To Put You First Or Not To.

If someone asked you right at this very moment, "who is the most important person in your life"? What would your answer be? Your husband/wife, the kids or your mum. Depending on your age of course and your current situation in life, generally speaking if you didn't answer yourself you need to change. You should be the most important person in the world to you. If you don't put yourself first, I can guarantee no one else will. There isn't anyone else in the world that knows you like you do. So if you aren't prepared to put yourself first and look after your own wellbeing how on earth are you going to provide guidance, support and even leadership to loved ones or valued friends.

I still struggle to do this properly and still probably don't do it enough. But I am getting there. The hardest hurdle to jump is the guilt factor. And it is something that has probably been instilled into you as a child. Don't be selfish, always think of others. Well you can have your cake and eat it to I think. Being selfish means you are thinking of others and you will have the ability to provide adequately for others.

Thinking proactively or into the future, if and when you have your own family or you may already be there. If you can't look after yourself now, how are you going to prepare your dependants for the rigours of life? Loved ones learn from you. They are sponges that suck up all your habits and actions. Eating, activity, TV habits, language and even the way you deal with stress. So be aware and create a healthier environment for you so others can get the best of you. Be unselfish and look after you first. Remember what the Captain of a plane tells you when you start your flight. In case of emergency fit your oxygen mask first before attending to anyone else. Same reasoning applies; no you, no good to anyone else.

What is Your Most Valuable Asset

How many times have you discussed or been involved with discussions about assets. Especially in the current economic environment Western Australia is in at present. Share prices are unpredictable, housing affordability is low, interest rates are rising and the bad news about all of the credit issues coming out of America doesn't seem to be slowing as well as it's effect on Australia's economy. Yet our economy is strong and will continue to be so - apparently. Yet all discussions about wealth and assets is monetary value. What do we have to do to change our way of thinking and add our health and wellbeing in the valuable assets category? I think it has got to do with the fact you can't physically measure it. Whereas money and possessions are measurable in some form. I have a possible solution but I am yet to come up with a way to measure this health and wellbeing asset.

Lifesperity. We all would love prosperity right. Well we should all be aiming to have a very high Lifesperity rating. The only way to get a highly valued Lifesperity is to keep adding to your health and lifestyle account constantly. Because like every other asset class if you don't constantly monitor it and add to it; it can lose value very quickly. Lifesperity should be aspired to by all. Can you imagine having amassed a substantial amount of wealth to allow a comfortable and enjoyable lifestyle in retirement and not being able to enjoy it. Well if you have Lifesperity you will have no problems enjoying your retirement as your activity levels, health and wellness will allow travel, various activities and a state of being that encourages happiness and enjoyment. You will save money on medical bills and any sickness or injury you may experience will be easier to counter or recover from.

My definition of Lifesperity is as follows: The ability to perform any physical or mental activities that you so desire in your latter years of life. This is why a balanced lifestyle is vital for long term happiness and health. Ensuring balance will go along way to giving you prosperity as well as lifesperity. Planning for lifesperity now isn't too hard if you gave it the same importance as monetary and materialistic values.

How does the following scenario sound? You reach age 60 which is still young in this day and age. All of your life you have worked hard, saved hard and amassed what you feel is enough to allow a comfortable retirement that involves travel and plenty of free time with grandchildren. However you have neglected to build your lifesperity and inflammation in your joints makes your existence painful and very inactive. Sooner than later you contract serious illnesses and spend the last 15 years of your life in and out of hospitals, doctor's surgeries and physiotherapists. You need caring for and medication is keeping you going literally. Not very pleasant is it? Lifesperity sounds pretty good when you are discussing assets now, doesn't it? I have had a lucky break in my life, so I know how valuable Lifesperity is. Take it from someone who's experienced a life threatening disorder - Lifesperity is your greatest asset!!!

What is Your Biggest Asset

There is Always at Least Three Sides To An Outcome.

