breakfast.  

More on them another time.

Our Healthy Lifestyle plan starts with the steps to creating a successful day right from the start of each and every brand new day. I am sure we all want to be more productive and achieve success, and set out every morning to make the best of the day ahead. But isn’t it also true that sometimes we find it difficult to motivate ourselves to take action–especially first thing in the morning. 

Getting started on something like a healthy lifestyle plan has less to do with whether you have the energy and more to do with your desire and willingness to make the changes. So how is it that some people can get started on the healthy lifestyle plan and others don’t. Well the ones who do, dig in, make the start and soon begin to see results, and then they become more motivated to continue. The difference is they took action. 

“A thousand mile journey begins with the first step.” – Chinese Proverb. In everything in life, if you want to achieve something, take the initiative and do it now! The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll get where you want to go. BECOME A PERSON OF ACTION. 

Only through doing will you accomplish!  One of the biggest weaknesses of human behaviour is procrastination. Each time you procrastinate or avoid taking action, you reinforce a negative and demonstrate to yourself that you don’t follow through. The longer you procrastinate about something, the more likely that you never will get started.. Procrastinating for many is a life habit.  

But, like all habits, it can be broken. To do so, you must establish and reinforce a new, get up and go action response to replace your habit of “putting it off.” This is your call to action.  In time, this drive to take action will become your norm. And, you’ll then find yourself making personal life progress beyond what you may have ever thought possible! 

So what’s going to get you to start taking action? Firstly find what excites and drives you in life? What are you passionate about? It is these things that drive you in life that will compel you to take action, to make a difference, or to follow through. You can achieve anything, you can create, have, do, share, become, anything you want, once you start to take action. So what is it that will keep you up late at night and get you up early in the morning?  

What results are you committed to? What are the results you must achieve? What is it that you really want – personally or professionally (health, finances, relationships, emotions, material possessions, experiences, etc.) ? Now if you truly want these things, you know you have to step up and make them happen. They won’t land in your lap while you sit and procrastinate. You have to get up, get going, take action. 

‘In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently’.  Tony Robbins 

How do you get started? Develop a plan of attack– a “massive action plan”. List every outcome you want and any possible action you can take that may help you achieve your goal. Brainstorm. Even if the idea sounds crazy, write it down. Then just do it. 

In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill says the surest way to grow rich is to have faith. But, he says, faith by itself will yield nothing. The secret is to have “…faith backed by action. Action, action, action.” 

Every Journey Begins with a Single Step So just take action. Don’t be one of those people that make up excuses, or give excellent reasons of why sitting around and doing nothing is the right thing to do. Things seldom happen when nothing is done. Rarely has somebody achieved anything by sitting around pitying themselves, because nothing is happening, so, feel free, to take action now. Massive action = powerful results.

For most of my adult life I had an interest, maybe even a fascination with personal development. As I’ve already said I read many a fantastic book, and a few pretty pathetic ones too if I’m honest.  My car was a library on wheels. More often than not, every journey I took, I would listen to personal development audios. Anthony Robbins ‘Get the Edge’, ‘The Secret’ were the two that I think had the biggest impact.  The most memorable seminar event I went to was Anthony Robbins Unleash the power within in London 2001. That’s where I completed the fire walk. 

All of this taught me something, instlilling in me a bit more positivity, motivation, excitement. But how long did it last. For someone that had absorbed all that knowledge could I say that I was leading the perfect life … the very honest answer is no, not at all the time.   Life will always be a learning curve. The most important thing to learn, for us all, is knowledge isn’t enough. Hey, for now, until I’m a best selling author, don’t just take my word for it. Read what a few others have to say on the subject: 

The great aim of education is not knowledge but action. ~ Herbert Spencer

The knowledge that we consider knowledge proves itself in action. What we now mean by knowledge is information in action, information focused on results. ~ Peter F. Drucker 

Imagination is more important than knowledge, for knowledge is limited while imagination embraces the entire world. ~ Albert Einstein 

The truth is that even in the information age, information is not enough. if all we needed were ideas and positive thinking, then we all would have had ponies when we were kids and we would all be living our “dream life” now. Action is what unites every great success. Action is what produces results. Knowledge is only potential power until it comes into the hands of someone who knows how to get himself to take effective action. In fact, the literal definition of the word “power” is “the ability to act.” ~ Tony Robbins.

Power is the ability to act.  The key to life, the key to making a success is taking ACTION!

I’m not saying, that there’s no point in picking up a book or listening to an audio cd. I want you to take in as much good information as you can. But from this knowledge, i want you to follow through, immediately put into action what you’ve learned.

My version of the 12 steps to avoid confusion has nothing to do with the original 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and other Addictions programmes. These in their own right are unique and make an enormous contribution to helping change peoples lives.

