Don’t Let Your Environment Make Decisions For You
“I don’t want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.” –Frank Costello
Listening to a radio program recently I was reminded of this quote from “The Departed”. While I love this movie, it had been a long time since I had seen it last, so suffice to say I had forgotten about it some. For those of you who haven’t seen it, the movie is about two men in the Boston police force. One is an informant for the mob imbedded within the Boston police force. The other is the opposite, an undercover police officer giving information on the mob. It is a great movie but no need to go into many more specifics than that in terms of the plot.
The quote above comes from the character Frank Costello (played by Jack Nicholson). He is essentially supposed to be an homage to Whitey Bulger. Obviously when talking about individuals to model yourself after, Bulger is not someone I would suggest. However, I love the way this quote was written. It is far too easy to become a product of your environment. If you just let your environment make your decisions for you, then what would that require of you? To be constantly busy, eat junk, and not have time to improve yourself. We are constantly bombarded by things we need to get done, by quick easy nutrition-less foods that you can get on the run, and worrying about everyone but yourself.
That’s all well and good until you look in the mirror one day and say, “Woah…who is that?”. You have no energy, you are out of shape, you just feel crappy, but you know the next 12 hours are dedicated to everyone but yourself. You think, “Well, this is just the way it has to be”. Guess what? No, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Of course there are going to be practices, or meetings, or other things that you can’t change. I am not so naïve as to think my situation and your situation are identical. I fully realize that as parents and business owners and the like, your lives are more hectic and more rigid than mine. I fully realize and understand that, however, this is also the reason that it is even more dependent on YOU! You are the one that can make the change and make your environment a product of who/what you want to be. If you can’t have junk in the house without eating it, it’s as simple as DON’T BUY IT. Right there you are affecting your environment. If there is always cake in the break room and you just can’t not eat it, DON’T GO TO THE BREAK ROOM. If you are running for fast food 3 times a day, stop taking the time to do so, get your work done, and use that free time (and extra money saved on gas) to make real food.
There are a thousand other possibilities to change your environment to suit the person you want to be/need to be. Just accepting that you are “too busy” is never going to get you anywhere. You are letting yourself become a victim of your environment. Make your environment one that works for you, instead of against you.
Make it Happen!
-Coach Adam
My experience here has been fantastic. I have people excited for me as they push me to lift heavier or do more squat thrusts. I have learned that I need to balance my workouts and my eating choices. Nancy has taught me so much about nutrition. I got married 2 years ago and like any bride you want to fit into your wedding dress. I jokingly asked Nancy if we could do exercises to get rid of my back fat. She looked at me and simply said, “change your eating”. That stuck with me. I changed what I was eating and I fit into my dress. Then I did my first detox and realized how food affects my skin. Another life changing result. Now after doing 3 detoxes and doing my first S3 challenge, I have created new healthy habits for my nutrition. I am down over 15 pounds, a body full of muscles and a happy, healthy lifestyle. There is nothing sexier in a person as the confidence that shines through them. Get Fit has given me that confidence.
Never. I honestly don’t know the last time I was legitimately sick with even a cold. And that is because I have built a strong immune system and continue to give my body what it needs to fight off the funk. I say all of that to encourage you to think about how often you get sick. If you are constantly not feeling well- even if it’s a constant headache or stomach ache or the sniffles- then it’s time to look at your plate. What are you putting into your body and how is that affecting your health? A lot of times we think our plate only affects how we look and we justify by saying we’ll work harder, but it goes so much deeper than that.
This Thursday is the Rock N’ Race – where did THAT come from?
With S3 in full swing, I wanted to go over something that I think it is important to talk about. That thing is focus. Now, focus is something just like willpower. It has its ebbs and flows, its highs and lows. If you try to be super focused on something for long periods of time (I’m talking for more than a few months) – what ends up happening? You lose that focus and end up stumbling, correct? If you think, “I’m going to eat perfectly for the next year!”, one or two things will happen, for sure. One – you do great for 3 months, and then you fall off and are so depressed with yourself that you only made it three months that you fall off big time and drop right back to where you were. Or, two – you think, “Ehh I have a year, I’ll start next month…. oh wait maybe next month” and before you know it you have wasted 6 months without putting things in place because “well, I have a whole year to do it”.
A while ago I read a book called, “The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift Like a Man, Look Like a Goddess”. This book was written by some of the finest coaches in the industry – Lou Schuler, Cassandra Forsythe, and Alwyn Cosgrove. There is a quote in the book that I think of often when I am coaching:
You must be logged in to post a comment.