Healthy High Achiever Blog

The other day, right after a powerful workout session,as part of a 6:00AM group of busy professionals, I gave a short introductory presentation on Performance Lifestyle -how to get your lifestyle working for you, not against you.

In that 15 minutes we powered through a couple of ideas that had a big impact on everyone involved.

We talked about variety of subjects that I knew were on their mind such as protein, energy and achieving goals…

When the subject of goals came up, and given that I was talking to a group of professionals, I dropped what seemed like a pretty radical idea, at first.

But it sunk in quick…

Even the owner of the health club where we were training, came up to me afterwards and said "that makes so much
sense".

Here’s what I said…

"Weight loss and health are not natural goals"

I then went on to explain that overweight and health complications are’ symptoms of a lifestyle gone awry. In other words, a lifestyle that is overwhelming and exhausting…, not working for you, but rather against you. 

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Do you have a big goal(s) that requires more energy than you have
right now?

Are you experiencing overwhelm, exhaustion, or the overweight
condition?

Is your lifestyle working against you?

Then join me for the next Performance Lifestyle Training
on October 16th to look, feel and perform better and achieve
your goals even more successfully!
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…When you are living out of balance, overspending your energy, eating nutrient poor food, inactive or over active for that matter, you get symptoms.

And most of the time, those symptoms are lowered energy and increased weight for starters…

I explained that there is nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight and following a program to help you burn fat, but if you don’t get your lifestyle working for you, the problem will persist, even if you ultimately eat less (manipulate your diet) and exercise more.

We went on to talk about "lifestyle" and what it means as the way in which you achieve your goals.

The question I asked was this…

Are you achieving your goals in life, business or sport, in a balanced healthy way, or are you trading your health for success?

If you didn’t catch it, notice I asked, "are you achieving your "goals" in a balanced, healthy way?". I didn’t ask "are you achieving balance and health", because neither are natural goals.

This seemingly little distinction is HUGE!

It means the difference between struggle and flow, between distraction and focus, and whether or not you chase your
tail for the rest of your life seeking energy, your ideal weight and fitness, or not.

It could very well be affecting your personal and professional success in a big way.

You see, healthy high achieving people don’t seek to achieve health, they live healthy to achieve their goals and that’s why they live at or near their ideal weight all the time.

Their lifestyle is working for them.

A perfect example is the way the lifestyle of an athlete helps them achieve their goals in sport.

Unlike athletes though, achievers in other areas of life and business, they tend to trade their health, energy and fitness for success.

Their lifestyle is working against them.

So I introduced the idea of the Healthy High Achiever. I explained to the group, that healthy high achieving people achieve their goals in a balanced, healthy way with the energy and fitness they need to succeed.

They are motivated to get each and every aspect of their lifestyle working for them, so they can achieve their goals even more successfully.

And when they do, they don’t have spend their time trying to deal with distracting symptoms; they can focus on what’s important and exciting to them!

Do you want to learn what Healthy High Achievers know and live by to achieve their goals the way the do?

If so… join this group! !

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The next Performance Lifestyle Training is coming up on October
16th, 2008.

It’s the last training of the year and it will help you start 2009,
living better than ever and for all the right reasons. It will change
your body and life for the better, forever.

To learn more and enroll, go to www.PerformanceLifestyle.com.
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Live Like a Pro!

JAM

John Allen Mollenhauer is the founder Performance Lifestyle Solutions, the better healthier, more successful ways to achieve your goals in life, business and sport. As a former worn down workaholic turned Healthy High Achiever, John Allen (aka “JAM”) will teach you how to Live Like a Pro, optimizing your lifestyle the way athletes do for better results. He is the creator of the Healthy High Achiever - Unleash the Full Potential of Your Lifestyle to Perform, Look and Feel Better!

Actually, is telling someone to live a “healthier lifestyle” really effective?

If I ask 100 or 1000 people, almost 90% or more will tell me they are living a "healthier lifestyle"; that they are eating better, or less, exercising more, going to bed a little earlier, taking vitamins, drinking purified water, nurturing their spirit etc; some combination of "better" steps they are taking to improve their lifestyle.  

