Ep 194 The Health and Fitness Motivation Online Workshop Part 2

Bernie Borges [00:00:00]:
Alan, welcome to part 2 of our health and fitness motivation online workshop on the Midlife Fulfill podcast.

Allan Misner [00:00:09]:
Yeah. This is this has been really exciting. I’m having a lot of fun, and I I hope you’re, getting some value out of this as well.

Bernie Borges [00:00:16]:
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I have been a, as you know, health and fitness practitioner for many decades. But this program that we’re reviewing just provides so much practical, application. So much, it just gives people such great motivation to really do it and get results and results that last. So let’s begin. Before we get into part 2, let’s begin with just a quick recap of part 1. And, again, I wanna remind the the listener, you heard this in the introduction, if you have an opportunity to watch this on video, we are scrolling through the workbook on video.

Bernie Borges [00:00:57]:
So, Alan, I am ready when you are. Excellent.

Allan Misner [00:01:00]:
So, yeah, we did set this up as a workbook where you’re gonna go from front to back and slowly build out this. So if you didn’t do the first part, it’s worth going and doing that first. But if you wanna go on, you’ll be able to go through the motivation just based on what we’re gonna talk about this short recap. So go ahead and scroll down, Bernie, as we go through this book. Basically, our first part of the book, we’re talking about commitment. And commitment is built out of 2 things. It’s your why, and it’s your vision. So what we did in part 1 was we went through the why.

Allan Misner [00:01:33]:
And we went through and said, okay. What what are the things that are happening in our life that we don’t like? That are not good for us with regards to our health or fitness? And we then we broke it down. So what what about energy? What’s our energy level like? What’s our do we have illnesses? Do we have pain? Do we are we lacking confidence and self respect? Those types of things. And so we kind of jotted those those ideas down. What are some things that are really bothering us right now with regards to our health and fitness? We’re not we’re not just talking about, oh, well, there’s £25 here or there’s this or there’s that. This is trying to get down to the emotion of the matter. So this is like, what’s what’s affecting your life? You know, not just, okay, I’m a little overweight, a little pudgy. You know, I don’t like this curve.

Allan Misner [00:02:17]:
I don’t like that curve. This is more getting into the things that are deeper. Relationships, pain, self respect, confidence, those types of things. Okay. Go ahead and scroll down a little bit more, Bernie. And then as we got into it, what we wanted to do was kind of future pace that and say, okay, if I do nothing, what’s going to happen? And so many times, you can kind of look at relatives and some of the lifestyles that they led and where that led them. So maybe an uncle had diabetes, and you’ve just been diagnosed with prediabetes. Well, some of the health issues that happened for your uncle might be down the line for you.

Allan Misner [00:02:54]:
Example for me, my mother my mother has COPD. Now, she has COPD because she smoked most of her life. I don’t smoke. So I know that’s not something I need to future pace, but it’s kind of that idea of looking at what’s going on with your predecessors and saying, if I follow the same aging curve, is that the life? Is that what I want? And then again, as you take these through those things, like pain, and illness, and relationships, and everything else, this is an opportunity for you to get that kinda narrowed down a little bit more and deeper and into the future. So now, we’re gonna sit down, and we wanna really dig. And I I brought up this, root cause process called the 5 whys. We use it in corporate all the time. Because we’ll sit there and look at a problem.

Allan Misner [00:03:39]:
And and to solve a real problem, you gotta know the real cause. So you you don’t wanna just address symptoms. You wanna address the cause in a business. So we drill down by asking why. And so the example I gave was I wanted to do the Tough Mudder with my daughter. Okay? That would be the why I was training, but why? I was like, well, I wanted to do this with her. I I was tired of being a spectator. I wanted to be a participant.

Allan Misner [00:04:01]:
Well, why? Because it was important to me to build a better relationship with my daughter. Why? And it comes down to self respect and her respect. That was really important to me, and it still is. So my why is about my self respect, my daughter’s respect. And now that my family’s kinda a lot larger since then, my wife’s respect, my other children’s respect, I wanna be there for them. And so as you dig deeper, this will get much more emotional, much more personal. This is your document. So please be open and honest with yourself as you dig deeper, because this is your opportunity to really understand why this is important to you.

Bernie Borges [00:04:43]:
And, Alan, I I wanna add that there might be some people that struggle with being open and honest with themselves, that they may not be able to do this digging on their own. And in that case, I would encourage, in that scenario, I would encourage you to do this with a buddy, whoever that may be.

Allan Misner [00:04:59]:
Yeah.

Bernie Borges [00:05:00]:
A partner, a close friend, whoever it may be, who can actually keep asking the why and help you dig deep to find it because maybe some people might struggle with that Yeah. Self honesty.

Allan Misner [00:05:12]:
If you can’t be your own 8 year old, then, yeah. Alright. So let’s keep going. So after you get your why sorted out, now we’re gonna go ahead and we’re gonna go into the core why. So you go ahead and draft it out. And this is this is really where you’re gonna put the the beat of this together. You’re gonna have it all written out. And as Bernie brought up last last time, it’s really, really important to write these things out because we can go back to them.

Allan Misner [00:05:39]:
They’re a tool for us in the future. And in many cases, these will be things that you’ll wanna repeat to yourself on a regular basis. So you know, okay, this is why I’m doing this. This is why I have to, you know, not do this. And so as go ahead and draft out your why, and then we’ll move on to the next section, where we’re gonna talk about your vision. So vision is basically where you see yourself today and in the future, now and the future. And we all have these physical needs and wants. And I’m not talking about from a physiological perspective.

Allan Misner [00:06:14]:
I’m talking about things we need to be able to do. Okay? I like I need to be able to carry a 5 gallon jug from the front of the house to the back of house 10 times, because my wife ordered 10 jugs of water. I have to take a jug upstairs. I have to carry luggage upstairs. That’s a part of my normal work day. I am the porter when our staff isn’t there. So as you as you kind of look at what you need to do now, and then what you want to do. I want to be able to go anywhere on this island that I want to go without the use of an automobile.

Allan Misner [00:06:47]:
So the furthest one point to the other point is 12 miles. I can easily travel 12 miles by myself on my feet, without the use of a motor vehicle. So what do you what do you want to be able to do? Okay. And then in the future, thinking about the lifestyle that you wanna have, what do you need to be able to do? And I I made the joke, the casual joke, I need to be able to wipe my own butt when when I’m a 105. That’s a need for me. It’s not a want. But that’s where I’m going. Now what do I want? I want to be able to do the things I love for as long as I possibly can.

Allan Misner [00:07:22]:
I want to be able to roll around with my grandkids and do the things they do. We had when I was a kid, I think the the craziest thing there was was a marathon. And then by the time my daughter was, as an adult, the craziest thing was these tough mothers. I don’t know what my grandkids are gonna be doing, but I kinda wanna be the crazy grandfather that’s doing it with them. You know? Who is this 80 year old man out here? I I

Bernie Borges [00:07:48]:
I can just picture you now, Alan, seeing you on television on America’s, the the ninja competition, you know.

Allan Misner [00:07:55]:
Yeah. Well, I’ll I’ll do my damnest. I’ll do my damnest. I don’t know what it’ll be, but I’ll I’ll do what I can do. Okay? I’m not no bars. I don’t know. I’ll try. But that’s the whole point.

Allan Misner [00:08:06]:
As you look at your future, you’re entitled to joy. You’re entitled to love. You’re entitled to relationships. You’re entitled to health. And so this is where you’re giving yourself this idea of who you’re going to be, and you start drafting that out. Okay. So Bernie, you can skip forward the second page because we’re, that’s my example that you can go in there as you’re going through this if you want to have some ideas, but you keep going. So then, any this is where you’re now going to take that vision and your previous why, and you’re going to put them together to basically draft out a commitment statement.

Allan Misner [00:08:45]:
And so a commitment statement is similar like when you did vows for getting married. You made a statement of love and affection and you had feeling behind it. You had emotion behind it. That’s the why. And then you had a vision of what your life together was gonna be like. This is a very similar type of thing. You’re committing to yourself and your future. And and so as you kind of put this statement together, it should be one of the most meaningful things you’ve ever done for yourself.

Allan Misner [00:09:12]:
And when you say it out loud, it should it should actually resonate with you that this is my being. This is why I’m here, and this is what I must do. And so that’s how deep

Bernie Borges [00:09:23]:
this is now. This is what you put on your refrigerator, on your mirror, on your your your PC monitor, like, anywhere and everywhere you wanna be reminded.

Allan Misner [00:09:34]:
And you renew your vows as often as you need to. Alright. So let’s skip forward. Okay. So anything you wanna do is an idea, a future, an outcome that I want. I’ve gotta have a plan. If I don’t have a plan, it’s not it’s not necessarily gonna happen. So how do I build a plan to make this happen? Okay.

Allan Misner [00:09:55]:
So the first thing is to understand what’s what’s the most reasonable first step. Okay. What am I gonna do first? What what is the first step? So if I know, okay, most of the things I just told you about, well, I’ve got to be healthy if I’m going to live to 105, for sure. So I need to make sure I’m eating well. And if I’m going to be doing the things I’m talking about doing, I’m going to need strength. I’m going to need mobility. I’m going to need stamina. Okay.

Allan Misner [00:10:24]:
And so those are other things that may be balance. But those are things I know I’m gonna need. So the first step is a step towards either obtaining those things or retaining those things, and or building those things. So based on where you are, your first step is, Okay. I need to eat better. So if I just say I’m going to eat better, well, later I’m gonna have to define what that means. But there may be some prerequisites to doing these things. So the next step is to go through and say, okay, if I’m going to eat better, what are some prerequisites to eating better? And a few that I can just think of off off the top of my head is to truly define what that means.

Allan Misner [00:11:09]:
But another one would be clean out my pantry. If I’ve got bad food in my pantry, I could clean that out of my pantry. It could be checking out to see when the next, farmers market’s gonna be. So I can go do a shopping. It could be looking for recipes to come up with meal planning and batch cooking for Sunday. So there’s a of little prerequisites that I could do. It’s like, I need to do the research to know where the when and where the farmer’s market opens. I need to do clean out my pantry, so I have room for good food.

