There comes a point in all leader’s lives, where they realize that no matter how much they talk, if they fail to reinforce this talk with the appropriate actions, the message they are looking to convey, will not sink in. As leaders we are constantly wanting to inspire our team into taking action, we look for new innovative ways to do this however, in most cases, the easiest way to inspire change is by taking charge of the basics of our own lifestyle first:

Nutrition
We know how and what we should eat, and research has proven that the healthier one’s eating habits are, the more energy, stamina and effectiveness they have when applying themselves in their working environment. So ask yourself, are you implementing the basics? Here are the 6 key principles to healthy eating, see how many you apply:

1. Drink 1.5-3L of water per day

3. Eat 5-6 smaller (less energy dense) meals per day
4. Eat some form of protein at every meal
5. Limit sugar/processed/refined food intake
6. Have a ‘Cheat Day’ once a week where you eat what you like

What you fuel yourself with is a reflection of how you want your body to operate.

Exercise
Richard Branson is famous for many things, however one of his more famous quotes was, when asked what advice he had to offer for people in business: “Workout!” Yes, exercise is the corner stone to our lifestyle, exercise reduces stress and increases productivity and creativity, by releasing endorphins within our bodies. All effective leaders work out in some capacity, as a minimum you should exercise 3 times per week for 40min at a time. Make the time and don’t jeopardize it, set it as the precedent for your team and implement it through leading by example and watch your team evolve.

There are many things we can do to improve employee motivation, helping them take charge of their lifestyle stands as the foundation and it is by in large, the most effective. But to effectively action this change, we must look at our own habits first and make sure they run in suit with what we are promoting for our team. We must take ACTION or no one else will.

Staff motivation at it’s core, revolves around helping the employee making a direct link between the task/s that are required of them and how by completing them, they will aid in getting them what they want. Only trouble is, how many of us know what it is that we really want?

The first step in effective leadership, is to help your staff identify their passions, then getting them to categorically express them in terms of: time, measurables and specifics. We’ve all no doubt heard of the SMART goals acronym (if not refer to my previous blog post: http://www.ichooseawesome.com.au/smart-setting-goals), it is essential, that beyond the workplace goals that are set upon staff, they have their own personal ambitions that they are working towards.

Qualities of a good leader, and executive leadership, starts with knowing what it is you want to achieve and identifying your passions and subsequent objectives. This is no difference when it comes to staff. To begin to create a more motivated team, start by:

-Setting 30-60min aside for all your team.
-Have them write down and brainstorm everything that they want to achieve/desire.
-Have them create 5 SMART personal ambitions, starting with the most long term one first then working backwards.
Ensure that these ambitions fall in line with the SMART guidelines, this is extremely important!

-Finally, allow your staff the time to create an Ambition Board (a visual representation of all their ambitions, combined as a montage on a piece of paper). They can then place this in their work space as a permanent reminder of what it is they’re working towards and as a permanent source of motivation.

Use this as a starting point. Next week we will look at developing your staff further, increasing their motivation levels and enhancing their leadership capabilities through lifestyle change.

“I’ve had a chance to go over the stats for staff on leave due to illness or medical reasons and compared them from Mar-Sep in 2011 and then in same period for 2012. The leave I looked at did not include carer’s leave or any long term leave. For the details you are after, I thought it was best to only include staff ‘sick’ days alone. Keep in mind the total days of absence are not consecutive and include times of multiple leave days listed under one day due to several staff taking the same day off.
The results are astounding and I think you should be very proud of what you have achieved here:
Between March and September 2011:
Total days of teacher absence for LSC = 235 days
Total cost of teacher replacement = $62,275
Between March and September 2012:
Total days of teacher absence for LSC = 128
Total cost of teacher replacement = $33,920

Therefore during the time of the I Choose Awesome School 12 Week Challenge and to date, our cost saving due to reduced staff absences (compared to previous year’s costs) is $28,355!

It was agreed by all staff that as a result of the challenge, the morale and general feeling amongst the staff had greatly improved. Even after completion of the challenge, many staff remain committed to their healthier eating, and are still attending regular sessions in our new gym at school.
You know we are huge supporters of what you guys are trying to achieve. The results are in, and it speaks volumes about what you have accomplished
here.”
-Gabriel Windsor
Business Manager at Leongatha Secondary College

I hear it all but too often: “I want to improve my flexibility”, “My hamstrings are so tight, I can’t touch my toes”. Like improving muscular strength, in order to improve muscular flexibility, we must work at it. However, muscular flexibility isn’t the only benefit to consistent stretching.

Stretching:

-Improves sleep quality
-Reduces risk of injury
-Allows you to exercise longer
-Makes you less tired

(for more information on the benefits of exercise check out this link: body and soul)

When conducting your stretching, there are 2 key points to uphold, I recommend these to all my clients and they are as follows:

1. Hold each stretch for a minimum of 60sec. As we age our muscles become less responsive, so if we do not expose them to stimulus for an adequate period of time, you will in affect, not be doing anything for your muscles.

