“I always start with the area of health because when I’m in good physical shape I need less sleep, think more clearly, feel better about everything, and get more accomplished.”  Jeff Olson

What will health allow you to do, be, and create in your life?

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?  (1 Cor. 3:16; NIV)

Over the last week or so I have focused in on one of my favorite books, The Slight Edge: Secret to a $uccessful Life by Jeff Olson.  This will be the last Daily Gram taken from his book, and I plan to quote extensively from one of his later chapters.  My purpose is to ultimately make you an offer.

“Health is one of the great riddles of existence.  The foundational importance of everyday health is one of the most commonly known truths of human existence, and at the same time, it is also one of the most commonly and blatantly ignored.  Everyone knows that ‘if you don’t have your health, you have nothing.’ …Of the three ’self-evident, inalienable rights’ that ring from the American Declaration of Independence like a trumpet fanfare–’Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness’–the first, without which the other two are irrelevant, is Life.  And the most basic condition for the free, unencumbered experience of Life itself is health.  There is nothing more basic than health–and there is no area of life where the Slight Edge is more vividly in operation, working either for you or against you.”

“That is perhaps your most important choice, day by day and hour by hour: whether to let your eating and physical activity build your fondest dreams–or dig your grave with your teeth.  Hamlet wondered, ‘To be, or not to be?’  You get to ask yourself that–and answer it–with every meal.  I always start with the area of health because when I’m in good physical shape I need less sleep, think more clearly, feel better about everything, and get more accomplished.”

“I usually say the the Slight Edge does not work quickly, but the truth is that often you’ll get positive results fairly quickly.  You may not achieve your ultimate goal in a week, a month or even a year or two, but you’ll see the positive changes far sooner than you might expect….  I’ve said that successful people are willing to do those things unsuccessful people are not.  And sometimes those things are uncomfortable.  There is always a price you pay, and for me the price included my initial discomfort.  But that price was quickly paid in full, and within weeks that discomfort faded.”

“Those Slight Edge actions that are easy to do, and easy not to do?  Soon, thanks to the powers of momentum, completion and habit, they become far easier to do than not to do!  Take a few moments to work out your own Slight Edge plan for your health.”

OK…now here’s the offer.  Sharon and I have a very straightforward approach to health that we would like you to consider.  It’s not about a miracle pill or a six-week makeover.  It’s not about only eating a certain food or avoiding entire food categories.  It’s not time or labor intensive–you won’t have to twist yourself into a pretzel to make it happen.  It’s about the basics.  The tried and true–making health a part of your daily life in a way that works for you.  It’s the step-by-step Slight Edge that Olson writes about.

We will support you to create the type of health that allows you to live your life to its fullest.  Whatever “fullest” means to you and will mean to you–in a few months, in a few years and decades from now.  We focus on the basics.  Stuff you know about or have read about, but perhaps aren’t doing consistently.  It’s everywhere.  Water.  Exercise.  Superfoods.  Intelligent Supplementation.  Our magic bullet is that we support you to incorporate the basics into your life.  Customized, step-by-step, and in a manageable way.  It’s straightforward but the results are amazing and the support makes it fun.

If you would like to learn more about our health offer, just send an email to drjerry@thecoachingpair.com with the words “Health Offer” in the subject line.

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for good health and the knowledge You provide to maintain our health.  Guide and direct our everyday choices that will enhance our energy and health so that we may better serve You.

Link of the Day
Yes, Prevention is Cheaper Than Treatment

Blessings on you as you begin to do the simple things you know you need to do to improve your health.

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“Would you like me to give you the formula for success?  It’s quite simple, really.  Double your rate of failure…You’re thinking of failure as the enemy of success.  But it isn’t at all…You can be discouraged by failure–or you can learn from it.  So go ahead and make mistakes.  Make all you can.  Because, remember that’s where you’ll find success.  On the other side of failure.”  Thomas J. Watson, Sr.

What does the word “fail” do to your spirit?

Good advice and success belong to me. Insight and strength are mine.  (Prov. 8:14; NLT)

I’ve just spent the major part of the weekend studying a new system that embodies several “revolutionary” (to me) concepts.  One of those concepts promotes the idea espoused by Watson in his quote.  Basically, it is to define a couple of action steps that will move you from where you are now to your desired result, and then just do them.  Don’t worry about whether they are the right steps or not.  Don’t worry about succeeding or failing.  Just do the steps and then stop and evaluate the result.