Allan Misner [00:11:40]:
All those different things could be prerequisites. So figuring out what your prerequisite is. One prerequisite that you should not skip is anytime you’re going to get into an exercise program or make significant changes to the way you eat, you should consult your physician. So that’s one that you definitely should be writing in this box. You need to talk to your physician so they know what you’re doing. And if you’re on medications or things like that, they can be ready to adjust those, and they can let you know, yes, you’re clear to do strength training or what are the things you might wanna change. So, yes, that’s a prerequisite. Okay.

Bernie Borges [00:12:15]:
Yeah. Great point.

Allan Misner [00:12:16]:
Okay. Now we’re gonna take that first step, and we’re gonna ask a question. Can this first step be broken into micro steps? So I said, I’m gonna eat healthy. Well, am I gonna go from today eating crap to tomorrow eating healthy? And for most people, the answer to that is no. I I need to take some steps towards making that happen. And so if there’s some steps I need to break into micro steps, then I need to think about it here. So an example for nutrition, I say eat healthy. Well, okay, that might mean more servings of vegetables than I’m currently eating.

Allan Misner [00:12:56]:
And if ketchup’s the only vegetable you eat right now, one more vegetable might just be enough. Okay. Micro steps. Okay. But thinking in terms of I need to break this down to a point where it’s it’s easy. It’s it’s it’s visible. It’s simple. And so I say, I’m going to eat 4 servings of vegetables per day.

Allan Misner [00:13:16]:
Now if I’m not eating any, that might be too many. But again, you’re going to break this into micro steps. Okay? I’m going to eliminate processed foods by essentially saying, I’m going to cut it to 20%, 80%. So up 20% of my diet has to come from vegetables and meat. And then I’ll step it into 30%, 40%. So eventually, I get to a point where processed foods make up such a small percentage of what I eat, they’re almost not something to count. So those maybe some things And

Bernie Borges [00:13:49]:
what I’ll well, add, Alan, that I said on on part 1 is that micro steps can really add up over time. And so you’ll feel really good when you look backward at how those micro steps have really begun to show improvement on your plan. So you can be excited about this, breaking it down into micro steps.

Allan Misner [00:14:08]:
Yes. And so now you’ve kinda got some information so you can make the next big step. And this is goal setting. And what I’ve done here with this goal setting is I’ve taken the the phraseology or the acronym SMART, which we tend to use in business, it’s called SMART goal, specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time bound. You probably have some practice doing those things. But even if you don’t, they’re not that hard. But I added an A to the front of it because I think most of us write goals based on an outcome. I want to wear my 34 inch jeans again.

Allan Misner [00:14:47]:
That’s an outcome. You can’t make your waist just get smaller. You’ve got to do things that will make that happen. So the actions that you can do, the 4 servings of vegetables. I believe if I eat 4 servings of vegetables a day, I’ll begin to lose weight. If I begin to lose weight, then I may be able to fit in my 34 inch chains. So it’s an action. So the action is eat more vegetables, eat 4 servings per day.

Allan Misner [00:15:17]:
Specific. I was specific about it being 4 servings, not more. It’s specific. Four servings per day. It’s measurable. End of day. 4 or not? And, you know, it’s achievable. I mean, if I know, okay, it’s pretty simple.

Allan Misner [00:15:34]:
If I have a if I have at least one serving of vegetables with all of my meals, I have 3 meals, I’m almost there. So maybe I add an extra serving at dinner. So I have vegetables with breakfast, vegetables with lunch. And then I have 2 servings of vegetables as a part of my dinner. Or maybe one of my snacks is vegetables. Okay. Then is it relevant? Well, okay. I wanna be healthy for a longer period of time.

Allan Misner [00:15:59]:
I believe losing weight is a great way for me to start that process. Also, eating healthier is a great way to start that process. So yes, eating more vegetables is going to help me be healthier for the long term. And then the last one is time bound. So what you don’t want to say is, I’m going to eat 45 £1,000 of, carrots this year, and I’m gonna eat, you know. So when you start talking about a year away, there’s a lot of things that are happening there. So with the fact that we broke these down into micro steps, your time bound is gonna be relatively short. It could be a day.

Allan Misner [00:16:35]:
It could be a week. It could be a month. I really wouldn’t go much longer than a month, but you can break these down, particularly if you’ve broken the goals down far enough to make them attainable in a short period of time. So if I say 4 servings per day, my time bound is a day. I was successful today or I was not. Period. And so a time bound is going to also help keep you honest. So if you sit there and said, I’m going to walk, I’m going to walk 5,000 steps per day.

Allan Misner [00:17:06]:
But then you realize, okay, wait. Wednesday, I’ve got that really hard day. And Thursday, I’m gonna be traveling. Those are gonna be hard days for me to get the 5,000 in. So maybe I say, I’m going to get oh, wait. 35 I’m gonna get 35,000 steps in this week. That might actually be an easier goal for you because it’s the 7 days. It can be spread a little bit.

Allan Misner [00:17:32]:
So the days you’re working more and you’re not available to walk as much, it’s okay. Get what you can. And the other days, you can make up the difference. But what you don’t wanna do is you go Monday and not really do much. Tuesday or just average, average, average, then down, down. Now you’re killing yourself over the weekend to try to make this happen. So when you set a time bound, it does set a deadline on you. And so you’re gonna definitely if you know your Wednesday Thursday are gonna be really low days, you’re going to wanna step up Monday.

Allan Misner [00:18:01]:
You wanna step up a little Tuesday, a little bit Wednesday. You should feel confident when you get to when Thursday Wednesday Thursday that you’re still on track. So that through the weekend, you can make your miles. Okay. If that’s what you go set as a goal. So the next stage of this is now for us to gauge our confidence in in what we’ve done. And so from a scale of 1 to 7, how confident are you, you can complete this task this week or this day? If it’s not a 7, I’d strongly encourage you to take a step back and try to make this a little bit easier. Either scale it down a bit or break it down a little bit.

Allan Misner [00:18:38]:
So that is something where you just say, okay, initially on, this is easy. So early on in this process, make it super silly easy. Make it sevens. Make it sevens. Take those wins. Take those wins. Because those wins will lead you to a better outcome. And then later on, when you get really into this, and you’ve built some habits, then that’s when you wanna start doing the stretch goals.

Allan Misner [00:19:03]:
And then that’s when, yes, if your confidence level is a 5, you’re outside your comfort zone and you’re making real change. So at the beginning, you want your confidence level to be 7. 6 maybe, but 7. And then later on, you can work on stretch

Bernie Borges [00:19:21]:
goals. Yeah. Achieving goals is very, very motivating to keep going and adding more goals and to your point, adding stretch goals. So love that.

Allan Misner [00:19:32]:
Alright. So now we’re in part 2. Alright. Okay. So right now, we’re gonna talk about motivation. And motivation is one of my favorite topics because most people get motivation 100% wrong. So what they do is they say, okay, I’m gonna start on Monday. Now, Bernie and I are recording this on Friday, so that would make tons of sense.

Allan Misner [00:19:59]:
It’s like, hey, Bernie, let’s get started on Monday. Okay? Maybe like, all right. I’m with you. And then we would just blow the whole weekend away without a care. And then we get started on Monday. Okay. But when people say that, You know, people say I’ll start on Monday. Okay.

Allan Misner [00:20:15]:
And we hope and pray that our motivation will show up on Monday on command. And a lot of times it doesn’t. Sometimes it does. But even when it does, something happens. We get 2, 3 weeks into this thing and then it it goes away. Like I was doing so good. And then I had a bad Friday. And my bad Friday became a bad Saturday, which then became a whole bad weekend, which then became a whole bad I didn’t start back on Monday, so a whole bad week.

Allan Misner [00:20:50]:
Maybe a whole month. And so motivation is not this magic power that just shows up. It’s not the fairy godmother that we’re all looking for out there. Motivation comes from doing. Okay. And I know it sounds odd because you’re like, well, if I’m not motivated to do, then how do I do? Well, that’s what that other stuff was we worked on last time was we’re working on why you’re doing this and and what it looks like and those types of things fit for task. All those concepts now I want you to bring to bear. You got to do a little something.

Allan Misner [00:21:28]:
Okay? Now when we look at motivation, I want you to think in terms of there’s 2 types of basic motivation, Okay? There’s extrinsic, which is outside of you, and there’s intrinsic, which is inside of you. Extrinsic tends to be identified as accountability. So you just think of, Okay, outside of me, I’m looking for accountability. And then inside, we’re working on self efficacy. Okay? Accountability is actually kind of easy, but it only works while we’re looking outside for people to do this. Self efficacy is harder, but it’s better and it’s more permanent. Okay? So we’re going to start working through these one at a time, and I’ll talk you through them. So there’s 2 layers within each of these, within accountability and self efficacy.

Allan Misner [00:22:21]:
One of these layers is what I call the leader layer. Okay. So the leader layer is is the head. So it’s the boss, sort of. And so if you’re looking for accountability for what you’re gonna do for your health and fitness, you can hire a coach. So you hire a coach or personal trainer, or nutritionist or somebody like that that’s gonna guide and and hold you accountable. They’re gonna they’re gonna say, okay, use you tell them you’re gonna do this exercise, or you show up at the gym, and they’re like, here’s your workout. And they’re watching you do it and are counting your reps.

Allan Misner [00:22:55]:
They’re holding you accountable to do the work. It’s a nutritionist that say, here’s your meal plan. Here’s your recordings. You know, write all your stuff down in your little journal here, And we’ll review it on your next call. Okay. So that’s a coach. It’s a leader. And they’re holding you accountable.

Allan Misner [00:23:13]:
Actually very, very easy to do. You can pick up the phone right now and call a coach. And hire the coach, and let them know that you want them to be hold you accountable. And boom. You have you have accountability built in right there. Okay? We’re gonna talk about how to do that right in a couple minutes. Okay. On the social level, this is where we go out and we find groups and peers.

Allan Misner [00:23:37]:
Now a lot of people think peer pressure is a bad thing. Well, it’s only a bad thing if you’ve picked bad peers. So we go out and we pick good peers. People who want what we want, or people who will hold us accountable. Your wife, your friend. Remember Bernie was saying, find a friend and talk through your why. Okay. Work through this workbook together.