Did you ever consider why someone has helped you? Be it for money or as a favour, there is something more to it than meets the eye!! Speaking from personal experience, the reward of facilitating improvement in someone goes much deeper than just the benefits they receive. Most people wouldn't ever contemplate that the person who was skilful enough to create change for the better wants so much more out of the relationship than simply monetary gain. I can honestly say, I have been disappointed when someone I was investing time and effort in for no monetary reward, ceased to partake in the activity because of a convenience factor that affected them.

What you must be aware of is the way in which helping, serving or assisting people to get to a better place has at least three outcomes. Firstly the identity receiving the benefit gets a desirable outcome - hopefully!!! Secondly the skilful helper also receives spiritual benefit from the outcome gained by the identity in question. Thirdly the business also gets a fantastic boost from the successful outcome of the relationship. It is like a huge walking, talking billboard for the business. There is also the factor that the family and friends of the recipient get great benefit from the recipient gaining their desired outcome. Due to increased happiness, health or whatever it may be they were chasing.

So next time someone is doing you a kind turn or providing a valuable service for you, keep in mind that although you desire successful results, there is more happiness and satisfaction to be had by others to.

Why Applying the Quality not Quantity Mentality is Courageous.

The statement "quality not quantity" is something that I appreciate more now than I did in my earlier years. And now that I have taken this mentality into everything I do, my existence has become less of a chore and more of an enjoyable journey. Life can become so monotonous and testing if your mindset is one of doing more to succeed rather than getting the processes right in the first place. This in turn will save you a lot of time, stress and even confusion. I can talk about this openly now but I to was caught up in the work harder mentality. I could never understand why I always felt a mental emptiness in my life. Now I know it was my aimless direction to life that left me feeling this way. I had no way of completing anything with complete quality because I didn't think that way. I was stuck in the work hard and long mentality because my conditioning told me hard work guarantees success. Wrong, totally wrong. Good quality hard work with purpose and direction is the winner. Since discovering this, the quality of my existence has increased infinitely. Stress is managed, mentally stimulated, physically, emotionally and spiritually there is no comparison.

What does this mean for you? Be aware of where you are at in terms of your mindset towards any tasks you undertake. Ask yourself questions like; can this be done in less time? Do you enjoy this particular task? If you keep going this way can you see yourself doing this in 1, 2 or 5 years time? Are you passionate about what you are doing and if you turned up and was told to have a day off or the game was cancelled, would you be happy? If no was your main answer, alarm bells should be ringing for you.

Work can be a tricky one, but you must remember this before you start limiting your thoughts. You can choose to increase the quality of your output in your work day. Or you can choose to get along better with your fellow workers. It's a start. At the gym or in any training you do, choose to increase the quality of effort over the quantity. Be courageous and don't be a follower. If you can get a better result in half the time, doesn't it make sense to do it that way? The work we prescribe to our members is shorter and more intense than the majority of any other facilities around, but I can guarantee the results are just as good if not better. It's a no brainer when you think of it like that isn't it. Give it a go!! Turn your thinking upside down and see where it takes you.

Discover How Less Exercise Can Keep You Healthier and Leaner.

That's right, sometimes less is better. Lifestyle is basically divided up into four components. Physical - Exercise, diet, flexibility and recovery. Mental - Reading, learning new skills, planning and visualisation. Spiritual - Determining your true values and direction in this life and aligning your actions with those values and goals. Lastly is the emotional side - awareness of your self talk and emotional thoughts because these thoughts materialise in behaviours which are detrimental or constructive in creating internal harmony for you. So if you are lacking in any of these areas, there is a fair chance you are over compensating in another component of your lifestyle.

In most cases if any component of the lifestyle puzzle is over done it is exercise. You need to realise that exercise is a stress on your body. So if your lifestyle is already out of balance, over compensating with exercise can be detrimental to your health. It will be adding more stress to an out of balance system taking it even further away from optimum health. This lifestyle can't be maintained long term. So eradicate the disastrous thought processes that tell you it is ok to drink and eat myself silly as long as I exercise harder to make up for it. This is a sure fire way to create more muscle eating, body fat protecting stress hormone in your body. Does this explain why you are not losing any body fat even though you are exercising harder than ever.