STEP 1: MORNING POWER UP SESSION

• GET INTO CENTRE

• BREATHE

• GET ACTIVE IN THE MORNING - MOVE

• GRATITUDE

• AFFIRMATIONS

• VISUALISATION

STEP 2: PHYSICAL ACTIVITY 

STEP 3: GET YOURSELF INTO FOCUS

• ASK YOUR MORNING POWER QUESTIONS

• REVIEW YOUR GOALS

• ASK, BELIEVE, RECEIVE

STEP 4: TOP UP YOUR TANK - EAT A GOOD BREAKFAST 

STEP 5: TAKE ACTION - GET ON WITH YOUR DAY 

STEP 6: KEEP REFUELING YOUR TANK

• KEEP BELOW 10 GRAMS OF FAT PER MEAL

• TAKE IN LESS CALORIES THAN YOU EXPEND

• EAT PLENTY OF FRUIT AND VEGETABLES (EAT ONLY FRUIT AT SNACK TIME)

• EAT 5/6 MEALS PER DAY (EAT SMALL FREQUENT MEALS), SPREAD 2 1/2 TO 3 HOURS APART

• CURTAIL SIMPLE CARBOHYDRATES AND EAT COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES

• INCREASE PROTEIN CONSUMPTION

• NEVER EAT CARBOHYDRATES BY THEMSELVES (EAT WITH PROTEIN AND/OR VEGETABLES)

• DRINK AT LEAST 8 GLASSES OF WATER DAILY (GREEN TEA IS ALSO A GREAT CHOICE)

• STARVE YOUR BODY OF CARBOHYDRATES FOR 48 HOURS EVERY 2 WEEKS.

• NEVER EAT CARBOHYDRATES BEFORE BED TIME

• TAKE A MULTI VITAMIN DAILY

• KEEP SALT CONSUMPTION BELOW 2G DAILY

STEP 7: THE WORKOUT 

STEP 8: LEISURE TIME 

STEP 9: POWER DOWN FOR THE EVENING

• ASK YOUR EVENING POWER QUESTIONS

• OVERVIEW YOUR DAY – WRITE UP YOUR DAILY JOURNAL

• PRE-PLAN TOMMOROW

STEP 10: RELAXATION TIME – INTRODUCTION 

STEP 11: MEDITATION 

STEP 12: GIVE THANKS AND SLEEP

In the twenty years I have been working actively in the fitness industry I have never ceased to be amazed by the things I have seen and heard in relation to lifestyles that people come to accept as the norm when, in fact, their quality of life is far less than they deserve or should expect, no matter how it has been occasioned. 

Too often people who have been diagnosed with such conditions as arthritis, rheumatism, diabetes, depression, back problems or stress, seem to immediately start their descent down an imaginary slippery slope.  They see, feel and believe their life to be on a descending spiral.  

Ø     To see a 40 year old man diagnosed with diabetes, age 20 years overnight is a shocking thing to witness.  

 Ø     To see a fit 50 year old successful businessman, with an active social life, a mortgage-free perfect home, two wonderful children succeeding in their own lives, being diagnosed as clinically depressed, losing his way overnight, and his entire body posture and state of mind crumble, is an exasperating sight.  

My passions have led me to take everything I have learned and experienced and use it to start producing A LIFESTYLE PLAN, as a formula to provide people with both the tools and a system of healthy, happy living.  Drawing on my fitness and diet knowledge, the bedrock of the plan is a healthy eating plan, together with a weekly exercise programme, both being personalised for the needs of each individual. Neither of these requires very much financial outlay, certainly not a plethora of magic tonics and potions, nor expensive ‘state of the art’ equipment.   

The two key elements of fitness and diet must be supported by tools which help people be prepared for, and deal with, the normal stresses and pressures of everyday life. Bringing both relaxation techniques and meditation into everyday living ensures people have the way of calming their minds and relaxing their bodies.  Another lifestyle element is based around one function of the body which without we could not survive, breathing.  For something so important, it is truly amazing how few people can breathe properly, and our lifestyle plan corrects this.  In life we have to grow, and strive to be more than we ‘originally seem to be’.

So setting goals and making them an every day call to action is another key. Our minds are so powerful, yet fragile, resulting in many people being overcome by negativity and a loss of self esteem that work against us.  So in order to live with personal development a positive mental attitude is paramount to having the right lifestyle. Using affirmations, getting your body centred, showing gratitude for what you already have is a way of being strong and able to move forward.   

Collectively this all forms a cognitive behavioural therapy and will lead to improvements of lifestyles and also support the myriad of initiatives now being promulgated by the Government and the Health services. 

Understanding the keys to personal development, and the need to control thoughts, make decisions, visualising a brilliant future, and take actions will, holistically, make the difference to how people live. Our 12 Step programme is applicable to anyones daily life. 

For a long time I had been interested in personal development, fitness and weight loss. I had attended seminars, listened to audio cd’s, and read hundreds of books. In the field of exercise, my mentor was Bill Philips described recently by Outside magazine as “the most successful fitness author of all time,” author of the bestseller Body-for-LIFE which has sold in excess of 6 million copies.In the field of personal development Anthony Robbins or Tony Robbins an American self-help writer and professional speaker. I even did his fire walking exercise. He was the author of  Unlimited Power: The New Science of Personal Achievement, and Awaken the Giant Within.

One day I was sitting and contemplating my life. I have been blessed with many good things in my life. But I have also experienced many knocks that life could throw at us. Having helped hundreds if not thousands of people in my capacity as a fitness and diet coach, I found that I myself had committed the cardinal sin. I was forgetting to look after myself. I had lost control of my body, and had turned my back on my goals.