Preparing for the Future – Sharpening the Saw

bcb_saw Way back in the fourth post of the Health and Wellbeing Blog, I introduced Steven Covey and his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. His first habit is ‘be proactive’ and his seventh gives us the title for today’s post – he advises us to ‘sharpen the saw’.

He explains what he means by saying “effective people constantly renew themselves, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually”.

In other words – effective people keep themselves conscious and aware, moving, loving, thinking, learning and appreciating.

Renewing yourself in all the ways Covey describes can only serve to improve and increase your wellbeing – one of the major aims of the Boot Camp Blog!

Effective people are guided by their own missions and manage their lives according to principles. Ineffective people follow other people’s agendas and manage their lives around pressing matters. Stephen Covey

Stephen Covey’s Habits are such effective tools – they have been summarised on this special quick reference download.

Reviewing your Weight Loss and Wellbeing Boot Camp Blog

With your Journal in hand, together with any extra sheets or notes you’ve complied over the course of this Boot Camp Blog, revisit the posts to refresh your memory about the content.

• Look back at your answers to the questions in the first post. Has your response to any of those questions changed in any way?

• Are you deliberately listening for negative internal dialogue and replacing it with positive beliefs? (Post 2)

• Read your Statement of Definite Purpose – is it still the right Definite Purpose for you? Is your ladder leaning against the right wall? If your purpose has changed, rewrite your statement – if it is still the same, reaffirm it! (Post 4)

• Have you built ‘strategic alliances’ with friends, family or colleagues? (Post 4)

• Are your goals ‘growing’ well? Have you already achieved any of them? Or are you in the process of acheivement? (Post 7)

• Are you fitting in exercise and movement? How are you breathing – don’t forget now! (Posts 6 and 12)

• Do you focus on your visualisations and affirmations to reinforce your new beliefs? (Posts 8 and 11)

• Have you developed ‘positive rituals’ to create new habits? (Post 9)

• How’s your energy and time management? (Post 9)

• Is your Wheel of Wellbeing balancing out? (Post 13)

• How’s your motivation? Is it the carrot or the stick that motivates you? Are you using your ‘signature strengths’ to keep moving even when you’re halfway between discomfort and pleasure? (Post 17)

• Are you eating consciously and healthily? (Posts 5 and 16)

• Are you finding support and inspiration (or better still – in-spirit-ation) in books, blogs, articles, videos and people – are you ‘feeding your soul’? (Post 19)

By revisiting your Journal you will be able to measure how you have been progressing. Your entries will help you to notice the ‘immeasurable’ – such as greater confidence, peace, happiness, positivity, and vibrancy. They are sure indicators of a positive vibration which will most certainly be attracting positive outcomes!

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TASK

Spend some time considering which areas of the Health and Wellbeing Boot Camp Blog have been valuable to you, and that you can build upon.

• Have they become ingrained ‘healthy habits and beliefs’? Or are you still consciously integrating them into your daily routine?

• How is ‘change’ for you now, easier than you thought? Or are there resistances around change?

• How are you going to sustain your ongoing success?

I gave you this quote in the second post, way back in the first week – it’s so profound, that it’s worth repeating.

“Happiness is the meaning and purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.” Aristotle

Happiness is what it’s all about after all – the ultimate end result we are all aiming for!

Gratitude with Attitude

I am now going to pass on to you a massive secret. The secret to happiness and success, and it’s so simple you may even groan…

The answer is gratitude, or appreciation. There is hardly a higher vibration than a ‘thank you’ from the heart. You know how it feels when you have a bought a really great present for someone you care about, and you’re really excited about giving it to them – in fact you are more excited than they are? It feels really good to be giving that gift doesn’t it? That’s what a true thank you does every time – and that’s just to you! Imagine how the person that you are saying it to feels.

Watch a face light up when you look in someone’s eyes and say ‘thank you’ from the heart.

It is the same for everything in life. When the sun shines on me, I always say thank you – it feels so good basking in the sunlight, the only way I can appreciate that is by appreciating it – consciously, deliberately. When I run water into glass, I say thank you, with every plate of delicious food I give to myself and my family, I say thank you.

Now you are in the lovely habit of Journaling, slip in a Gratitude Log. What in your life do you appreciate? Who do you appreciate? How can you appreciate even more in your life? The more you open your heart in this way; you will attract even more of it into your life. Energy begets energy.

See someone who is slimmer and healthier than you – that’s a big thank you to them. Feeling resentful or jealous creates bad feeling and energy, and nothing good can come from that. Bless everyone who has what you want – thank them for having it, because in them you see an aspect of yourself that you want to manifest.

This can be applied to everything, and it works. Better still, it’s the best gift you can give anyone – including yourself.

Thank you for being here!