I have read hundreds of examples recently where people have taken a 90 day challenge to improve the physical fitness and I love it! What better way to get in physical shape than partner with a community of like-minded individuals? However, with all the focus on a physical challenge, aren't people missing out on two other key aspects of fitness - the mental and spiritual sides?
If people are going to challenge themselves anyway, why not launch a 90 day total mental fitness challenge? Work on all three areas of life by improving one's physical, mental, and spiritual sides. For example, just as flabby muscles must be worked out in order to tone and strengthen, so too does flabby thinking. In fact, if anything, flabby thinking can have more disastrous effects in a person's life than flabby muscles. Therefore, if a person is investing energy for 90 days anyway, then make it a total transformation, not just a physical one.
Fitness
A person's thought life changes when he begins to feed on a steady diet of positive books, audios, and association with others who do the same. Indeed, I know of no other activity than can change a person's life as fast as changing his associations. Birds of a feather, in other words, do flock together. My good friend, the late Charlie "Tremendous" Jones, used to say, "Five years from now you will be pretty much the same as you are today except for two things: the books you read and the people you get close to" It was eighteen years when I first heard Charlie's words and took his advice. It changed everything.
Fitness experts say that 85% of physical fitness is in proper dieting. I believe the same principle holds true for mental and spiritual dieting as well. Tell me the thought diet a person routinely feeds his mental and spiritual sides and I can fairly accurately predict his five year future. Success is that predictable; however, it isn't that easy.
Why not? Because the right habits, although easy to do, are also easy not to do. Left to themselves, most people will choose the path of least resistance, which means continuing in their bad habits rather than changing. The good news, however, is that through associating with others in a 90 day challenge, a person can leverage the community to help drive his personal change. In essence, community is the difference between good intentions and good results. Many will give up on themselves, but fewer are willing to give up on others who are counting on them.
Fortunately, it only takes three steps for a person to change everything:
1. Develop a proper diet for the food and thoughts entering his body and mind.
2. Make commitments to himself and others to follow the new diet for 90 days.
3. Maintain association with others who have committed to do the same thing.
There it is. A recipe for success in any area of life. It's been said that a person changes when the pain of staying the same or the joy of changing becomes big enough. Eighteen years ago, I took Charlie "Tremendous" Jones up on his mental fitness challenge and it has made all the difference for me. I share this with the readers to encourage them in the three step process for real change. Are you ready to take the mental fitness challenge?
Mental Fitness Challenge: 90 Days to Change
Orrin Woodward 2011 IAB Top Leaders Award; NY Times, Wall St. Journal, USA Today, Money & Business Weekly best selling co-author of Launching a Leadership Revolution & Top 25 Leadership Gurus List. Orrin's blog is an Alltop selection and ranked in HR's Top 100 Blogs for Management & Leadership. http://orrinwoodwardblog.com