Allan Misner [00:24:00]:
You know, you should be doing your own, but, you know, someone there is like, okay, this today, we’re going to sit down and work this section again. And and then we’re going to share our results. And then they’re going to hold you accountable. So very easy. You join the group. And this could be this could be a Facebook group. I have a Facebook group. You could go to 40plusfitnesspodcast.com/group.

Allan Misner [00:24:23]:
And that’ll take you to my Facebook group. And so there’s people there you can communicate with, and they’ll they’ll help hold you accountable. I’m there. Bernie has his LinkedIn. So it’s basically Midlife Fulfilled Podcast. You just search that on LinkedIn. And there are people there conversing with him. And you could be out there saying, I need accountability.

Allan Misner [00:24:43]:
And someone will step up and probably be there to help you. But there’s also things like, it could be a running group, a hiking group. It could be a spin class, and water aerobics class. Okay. A tennis club. All these different people are out there doing these activities that you might enjoy that would give you the opportunity to do it. And then you know, Okay, Tuesday night is run club night. So I’m going to show up on Tuesday for run club.

Allan Misner [00:25:11]:
And it gets exciting and fun. You know they’re there. And if you’re not there, you’re going to get texts, hey, are you okay? Where are you? Okay. That’s accountability. You don’t want to let them down so you show up. So accountability is relatively easy. You hire the coach to have the leader version. To have the social version, you join the group.

Allan Misner [00:25:31]:
Or you find some peers that are there to help you out. A walking buddy, a workout buddy, anything like that. Okay. Now intrinsic self efficacy is harder, but as I said, it’s much more valuable. It’s much more resilient. And it’s gonna last you a lot longer. So at the at the leader level, we call that self management. Okay.

Allan Misner [00:25:54]:
So self management is where, like the CEO of a company, you’re the CEO of your body. And that’s where you sit there and make some rules, and you set policies and procedures that are going to make things work better. So an example would be this. Okay? So I I wanted to work out at lunch, my lunch hour. I realized, Okay, the gym near my office from 2 to 3, there was no one in there. Few students and some older retired people. But I could get to everything I needed really quickly, get a very efficient and good workout done in a short amount of time, within an hour done and showered, if no one was in there. So 2 to 3 was the most appropriate time for me to do the work.

Allan Misner [00:26:39]:
Now I lived an hour away from the office. So I had to make sure I had my stuff packed up before I left in the morning for the office. I don’t know what it was, mental block. I can’t define it. But for one reason or another, I would arrive. And one day I would open up my gym bag, getting ready to I’m in the bathroom, getting to get dressed, and I’d be missing a t shirt or my shorts. And then one day, I was missing one shoe. I don’t even know how that happened, but I realized at that point, I was self sabotaging at some level that I did not understand, that I could not just stop without putting some process in place to guarantee that didn’t happen.

Allan Misner [00:27:24]:
So what I did was I printed a list of everything that needed to be in my bag. I laminated it. And I put it in the bag. And that the mission from management was at when you’re brushing your teeth, getting ready for bed, you sit down and pull that list out, and you pack each and every one of those items in order in the bag. Put the laminated thing in the bag. Zip it up. Take it to the door and leave it by the door so you would have to trip over it to get out of this place in the morning when you go to get in your truck. Mhmm.

Allan Misner [00:27:55]:
Okay. Guess what I never did again? Mhmm. I never got to work without my bag fully packed ready to go. I had eliminated all the excuses, and I started being much more consistent at getting my workouts done. So that’s self management. So things like setting your alarm a little earlier. Things like, going to bed a little earlier. You know, things that you do like to trick yourself to have more hydration.

Allan Misner [00:28:22]:
So I have the, you’ve heard the jug, like write down 9 o’clock, 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock. What how much water you wanna have drunk that day. Or just even having the cup of water filled up in the morning and on your desk. So all day while you’re sitting there, you’re sipping on this water. There’s all these little, I’m not gonna call them tricks, but they’re tactics and strategies that can help you be more effective. And so a good self manager will implement the right ones of these that help you be more successful, more consistent, and get better results. It doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s a function of, if I fail, then I do this. And so we’re gonna talk a little bit later about the details of some things you can consider how you do that, and how that all works as a process.

Allan Misner [00:29:12]:
Okay? I call it slip to success. Okay now the final quadrant of this, the bottom, the social aspect of internal intrinsic or social self efficacy, this is where the magic happens. Because this is where your values and your habits align with your vision. And so at this point, you’re doing these things because that’s who you are. You identify as that person. Okay. Bernie, very much, you could just feel it when you’re talking to him. He very much defines himself as a healthy and fit man.

Allan Misner [00:29:52]:
And I don’t have to say his age, but I would say he he did that his age doesn’t matter. He is going to be healthy and fit for the rest of his life. He made that decision when he was 24, and he’s gonna live with it because that’s who he is for the rest of his life. No one has to tell Bernie to go work out. Bernie just does it. Okay? That’s identity. So a way you can think about this is, maybe you’re maybe you haven’t done anything. You’re not really out and about.

Allan Misner [00:30:21]:
So you decide, I’m gonna do a walking program. So you get out and say, I’ll walk for 15 minutes. And then you add a little bit, add a little bit. You find yourself, okay, now I’m walking for 30 minutes a day, and I feel pretty good. So you’re like, okay. I’m gonna add a little jog. See that stop sign? I’m gonna jog to that stop sign. You jog to the stop sign, and then, you know, you do a little walking, maybe doing a jog.

Allan Misner [00:30:40]:
And so over time, now you’re doing the jogs. You’re doing the walks. Maybe adding a little bit more jogs than walks. And at this point, you decide, hey, it might be cool if I signed up for 5 k. I think I could do a 5 k. You sign up for the 5 ks. You do it maybe with a friend or something else, but you do it and you love it. You’re like, this was so much fun.

Allan Misner [00:31:00]:
All the people, excitement, the ending, and, you know, all of it. I just loved every bit of it. And then you decide you’re gonna go start buy the stuff, you know. I’m gonna get the water bottle, and I’m gonna do this. And now, you’re a runner. You don’t even think about it. I’m a runner. You identify as a runner.

Allan Misner [00:31:15]:
And what do runners do? They run. And so when you get up in the morning and your alarm goes off and it’s time, you lace up your shoes and you run. And you don’t even think about not doing it. In fact, if you if you talk to someone who is who really considers yourself a runner, has been doing it for a while, and they truly identify as a runner, if they injure themselves and cannot run, it really messes with them.

Bernie Borges [00:31:41]:
Oh, I I can relate to that. I’m not a runner, but in terms of my routine, my fitness routine, absolutely. I don’t think about it. Yeah. 5 AM, the alarm goes off, and I just go work out.

Allan Misner [00:31:53]:
Yeah. I

Bernie Borges [00:31:53]:
don’t think about it. It just happens. And to your point, if for some reason I can’t, it kills me. Yes. It kills me.

Allan Misner [00:32:00]:
Right. And so that’s that’s what we’re talking about here. This is a point where now we’re not cause I mean, it’s motivation. It is true, true deep motivation, but it doesn’t even feel like you have to, like, you have to have something. It’s like you already have it. It’s you. Now the truth of this is, and I’ll talk about this in a little bit more detail too, later is it’s really good to have feet in all of these squares. You know, times when it’s important to have a coach.

Allan Misner [00:32:29]:
It’s time you should have peers and and groups that you’re a part of that relate to health and fitness to keep you there. You should constantly be looking at self management and how you can make this better and how you can do the things you need to do. For example, you’re taking a trip. You’re like, okay. What do I need to do going on a trip? Self manager says, research. Where’s the closest gym? Does the hotel have a gym? Where’s the closest gym that I can get the same workout done? What is my schedule like? When would I put these workouts on my schedule? As far as nutrition, What restaurants are in the area and what’s on their menu so that I can eat the way I’m used to eating without stress? You know. So you’re not finding yourself. I get there.

Allan Misner [00:33:10]:
I’m hungry. I’m in the hotel bar with with nothing good, no good choices. Okay. You don’t want that. So self manager will tell you, plan ahead. Find yourself a good hotel with a good gym. Find yourself a hotel around with restaurants that have food that will fit what you wanna eat. That self management, that pre planning, is something you should probably always have.

Allan Misner [00:33:33]:
And then, of course, once you identify as someone who does this, it just gets done.

Bernie Borges [00:33:38]:
So, Alan, I wanna comment on something because I learned a long time ago that if I have a thought about something, then it’s probably not unique to me because I don’t think I’m all that unique. That is, you said that extrinsic is relatively easy, easier than intrinsic.

Allan Misner [00:33:56]:
Yeah.

Bernie Borges [00:33:56]:
And I understand your point behind that, but there might be some people I’m just thinking, maybe somebody listening or watching who might think, you know, taking that step to get a coach or taking that step to find and join some kind of a peer group, maybe that’s not so easy for them. Maybe they lack the motivation or the confidence or they have fear of what the experience might be like. Have you have you encountered that?

Allan Misner [00:34:28]:
Yeah. Yeah. Here’s here’s the the magic, okay. Not magic or the pain or whatever you want to think of is change is hard. If change was easy, we’d all do it. We’d all do it whenever we want to. Okay. Now, the the other aspect of this is, and if you really break this down, you think about this when I say this, I really want you to think deep.

Allan Misner [00:34:49]:
Nothing beautiful has ever happened in your comfort zone. Right. Okay. You’ve never done anything great in your comfort zone. And so if you’re afraid, good. That’s a good sign. Okay. You’re doing something better.

Allan Misner [00:35:08]:
You’re doing something that scares you. That’s perfect. That’s exactly what you know that’s not going to kill you. You know hiring coach is not going to kill you. So I’m not saying, you know, it’s always fear is always where you want to go. But in this case, you know this is not going to kill you. It’s uncomfortable. It’s scary.

Allan Misner [00:35:26]:
But it’s doable. And we’re gonna talk in a few minutes. I wanna talk you through a process of knowing you’re doing it right. So if we’re uncomfortable, that’s cool. We can do things to make sure that we’re more comfortable. So we’re just out of our comfort zone, and and not this crazy, I’m walking into this gym with all these meat heads throwing weights around, and I don’t know what to do. Now I understand. That’s intimidating.