In other words, success or failure is not the issue–learning is what you are after.  Take action, evaluate, learn, and then adjust when necessary, and then start over again by taking action.  You could say that you learn your way to the desired end result.  This is akin to the course correction procedure that we all use when driving a car.  You don’t just aim the car and hold the steering wheel steady till you get there.  You are constantly (and subconsciously) evaluating, leaning, and adjusting accordingly.  This is no less true of a pilot who is flying from point A to point B or of an astronaut who is piloting a spacecraft from earth to the moon.  That’s even how the most sophisticated auto pilot systems work.  Continuous course correction is the key!

When you really stop and think about it, this gives a whole new connotation to the word “fail.”  All of a sudden, failing is a good thing…something to be pursued.  Isn’t it sad how our culture has taken a powerful and positive word like that and given it such a negative stigma so that many of us have been paralyzed by our fear of failure?  We plan, plan, plan, and do some more planning.  When everything looks right, we take a few tentative, faltering steps.  And if it doesn’t go according to plan, we tend to give up and conclude that we just are not smart enough, or good enough, or lucky enough.  What balderdash!!!

Jeff Olson, in his book, The Slight Edge, tells us that the Japanese have a business management philosophy called kaizen, sometimes translated as “continuous improvement.”  Some of you may be old enough to remember what a joke the label “Made in Japan” used to be.  Well it’s no longer a joke, but a mark of superior quality.

So, may I challenge you to change your mindset from “ready, aim, fire” to “ready, fire, aim?”  Plan, do, and review.  Take action, evaluate, learn, and then adjust when necessary and then start over again by taking action.  Follow Thomas Watson’s advice and “double your rate of failure,” or John Maxwell’s similar advice, “fail forward.”

Prayer Power
Lord, forgive us for throwing in the towel too quickly.  Forgive us for the times You have given us a desire, causing us to start down the road to fulfillment, and then given up prematurely because we thought we didn’t have the capability.  Lord, give us the grace to see that our only limitations are self-imposed.  We are designed and destined for success…not mediocrity.  Hallelujah!!!

Link of the Day
Overcoming Failure

Blessings on you as you step out and “fail” several times this week.

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“Nothing is stronger than habit.”  Ovid

Think of one habit you have that you would consider bad.  How does it serve you?

You will always reap what you sow! (Gal. 6:7c; NLT)

Habits can be friend or foe.  We all have some good habits and unfortunately, we all have some bad habits.  Interestingly enough, what is a good habit for you may be a bad habit for me.  Go figure!

Good habits serve you.  Bad habits don’t.  It’s as simple as that.  In The Slight Edge, Jeff Olson writes, “Brushing your teeth is a habit that serves you; biting your nails is one that doesn’t.  Thinking things through for yourself serves you; blindly accepting everything you read on the Internet or hear on television doesn’t.  Looking for the best in people serves you; anticipating their worst doesn’t.”

Habits are done unconsciously, i.e., without thinking about them.  I’ve read that more than 90% of our daily behavior is unconscious.  Scary, isn’t it?  We truly are creatures of habit.  But again, that can be a good thing…if we’ve developed a preponderance of habits that serve us.  Unfortunately, most people don’t give it much thought.  They just go about their habit-driven lives blaming the circumstances around them.  Little do they understand that they are, in fact, creating their circumstances with their habits.

Olson again: “Getting up early can become a habit.  So can getting up late and staying up late.  Complaining can become a habit.  Spending more than you earn can become a habit; so can putting a piece of every paycheck into a retirement account.  Looking for the positive side of every challenge can become a habit, so can finding the cloud in every silver lining.”

One of the secrets to changing a habit is to become aware of it.  As long as it continues to operate on the unconscious level, you don’t have a chance to change it.  Once you are able to view the habit for what it is doing for (or to) you, then you have a fighting chance to change it if you determine that it is not serving you.  However,  it is not as simple as just focusing or becoming aware of it and purposing to change.  You can’t just say, “I’m not going to do that anymore!” because you see, there is another law at work here…what you focus on, grows.

The only way to successfully replace a bad, non-serving habit is by displacing it with a good habit that does serve you.  Don’t focus on the bad habit–instead, focus on the good one that will displace the bad one.  Then, of course, you must simply repeat that good activity over and over and over again, until it becomes the new habit.  It’s not really as hard as it may sound, but it certainly does take commitment.  As Winston Churchill is famous for saying, “Never, never, never give up!

