This week we have a special guest blogger – our own Coach Jason Shand! Here’s Jason with an awesome message on how adjusting your perspective on life’s daily challenges can have a dramatic impact on your life. Enjoy!
“If you are pained by any external thing, it is not this thing that disturbs you, but your own judgment about it. And it is in your power to wipe out this judgment now.”
– Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
Whether something is good or bad is always a matter of perspective. Do you ever find that whenever something goes well in the morning, whether it’s a PR or a client meeting, the rest of your day tends to also go well? Unfortunately, the opposite can also be true; not doing so well in a workout, or losing out on a project you were seeking can snowball into a pretty miserable day. The truth is there’s no such thing as a good or bad day, only moments and the way we frame them. Not doing well in a workout allows you to know what you need to work on. How else would you know that? Losing out on something at work allows you the opportunity to pursue something else and lets you know what you need to do better to land the next project.
When I was thinking about buying a Subaru Outback, I started seeing them everywhere. I found myself wondering if EVERYONE drove an Outback and I was just now realizing this. In reality, I was noticing them because I was looking for them. The same thing happens over the course of our day. When we try to find the positive in all the things happening around us, we find it and we feel more positive about our lives. There are so many things outside of our control but we can always control how we feel about them.
In Jack Canfield’s book “The Success Principles,” he proposes an equation to change the way you think of what happens in your life: E + R = O; the Event plus our Response to the event equals the Outcome. Out of the three parts to the equation, the only thing we can control is our response, and our response is dictated by our perspective of the event. In the gym, this goes for everything from struggling with a movement to the way you handle an injury.
Toes-to-bar are not my jam. I’ve always struggled with them, but each time they are programmed, I say to myself, “I get to work on toes-to-bar today.” Do you have movements you dread when you see them posted for the day? What are you telling yourself? Are you not coming to the gym because there’s running or double unders? Are you skipping the gym because of a sore knee rather than coming in and allowing the coach to give you a challenging scale? Consider what would happen if you made the small change to your mindset that THIS is your opportunity to improve on things. Pursuing betterment is important but enjoying the process of working toward a goal is more rewarding when you remind yourself to just have fun.
This is a slight change in perspective of what you “have to” do and what you “get to” do on a daily basis. You don’t have to work on those hand stand push-ups. You get to. You never have to even come to the gym. You get to. You don’t have to take your kids to school. You get to. You get to go to work. You get to mow your own lawn. You get to wake up at 4:45 am to hang out with the 5 am crew. (Okay, maybe that last one is just me). In everything you do, practice framing your life this way; this little change of perspective can make a happier you.
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