The 7 Habits of Healthy People – Habit 3

March 4, 2014 by

PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST

For those of you who were wondering how Habits 1 and 2 were going to actually help you to become a healthy and successful person, Habit 3 is where the rubber hits the road.

Habit 3 – Put First Things First – is the physical creation that evolves from first being proactive and then deciding what life we inevitably want to live. Now that we know what is truly important, it is time plan our lives and expend our energy and time accordingly.

The old time management systems of to-do lists, checklists and schedule book are incomplete when it comes to putting first things first. Instead of focusing on things and time, we must shift our attention to results and relationships.

Central to this form of life management are the 4 Quadrants. The quadrants are defined as follows:

Quadrant I – Urgent and Important. These are activities that are crises and demand immediate attention. If you severely cut your hand and it is bleeding profusely, it is essential that you stop the bleeding NOW!

Quadrant II – NOT Urgent and Important. These are activities that will create positive results, yet are not an emergency at the time. Exercise, eating good food, planning your meals, meditating and seeing professional who not only prevent problems, but enhance health are Quadrant II activities.

Quadrant III – Urgent but NOT Important. Are activities that are essentially distractions in the moment that really are not important to our desired results. Responding to social media or responding to a phone call, when it is time to exercise is an example.

Quadrant IV – NOT Urgent and NOT important which is essentially time wasting procrastination. Watching junk TV or playing angry birds are PERFECT examples.

This is what the quadrants ARE. We all spend some time in all of them and that is fine. Whichever quadrant dominates our time will produce very different results from the others and that also applies to our health.

QI will produce stress, burnout, ever growing crisis management and constantly putting out fires. Is this not how most people manage their health? Most people go from treating one problem after another and inevitably the problems continue to get bigger over the years because the underlying causes were never addressed.

QIII is characterized by short term focus, the lack of any plan or goals, no follow through, disappointment in results and the feeling of being victimized. People living mostly in Q3 will often be heard saying, “I have tried everything and nothing works for me.” In reality they have not really committed to anything and done a bunch of things half way at best due to constant distraction.

QIV is usually mixed with QIII activities and produces total irresponsibility and dependence on others and institutions for basic survival. Luckily this is not common.

QII on the other hand produces individuals and families that have a vision for their health and wellness, are balanced, disciplined and over time tend to have fewer and fewer crises. The people who truly focus on moving towards their vision of health typically get sick very rarely and are often considered ‘lucky’ by the folks living in the other quadrants.

 

So, as you can probably guess, the key to being a highly healthy person lies in shifting as many as your Q3 and Q4 activities into Q2 activities. Obviously we all have crises (Q1) from time to time and they must be handled on the spot. As we said earlier however, the more time spent in Q2, the less Q1 will be required in the future.

Your homework for now is to look at how you spend your time and categorize it into the quadrants. BE HONEST with yourself! Nobody will see this but you. Then start to replace the unimportant with non-urgent important stuff. It will take some discipline, but the results will be worth it.

In the next article we will continue with Habit 3 and will go deeper into Putting First Things First a part of your weekly routine.

 

Speaking of Quadrant 2 activities, our 19th Clear Day has been officially booked for Saturday, April 12 at the Boys and Girls Club in Cornwall. Ask for an application at the office to see if you are ready for this full day intensive event designed to take your health and life to the next level.

 

We also have several special workshops booked for the spring including for the first time my Nutrition Workshop. Learn how to eat in a way that optimizes nervous system function, reduces pain, boosts energy levels and helps fat loss.

 

Making 2012 the Best Year of Your Life

January 5, 2012 by

Let’s face it – very rarely do we keep our New Year resolutions. Or in the face of repeated failure we no longer even make them, passing them off as something only “silly, lesser people” do as if we have evolved beyond them. Seriously, regardless of the time of year how often do we actually keep our promises to ourselves? If we did, we would all have 6 pack abs, buns of steel, be independently wealthy, travel the world and be in a fairy tale relationship!

Learn from Your Success…and Failures

Yet, once in a while we get it right. We make the change and make it stick for the long term. Sometimes we are successful at quitting smoking, losing weight, saving the money, starting a business or transforming the relationship. This begs the question of, “why?” What made it work this time? How was it different than the 26 times I failed?

Over the next few articles we will be looking at these questions and helping you to discover and implement your own formula for success that will help you to make 2012 the best year of your life. By the end of this series you will no longer just hope that this will be the year everything works – you will know that applying your personal success formula will create the result you are looking for.

Because many of you may still be hung-over from all of the food, drink and excess of the holidays, we will ease into this process by talking about our Ultimate Vision for life.

What is Your Ultimate Vision?

It is common that our efforts for transformation and change become sabotaged because we are not clear about our ultimate vision for our lives. We may set a goal to exercise 1 hour every day with the intent to transform our body, but if one of our highest values is spending time with our family we may unconsciously be pulled to not exercise as it takes away from family. Someone who wants to quit smoking yet cherishes socializing with dear friends who are smokers may experience a similar conflict.

The great news is that all of these conflicts can be creatively negotiated, but our vision for our lives must be consciously chosen and defined in order to do so. Between this week and next, spend some quiet time alone and write out your vision for your life. It is important to include all aspects of your life: body, learning, finances, habits, career, leisure, family and friends. Go into as much detail as possible and include the feelings and emotions that will accompany your life.

If you struggle with this exercise, stay with it. Often the streams of ideas that come just after you want to quit are the most true and profound. To help you can start by making a list of the values you want in your life. This could be compassion, integrity, patience, excitement, learning, etc. Another helpful exercise is to write out what your perfect day would be like. What would you do, who would you do it with, and how would you feel?

Some Homework

Having a clearly defined Ultimate Vision for your life is the first step finally making the changes you deserve. Read this vision once per day for the next few days. You know you have it when reading it gets you excited inside. Feel free to refine the wording to maximize this effect.

Next article we will begin to discover your personal formula for success.

 

 

I will be presenting a complimentary workshop of the same name as this article on Tues. January 17th at Gault Family Chiropractic and Wed. January 25th at Caveman Strong. Seating will be limited so phone to reserve your spot.

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