BTW, “trying” to do something, for example, I’m going to TRY to make this exciting new activity a habit, is NOT commitment!  Commitment is “doing,” e.g., I’m going to DO this new activity until it becomes a habit for me.  But, then again, that’s fodder for another Daily Gram.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for true friends that are willing to risk the relationship to show us something that we’re doing that is not serving us well.  We thank You that You have given us the ability to rise above our circumstances and form new, good habits.  Forgive us for those times we choose to ignore our abilities and play the victim game.  We truly are incredibly blessed!

Link of the Day
18 Tricks to Make New Habits Stick

Blessings on you as you choose one habit that is not serving you and you purpose to replace it.

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“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”  Peter F. Drucker

How long would it take you to make a list of the significant things you did today?

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal … to tear down … to build … to weep …. to laugh …. to mourn …. to dance … to scatter … to gather … to embrace … to refrain … to search … to give up … to keep … to throw away … to tear … to mend … to be silent … to speak … to love … to hate [and] a time for war and a time for peace  (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8; NIV).

One of the disciplines we were taught when learning to become life coaches was the discipline of reflection.  As the pace of life approaches break-neck speed, the idea of reflection becomes a distant memory.  Have you ever raced through a book, and rather than reflect on what you just learned, you quickly grab the next book on the ever-increasing pile of things to be read?  Hmmmmm…makes you wonder what’s the use?

Our coaching mentor, Tony Stoltzfus wrote in our training manual, “Every significant event in life is a potential learning opportunity.  Unfortunately, these God-given opportunities are often overlooked.  The discipline of reflection helps us mine universal principles out of our past and present experiences.”

Jeff Olson, author of The Slight Edge, makes an interesting suggestion–instead of spending so much time writing lists of things we need to do, we should devote some of that time and energy writing lists of things we have done.  You see, what we should be trying to do is differentiate between taking action and taking the “right” action.  Everybody is super-busy these days.  In fact, many wear their busyness as a badge of significance.  But how many of those actions we are taking are the right actions that will move us closer to our goals and destinies?

Olson writes, “Instead of writing down what you’re going to do (chances are you’ve been doing that your entire life anyway, and it doesn’t make you any better at doing them!), write down at the end of the day what you did do that day.  What actions did you take today that made you successful?  Did you read ten pages of a good book?  Did you eat healthy food and get some good exercise?  Did you engage in positive associations?  Did you do the things you need to do to be successful in your business [or ministry]?  Did you tell somebody, ‘I love you?’”

The idea is simply to slow down and reflect on what you are doing.  If we all did that, it would be highly likely that, after a fairly short period of time, our actions would begin to change–simply because we would actually start looking for things to do that we could write at the end of the day that would demonstrate that we were taking actions that would move us toward success (however you define success).  Pretty good idea.  Pretty simple.  But it does require us to slow down and do a little reflecting.  That can be a pretty tall order for some of us who are literally addicted to the adrenalin rush that comes with our out-of-control lifestyles.

Prayer Power
Lord, place within us a desire to slow down and reflect a little on what we’re doing.  Help us to avoid the “tyranny of the urgent” and replace that with the blessing of accomplishing the important.  Teach us to find the lessons in life and be able to articulate them and pass them along to others.

Link of the Day
Tyranny of the Urgent

Blessings on you as you sit down tonight and make a list of what you did today.

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“You can have money piled to the ceiling but the size of your funeral is still going to depend on the weather.”  Chuck Tanner

How many will cry at your funeral?

So Peter returned with them; and as soon as he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. The room was filled with widows who were weeping and showing him the coats and other garments Dorcas had made for them.  (Acts 9:39; NLT)

One of my favorite books is Jeff Olson’s The Slight Edge: Secret to a $uccessful Life.  While I’m confessing, I might as well confess that I have engaged in a life-long struggle about being overly concerned regarding what other people think of me.  There have been a number of things that have contributed to my acquiring the level of freedom I have from that debilitating concern, including Olson’s book.

In that book, he relates the experience of reading a magazine article (he doesn’t give the source) wherein he learned that at the average funeral, about ten people cry.  Olson muses, “That’s it?  You mean I go through my entire life, spend years going through all these trials and tribulations and achievements and joys and heartbreaks–and at the end of it, there are only ten people who care enough to cry??

