Hi All,
Over the past 20 years, the last 6 years in particular, since mid 2007, I’ve been progressively tapping into and teaching a mindset for health and success, called PerformanceLifestyle.
Many of you participated in 14 trainings I’ve done thus far, and are now participating in the ongoing weekly support we provide via phone and the Training Center online which helps you discover, learn and apply the lifestyle skills necessary to achieve your goals without trading your well being and health for success, any more.
In this quest to discover, learn and convey the 12 Essential Skills for Lifestyle Success, (which also enable you to live at or near your ideal weight, all year round), I’ve stopped at nothing to reveal the full breadth and depth of what it takes in today’s fast-paced day and age, where it’s easy to live overwhelmed, exhausted and get overweight, to achieve your goals in the healthiest way, most successful way.
I suppose, I have always been in search of understanding why such highly capable people (the people I work with; myself included) feel so challenged at times, in taking care of themselves and at a deep enough level to really get the benefits.
Of course, misinformation and practical knowledge aside (which is a big factor in the struggle) because faulty information will not work no matter how hard you try; in this process, I discovered a modern day syndrome that I could see was causing great challenge for people (and, speaking for myself) me.
It’s called Performance Addiction, which I learned I was a long time sufferer of. In a strange twist of fate, getting to the bottom of it is what drove me in my quest.
The silver lining was the discovery and development of a restorative life process, ironically known as "PerformanceLifestyle". This process is essentially what I’ve been delivering in these trainings. The process and the skills that will enable anyone to make a true lifestyle change without having to take themselves out the game or opt for health vs success or vice-versa.
I ended up co writing a new book with the author of Performance Addiction, Harvard psychology instructor Arthur Ciaramicoli PhD. It will out in November (Fall 2009) and it’s called, The Curse of the Capable, about the hidden challenges to a balanced healthy high-achieving life.
For me it wasn’t about writing the book it was about restoring my life and that’s what I want to share with you.
If you are an achiever, a small business owner, entrepreneur, a working parent and you’re faced with relentless demand on your time and energy that’s been wearing you down, there’s a chance that you’ve bought into performing at the cost of your life, or at least the quality you are seeking.
You’ve got ambition and you’ve got goals and it’s likely you want the best for your children as well.
But herein lies the problem:
High performance without the lifestyle to support it, ultimately means that you will trade your well being and your health for success and it doesn’t work!
I know this first hand.
The success industry tells us to "achieve success and eventually you’ll live the life of your dreams" (referring to all the benefits of wealth), but what they fail to tell you is that to get there you need to already have a successful lifestyle.
That’s the only way you get there and sustain it!
For years I was all about goal achievement, and all I thought about was performing at high levels, but could never understand why my follow through for higher levels of success was limited, especially when I always had such incredible opportunity in front of me. I would develop ideas, have some success, then shelve them and move onto something new.
Have you ever experienced that?
I would accomplish a ton, but would never really achieve the level of success I was looking for.
When I started my company 6 years ago, the same pattern held true, only at this stage in my life, I was in fact tracking down the fairway to discovering the solutions, solving the real problem.
I started www.MyTrainer.com (the early versions of it) but then over time realized I needed to go deeper. I then created www.NutrientRich.com and did not stop there, realizing in both cases, that I was trying to get to bottom of something; I referred to it as "IT".
So I moved forward and created www.ManageYourEnergy.com (formerly "beat fatigue now.com) to deal with the fatigue I has been feeling for a long time, all while helping those I serve deal with the same or similar issues.
Each solution I created, I got closer to solving the problem; how do we need to think and live to best achieve our goals, and stay balanced and healthy!
Along the way, there were other projects and many interation’s of those that I mentioned above all at a great cost of time, energy and resources.
But I kept on going… It’s amazing what happens when you are driven almost obsessively by something that is afflicting you.
The good news is that there were silver linings.
Over a matter of years, not only did I end up creating some very nice, high profile projects, I would eventually get to in a focused way; I clarified this mindset called PerformanceLifestyle – the healthiest way to achieve your goals and created, 2 versions of PerformanceLifestyle.com.
Version 3 is coming soon and you’re going to love it!
PerformanceLifestyle is essentially about getting a) structure of your life, b) your lifestyle and c) your goals into alignment and "firing on all cylinders" as we say.
The main theme of each skill we learn in each of these areas, is that of managing our personal energy, which is such a central concept of life that it requires an array of skills to do it successfully.
But what prevents someone from being able to make the change necessary for this alignment that all healthy high achieving benefit from?
The bottom line I discovered is a resilient, sense of self…, without which your chances of becoming a Performance Addict is high, which means thinking that achieving more, will make you feel better. That leads to what is now known as the curse that capable people suffer from, what achievement isn’t designed to solve, and it’s almost inevitable that people (particularly achievers) experience the curse, simply because most of us are not taking care of ourselves at a high enough level, in the process of achieving our goals.
Incredibly, you can’t quite put your finger on the problem while you’re going through it, but eventually if you peal things back far enough you realize what the problem is, why you are not looking, feeling and performing the way you want to and missing out on the quality of life you seek.
And believe me, this is more common than you may think.
Getting the answers to why, what to do about it and how to make a change to get free of that stuff that’s holding you back, as I have come to learn, is what we call "restoring".
Restoring yourself for a better life, is about establishing a new way to approach to achieving your goals with the balance health and quality of life you need and require for sustainable success.
Realizing and taking the steps below has been the most incredible journey and positioned me to share these 3 significant steps to restoring a better life with you.
Here they are.
1) Realize that trying to perform at high levels without the right lifestyle to support it, ultimately could means that you will trade your well-being and your health for success.
So, realize your limitations and change your approach.
2) Restructure your life and business to the extent that you need to change your lifestyle; and learn the lifestyle skills to achieve your goals in the healthiest, most successful way possible.
Notice, I did not just say change your lifestyle alone; because if the right set up is not working, it’s hard to succeed at maintaining a new and improved lifestyle and follow through on achieving your goals.
3) Get free of the hidden challenges that are preventing you from doing steps 1 or 2, these are the aspects of your thinking (what’s going on between your ears) that are driving you a little crazy
That’s the stuff that’s going on that you call "it". You can’t quite put your finger on it, but you know it’s there.
As simple as these three steps seem, I want you to know that they are all very significant, and part of what we call, a whole life performance transition, nothing short of doing what it really takes to restore and live a better life.
Where do you start?
You start where you are, because that’s where you are. Everything you do and if you’re going to do it "well", depends on taking these steps to the extent you need to in your life and I’m doing my best to giving you a road map, so that you can do the same.
It’s not an overnight thing, but what is?
If you really want to live a better live, start driving down the right road and drive well!
~ John Allen Mollenhauer "JAM".