You hearing a lot of talk about “lifestyle” these days? Me too.
It’s all the rage—experts everywhere encouraging you to get a fit, healthy or success lifestyle.
Like so many people I talk with, you too may find yourself pondering, “If Lifestyle is really the key, do I need to get one?”
Read on and let’s shed some light on the truth about Lifestyle why it may be the future of fitness…
First, let me emphasize that this increasing focus on Lifestyle seems to indicate a trend towards bigger picture thinking, away from quick fixes. Bad news is it’s still most often quick-fixes disguised to be more.
As for your lifestyle, you don’t need to “get one” for you already have one. Although it may well be that yours is working against you in more ways than you can imagine.
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It’s easy to become confused by all the attractive lifestyle promises given that most of us have no solid definition of what a Lifestyle is.
My friend John Allen Mollenhauer (aka JAM), who instructs people on living the evolved Performance Lifestyle likes to say, “Your Lifestyle is how you achieve your goals.”
I like this fresh, inspiring perspective. And yet it’s still hard to get an absolute bearing on and thus hard to Transform.
To this I add that your Lifestyle is how you are living–the way you do life when you’re not “trying.”It’s the effortless flow of your style of living.
From this perspective, you can see why we so often struggle with “trying to change,” seeking to alter our actions and results while remaining committed to a style of living that’s killing you and your dreams.
Yet, most often when you come across a promise of a new Lifestyle, it’s nothing more than another list of do’s and don’ts. All of which may be wonderfully sensible but amount to nothing more than another layer of effort.
Part of what makes this so confusing is that you can lose weight and get pretty damn fit without ever truly changing your Lifestyle. Properly motivated and with the right support almost anyone can make it through a 12-week Transformation and come out looking and feeling better.
And then what?
For many, it’s like swimming from end to end in a pool under water, holding your breath. With the right incentive most people can hold their breath long enough to make it but then what? A big gulp of air and we suck our life and style back in?
In Strength for Life I clearly define the differences between “change” and “transformation” for true transformation—which is astonishingly rare—is, I believe, a Lifestyle Transformation. For living the transformed life is not a “trying to do” but how you are being, effortlessly.
Imagine having a Lifestyle where you are effortlessly enjoying vibrant energy, robust fitness, strength, confidence and success in all areas of your life?
Would you be in for that? I know, who wouldn’t.
Now, It's Your Turn
While I do believe there’s potentially something powerful in this focus on Lifestyle, I also know that if we’re going to change “it” we have to know what “it” is.
This is where I need your help…
Q:Tell me, how do you define Lifestyle? What does it mean to you?
And what would you like to change about yours?
Please share your answers, perspective or even questions about Lifestyle in the normal comment area below.
Thank you in advance for your invaluable perspective.
Until Next Week…
Stay Strong,
Shawn
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| About the Author | |
| Author, innovator and expert in Life Performance for two decades, Shawn Phillips is as respected for his physique as his wisdom. Working with his brother Bill (of Body for LIFE fame) he helped create the performance nutrition giant, EAS. For a "how to" guide to a Lifestyle of Fitness Freedom, check out Shawn's most recently instant best-selling book from Bantam BooksStrength for LIFE, called by Next-Level in Transformational Fitness, Here. |
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14. April 2009 at 11:24 am
Shawn – you never fail to impress. What a great question and focus to begin the week.
For me, I make the distinction between Modus Operandi (M.O. from the cop shows) and lifestyle. M.O. is the habitual actions of a person’s daily existence. Lifetyle (heavy on the “style”) is knowing who we are, what is important to us and living into that “life” with “style”.
M.O. is not sexy or exciting but lifestyle is our quality of life, with all the moxy, pride and swagger we earn by living true to our core values.
Shawn, you’ll probably never know just how timely a message this was for me. Thanks!
15. April 2009 at 12:03 am
Jeff!
Great to see you my friend. Love your blog!
Love that “Heavy on Style.” right on… M.O. is dang sexy man… great contribution!
In Strength, Shawn
14. April 2009 at 12:24 pm
What comes up for me is the whole idea of changing habits. It’s popular self-development folklore that a habit can change in 21days, but I think a particular action can become more consistent over 21days, but a habit takes a little longer. I think it is more accurate that a good habit, like consistent strength training, can be developed over the course of maybe 90days. If you want to change your lifestyle or develop a proper one, if such things exists, then it starts with a simple change in habits, which requires a simple change in thought, which really requires a simple use of the will. Please note, I use the word simple, sometimes what is simple is not always that easy. I am sure most readers will understand what I mean by that!
