Active Leadership
By Nicole Irlbeck
Improving ones skill in leadership conjures up a multitude to different descriptive ideas and thoughts. In the book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen R. Covey makes a case for seven specific habits that when done on a consistent basis, can create powerful personal change. Implementing these seven habits can create long-lasting, effective, and positive health habits as well.
Take initiative. Be proactive. You can’t wait for someone to simply come over and start moving your legs. You have to be the one who takes the bull by the horns and decides you will move your body. You get to decide what you put in your mouth and how you move your body.
Begin with the end in mind. Covey recommends writing a mission statement for your life. This might include some specific goals around hiking a 14er, becoming an expert kick-boxer, or finishing a century bike ride. Writing your health mission statement helps direct what you will do with your days and adds motivation and purpose to what you are doing. Most of us simply want to be able to keep up with our grandkids, and that goal alone will require consistent exercise!
Prioritize. Put first things first through effective time management. More than anything, you have to put YOU and your health on the schedule. If you don’t your health in the form of emergency visits to the doctor will get on your schedule whether you like it or not. Carve out 30minutes 5 days a week and decide how you will fill that time. Walking, jogging, circuit training, yoga, or Pilates, are starter ideas. You also have to factor in 1-2hours/week for grocery shopping and some food prep to stay on top of your nutrition.
Be positive. Think win/win. Often times we think that by taking time or money out to invest in exercise, we are being selfish. Or, we might have a chip on our shoulder and think “exercise hasn’t helped me lose weight in the past, so why even try”. Our bodies respond to our emotions, which respond to our thoughts. Thinking positively or with the highest aim can help us accomplish more than we ever thought possible. Investing time in yourself sets a tremendous example for your family and friends to follow, and allows you time to reconnect with your best self.
Communicate with empathy. This includes speaking to yourself with loving words and becoming intolerant to negativity in others. Have you noticed yourself saying things like “I’m fat, I’m a failure, I’m ugly” or have your heard other people say, “I can’t believe you are trying to run a marathon, you must be crazy”? These are not compliments. The truth may be that you could be all these things to someone or even to yourself, but that doesn’t mean these ideas or thoughts will always be true. You may be overweight, but that doesn’t mean you have to constantly put yourself down. Tell the world, “I may be crazy, but I love myself and I know I can do this if I just keep after it. I WILL change to be the person I have always wanted to be!”
Cooperate creatively. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts which means that 1+1=3 or more. Share your goals with your family and friends. Get them involved in the process by asking them to share recipes, along with their struggles and triumphs in the area of health or weight loss. Request that they help you out around the house so you have more time to exercise, or ask them to try a new health dish once a week. Join a group or hire a trainer to help you create an environment of cooperative effort.
Balance self-renewal. There are four areas of our lives that each need attention to create a balanced life: Spiritual, Mental, Social, and Physical. One cannot spend all of his/her time in only one of these four quadrants and expect to live life to the fullest in all areas. Learn how to combine some of the physical activity you love with your spiritual, mental or social needs to not only help you to desire to do more exercise, but to get the most bang for your buck with your time.
Ultimately accepting the responsibility of leadership requires that we push past the status quo and expect the best from our lives and the lives of others. Almost all the benefit of resistance training comes at the very end of a set as our muscles fatigue. We build strength as our muscle fibers tear on a microscopic level and our nerves send a signal to our brain that we need to rebuild the muscle with more strength so we can carry the load better next time. This overload principle can be true for our leadership skills in all areas of our lives. Remember, each of our bodies can be a great learning tool to guide us towards greater leadership! We just need to make the choice to train it.