This is why an exercise routine needs to now be tailored to match other aspects of your life. And I have no hesitation in advising people to stop exercising so much, relax more and spend more time with your family, friends. When the lifestyle scales start to balance up, sure ramp up the exercise. But not at the expense of other components of your lifestyle. You need to think holistic when thinking lifestyle, otherwise you will spend more time recovering from flus, colds, sore throats and the list goes on.

Get more bang for your buck when exercising. With all of the studies in sport science being conducted you are truly wasting time doing hours on hours of exercise. It truly is counter productive. My lifestyle organisation Lifestyle Improvers considers all of these factors when prescribing exercise for our valuable members, so make sure you do to.

BMI Shouldn't Be Your Only Health Check

BMI Shouldn't Be Your Only Health Check. Body Mass Index (BMI) is still touted as an important measure in determining whether you are obese or overweight. The fomula to work it out is your weight in kilos divided by your height in metres squared to give you a number which is your BMI. The BMI supposed safe ranges are between 18.5 to 24.9. Anything under that range is classed as underweight and anything over is classed as overweight. Anything over 30 is classed as obese. Generally this is quite ok, however in the current climate of 54% overweight or obesity levels in Aussie adults we need to be carefull on how we take the BMI resuts.

I don't like to solely rely on BMI readings because truly effective methods of reducing body fat levels should include building lean muscle mass. Lean muscle tissue is heavier than body fat so if an individual is containing good stores of lean muscle tissue there is a fair chance his BMI reading is going to be in the overweight range. As an example my BMI is 28 currently. I would have to lose 10 kilos to get into the safe range. Not happening sorry. But here is my point. By using a skin fold (body fat) reading with your BMI you will definately find out whether you are really overweight and at risk of Lifestyle diseases such as heart disease and Type II diabetes. Incidently 2 million Aussies have Type II diabetes currently.If your BMI is high and your body fat range is around the 15 - 20% mark you are fine. Try to get closer to 15% if possible.

However if your BMI is high and body fat levels are both high, take action quick. Start with your nutrition whilst gradually increasing activity levels. To get the most bang for your lifestyle buck include resistance training in your health, wellbeing and fat loss efforts. If you need help getting started pick up this complimentary Complete Nutrition Package.

Why Take Risks When Seeking Lifestyle Assistance.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you would of heard that the Western world is in an obesity crisis, a diabetes crisis and countless other crises. Don't worry I'm not going to try and tell you I have all of the answers, because I don't. But I'm going to vent my spleen about all of the so called professionals that take advantage of everyday people and just leave them high and dry. I'm not doing this to be put on a pedestal, as I don't profess to be perfect and never want to be. But one of my core values is that my business and personal relationships are conducted with integrity and honesty.

This outburst has been triggered by a few dealings I have had with clients in the last couple of days. One lovely lady has been trying to get back into pre pregnancy shape which means dropping a dress size or two. To cut a long story short she was sold a number of pills by a naturopath that were going to hopefully solve her problem. I have no problem with this occurrence however she was told to follow up with him if she had no joy. She can't get a phone call returned and another appointment will cost her over Aus$100.00.

Another client inquired about a detox program being promoted to her. The irony is she has already made great progress on a fat loss program so luckily she was wary of gimmicks. But if she had of been approached 6 weeks earlier; wham, bam, thank you mam. There goes her money. Again no problems with the selling and buying occurrence, we all have choices. But there was no comeback when the question, "what if it doesn't work for me" arose.

My point is you and I are both free to sell and buy anything we wish in this lucky country of ours. But please, if you are made promises about products that will fix lifestyle issues, such as body fat reduction for example, if a result isn't guaranteed with a money back offer or something to that effect, walk away from it. There is enough scientific evidence available these days that true professionals should be comfortable with the products that they put there name to. You shouldn't be taking risks with Lifestyle issues - Guaranteed.