Allan Misner [00:35:50]:
That’s scary. We can do some things to make this a little bit easier to do. So if you wanna move forward, I’m gonna I’m gonna walk you through each of these each of these quadrants and ways to make them better. Okay. So we start with extrinsic accountability. And now we’re looking at a leader coach. Now a leader coach is an important person because they’re gonna be intimately involved in your life. Now you can hire a personal trainer.

Allan Misner [00:36:16]:
It’s just gonna count reps and load plates, and you gotta work out, and they’re gonna help you get stronger. That’s totally cool. If that’s what you want. If you just want, okay, I wanna just go. I want him to tell me what to do. I’m gonna do it. Let him count the reps. Help me a little, and we’re we’re out.

Allan Misner [00:36:29]:
Okay. That’s totally cool. And they will hold you accountable. You’ll show up at that time, and you’ll get that thing done. But if you’re really looking for a coach that’s going to change your life, then you want to look for someone you trust. So who is this person? What have they done? Who do they work with? What do they know? Are they going to be there? So find someone you can trust. And if you find someone, if you like the person, you trust them, then you can check that one off. Okay.

Allan Misner [00:36:55]:
The next one is, will this coach’s approach work for you? Okay. There are some coaches out there that function very much like a drill sergeant. You know, they want a yes, sir. No, sir. They want you chop, chop, chop. If you’re not someone who responds well to that kind of, you know, hard authority, then their approach might actually turn you off and you might rebel. So is this a coach that’s gonna get you there because they understand you and get you? And I’ll tell you, I’m actually, I work very well with drill sergeant style coaches. My coaches.

Allan Misner [00:37:31]:
I would be fine with that if I’m trying to accomplish something and they’re driving me a little harder than I might drive myself. I would probably be okay with that. But you may not. So will this coach’s approach fit how you want to work? Okay. The next one is understanding, like I said earlier, is this someone who’s going to be comprehensive in your in your health? Or are they a piece of what you need? So, when I was trying to do a Spartan, this was about 4 years after I did the first Tough Mudder, and this one I knew was going to be a little harder. I hired a strength coach so I could be even stronger than I was for the Tough Mudder for this particular race, given what was required of it. And I knew I was doing it by myself. So I knew that I had to it was gonna be harder.

Allan Misner [00:38:22]:
I just knew it was gonna be a lot harder. So I I hired a strength coach. All he did was help me get stronger. That was his sole focus, and that was what he was doing. So if you need a sole particular focus, which later on, you know, when we’re talking about you’re already there at self efficacy, but I wanted to build more strength. I knew having accountability and a coach would push me a little harder. So what do you need? Do you need a comprehensive coach? Do you need to focus? Because you could build a whole team. You could hire a nutritionist.

Allan Misner [00:38:51]:
You can hire a coach to help you with your strength. You can hire another coach to help you with your running and endurance. And you can put a team together, if that’s how you want to do this. But you need to understand what you’re what you remember what your goals were, what your vision was. You need a coach that’s going to help push you in that direction. And then is this coach an educator? So a lot of coaches are by the hour, you show up, you lift, and you leave. Did you learn anything? Okay. I’m a big proponent of education, not for the sake of education, but you should know why you’re doing what you’re doing so you can incorporate it in your life permanently versus just saying, okay.

Allan Misner [00:39:29]:
This is a temporary workout. I do it, and then I’m done. And so are they an educator? Are they someone who’s gonna help you understand why you’re doing things the way you’re doing them? So that later on, you do have the self efficacy and capacity to self manage and do these things. You can write. You can understand your workouts. You can write your own workout. You know what you need to do. A good educator coach will get you there and effectively will coach you, coach themselves out of a job in many cases, because now you know what to do.

Allan Misner [00:39:57]:
You’ve built the self management and self efficacy. You don’t need the coach anymore. Okay. Will you be okay. Will you like working with this coach? Okay. So when we’re sitting around in the gym in between sets, I don’t know I don’t know anybody, I could do it, but I don’t know many people that could just sit there in silence for 1 or 2 minutes. When they’re sitting there with someone else. There’s gonna be this propensity to want to talk.

Allan Misner [00:40:25]:
To fill that void. Okay. Most people are not comfortable in silence. So you’re going to be having conversations with this person. Is this a person whose strong opinions of certain things are really gonna bother you every time you go to the gym? And you’re not even gonna want to go there because it’s like, look, I’m not voting for the guy you’re voting for. It’s such a trap.

Bernie Borges [00:40:47]:
Well, really, more importantly, Alan, if the the person is talking about themselves, you know, and you’re there to focus on improving yourself, and he or she is telling you stories about themselves and they kinda make it all about themselves, then then that’s not gonna be a likable coach scenario. Yeah.

Allan Misner [00:41:04]:
And so you wanna find someone again. You’re gonna spend a lot of time with them if you’re gonna be coaching for a period of time, you know, a month or months or maybe even years. A lot of conversations, it kind of needs to be somebody that you enjoy. But when I told you about my strength coach, okay, well, he knew I was a personal trainer. I had actually at one time accidentally coached him. He was doing squats and he was struggling. He had a trainer standing right behind her spotting him but didn’t call him out on this. And he’s struggling and he said something to her and she didn’t she’s just puzzled.

Allan Misner [00:41:37]:
I said, pull your hands closer together on the bar. It’ll tighten your back, and it’ll connect your frame, and you’ll be much firm, and you’ll feel stronger, and you’ll be able to do it. He did what I said, and he did it. So when he, when I hired him as my strength coach, he’s like, you already know how to do all this stuff, maybe better than I do. I’m like, Yeah, that’s not what I’m hiring you for. Hiring you to keep me accountable and keep me pushing. And then, yeah, spot me and do other things because I know you can do it. But in between sessions, we’re we’re sitting there talking about the geeky stuff of strength training and and all this stuff, you know.

Allan Misner [00:42:15]:
And so no one else on earth at that point in my life was someone I could just on a day to day basis be having those geeky conversations with outside of my podcast. And so it was great. I enjoyed them. I, you know, we would be talking about somebody’s, what do you know any you know, like, Hey, do you know anything about this? I’m like, yeah. Yeah. This is what I read, and this is an article. And I said, and I did a podcast on it. I’ll send you a link when I get home.

Allan Misner [00:42:37]:
You know, that kind of is like geeky. And and so I had a lot of fun. I like the guy. And we we had, I mean, I enjoyed the time with him. So that was that was that made it better. Okay. And then the other one you want to look at is, will this coach actually hold you accountable? So a lot of times you share your goals. And be careful of this.

Allan Misner [00:42:54]:
So you go in there. You know what you want. You’ve said, okay. I want to get stronger. I want to do this. And you go in and you start talking to a potential coach, and they’re not even listening to you. They’re not asking you any questions. They’re saying, okay, so you want to sign up for how many sessions? And you’re like, well, I don’t know.

Allan Misner [00:43:13]:
It’s like, well, okay. We’re going to go ahead and sign you up for 10 sessions. And then we’ll get you started on a program. And they turn to the file cabinet, and they pull a program out of the filing cabinet. And they haven’t asked you a question about what you want. Walk. Okay. Just walk.

Allan Misner [00:43:30]:
Because that individual is not there to serve you. They want their hours. And they’re buying, they’re selling you hours. If you do, you buy the 10 hours. What you want is someone who understands. Okay. I do want to get stronger, but I also want to lose weight. Okay.

Allan Misner [00:43:47]:
And if they truly understand, they’re truly listening to you, then they’ll want to help you. And then you can say, here’s my written goals. So give them these written goals. Remember we gave you SMART goals sheet last time? Give them those sheets. Make copies and send it. Say these are these are my goals, my fitness goals I want to accomplish working here with you. And then tell them, I want you to hold me accountable to this. Okay.

Allan Misner [00:44:12]:
That’s that’s the value of a written goal that someone’s watching and monitoring. You’re gonna be much more successful at those goals. So a good leader coach, the accountability is all there. So if you answered yes to all of the questions here and you know you can give them the goals and they’re going to hold you accountable, then this is probably a good coach for you. Okay. So now we’re going to move into Groups and peers. Okay. Now there are friends and family that you already have that could help hold you accountable.

Allan Misner [00:44:42]:
So when I decide I want to do something for my health and fitness, I always tell my wife, Okay. I’m going to be doing this. Okay. And she’s gotten used to it. You know because over the years when we first met, things that she didn’t know any of this stuff. And I’m like okay I’m going to be doing this for at least the next 6 weeks with my nutrition. So I just so you know. And now she’s gotten used to it.

Allan Misner [00:45:05]:
She’s like, okay. And then she starts clearing she actually helps start clearing the way for me. Okay? So she’ll plan dinners so that our dinners will fit what I’ve told her I I wanna do. Because she knows as soon as I come home and the dinner isn’t doing what I need it to do, I will immediately stop and make my own dinner. Okay? She knows that. That she is fine. She has sometimes we do make separate dinners, but she helps kinda clear the way. So we have modular meals where she’s got some things she’s gonna eat that I’m not gonna eat, and we’re both okay.

Allan Misner [00:45:41]:
Mhmm. So people that will hold you accountable. The people that will support you when you’re doing your goals. Now you also probably have people in your life, friends and family, who will not help you and may in fact sabotage you. Now some of these saboteurs are not intentional at all. Okay? You may come in and you tell your your mother, look, I’m I’m she looks at you. She says, it looks like you’ve lost some weight. It’s like, yeah.

Allan Misner [00:46:12]:
She’s like, you’re getting too skinny. It’s like, mom, I’m I’m way overweight and I only lost 5 pounds. No. You’re getting skinny. Let me go cook you something. Okay? That that’s okay. Probably if she’s Italian for sure. But if, you know, if they’re doing that, they’re doing that out of love, you know.

Allan Misner [00:46:30]:
They’re doing that because they’re afraid. And and they, you know, they want to take care of you. So it’s not a bad intention. But there are also probably some people out there that would have bad intentions. So you tell everybody around there like, I’m not going to do donuts. Do not ask me to do donuts. I’m not coming to the break room. When donuts are in the break room, I’m not in the break room.

Allan Misner [00:46:53]:
And invariably, you’re going to have one of those folks that takes the time to wrap up a doughnut and a napkin and bring it to your desk. Says, oh, I didn’t want you to miss the doughnut.

