In an interview, I had the very fortunate opportunity to ask Jack Lalanne the questions I had been dying to ask him for 25 years. He was 93 at the time, two years before his passing.
What’s your secret? How have you stayed so healthy and committed for so long? What makes the difference between a Jack Lalanne and an average person?
Jack was ripped decades before it was fashionable
He didn’t miss a beat. “Pride and discipline,” was his matter-of-fact response. Personal pride and self-discipline were the engine of his unstoppable life.
And then he expounded. You can read the full interview here if you want. You’ll probably need to click back to page one of the publication once you get there, for some reason.
It hit me when I woke up this morning...
I woke up thinking of that Jack Lalanne interview for some reason. Then it occurred to me that I (and many other achievement-oriented people) probably don’t spend much time feeling proud - appreciating - what we’ve accomplished. Lalanne’s words: Be proud of who you are, of what you’ve accomplished, rang in my head.
Personal pride supports personal discipline. The more you allow yourself to feel good in accomplishing goals - to feel good about yourself, the more inclined you’ll be to stick to your guns when the going gets tough.
Most of us do the opposite….
The reality for so many of us is that we actually (perhaps unconsciously) push away good feelings. In fact, research suggests one of the major contributing factors to depression is the tendency to suppress positive feelings.
It’s not that we don’t have positive feelings. We just deny them - push them back down - when these happier states naturally emerge within us. Amazing, isn’t it!
But why would anyone do such a thing?
We should start by accepting that people, in fact, do this. If you’re not convinced, spend a day monitoring yourself. How many opportunities to feel wonderful do you pass by? How often do you squelch positive, joyful, victorious, happy feelings when they arise? Do you skip doing the very things that you know would make you feel great?
If you accept that suppressing positive feelings can be a habit, then you must also accept that you - or some part of you - has something against feeling good! This is the essence of self-sabotage.
To overcome self-sabotage, there are some bizarre facts we must confront. One of them is that, deep down, we aren’t as committed to happiness as we like to think. I'd recommend an enlightening tutorial on how self-sabotage works in the psyche.
Finally, think about how it all applies to training clients.
It breaks down like this:
1. Client has goals.
2. Yet, client unconsciously resists happiness and feeling good.
3. Achieving health and vitality makes you feel good.
4. Sabotage those goals and remain stuck in a familiar rut of malaise.
5. You lose a client.
Educating yourself about self-sabotage may be the best thing you can do for yourself and your clients. I know it has been for me.
Jack Lalanne was no self-sabotager when it came to fitness. And that's what made him the Godfather of Fitness.
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