As I do most mornings before anyone else is up, I was listening to an audio book of the Tao Te Ching (Wayne Dyer's "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life" - I recommend it highly). Verse 59 was about 'Living untroubled by good or bad fortune', and in his analysis of this verse he mentioned the Albert Einstein quote which is the title of this post "Nothing happens until something moves". As I meditated after this verse it came to me that although Einstein was talking mainly through the...
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Mar 3,
2009
2009
Options, Actions, Directions
If history is any judge, telling people what to do is not a great way of eliciting behavior change. As I have commented many times in different ways on this blog, goals are best achieved when they are truly/intrinsically important to the individual involved and when they have 'ownership' of the goal and the actions and directions leading to its achievement. However, offering 'options' rather than 'instructions' or 'tips' can be one way of eliciting this kind of 'intrinsic thinking'. So ......
Feb 19,
2009
2009
Little by Little
When I was in my earliest years as a University professor I remember my proud mother asking what exactly it was that I did as 'Dr. Phillips'. I said something like "I do a lot of research to find out what the benefits of exercise are for older people". She replied "Why do you need to do that? Everybody knows that exercise is good for you - especially if you are older". My whole carefully planned research agenda crushed by a loving parent in two short sentences!!
Like my mother you've...
Feb 8,
2009
2009
Well, Well, Well,
In recent years building 'Wellness Cultures' in Senior communities has received much attention, and the benefits of adopting what has come to be known as a 'wellness lifestyle' has been confirmed and reconfirmed from a wide variety of 'evidence-based' research. There can be little doubt that for senior residential and retirement communities wellness cultures, appropriately designed and developed, can elicit a whole range of lifestyle, health and even economic benefits for the facility, the...
Feb 4,
2009
2009
Getting Wellness down Pat
A few weeks ago I was a guest on the Pat McMahon Show, AZTV 7, Cable 13. It was a lot of fun - Pat is a great guy with a sense of humor and a talent for relating to people of all kinds. I was there to talk about ActiveRx a company that does excellent work with older adults - pro-actively working with them to optimize physical and wellness function. During part of our interview Pat asked some general questions about wellness and though I was happy to answer them as best I could in the time we...
Jan 29,
2009
2009
Think different – do different – be different
We have known for several decades now that simply providing people with accurate, easy to understand information about exercise and wellness is no guarantee that they will actually act on this information. Never before, on the web and in the media has there been such a wealth of easily accessible information about paths to active, healthy living, and simultaneously never before has there been such a prevalence of inactivity and obesity/overweight in the US. Clearly knowledge and education...
Jan 5,
2009
2009
Thinking S.M.A.R.T., timely
NOTE: The S.M.A.R.T. series is best read from the first post. Start with Get SMART - Look Yourself In The i - and read from there
Timely
Effective goal setting is conducted and expected to be completed within a specific time frame i.e. "How long will you give yourself to achieve this goal?" While research has shown that a definable, pre-determined time frame is necessary for effective goal achievement , from an Intrinsic Coaching®...
Jan 4,
2009
2009
Thinking S.M.A.R.T., relevantly (Really Importantly)
NOTE: The SMART series is best read from the first post. Start with Get SMART - Look Yourself In The i - and read from there.
Relevantly
Ok you probably noticed I added a couple of words to the title of this post (with tongue ever so slightly in cheek) 'Really Importantly' - and here's why. The "R" in this acronym is typically written as "Realistic" but the problem here is that this word is hardly any different from our previous acronymic word "Attainable". After...
Apr 28,
2008
2008
Thinking S.M.A.R.T., attainably
NOTE: The SMART series of posts is best read from the first post. Start with Get SMART - Look yourself in the i - and read from there.
Attainably
This seems like the most obvious of the S.M.A.R.T.s so far - you mean that if I set a goal it has to be one that I can actually do? - DUH! On second thinking however this is a factor that deserves closer attention since very often, like beauty, attainment is in the eye (and more...
Apr 4,
2008
2008
Thinking S.M.A.R.T., measurably
NOTE: The SMART series is best read from the first post. Start with Get SMART - Look yourself in the i - and read from there.
Measurably
The second acronymic letter after the "i", research tells us that a "Measurable" goal is a "makeable" goal. I'm paraphrasing here of course because it is highly unlikely that researchers would be this simplistic. In research terms you would be more likely to read that setting measurable goals allows you to ...
