Health Blogs – Page 16 – Disney Employee Engagement Speaker

So Then What Happened?

So the second week, I ran two mailboxes a day. Third week, three mailboxes a day.

Yes, many of you have heard this before. Which is one of the secrets to excellent results – repetition. Never get tired of doing the basic, common sense things.

Stories are critical to perpetuating past success and moving to even greater success. You already knew that right?

Eventually, the goals became impossible, but their pursuit was compelling.

What’s fascinating is how intense it was to rise to the level of representing the United States at the 2009 Master’s Track & Field World Championships, without anyone knowing.

Neighbors. Family. Work. Ten years. Ten years of dedicated, relentless effort.

Invisible to everyone around me. For a decade.

Now, neighbors know. And Family knows. Yet to this day, most where I work have no idea.

And so the question today is this, “What is your impossible goal and will you persue it without any fanfare or glory, but just for the sake that it’s a noble goal?”

Lane 8 Behind the Scenes

Hello everyone. Hope you had a healthy week. It’s challenging isn’t it?

Diet and exercise. Sounds so simple.

Then why are we an obese society? An unhealthy society? Why?

Can someone help explain why this is so, and even more compelling, why we as a society, just put our heads in the sand and pretend like it doesn’t exist? Why we pretend like it’ll go away if we ignore it long enough?

It’s a grand wish that our son (9) will get and stay healthy as a lifetime goal. With Inflammatory Bowel Disease, he’s 20 times more likely to develop colon cancer than the average person.

Last time I looked, colon cancer is bad news.

Lane 8 is a metaphor for life. For trying your best to do important things – like lead a healthy life.

And it started over a decade ago, with me running one mailbox a day for a week.

As my health improved, my desire to maintain it became harder to find.

Lane 8 Food Pyramid

Anyone out there disagree that diet and exercise are a good way to control and maintain decent health?

Anyone not heard of the Food Pyramid?

Okay, so these things are well-known common knowledge, right?

What’s at the base, the foundation, of the the food pyramid?

Then explain to me please, why is it that people will pick apart a sandwich and eat the meat and discard the bread?

Not trying to make anyone feel bad, I’m seriously trying to understand this. It confusing and bewildering.

Do these people know something that the rest of the scientific nutritional world is clueless to?

You – Superhero or Villian?

Were you ever a kid?

Loaded question, right? Of course. We all were. So what’s the point?

The point is there’s a more important question, “Are you still a kid?”

Let’s assume we all say, “Yes, I’m still a kid at heart.”

Good, because kids dream of being a super hero, or being saved by a super hero. Remember? Well guess what? If you are looking for a place to find your motivation, consider being a super hero.

The Mirror Is The Enemy

As we heard yesterday, humans need a million reasons (fuel) to stay motivated with their health and wellness goals. It would be great if the motivation we so desperately need could also be found at our workplace.

However, even if our companies offer health and wellness programs, odds are, in reality, few will take action.

Does your organization have wellness programs and initiatives?

Do they:

Inspire you?
Motivate you?
Reward you?
Make a difference for you?

How well do they work?

Been thinking about a reader’s question, “How to keep employees healthy in an unhealthy environment?”

The bottom line reason people aren’t motivated is because they haven’t found a personal, compelling reason.

And, the personal, compelling reason is different for each of us. Common themes to be sure, but different personal reasons.

Try some of these on for size:

Be the change.

Action not words.

Do it for someone else.

Lead by example.

Are you an example or a warning?

Fear of regret is greater than fear of failure.

Take personal responsibility.

The greatest fear is the fear of living.

Live, before you die.

Your people are not using the tools you provide because no one wants to work hard. Every company struggles with this. Programs do not address root issues – motivation, barriers, fear.

The reason no one wants to work hard is because they are not motivated enough. They are looking in the wrong places for motivation.

They should not look in the mirror. They should look in their heart, which a mirror does not recognize.

These are the “sound bite” summary ideas around a reader’s question. Thought it would benefit everyone.

But it probably will only benefit a few, the ones who know that the mirror is the enemy.