Bernie Borges [00:47:04]:
But, you know, Alan, you can reach a point in your overall health and fitness life, because I’ve been there for a long time, where I’m gonna shun that donut. I I don’t need. I’m not tempted by it. There’s no temptation. It’s like I know that does not align in any way, shape, or form with my health and fitness lifestyle. Right. Period. Full stop.

Allan Misner [00:47:26]:
Okay. But you’re in a place. You’re in a good place. We’re we’re talking from the starting. We don’t always have those skills. Okay. So I’m going to tell you a story. Okay.

Allan Misner [00:47:37]:
I was I was close, but not so close. But I lived in Arkansas, worked for a company in South Arkansas. And there was a place there that was a donut place called Spud Nuts. Okay. It was called spud nuts because the donuts were made with potato flour. Okay. Little known fact, the glycemic index, which is the amount of blood sugar raise that you get from foods, Sugar is a 100. So sugar raises your blood sugar 100%.

Allan Misner [00:48:10]:
Potatoes will raise your blood sugar a 105. So the glycemic index on potatoes is higher than sugar. And then they’ve now turned that into a flour, and made donuts. So I think that’s probably going to be the highest glycemic index food on the planet that’s ever existed. And they’re freaking delicious. Okay. Okay. So here’s what would happen.

Allan Misner [00:48:43]:
Like, I’m really working. I’m really getting into this. I’m really wanting this, Okay? And so, you know, I have to be very well self managed at this point because it’s I’m like, I’m teetering every day as I’m getting into taking care of myself right. And so I open up the elevator, and instantly you can smell it, and instantly you can see the people around the break room like sharks around chum. It’s this crazy scene of all these people just churning around, going into the and out of the break room, and then yes, someone’s going to holler, you know, hey, Alan, there’s spud nuts. I’m like, I know there’s spud nuts. I can smell them, I can see. Okay.

Allan Misner [00:49:30]:
So previously, I would have walked right into the break room, gotten some coffee, gotten one of the spud nuts, and went back to my office. I mean, I sat there and talked for a little while. So what I realized was, I need my self management, I need to do something else because they are going to sabotage me if I let them. So it was go back to my office, so immediately, get off the elevator, go straight to my office, grab a small bag of nuts that I already had pre bagged in my in my desk. Okay. I’d have several of those in my desk. Grab those, go to the break room, fix my coffee, which is black, so it’s pretty easy, and then sit there eat a few nuts, talk to a few people, fill up, refill my coffee, and go back to my office. And then the rule for the rest of the day was, thou shalt not go into that bake room.

Allan Misner [00:50:22]:
Because they never finished all of them. There’s always some in there, well until lunchtime. So I was like, thou shalt not go into that break room. So anytime and and because where the bathrooms are, I would have to walk by that break room. So I said, okay, I can’t go to that bathroom. And I won’t go to a break room to refill my coffee unless I’m on another floor. So I had to go to another floor to go to the bathroom. I had to go to another floor if I want to refill coffee.

Allan Misner [00:50:47]:
And what I found was that that added steps to my day. That, you know, but it was avoid. Yeah. So it was avoid the saboteurs. I went off course there. But it was avoid the saboteurs because they don’t necessarily intend to. But there’s things that are gonna come up. The the the the admin that has a cookie a candy jar on our desk.

Allan Misner [00:51:06]:
Okay? You know if you go there and stand there, you’re gonna you might end up grabbing a pea couple pieces of candy or more. So just realize. Just don’t. If you have something you need to talk to about it, walk up and say something, and then go about your business.

Bernie Borges [00:51:20]:
To me, the moral to the story, Alan, is know where the saboteurs are. Yeah. Discover if you don’t know them, discover them. And then once you know them, then make sure you need you do what you need to do to avoid them.

Allan Misner [00:51:34]:
Yeah. And and that’s the key here. So with with the people that you know can help you, and then there’s there’s groups you can join. We mentioned ours earlier. But you know, at the gym, spending time at the gym, you know, and people wonder, it’s like are you a gym rat? And it’s like, no. But what I did know when I was younger was that the more time I spent at the gym, the less time I spent doing something that was unhealthy. So even when I wasn’t working out and at the gym, I wasn’t doing something unhealthy. Okay? So that those were my friends.

Allan Misner [00:52:08]:
Those were the people I hung out with the most. Okay. And then yes, if you’ve got these these folks in your life that you know are holding you back, or worse, trying to really mess you up, sabotage you, try to figure out if there’s ways you can eliminate or minimize the amount of time. So obviously, if your mother’s always gonna wanna feed you because she sees that you’ve lost a little bit of weight, well, you you you can’t eliminate spending time with your mother. But you can just tell her, I’m I’m not gonna eat it. I’m sorry if it upsets you, but I’m not gonna eat it. So please don’t make it. You gotta work that relationship.

Allan Misner [00:52:47]:
You gotta set expectations and it’s hard. It’s hard. But when you do it, it works.

Bernie Borges [00:52:54]:
Yep. Yep. Alright.

Allan Misner [00:52:56]:
Okay. So now, we’re going to get into the self efficacy, the intrinsic version of this. And we’re gonna start with self management. Now self management starts from self awareness. Okay. If you don’t know who you are, you don’t know how to manage yourself. So in working with literally, at this point, thousands of people and looking back at my own particular journey, I realized that there are traits, there’s mindsets that we have. And I set types that most of us have that address how we do things, how we approach things.

Allan Misner [00:53:35]:
And then, of course, those same approaches are why we usually fail at health and fitness. Okay. So I came up with 5 of them, and I’m going to briefly go over all 5. But then I want, well, no, no. I tell you what. Let’s go take the quiz. So go take the quiz. You can go ahead and pause this right now.

Allan Misner [00:53:54]:
Go take this quiz. It’s a free quiz on my site. It’s, it’s absolutely free. It will take you 60 seconds or less. And then it’s gonna give you an answer. So you go on in there, and you fill out the quiz. You complete it. You don’t have to watch the video, because we’re about to go into each of these.

Allan Misner [00:54:11]:
So you’ll understand what they are. And you’ll understand then how to take that information of what’s blocking you and turn it around so that it’s a powerful tool for you to move forward. So go take the quiz and then you can come right back.

Bernie Borges [00:54:27]:
And I took the quiz. So go ahead and take the quiz and you’ll catch this when you come back. But I took the quiz, and like you said, it was easy. It was it was quick. And, Alan, I didn’t watch the video because I knew you were you were gonna explain it right here on on the podcast. So here we are.

Allan Misner [00:54:43]:
Alright. Great. Alright. So welcome back. You got your quiz results, and, this is some good information. I know right now it doesn’t make a lot of sense. It’s like I’m Copilot, and I don’t even know what that means. Okay.

Allan Misner [00:54:55]:
We’re gonna talk about each of these. Okay. So a Copilot is really kind of where I started out with my journey. I was I was married to my job. Okay? A lot of times it’s women, sometimes men. Women, it’s the family and everything else. There’s so many obligations. There’s so many reasons to be doing something else.

Allan Misner [00:55:15]:
We just don’t have the energy and the time to focus on ourselves. And so we’re we’re constantly busy and just exhausted. It’s like, how am I supposed to get a workout in? How am I supposed to eat right? You know? And as a copilot, you feel like that’s your obligation. And and rightfully so, we do have to take care of the people around us. So the Copilot does need to do these things. But the one thing that a Copilot often misses is that the very people they’re doing these things for are also on their team. They’re people that can help them. So if your family is the reason why you don’t have time to work out, your family is the one that you need to ask to help you.

Allan Misner [00:55:57]:
So an example would be this. So husband and wife that got the kids and the wife says, hey, honey, would you give the kids the bath, get them dressed for bed, while I go down in the gym and get my workout in? And then we’ll both come out, come back up, and we can do the bedtime story, tuck them in, and then we can have some time for ourselves. Conversely, he could tell her, hey honey, in the morning, would you get the kids up, get them ready for school, get them fed, get them ready for school, while I do my workout, and then I’ll load them in the car and take them to school. So there’s a symbiotic thing here that you have people around you. And I’ll tell you an example from a client I had. She, we, she started with me, and then I she said, okay, well, I’ve got this and I’ve got that, and we’re doing this. Okay. So you need to ask for help.

Allan Misner [00:56:53]:
Will your husband help you? Yes. I said, will your kids help you? She said, I don’t know. So okay. Ask. So she sat down with her why statement, which included each of them. And she shared her why and what she was doing and that she was working with me. And this was really important to her. And so she said, I am going to need some time to do my workouts, and I’m going to have to eat better.

Allan Misner [00:57:17]:
And her husband was like, we’re on board. I’m in. Okay. We’re gonna make healthier meals. And we’re gonna do and she said, we need to do some batch cooking on Sundays. And her daughter came up and said, you know, you remember when you used to make those breakfast bowls? And she said, yeah. She said, those are healthy, aren’t they? And she said, well, yeah. She said, how about you just make up a bunch of those like you did, put them in the freezer, and then we can cook our own breakfast in the morning.

Allan Misner [00:57:43]:
We just put it in the microwave, and it’s done. You see how beautiful that is? Your support system is actually a part of what you think is your problem. Okay. Yeah.

Bernie Borges [00:57:52]:
And I love the fact that she she shared her why with her family. And even shared the fact that she’s working with you. So she admitted that she has an accountability coach Yeah. In this who’s who’s at a minimum well well beyond accountability. Also providing a lot of insight, but accountability nonetheless. Yeah. And that was very very wise of her to do that and she got buy in. And that’s great.

Allan Misner [00:58:17]:
And and her her husband, of course, knew she was hiring a coach. But her children didn’t necessarily understand or know what was what was going on there and why this was this important to her. Okay. So I’m gonna skip over a little check sheet here if you’ve checked off where you were. So after I was a co pilot, I realized I actually became a windshield, Okay. So a windshield person is looking in the rearview mirror at who they were, Okay. So for me, I’m looking back at this tremendous athlete that I was before. What I was capable of before.