2. As you stretch, breathe out, lengthening the muscles, breathe in as you shorten and relax the muscles. Tie your stretching in with your breathing, you should feel some discomfort when you stretch, this lets you know you are working the muscles.

A great stretch routine can be found in the P90X series (P90X) however if you do not want to invest in a program, a modified version of the P90X stretch video can be found on you tube (P90X Stretch). My only recommendation here would be to hold the poses longer than what the instructor is.

If you currently don’t stretch, start! It takes 5-10 minutes at the start or end of your day and your body will thank you for it. If you need any advice when it comes to stretching do not hesitate to post a question.

2013, it’s well and truly under way. Three months down and I come to you with a quarterly that is running a little late… I blame it on the early Easter. All the festivities aside, what a brilliant start to the year, I hope you have had as good a start to the year as us here at I Choose Awesome. Needless to say things are gathering speed. To give you an update, with the gym running smoothly and another school’s 12 week challenge is under way, I Choose Awesome continues to streak along in leaps and bounds and is ready to make more of a corporate assault going into the middle portion of this year (find a copy of our service overview attached if I have sent you this via email). Having been forced to really put our heads down and make sacrifices in our (myself and my business partner) personal life, it is refreshing to see the rewards being reaped on the other side. The continual support we have received from our friends, family and partners through out, has been truly appreciated and I think we all at times tend to take them for granted. So I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to those who continue to love and support us through the highs and particularly the lows along our quest for awesomeness. I urge you to do the same, as we don’t realize how good great friends are until they are not there.

“Love and appreciate your parents. We are often so busy growing up, we forget they are also growing old.”

A parent’s love is unconditional and likewise a child’s love for their parents is the same. As we get older, the demand and attention we place on our parents may diminish, however the love we feel for them remains as strong as it was, from the day we were born. This no doubt is reciprocal. Having just celebrated Easter with my family, it has started to become more apparent to me, that while all of us get older, so too, do our parents (funny that). And as we all age, it is remarkable how we all tend to begin to appreciate the time we spend together and the things we do for one another a whole lot more. I am constantly blown away at thinking about how much my parents have done for me over the years and how they have helped me become the person I am today. We all begin to understand the scarcity of time as we age, and how fast it actually goes. You can never say ‘I love you’ enough to your family and those closest to you, least of all your parents. So take the time to say the things you tend to only think. Appreciate the time you spend together with your loved ones (most of all your parents), and remember, that while they (our parents) may frustrate us at times, they won’t be here forever. So make the most of the time you spend with them, tell them you love them at every chance you get and show them you appreciate all that they have done for you.

“If a person wants to be a part of your life, they will make an obvious effort to do so. Think twice before reserving a space in your heart for people who do not make an effort to stay.”

I know personally, of the pain and heartache generated by over investing time and energy into someone or something, only to not have the same energy and effort returned. There will always be those people in our lives who take, take, take, then take some more, never to give back. It is these types of people we become better at identifying as we get older. We develop the ability to cut through the garbage and get an idea on someone’s character and nature, pretty quick smart. While I like to think we can never love enough people and that there is always room in our hearts for more, the reality is, that if we waste too much time on those that don’t give back we subsequently waste our energy on people who don’t deserve it. So focus on the people that appreciate you. Invest your time and love into those that reciprocate and that share similar values to you. This will not only fill your heart with joy and inspire you to keep giving, but in turn, create more room in your heart to let more people in. Keep those you love close by, surround yourself with the people whose qualities you admire and reap the benefits of what doing this will produce.

Do you take the stairs or the elevator? Do you have the soft drink or the glass of water? Do you get up early and exercise or do you sleep in? Every choice you make will go on to define your lifestyle. What does ‘lifestyle’ mean? It is the things you do consistently without even thinking. It is the consistent application of a series of actions, the insignificant actions, that go on to define the individual you are and what it is that you will achieve and subsequently become. A healthy lifestyle is simply the consistent application of actions that keep your health in mind, an unhealthy lifestyle is one that does not.

Because we think little about our insignificant actions, we can see how one would find it extremely challenging to change their lifestyle and do so successfully. The key to lifestyle change lies in the word ‘change’. Most people think that change means they have to go from one extreme to the other. Firstly, this is not only extreme, but unrealistic for the vast majority of us. Think about it, a person starting in the gym will not be as capable as someone who has spent 2 years in there, so their programs will be different, they will train to their abilities and eventually they will get to that point where they can manage a program similar to the more experienced person. In saying this, the key to lifestyle change is consistency and consistent application. It doesn’t matter how small the change is, just so long as you apply the change consistently. As you progress you will be able to incorporate more changes successfully.

