Entitlement vs Investment

I'm going to comment about entitlement versus investment.

Those who have me already as a Coach know I talk often of 'investment'. Right from the beginning I explain to clients that regardless of which balanced eating option you choose in your package when you sign on, you're signing on to a new commitment, a new routine, a new mindset, but never a 'diet'. Never a 'quick fix' (and no pun intended on our most successful 21DayFix!).

 There is no speaking of 'I can't have --' or 'Can I eat?' 

If you think about it, we all have free will do choose and do as we see fit in that day. I never look ahead at a day and think about what I 'can't' have or do. I personally look at how I'm going to 'invest'. I want to invest my palate, my time, my pleasure in a food that will give me the most bang for my buck. I want my brain fed and my liver untaxed. Make sense? So the high fee, low interest rate these days is: SUGAR. 

Without boring you with all the negative effects of sugar, just go listen to any number of JJ Virgin's podcasts or simply google sugar effects on the internet (not to mention substantiated, academic/scientific research on it). I choose my investments wisely and some could argue that's why I'm more successful with my eating and exercise than another who is not considering their investment. 

 I also think understanding investment relates to how you view 'entitlement'. This idea that I should 'get something for free.' People complain about their company not giving them enough or the government not doing enough. And in fitness, perhaps the program not giving them enough. I listened to a podcast recently where the guest speaker asked listeners to consider adopting an 'attitude of gratitude.' 

Sometimes I get the question as to why programs cost. You have to invest in yourself and keep reinvesting . It takes sweat, time, and yes, some money. 

When I think back to my childhood and into adulthood, see many cases where I could have easily wished for a magic wand to give me the instant gratification. I didn't want to have to draw the outline, submit a proposal, do the warm-up, collect the twigs for the fire, go through the contractions before they brought that damn epidural, do the angst before the divorce, but without the struggle, without the progress I would have not known myself. I would not have felt accomplished. Frankly the magic abs don't interest me. Yes, I have no shame to say on some nights I commend myself on my good work at pushing myself, of making my goal because I depended on ME. I towed the line and I can reflect with pride and courage that I did it. 

I look at my grandparents and my parents - generations who toiled for often prolonged periods of no reward, yet they revealed in their success later. They had no support network in most cases; they depended on sheer will and trust and they 'bettered' themselves. My grandfather in fact told my mother and her brother (in German) when they were growing up, 'better yourself'. It was a key phrase in the family. 

Entitlement doesn't belong with investment. Investment is a trade- off that you do in the spirit of bettering yourself. When you know the roots came from you, not handed down to you for free, you stand taller on them. 

Invest. 

~ Jedi