It’s the New Year, a fresh start, a clean slate and a new beginning. It’s a time to reflect, goal set and “resolve”, right? Right!
I have a question for you. Did you get sick after the year-end holidays and/or at the start of this year? I did. And that is very un-Mike Alves-like (yes I just wrote that). Why did I get sick? Because I focused on producing, on what I could do, get done, finish, achieve, etc…and didn’t keep my normal balance. I started living like everyone else and I stopped training like no one else. My immune system suffered and I paid the price.
Since I love the start of a new year for all the reason above and due to my cold, the colds of my clients and my grand writing of the 2012 Change Your Body Boot Camps Macrocycle and programs, I was reminded of Aesop’s Fable, The Goose with the Golden Egg.
The story goes like this,
One day a countryman going to the nest of his goose found there an egg all yellow and glittering. When he took it up it was as heavy as lead and he was going to throw it away, because he thought a trick had been played on him. But he took it home on second thoughts, and soon found that it was an egg of pure gold.
Every morning the same thing occurred, and he grew rich by selling his eggs. As he grew rich he grew greedy; and thinking to get at once all the gold the goose could give, he killed it and opened it only to find nothing.Moral of the Story: Greed often overreaches itself.
Well…I overreached. I attempted to squeeze out every last ounce of results I could and I didn’t take care of myself the way I normally do. Stephen R. Covey author of the NY Times best seller, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change, would say that my P/PC balance was off and Aesop would say I was greedy. “P” stands for Production and “PC” stands for Production Capability.
In our wonderful world of bigger, faster, stronger, where many strive for the American Dream, there is a tendency to focus on Production (the Golden Eggs) and neglect Production Capability (the Goose).
If you desire to achieve or produce more and net golden eggs, you also must schedule time to take care of the achiever or producer, the goose, and focus on your production capability.
If you want to get a better job or earn more (Production / Golden Eggs) you often have to work more, acquire more skills & knowledge and/or take on more responsibility (Production Capability / Goose).
If you want to lose weight, lose fat, build muscle, run faster, get stronger, break a personal record, change your body, …stay healthy…, etc…and focus on your production or net golden eggs you have to change the way you think, eat, move, sleep, drink, train, … i.e. you’ll have to change your lifestyle and also focus on your Production Capability and thereby take care of the Goose.
In closing. Life is more exciting when you’re producing something and you can increase the rate, quality AND duration of your production if you not only give focus to your production capability, but prioritize, schedule and DO it. When you take care of the Goose, yourself, you can sustain production of Golden Eggs, your results, for a longer period of time. If you make this a habit, addressing your production capability, and adopt this balanced lifestyle, you’ll reap the rewards over your lifetime.
Imagine all of the Golden Eggs the farmer could have had over his lifetime if he took care of the goose.
Here’s your chance. Take it! I am.
Yours changing lives, including my own,
Mike Alves
p.s. Newton’s #1 Body Transformation Program, Change Your Body Boot Camps is in its 4th year of helping Busy People address their production capability.
p.p.s. If you want to try us out for FREE, apply here:
Change Your Body Boot Camps,
Newton, MA