Allan Misner [00:58:50]:
But I wasn’t that person anymore. I was in my forties and I wasn’t capable of doing what I was doing back then. But I couldn’t wrap my head around that. I want I want that. Right? I want that. Well, if you’re looking in the rear view mirror, 2 things are happening. 1, you don’t know where you’re sitting. You’re not paying attention to where you are.

Allan Misner [00:59:11]:
And 2, you’re not looking where you’re you should be going. So you’re not going anywhere. So until you turn your head away from that windshield, start looking forward, you will not move forward. Now for me, it was an athlete. You might equate yourself to being oversized, heavy, big boned, or whatever when you were a kid. You know, I was a heavy kid. Okay. So you’re not always that same heavy kid.

Allan Misner [00:59:38]:
Okay. You’re sitting where you’re sitting and your future’s in the windshield. So if you can turn and look out the windshield, you can change. So all it really is is every time you start thinking about what was, brace yourself in your seat, realize where you are, grab the steering wheel, and look out the windshield. That’s where you’re going. Okay. We set the plans. We’ve got the, we’ve got the, we’ve got the plans.

Allan Misner [01:00:04]:
We’ve got the, have, I mean, the goals, we’ve got all that going, we’ve worked on the accountability, we’re moving forward. That’s the past. We can’t go back there. We can only go forward from here. And so a wind chill person needs to do that. So for me, an example was this. I thought I was this great athlete thing. And I, you know, I’m I’m in my forties.

Allan Misner [01:00:27]:
I don’t know why I can’t do this stuff. And I may have told this story before, but I bought the the Shanti Beachbody Insanity workout. And I said, okay, this will work. No equipment. I can do it in my hotel room. Perfect. I recorded all of them. I spent a whole almost a whole day like ripping CDs.

Allan Misner [01:00:47]:
I’m that old. Ripping CDs onto an iPad. So technology. I took the old stuff and I put it on a new thing. And so now I’ve got this iPad. I’m like, okay, I’m taking this with me and I can do my workouts anywhere. So then I say, Okay. Well it’s Sunday and I don’t have to leave out again until Tuesday.

Allan Misner [01:01:06]:
So I’m gonna do the benchmark workout just to get started. Okay. I’m gung ho. So I go to do the benchmark workout. Now Sean T is awesome. He’s very motivating in these videos. It’s very encouraging. And he’s like, give it all you got.

Allan Misner [01:01:21]:
Give it all you got. And I did. And the next morning, I felt like someone had spent the night beating me with a baseball bat. I literally could not get out of bed. And so I got to reach over for my phone. It hurt to reach for my phone on the nightstand to call off of work. Because I knew there was no way I could make it into the office. So my windshield mindset, where I was looking in the rearview mirror, broke me.

Allan Misner [01:01:48]:
And as a result, I didn’t do a single one of those workouts. Not a single one. Spent that money. Took the time to rip it onto my all good intentioned, all good intentioned, and then poof, just didn’t do it. And so once I figured that out from a windshield perspective, keep looking forward. Then I ran into tires. So a tires person needs traction. So much like you’re driving up an icy hill, if you’ve lived in a cold climate, you’ve driven up an icy hill, what you know is if you’ve got traction, you don’t slow down and you don’t speed up.

Allan Misner [01:02:25]:
You just keep going. Because traction is good. You just keep. As soon as you hit the brake, you’re gonna lose that traction And you’re gonna slide down the hill and maybe even into the ditch. So what I realized as I was going along was since I didn’t, I couldn’t get that traction. And so I was leaving stuff out of my bag, not being ready. And I’m like, okay, I gotta fix this. And when I did, and I started getting traction and I started doing regular workouts, I got into it.

Allan Misner [01:02:57]:
I felt better. I felt driven. So a tires person just needs to do the things that keep them moving forward. Keep that traction. You’re also you’re someone that loves streaks. You love doing the circles on your watch, would be an example. Or you love saying, okay, I’ve gone I’ve gone for a run every day this month. Or I lifted weights 3 times a week for the last quarter or last year.

Allan Misner [01:03:23]:
You love those streaks. And so a tires person can set something up like that. It doesn’t have to be technical and just be on your calendar. Just write something on your calendar each day that you do what you want to do. And seeing all those marks is going to want to keep you doing the next mark. So a tires person needs consistency. And consistency drives their behavior to be even more consistent. Okay.

Allan Misner [01:03:48]:
The other one I want to talk about is pedals. I was never really a pedals, but that’s still fairly common. And a Pedals person is someone who sees something cool and they want to try it. Okay. So you may say, well, that was the insanity workout. I’m like, no. And now what the way Pedals works is, you see something that’s cool, and you start doing it. And maybe it works the 1st week, and then you just don’t see the same results the 2nd week, and by the 3rd week, you’re like, meh, this doesn’t work.

Allan Misner [01:04:17]:
So you hit the brakes. If you’ve ever been in the car trying to drive, and you hit the gas on the brake, and gas on the brake, and gas on the brake, and gas on the brake, and gas on you’re not going anywhere, you know. And it it’s it’s upsetting your passengers because this is not fun. Okay. So when you find something that you want to do as a Peddle’s person, you need to set a forward goal. I’m gonna do this for at least 6 weeks, at least 8 weeks, at least long enough so that you know you’re getting some results. So I know if I eat a lot more vegetables, my nutrition is gonna be better. I’ll lose weight.

Allan Misner [01:04:53]:
But if I start trying to eat vegetables and I’m not losing the weight after 3 weeks, it’s easy to quit. But if you say, oh no, I’m going to eat this way for at least 6 weeks, I guarantee you’ll start seeing more results. So every time you feel the tendency to hit the break, stop yourself. It hasn’t been 6 weeks. It hasn’t been 6 weeks. Okay? And then you get to the end of 6 weeks, you’re seeing those results, You might not wanna stop, but you still need to kind of say, okay, I’m gonna do this for another 6 weeks. And then not hit the brakes. Okay.

Allan Misner [01:05:24]:
And that’ll get you going. Now an atlas is the paper atlas, not the God carrying the planet. But the paper atlas we used to have when we were younger. They they still actually sell them. You can get one on Amazon if you want. They don’t sell them in, stores. I mean, in gas stations and convenience stores anymore. I found that out one time when I stopped to try to buy one, and everybody looked at me like I was an alien from another planet.

Allan Misner [01:05:50]:
Okay. The paper atlases, though, when I when I my parents would take a trip, and I’ve I’ve talked to people. A lot of people start nodding when when I say this is they would take, you take the paper atlas, and you lay it out. And you’re going to take the family trip. And you take the wet red felt marker, and you draw the path of the trip. And so now you know every turn you need to take. And you know where you’re going. So they’ve got a path.

Allan Misner [01:06:12]:
They’ve got a destination. And I know one of the reasons my parents did it is so that they could put the thing in the back and just say, you guys have it. And the reality was we could look on the map and realize we are nowhere near there. So there’s no sense saying, are we there yet? Okay. But that said, for an Atlas person, to have a destination is a strong driver for performance. So you’ll remember me saying, I signed up for a Tough Mudder. Why on earth would I do that at that point in my life? And that’s because I had toppled these other mindset problems. I was no longer a co pilot in the way that I was.

Allan Misner [01:06:58]:
I was much more independent, not codependent. I was I dealt with my windshield problems. I was doing what I could with what I had and I was getting results. I was no longer a tires person because I’d gotten consistent and I built consistency. It felt good. And now I realize that without a solid, heavy, scary goal, I wasn’t going to push myself as hard as I needed to to change. So I signed up for the Tough Mudder to have this goal in for me, this destination that I was charging toward at that time in my life, so that I would do it. So an Atlas will flounder if they don’t have those goals.

Allan Misner [01:07:40]:
They’ll go into the gym and they’ll they’ll lift at it. They’ll do the same runs they usually do and not push themselves. And then they’re gonna feel like it’s all kind of meaningless. Mhmm. Okay. So an Atlas is someone who can sit there and say, I just need a need another goal in front of me. I like having something that I’m charging toward. And so that’s an Atlas is some of the so I’m currently an Atlas.

Allan Misner [01:08:06]:
That’s what I classify as. So I’ll ask you, Bernie. What are you?

Bernie Borges [01:08:09]:
So yeah. When I took when I took the quiz, I’m also an atlas. And it really resonated with me because I feel like I have stagnated in my my workout routine. So and I’m willing to admit that, you know, here on the podcast for the world to to hear. And, you know, what I wanna really comment on as it relates to these 5, attributes or, you you call them mindset types, is the concept of self awareness. You said earlier, you you really can’t do self efficacy if you don’t have self awareness. And these 5 mindset types are are really a gift, Alan. It really helps us understand and have that self awareness of where we are now and where we can potentially go.

Bernie Borges [01:08:54]:
So thank you for the gift.

Allan Misner [01:08:55]:
No no problem. And again, I’ve explained to you, I I changed over a series of months and I toppled 1 and I found another. And so if you top 1, don’t think it’s over. You might want to take the quiz again and find there’s another one and maybe another one. You know, I think some of these some of these resonate with with you. All of them may all of them at some point might have resonated with you. Like, yeah. Yeah.

Allan Misner [01:09:22]:
Okay. But you find your primary one, topple that one first. And then the rest of these you can catch and you’ll figure out as you progress. Okay. So based on what we just talked about though, in this square, I want you to start writing down some things that you know you need to do. Some strategies or tactics, because again, this is self management, that will make you more effective. So if you’re a tires person, the question would then be, what do you need to measure consistency? To see results. To know you’re moving forward.

Allan Misner [01:09:56]:
You know, driving through Colorado. I did that one time. It’s a long straight road. And the way it’s set up when you’re driving, you’d be driving really really fast and almost feel like you’re not moving at all cause the road’s so straight, and the mountains don’t seem to be moving with at all. And and you’re like, I’m I’m fine, but I’m not going anywhere. Until you start seeing those mile markers go by. And then you’re like, okay, about every less than a minute because I was driving over 60 miles an hour. But those mile markers, they’re going by.

Allan Misner [01:10:24]:
It’s like, okay. That’s telling me I’m moving forward. So a tires person might need something like that to say, I know that I know I’m moving forward because I can see those things moving forward. Even if it doesn’t seem like anything else around me is. If you’re if you’re a copilot, you got to start talking to people and figuring out how do I work this in? Help me be part of the solution. I told my boss, I’m going to be working out from 2 to 3. I’m going to mark it on my calendar. I’m out of office for lunch.