This is good, particularly in light of the massive downward trend to overweight and health complications, on a population basis, that is going on right now. This trend to overweight is the root cause of all the poor health statistics you are hearing about in the news.

Now I will always be first in line to applaud even the smallest efforts to improve. I myself take small steps to improve my lifestyle all the time. That’s the way it’s done successfully, with a view on where you want to or need to get to for reasons that inspire you.

But guess what…

Most people are still overwhelmed, exhausted and overweight, and candidates for health complications.  Why? Because they are doing all of this on top of an iceberg of other stuff that has the opposite effect, or they are making changes but simply not at a high enough level to be effective or experience the results they seek…  

"Better" and "healthier" are uniquely relative, border line ambiguous terms with countless meanings depending on who you talk with.

I have been promoting "healthy lifestyle" for a long time and still do. But today, I promote the healthiest, most successful lifestyle approach on the planet. It’s called Performance Lifestyle and it is based on the defined fundamentals of successful living that healthy, high achieving people know and live by.

Its a natural system…

Why do I call Performance Lifestyle the healthiest most successful lifestyle approach on the planet? That’s pretty bold. I answer the question below.

The main reason it’s called "performance" lifestyle and not a healthy lifestyle, is because all wellness, health and fitness concepts are taught in the context of quality of life (our ability to function and perform well) and success (the real goals we want to achieve in life, business and or sport).

A Performance Lifestyle is a healthy lifestyle, but a healthy lifestyle is not necessarily a Performance Lifestyle or going to promote your success at the same level.

Simply put, Performance Lifestyle brings the never-before-assembled fundamentals of a health and success promoting lifestyle together into a natural system you can act on. Your ability to perform well bridging the gap between health and success, it clears up the ambiguity of what it means to truly live "healthy".

Your ability to perform "well", will let you know how healthy you really are.

Hint: your ability to perform well requires lifestyle skills that go beyond sleep, food and fitness.

The problem with simply living healthier is this…

How do you gauge success on an hour to hour, day to day, week to week basis?

And what’s your motivation to really live better, besides prevention, or weight loss, neither of which are natural goals? Of course, if you are in a health crisis, you will be motivated, but for purposes of this article, I’m assuming you are not in crisis. 

In a Performance Lifestyle your reasons for living better are stronger and your understanding of successful living is broader simply because it’s about sustainability and success for you.

It’s the way athletes live.

In a performance lifestyle "better" and "healthier" are relatively defined. These terms still apply, but now in the context of where you’re headed, whats possible and what may need to happen for you to get the results you want.

A good deal of the ambiguity is taken out of the equation, particularly because you are focused on your real goals and again you measure success by your ability to perform "well" versus your weight for example, which is an "effect" of how you live, not the "goal" of how you live.

Here’s what the Washington post had to say about this shift in mindset that makes all the difference in the world.

You, an Athlete?
It’s Not Such a Strange Concept; Think Like One and See What Happens

By Laura S. Jones
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, April 17, 2007; Page HE07

Calling all athletes. Yes, you. Who did you think? Stop laughing — you’ll snort coffee all over the paper…

Performance Lifestyle is a completely different mindset than simply living healthier.

Action Tip: As you go through your day today what thoughts and feelings kick in when you know you need to take care of yourself in some unique way, but you’re focused on a task, or a goal?

Journal this and share your comment below.  

In my upcoming posts let’s discuss the differences between a healthy lifestyle and the healthiest most successful way to live. If you want to perform, look and feel better without the struggle, this is a conversation you want to be part of.

I look forward to your comments.

Live like a pro!

John Allen Mollenhauer is the founder Performance Lifestyle Solutions, the better healthier ways to achieve your goals in life, business and sport. As a former worn down workaholic turned healthy high achiever John Allen (aka “JAM”) will teach you how to Live Like a Pro, optimizing your lifestyle the way athletes do. He is the creator of the Healthy High Achiever - Unleash the Full Potential of Your Lifestyle to Perform, Look and Feel Better! 