The people you look up to, the ones that are healthy or fit or successful, they didn’t get there over night and their lifestyles aren’t as they are because they just instantly made them that way. They worked on them, they made progressive changes, and they consistently applied those changes to the point they are at today. In saying that, whatever your ambitions maybe, chances are you will need to apply some changes to your lifestyle to get to where you want to be. With that being said my 3 suggestions for those of you wanting to change your lifestyle would be as follows:

1. Make a change that you are comfortable with.

2. Apply that change consistently for 30 days.

3. After those 30 days pick something else you can improve on and make another small change for the next 30days.

Having never competed in such an event like this before I was unsure as to what to expect come the completion of the race. Needless to say, once I had completed it, I can now see why it’s gaining such popularity! Comradery and team-ship aside, the sheer rush and thrill of crawling under barb wire, clawing your way through mud or climbing (or failing to climb) a 15m high rope with a pool of mud below, provides an adrenalin rush and satisfaction unmatched by any form of exercise I have come across to date. Obviously I am not the only one who feels this way, given that some 7000 Spartans participated in this inaugural event on the weekend.

So given it is so popular (adventure racing), is there any real benefit to this type of training? Without a doubt, yes! ‘Spartan’ training or the style of training conducted for these types of events is extremely beneficial for most individuals (obviously excluding those that have injuries or muscle/joint issues). It combines cardiovascular endurance and resistance training all in one and can be a great way to maximize the time you spend training, if you are time poor. The minimal rest nature of the training makes it quite intense, forcing you to work harder and burn more calories in a given session, than a pure cardio based session or pure resistance based session.

So for those of you keen to compete in the next adventure race (http://www.warriordash.com.au/locations.php) I’ve compiled a ‘Spartan/Warrior’ style workout you can begin to use to get yourself in shape for that challenge. If your trying something like this for the first time drop the reps of all the exercises/running portions by half, then increase them as you improve your fitness. In the mean time, happy adventure racing!

Spartan/Warrior Workout:

• Pullups – 25 reps
• Dumbbell Deadlift – 50 reps
• Run 500m
• Pushups – 50 reps
• Body-Weight Squat Jumps – 50 reps
• Run 500m
• V-Ups – 50 reps
• Dumbbell Push Press – 50 reps
• Run 500m
• Pullups – 25 reps

*If unsure of any exercises be sure to seek assistance from a fitness professional.

While action is an integral step in utilizing knowledge, that is not my contention behind why I write this to you. No ladies and gentlemen, I come to you today urging you to absorb more knowledge, whether there is a clear use for it or not. Knowledge and the gathering of information, formulates the foundation of our being and allows us to evolve and create new ideas.

The best ideas often come from the most abstract of thoughts or experiences. I set time aside each day to view a TED film clip. TED is an amazing website (www.TED.com) that is an open forum of knowledge, information and ideas. Compelling viewing at the very least. This is my preferred form of being exposed to new ideas, some of my friends  make a commitment to read 10 pages of a book every day, while others read their newspaper daily or watch various tutorials on youtube or on the internet. What ever your preferred form of information, make the conscious effort to learn something new everyday and be amazed as to how it can spark a new thought or idea.

So here are some ways to get exposed to more knowledge daily. Just try one of these and do it for the period of a month and see how your perception of the world changes and what sort of subsequent ideas you have:

-Read 5 pages of a book a night/day

-Watch one TED talk per day

-Read the newspaper and find an interesting article to share with your work colleagues

-Google a random topic that comes to mind and find out a little bit more about it

Choose to learn about subjects that interest you and see where they lead you.

Examples of isolation exercises are: leg extensions, leg curls, bicep curls, tricep extensions, lateral shoulder raises etc. While these types of exercises serve a purpose, generally speaking, they are only beneficial for the one muscle/muscle group that they are designed to target. This means there are no ‘bonus’ muscles being activated or utilized, thus the opportunity to burn more fat goes begging.

Examples of compound exercises are: burpees, squats, lunges, chin ups, push ups, clean and press etc. These exercises when performed, while you may feel the burn in one area in particular, engage a lot more core muscles and additional muscles to perform the movement. A lot more technique, generally, is required to perform these exercises; stomachs must be pulled in tight, backs need to remain straight and in most cases a good degree of balance is needed. These types of exercises subsequently see you burn more fat than that of the isolation variety.

When working out to keep fit and functional, for life’s demands in general, compound exercises are your greatest ally. They will keep your body, functional, well oiled and conditioned. If you haven’t experienced the awesome effects of compound training, try this work out on for size and you be the judge:

Complete the following exercises as a circuit, 5 times over, for reps of 5/10/15/10/5 for each set. Rest for 1 minute between each set. If you find this too easy, add in another set and have yourself go up to 20 reps.

Circuit: Burpees/squats/bar pull ups/lunges (whatever the number is complete the amount on each leg so 10 reps would be 20 lunges in total etc)/push ups.

Happy fat burning.