The article apparently went on to say that of those attending the funeral, the number one factor that would determine how many would go from the funeral to the actual burial would be…you guessed it…the weather!  Olson relates his thought process upon reading that grim little statistic.  “You mean, I’m lying there, at the grand conclusion of everything I’ve ever said and done, of everything I call my life, in those final moments when my entire life is called to account and acknowledged and memorialized by those nearest and dearest to me, those whose lives I’ve most deeply and profoundly touched…and half the congregation checks out halfway through because of the weather?!”

“You know what?  I don’t give a [expletive deleted] what anybody thinks of what I’m doing any more.  If the odds are that iffy as to whether or not they even cry at my funeral, and chances are fifty-fifty that they duck out anyway before I’m planted if the sky happens to cry for me more than the people do…then why am I spending so much time worrying about what they’re thinking now?”

Kind of sobering, isn’t it?  You know, we tend to spend so much time worrying about what the other person thinks about us, when in reality, they’re probably not even thinking about us anyway.  And if they are, it’s probably to wonder what we are thinking about them.  Man!  Where does all this garbage come from, anyway?

In looking for something on the Internet to put with this I found a great blog post that I believe you’ll find very interesting (and helpful) as well.  So, go in peace.  There’s only One person you need to be concerned about satisfying with your behavior and life accomplishments.  And the truth is…He loves you unconditionally!

Prayer Power
Lord, we thank You for Your unconditional love and Your amazing grace.  Help us to be ever mindful of what You’ve called us to do rather than what we think others would find acceptable.

Link of the Day
What Others Think of You is None of Your Business!

Blessings on you as you begin marching to your own drummer.

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“The Law of the Big Mo basically says, ‘Momentum is a leader’s best friend,’”  John Maxwell

What picture comes into your mind when you hear the word momentum?

While he was offering the sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel, one of David’s counselors who lived in Giloh. Soon many others also joined Absalom, and the conspiracy gained momentum.  (2 Sam 15:12: NLT)

The Law of the Big Mo is one of John Maxwell’s favorite subjects.  I love to hear him teach on it.

However, like most things, there is a balance that is required.  If you remember the two curves, the upward curve to success and the downward curve to disappointment, that we discussed in last Friday’s DG, it is interesting to note that too much momentum, i.e., too much speed, will almost always put you on the downward curve.  Huh?  How can that be?

Ever heard the maxim, “The hurrier I go the behinder I get?”  How about this one from Peter Senge, author of The Fifth Discipline: “Virtually all natural systems, from ecosystems to animals to organizations, have intrinsically optimal rates of growth.  The optimal rate is far less than the fastest possible growth.  When growth becomes excessive–as it does in cancer–the system itself will seek to compensate by slowing down; perhaps putting the organization’s survival at risk in the process.”

Hmmmm…what is that optimal rate that Dr. Senge refers to?  Well, according to Jeff Olson, author of The Slight Edge, the book we looked at all last week, that optimal rate and key to successful goal achievement  is simply the consistent performance of the simple, easy-to-do things, i.e., simple disciplines compounded over time.  How hard is that?

Frankly, that’s an understanding of the Big Mo that I can get excited about.  As much as I admire John Maxwell and his teaching, I’ve always seen him as almost super-human…you know, “bigger than life.”  When I hear him talk about momentum, I envision a massive action kind of thing.  Gargantuan effort to “get the ball rolling,” so to speak.  Now I’m much more comfortable with the idea of a series of baby-steps repeated consistently over time than I am with massive action.  One energizes me and the other makes me tired just to think about it.

How many of you have noticed Sharon’s often requested cook book slowly emerging one recipe at a time…each a week apart.  Yes, it might take a couple of years…but so what?  It’s happening!  Hallelujah!!!

I’ve quoted so many people in this DG, but let me end by quoting this old Chinese proverb: “Be not afraid of going slowly; be afraid only of standing still.”

Prayer Power
Lord, I thank You for this new and improved (for me anyway) understanding of the Big Mo.  As one who is “wired” for discipline instead of massive action, I believe that You have revealed a more sure path to my destiny.  Lord, I trust that a number of our readers will feel the same sense of relief.

Link of the Day
The Laws of the Big Mo, Priorities, and Sacrifice

Blessings on you as you take steps to get the Big Mo moving in your favor this week.

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“A man can fail many times, but he isn’t a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.”  John Burroughs

What is your first response when something negative happens?