You know, I get this question all the time and it’s not unusual because a Performance Lifestyle is a new concept. New concepts require explanation.

So today I am going to give you the "plain "explanation.

Simply put…

A Performance Lifestyle goes beyond health and fitness (sleep, eating and exercise) to also include personal wellness, energy management and goal achievement concepts to round out a successful model for living.

All concepts are taught in the "context" of performance and success, which are what people are focused on. Health and sustainable success go hand in hand, they are one and thus, should be taught and learned that way.

The main reason people don’t focus on their health, is because they are naturally not focused on their health. Weight loss and Health are not natural goals.

Goals are those things we achieve in life, business and sport. Having to regain your health… and lose weight,  are distractions from your natural inclination.

If we are to take action consistently, and sustainably and achieve our real goals, we had better take a lifestyle approach that maintains personal wellness, high levels of energy, is fueled by quality food, reinforced by strength and endurance, and is effectively focused.

None of these concepts is optional if we want to be effective and happy in life. Quality of life at the core, is the ability to enjoy the activities in life with little to no limitation, able to function at a high level.

That is why we call this Performance Lifestyle. It bridges the gap between health and success.

When you have these respective areas of your life working for you, your lifestyle works for you, and propels you forward in a
position of strength.

John Allen Mollenhauer is the Founder of Performance Lifestyle Solutions, the better healthier ways to achieve your goals in life, business and sport. As a former worn down workaholic turned healthy, high achiever John Allen (aka “JAM”) will teach you how to Live Like a Pro, optimizing your lifestyle the way athletes do. He is the creator of the Healthy High Achiever - Unleash the Full Potential of Your Lifestyle to Look, Feel and Perform Better!

One of the things I take very seriously, is understanding what things mean. In other words, what the words and phrases we use actually mean. Wellness is one of those terms that eludes most of us, because it’s far more expansive than health or fitness and when it comes to achievement, once you lose wellness the achievement is far from satisfying or sustainable.

There is a big difference between performing well, and being able to perform "well".

Wellness, is the integration of many different elements (social, emotional, mental, spiritual and physical), that expand ones potential to live (quality of life) and work effectively and to make a significant contribution to society. - Ref: Charles B Corbin Concepts of Fitness and Wellness.

Wellness reflects how one feels (a sense of well being) about life as well as ones ability to function (perform) effectively.

I bet you were expecting me to talk about the physical right off the bat, right? Well, our physical bodies are important without question, but the physical comes up more when we talk about health, energy management and fitness.

The foundation of personal wellness is social (interpersonal), mental and emotional and spiritual… it has more to do with how you think and the benefits supportive community  you are also contributing to, than it does working out or eating the right foods.

And anyone who thinks they are going to to be physically well, lacking psychological strength and emotional fitness is kidding themselves. It’s really hard to do much when you are not feeling well.

Think about your experience. Do you experience much success taking care of your self, let alone business when you don’t feel well? Likely not…

Yes, feeling well is the opposite of illness, but that’s only one definition and a limited one at that. In a deeper sense it’s about those aspects of our lives that are not that noticeable, notably our relations with other people, finances, where we live, etc.

In a Performance Lifestyle, one of the mainstay tactics of Healthy High Achievers is their ability to take a step (s) back to gain perspective and deal with structural life problems or issues that are causing challenges further up the chain; for example; in your lifestyle which will ultimately affect your ability to achieve your goals and sustain success.

Wellness is our personal foundation. Conceptually is represents the present state of things in our lives. Are you addressing the present state of things in your life?

Are you feeling overwhelmed? If you are, that’s the sign to take a step back begin taking action accordingly.

Wellness is not some "feel" good term it is at once the foundation and the result of our health and success and our ability to perform.

John Allen Mollenhauer is the Founder of Performance Lifestyle Solutions, the better healthier ways to achieve your goals. As a a former worn down workaholic turned Healthy High Achiever John Allen (aka “JAM”) will teach you how to Live Like a Pro; how to look, feel and perform better by optimizing your lifestyle the way athletes do. Achieve your goals in life, business and sport and take your life to the next level!