Allan Misner [01:10:52]:
Sometimes he’d forget and call me. I’d be in the middle of my workout. Okay. What you need? Where are you? I’m like, I’m at the gym. Okay. What do you need? He’s like, you tell me. 4 o’clock work. He’s like, Yeah.

Allan Misner [01:11:03]:
Okay. I’ll have it to you at 4. And then I finish my workout. And so you’re telling the people what you need. They’re there. If you’re an Atlas, it’s setting the big goal. It’s saying, okay, what’s the next thing that’s really going to keep me moving forward in a way that’s appropriate to where I am and what I want to try to accomplish here? So if it’s strength, you may set. You know, say, okay, I’m I’m gonna do a, a special split here with my coach and say, look, I wanna I wanna sprint, and I wanna do this and that, so that I get to a certain level of strength before August, or before September, or October.

Allan Misner [01:11:39]:
However you want to place it. Say, okay, I want to try to do this. And you ask them, okay, with their professional opinion, do they think that’s something that will help you? Do they think that’s something that’s doable? Is it hard? Yes, it should be hard. Like I said, nothing beautiful happens outside your comfort zone. And Atlas has proved that time and time again, as they do beautiful things for themselves because they push themselves outside the comfort zone. Atlas has actually have happened to be a little bit more comfortable outside the comfort zone than sometimes they are inside. You know, because that’s that fright, that scare, that push. Okay.

Allan Misner [01:12:13]:
And then the others, it’s like the pedals. You ever feel yourself pushing on the on the on the brake, ask yourself why. Stop yourself. Say, hey, foot off the brake and let’s let’s keep charging because you promised you were going to do this for 6 weeks. And then, of course, with the windshield, just knowing where you are and making sure you’re focused forward. Because if you don’t, you keep looking backwards, you’re sitting still. And that’s not a good way to go. So write down a few of what your thoughts are here as far as what your strategies and tactics need to be.

Allan Misner [01:12:45]:
And and that’s gonna help you with this this process.

Bernie Borges [01:12:49]:
Excellent. Alright. Ready to move on to Alright.

Allan Misner [01:12:52]:
Yeah. And again, there’s a goal there’s a goal works. There’s a goal worksheet there. You can click on that link if you need to make a goal to implement the tactics. So remember I told you I needed to print out my packing list for my gym bag. So if that’s like a tactic, some strategy, something you need to do, then make a goal. Okay. Over the weekend, I’m going to print out my packing list, laminate it, and put it in my gym bag.

Allan Misner [01:13:17]:
And then the next goal is starting on Monday, each day in the evening or starting on Sunday night, each eve each evening before work, pull out the list, pack the gym bag, put it by the door so I get it on the way out. Okay. Now I I have a I have a confession for you, Bernie.

Bernie Borges [01:13:36]:
I think I know what it is, Alan, but that’s okay.

Allan Misner [01:13:39]:
Okay. I am not perfect.

Bernie Borges [01:13:40]:
Let’s hear it.

Allan Misner [01:13:41]:
I am not perfect.

Bernie Borges [01:13:42]:
You’re not.

Allan Misner [01:13:43]:
I am not.

Bernie Borges [01:13:44]:
Really? I am not.

Allan Misner [01:13:45]:
I am not perfect. Okay. I screw up all the time. But one of the things that’s changed, and something I want you to put into your tool chest here, is the fact that and we hear this a lot. If you’re in tech industry, particularly, you hear failure is actually a win. Okay? If we fail at something, that just means we haven’t figured out the right way to do it, but we figured out a wrong way to do it. Okay? So we’re gonna slip up. We’re gonna set rules for ourselves.

Allan Misner [01:14:16]:
We’re gonna set goals for ourselves. We’re gonna try to do things. And invariably, we’re gonna make a mistake. We’re gonna slip up. And a lot of people in their head, as soon as they slip up, that internal beast, the monster voice we have in our head that doesn’t actually really like us all that much, is going to start talking and say, well you fool, you always do this, you never do that, all the negative self talk. Okay. Well, we’ve got to get rid of that guy. He’s a self manager.

Allan Misner [01:14:42]:
It’s unfortunate we can’t fire him, but we can quiet him down. And the way we quiet him down is a 3 step process that I call the slip to success process. And the way it works like this is, when you find yourself making mistakes. So I get off the elevator. I’m walking towards my office. And unfortunately, yes, someone grabs me and I walk into the break room, and I have I have a spud net. I hate it. But I had it, and now I feel terrible.

Allan Misner [01:15:15]:
One, terrible because I haven’t eaten sugar in a while, and so yeah, now I actually physically feel terrible. But I feel terrible about myself. Okay? So when you slip up, the first step is to forgive yourself. It’s to acknowledge, I am not perfect. I’ll never be perfect, And that’s okay. I’m going to make mistakes. Because if you don’t forgive yourself, you can’t leave it behind. You you left it with the beast, and the beast will hold it over you for a long, long time.

Allan Misner [01:15:48]:
So by forgiving yourself, you now give yourself permission to move forward. Mhmm. Okay. A lot of people will skip this. Don’t. It’s a very important part of this because part of change is self love. And so through self love, we forgive the trespasses we have against ourselves. I forgive the spud nut.

Allan Misner [01:16:12]:
Okay. It happened. I can’t undo it. I did it. Now the second part of this is where you sit down, you say, okay, what did I learn? Okay. I learned, do not stop, do not pass go, go straight to your office, grab that bag of nuts. Because if I have something in my hand and I’m eating, I’ll feel more comfortable and I won’t want to grab spudnut. That little tactic worked.

Allan Misner [01:16:44]:
But I wasn’t going to eat nuts all day, so I couldn’t go back to there. But for that particular thing, that slip, the tactic was go straight to your office, grab a bag of nuts, and then you can go get your coffee.

Bernie Borges [01:16:57]:
Yeah. I I love the first part of it, forgive yourself, because you know what’s really easy, Alan? What’s really easy is to beat yourself up. Right? To beat yourself up over the slip up. Because we all do it. Like you said, your confession. Your confession is the same confession as 100% of the human population. None of us is perfect. So that first step is everything, forgiving yourself, So that you can then get on to what did I learn from this.

Allan Misner [01:17:25]:
Yeah. And then the second step is coming up with a tactic or strategy that you can apply in the future to either prevent this from ever happening or mitigate when it happens. And so for me, again, it was the have the bag of nuts in my in my office, and because because the other reason the bags of nuts were in there is other slips. Okay. There was a vending machine in in the in the break room. So if I found myself hungry at 2:30 in the afternoon, 3 o’clock before, I’d go into the vending machine. So having a bag of nuts meant I had a healthy snack that could hold me out till dinner right there. Okay.

Allan Misner [01:18:10]:
So I had the bags of nuts already in my drawer from another slip up that I then took to success, and that’s how that was keeping me out of the vending machine. And I used those same nuts then to get me past the spud nuts. Okay? Now the third part is doing it. Okay? Because it’s easy easier said. Some of these are easier said than done. Because again, you’re walking off the elevator, you’re hit by the smell, you see the chumming sharks, you gotta do it, okay? And the do it was, my office is 30 steps that way. Go. Don’t don’t think.

Allan Misner [01:18:48]:
So I’m in the elevator riding up. As soon as it opens, I smell it. I like walk. You know, that’s what I do with my dog. My dog, my dog will bark or chase he just kind of wants to chase other dogs. And I’ll be walking him and he’ll see another dog. And I’m just like walk, walk, walk, walk, walk. And he knows that that’s like, okay.

Allan Misner [01:19:04]:
I gotta put my head down and just keep walking. Ignore that other dog as much as I don’t want to. And so that was what it was. Just walk, walk, walk, and get to my office, grab those nuts, and then I’m welcome to go back to the snack room and fix myself a coffee. And so as you slip, forgive yourself. Come up with an action that you believe will keep that from happening, or at least mitigate it in the future. And then you can deal with it. And then you’ve got to put that into place.

Allan Misner [01:19:32]:
Make it happen. And if you’ll do that, every little slip makes you better. So every time you slip, if you’re if you’re adding a control, if you’re adding a process, or adding a strategy or tactic, it becomes a part of just how you do things. I I’m here I am in in Bocas. I have food in my office that’s healthy snacks for me to have if I get hungry. Because sometimes I work really long days. This is one of them. And I didn’t really have time to go home for dinner.

Allan Misner [01:20:05]:
So I’m having a late later dinner than I normally would. So I made sure in my office, I had some boiled eggs as a snack this afternoon. That would hold me over until dinner, so I’m not walking over to the restaurant next door and grabbing a quesadilla, which would not serve me. They’re delicious, but would not serve me. Right. And so, you know, this is a process. That’s the self management thing. And it’s a process that you go over, and the self awareness part, and then, what to do when we make a mistake, because we will.

Allan Misner [01:20:38]:
And you put those things together, and you’ve now built a management process that is basically what Kaizen stands for, which is a Japanese word we used to use in in manufacturing. I’ve also used it in other businesses. But it’s basically called continuous improvement. It’s a word Japanese word that means that. And you evaluate a process, and you try to make it better. And then you evaluate it again, and you try to make it better. And so in this crazy world of life that we’re going through, you have this opportunity to continuously improve the processes that keep you healthy and keep you fit, and just keep building them better and better and better.

Bernie Borges [01:21:14]:
I can’t help but say yes, and. The and is taking it right back to self awareness. And the idea that this is who you become. You have a hard boiled egg because you have become that person. Not necessarily because it’s a good thing, it’s just that’s who you are. So I can’t help but take every one of these principles and take it there, Alan. Yeah. Take it to that self awareness, because once you have that self awareness and you know who you are, then all of these principles just happen.

Bernie Borges [01:21:49]:
Yeah. Because that’s who you are.

Allan Misner [01:21:50]:
Yeah. And that’s where it’s all driving. So the point being is you you can start with accountability. It’s easy to start there. You can’t start with identity. Just don’t even try that yet. Okay. And even self management, I can tell you, unless you are intrinsically a very motivated person, it’s really hard to start there without some level of accountability.