The LORD God called to Adam, “Where are you?”  He replied, “I heard you, so I hid. I was afraid because I was naked.”  “Who told you that you were naked?” the LORD God asked. “Have you eaten the fruit I commanded you not to eat?”  “Yes,” Adam admitted, “but it was the woman you gave me who brought me the fruit, and I ate it.”  Then the LORD God asked the woman, “How could you do such a thing?”"The serpent tricked me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”  (Gen. 3:9-13; NLT)

In Jeff Olson’s book, The Slight Edge, which I referred to earlier this week, he makes the rather obvious observation that your life is either curving upward toward success or curving downward toward disappointment.  He states, “If you’re not increasing, you’re decreasing.”  I’ve often heard the same notion expressed, if you’re not growing, you’re dying.

The whole point of Olson’s book is that the formula for moving upward toward success is “a few simple disciplines, repeated every day.”  Similarly, the formula for failure is “a few simple errors in judgment, repeated every day.”  You see, it all boils down to time.  Time will either promote you if you are doing the right things or expose and demote you if you are doing the wrong things.  It’s really not very hard to make time your friend rather than your enemy.

It is instructive to note that the general attitude of those riding the curve downward is blame.  Focused on the past, to them it’s always someone else’s fault, or just some bad circumstances, or fate, or chance.  It’s the classic case of victim mentality.  Whereas those riding the curve upward have a future focus and an attitude of responsibility.  They are willing to take total responsibility for everything that happens to them and are always looking for the good that can come from it.  Yes, I understand that sometimes negative things do happen to us, and sometimes they are completely outside of our control, but we can always control how we react to them.  And therein lies the key to success…how we react to life’s negative events.

John Maxwell has written a delightful little book whose title says it all–Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes into Stepping Stones for Success.  Just keep doing the little things.  Be grateful for the lessons you’re learning along the way.  Make the choice to make time and discipline your friend.

Prayer Power
Lord, show us our attitude when we fall into the playing the “blame game.”  Grant us the grace to be able to manage our attitude and develop a reputation as the eternal “good finder” who picks up the pieces and perseveres on toward the mark.

Link of the Day
Let the Blame Begin

Blessings on you as you look for the good in some difficult situation you face this coming week.

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“The law of nature is, Do the thing, and you shall have the power: but they who do not the thing have not the power.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson

How committed do you feel you are to achieve your goals?

He must always keep this copy of the law with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the LORD his God by obeying all the terms of this law.  (Deut. 17:19, NLT)

What is the difference between the person who seems to consistently achieve their goals and the person who seems to consistently fail?  Is it intelligence?  Could it be talent?  Is it their genes?  Maybe the one is more blessed, more anointed, more fortunate, or some such intangible outside force?

Actually, it usually is none of those things.  The difference is often just a series of simple, easy, “insignificant” actions done day after day after day.  Yes, it’s the easy-to-do things that make all the difference in the world.  The problem is that those easy-to-do things are also all too easy-not-to-do.

You see, the easy-to-do things done repeatedly begin to add up as the days, weeks, and months go by.  They accumulate to make up massive progress toward the goal.  Whereas, the repeated procrastination of those same easy-to-do actions simply because they are inconvenient, uncomfortable, or less fun than something else also accumulates over the weeks, months, and years to a giant zero.  Successful people do what ever it takes to get the job done, whether or not they feel like it.

One of my favorite books is The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson.  In that book he writes: “Why do you walk past the exercise bike?  Because it’s easy.  If you don’t exercise today, will that kill you?  No, of course not.  You know what you need to do to stay healthy and feel fit and live a long life.  Get your heart rate up, a little over normal, for twenty minutes, three times a week.  You know it, I know it, everyone knows it.  And it’s easy to do.

“But it’s also easy not do do.  And if you don’t do it today, or tomorrow, or the next day, you won’t suddenly drop dead, and you won’t suddenly put on twenty pounds, and you won’t suddenly lose all your muscle tone and flop around like a marionette with his strings cut off.  But that simple error in judgment, compounded over time, will take you down and out.”

Bottom line…success at any goal is really pretty simple according to our good buddy Ralph Waldo Emerson…Do the thing!  Do the thing today, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, ad infinitum.

Prayer Power
Lord, give us the grace to daily do those simple, little, insignificant things that will move us one step closer to that destiny You are calling us to.

Link of the Day
The Slight Edge Philosophy

Blessings on you as you commit to take that simple little step today…and tomorrow…and tomorrow…etc.

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