Allan Misner [01:22:12]:
Okay. You can. It can happen, but it’s much harder. So I’m saying if you wanna take the route that’s most likely to be successful, start with accountability, either hire a coach, join a group, or both. And then as you get into it, this is the opportunity for you to start building your management team, building your management processes. Putting all this together till it becomes a little easier, and a little easier, and a little easier. And then the accountability becomes a little less necessary, but it still is good for you. And then, yes, over time, it’s like I’ve been doing it so long.

Allan Misner [01:22:46]:
It’s I built a habit. And I’ve been doing it so long. I can’t even imagine not doing it. That’s who I am. That’s my values, you know. Someone says, well, hey, let’s run out, have some beer, you know, have drink bunch of beers and and go crazy. It’s like, don’t, like you said, when you’re 24 years old, it’s like your values change. You’re like, that’s that’s not who I am.

Allan Misner [01:23:06]:
So your friends are like, come on, let’s go have some beers. Like, sorry, I’ll go with you, but I’m not gonna drink the beers. I like live music, so I’ll hang out. But no, I’m not going to, I’m not going to do the shots, you know. My wife is, this whole thing is like, here where I live, it’s not, come on, it’s not a party island. Tourists and, you know, people are retired. So this is kind of a party drinking island. And they’re always ordering shots.

Allan Misner [01:23:30]:
It’s like, let’s get some shots. Here’s the shots. Alan, you want a shot. Nope. And everybody is beginning to understand, Alan doesn’t do shots. My wife has told them a dozen times. She’s like I said, she supports me now as of that conversation. It’s like, no.

Allan Misner [01:23:44]:
You’re never gonna get Alan to do a shot. You’re gonna ask him a 1,000 times. The answer is the same. Because I don’t, I know the only reason to drink a shot is to get the alcohol in your system really quickly so you can get drunk. And I don’t want that for myself. Okay. So you know, as you go through this self management, yes, it’s automatically going to draw you down into identity, your values and your habits. So you can go to the next slide.

Allan Misner [01:24:10]:
Okay. So now you see, we’re right back into the the map here. And as you can see, okay, we’ve got the extrinsic and intrinsic. We’ve got the coach and the group. That’s the best place to start, easiest place to start. Then you start your self management. You start putting in the tactics and strategies that you believe will work for you. Some of them won’t.

Allan Misner [01:24:32]:
Some of them will. This is an experiment for you. You’re your own person. You’re an individual. And yes, I agree, Bernie. You are unique. I’m unique. And yes, you are unique.

Allan Misner [01:24:42]:
And so as you go through this process, there’ll be things that work for you. And you’ll be like, well someone else says, well, this is what I do. And you’re like, okay, I’ll give it a shot. And you’re like, no. You know, I know people who have logged their food every day for over 10 years. Every meal they eat goes into MyFitnessPal. They’ve been doing it for 10 years.

Bernie Borges [01:25:02]:
It’s who they are.

Allan Misner [01:25:04]:
It is. It it didn’t work. But they log everything they eat, but it it hasn’t helped them lose all the weight because they haven’t made any other changes.

Bernie Borges [01:25:17]:
Oh. You

Allan Misner [01:25:17]:
know? Well, that’s a problem. It is. But that’s not what my fitness pal tells them. It’s like if you keep eating like this, you’ll weigh £30 less in 6 weeks. And and that’s not how it works. So as you go through the self management, things are gonna work for you and then they’re not. And so as they’re not working, you have to catch that and say, okay, look, I’ve been doing this and it’s not working. Don’t be afraid to toss it out, but replace it with something that will or you believe will and then work that.

Allan Misner [01:25:47]:
There are people that will try a particular diet that’s extremely, you know, hard to do, like vegan or keto, and there’s valid reasons to do either one of those. And it might work great for you, and you might work out great long term. It might not. So don’t be afraid to try something, as the management, but then give it time. And then if it’s not working, say, okay. I I don’t really like this. I tried to be pescador for a while, which is basically eating only vegetables, fruit, and fish, and nuts and stuff. I gained weight eating that

Bernie Borges [01:26:27]:
way. Wow.

Allan Misner [01:26:28]:
Well, what it was was I was not getting enough volume food out of the vegetables. And of course, you know, with fish, 5 ounce serving, I I just wasn’t getting enough. I was getting enough protein. I made sure I got enough protein, but I wasn’t getting enough food. And so I ended up being a lot more nuts and a lot more beans.

Bernie Borges [01:26:51]:
Yeah. That’s what I would have guessed. Yeah. Yep. Yep.

Allan Misner [01:26:54]:
And so and fruit. And so I was ending up actually eating more calories on that diet because I was always hungry than if I were to eat a more balanced diet. And and that would but that’s me. That’s me. Other people can do it, and it works wonderful. And so just realize, you are unique. And so self management is that process of trial and error of doing these things to a point where then, okay, I know this works. And then yes, if you did vegan and it worked for you, and you start eating that way, there’ll be a point where your values and your habits align around the fact that that’s how you eat.

Allan Misner [01:27:33]:
And it isn’t necessarily that your values are saying, well, I’m doing this for this emotional animal or doing it for these other reasons. It can just be, I feel good eating this way. So this is what I this is what I identify as food. So I walk into a grocery store now, and I see that 95% of it is this packaged stuff. My brain tells me that’s not food. So for all intents and purposes, it could all just be diaper aisles. I’m not gonna eat any of that. Okay? It could just all be diaper aisles, and I don’t have to go down that aisle to commit I’m

Bernie Borges [01:28:09]:
I’m with you on that, Allen. I’m with you. You know,

Allan Misner [01:28:11]:
I’ll go to the right over here. There’s some wonderful vegetables. I’ll I’ll get some of those. I’ll go around the corner. I might get some cheeses, maybe some yogurt or something. I’m a come over to the meat counter, and I’m a load up. Yep. And, I’m if I go down an aisle, it’s usually spices or canned tuna and Olive oil.

Bernie Borges [01:28:31]:
Olive oil. Gotta get the olive oil.

Allan Misner [01:28:32]:
Well, I tend to not do olive oil from grocery stores. That’s just another thing. But me, me, me, my choice. But the whole point is, yes, I have a cycle. When I go into a grocery store, everything in the middle is not food. And I don’t recognize it as food. And, you know, yes, you can subside on it. And it’s wonderful if you love it.

Allan Misner [01:28:50]:
But it’s not going to serve you in a health and fitness way. So I just avoid it. So as you kind of go through this process, you’re going to learn more about yourself. You’re going to learn more about what works for you. And then you’re going to be able to implement those, turn them into habits and values. And then motivation is just there. It’s always on. It’s never off, and you’re never waiting for it, and it’s never not there.

Allan Misner [01:29:16]:
So

Bernie Borges [01:29:17]:
That’s that’s exact that’s I can’t say it any any differently. It’s it’s what it’s the point that I’ve been making, and then you’ve been reeling me in saying that’s what you wanna get to. Right? That’s the process that people wanna get to. And so you and I are there for our own unique reasons and our own unique journeys, but that’s what it’s all about, Alan. Yeah. That’s who you become. That’s who you are.

Allan Misner [01:29:40]:
Right. And so we’re we’re coming to the end of this workbook. And what I would say is this, is you deserve to be healthy and fit. You do. You were put on this earth for a purpose, for a reason, and you need to be here for that reason. Okay? And so if you’ve done a really good job going through this, and getting an understanding of who you are, why you need to do this, what it needs to look like, and then how you’re going to get there through your goals and plans. And then put the tools in place to be fully motivated and engaged all the time, you will be healthy and fit. So I want you to take the time to do that.

Allan Misner [01:30:22]:
Bernie and I took the time to put this together for you as as a as a tool, as a as and you can go through it as many times as you need to to get this all together.

Bernie Borges [01:30:32]:
Exactly. And, I just wanna thank you, Alan, for the time and your expertise that you shared here today. And in part 1, it has been an amazing experience, not only for those that are listening and watching, but for myself personally, Alan. I I truly, authentically, I mean when I say that this has been an amazing informational, inspirational experience. And of course, we do wanna highlight, what’s on screen here that this is not medical advice. It’s a tool. It’s a resource. The individual who has participated in this, what we’re calling an online workshop, should consult with a healthcare professional to get the advice that applies, unique to uniquely to each and every one of them.

Bernie Borges [01:31:19]:
So, Alan, why don’t we wrap up here with a little bit of a reintroduction of you and how people connect with can connect with you and and get more of Alan Meister, aka coach Alan.

Allan Misner [01:31:32]:
Yes. I, you know, I live and love this stuff. I do it every day. I do have the podcast, 40 Plus Fitness Podcast. You can find that anywhere that you, are listening to podcasts, listening to this podcast. And then you can go to 40plusfitness.com. That’s my website. And everything’s there as well.

Bernie Borges [01:31:51]:
Fantastic. And, my my story’s a little bit different. I am not focused on on health and fitness nearly as much as Alan, vocationally. I’m focused on health and fitness for my own life, for my own well-being. I am a midlife coach and an advocate. I host the Midlife Fulfilled podcast. And the way that I like to add value around this is to work with businesses, organizations, but a little more broadly, really focused on fulfillment in midlife. I on my podcast, I talk about the 5 pillars of life, really to any age, but specifically in midlife, and those are, as you see on screen here, if you’re watching on screen, health, fitness, career, relationships, and legacy.

Bernie Borges [01:32:36]:
So, again, I’d like to work with organizations to really, deliver training and workshops around, helping their employees become more fulfilled, to be more productive, and just enjoy themselves more. And and really, on on that note, I wanna congratulate you, the listener, the watcher, if you’re watching or listening. If you have been with us for both part 1 and part 2, you’ve already taken a huge, huge step in making investment in yourself and improving your own health and fitness. And so that alone, warrants congratulations. Give yourself a pat on the back. Take this workbook and put it to use. Use it as a to really have an impact on your life. And, Alan, I just invite you for any any closing thought, and we’ll wrap it up.

Allan Misner [01:33:21]:
There’s nothing to it but to do it. So get on out there and make it fun.

Bernie Borges [01:33:26]:
Fantastic. Well, let’s go ahead and, we’ll wrap it here. Again, Allen, thank you so so much for your time and your expertise. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, and look forward to continuing the conversation.