15. April 2009 at 12:02 am
Bart, love the 21. You may have chance to note in Strength for Life, I break the 12 week TTC in 4-21 day sprint phases. Just like the focus.
I also like the idea of habits -> transforming to rituals. Subtle distinction but habits tend to be things we do without thinking, and often we refer to them as less than supportive things. Where are rituals are habits that we take pride in and support our vision.
Small things but the strength is in the distinctions. I fully agree with the taking it a step at a time and embracing change.
14. April 2009 at 5:34 pm
Thanks for the contemplative on lifestyle Shawn. As usual it provokes a deeper thinking. My own sense of lifestyle is the way I live and the impact this has on others. It is an emotional, psychlogical, physical and spiritual footprint that leaves a trace wherever it appears.
Thus to change one’s lifestyle is really to change the impact I / we are having on thiose around us.
To get strong for life is inspiring for others and demanding for oneself. Is it worth it? Absolutely. Everyone beneefits.
Thanks again for your work.
14. April 2009 at 11:31 pm
Great insight Lawrence. Demanding more of oneself is truly demanding more for others.
I am honored by your presence.
Shawn
14. April 2009 at 7:24 pm
Loving these topics.
I shared with you this the other day. I saved it
For me lifestyle is: “Those things my heart gives attention to repetitiously, those things will dwell in me strong enough to frame my identity, health, environment and faith”
14. April 2009 at 11:30 pm
Yes, Catherine, I recall that one clearly.
Thank you for sharing this. Love the “frame”…
15. April 2009 at 12:49 pm
Hey, Shawn.
You’re right on point with your observations. Improving lifestyle requires all our human “doing” to align with our human “being” or core values. If the doing doesn’t align with the being then we can only experience short-term change; not transformation. Once it’s value-driven it almost becomes impossible to not transform. It’s unconscious. “Strength for Life” really opened my eyes to this.
15. April 2009 at 5:08 pm
Shawn,
I totally agree with you about your view on the latest trend of how we define lifestyle. But my lifestyle right now is trying to find employment or making a job. What do you say to people like me? Thank you for your time and great wisdom.
15. April 2009 at 7:38 pm
To me, lifestyle is identifying your God given gifts and understanding how to use them in a purposeful way to make not only your life joyful, but to share that joy with others, as well. I have found that in order for me to have a clear, energized path to this lifestyle I must l learn how I feed myself well, physically, spiritually and emotionally. If I want to live with good, consistent energy and clear thinking, I must learn to give my body the nutrients that work best for that type of lifestyle. For too long, I was dragging my large butt around every day and felt like everything was a huge effort. It was from filling my body full of junk.
You know, I haven’t lost a lot of physical weight, but mentally, I’m 100 pounds lighter because I have made the commitment to live life with joy, purpose and for others. I am not doing this on my own – it is with God’s grace and great help from the good Dr. Thomas Bilella! Thank you for your wonderful counsel, as well. Hillary
16. April 2009 at 9:10 am
Hi Shawn,
It’s habits that break us, habits that make us. I read that somewhere? Absolution!
Our lifestyle is how we live our habits. I seem to view your thoughts on habits to rituals just the opposite. I think our habits are the offspring of an old ritual. You start a new ritual of having a beer every night and the next thing you know, it’s a habit.
The easiest way to break that habit is a new ritual of strength training. You start having a Full Strength every morning as a new ritual and the next thing you know, it’s a habit.
Anyhoo, have a great day! Mike
16. April 2009 at 2:46 pm
“Our lifestyle is how we live our habits” seems to me to be a good, deep level of thinking on the distinction between habit and lifestyle. In my earlier post I wasn’t as elegant as your are in your statement.
To me, M.O. (habits) are actions we take with little thinking and little emotion, whereas lifestyle are the habits performed with high awareness and rich emotion. So, by your example, I would ask how many people will mindlessly have that beer everynight (habit) versus those who revel in the coldness of the glass, the smell of the hops, the color, the frothy head, etc. (lifestyle)?
I believe one beer greatly appreciated is less harmful than one drank mindlessly.
To tinker a bit with your definition, I would change just one word and add one word so it would read, “Our lifestyle is how much we enjoy our habits”.
16. April 2009 at 3:26 pm
Life is simply how we live. Your style is not looks or wealth but who you truly are , how you present yourself, your actions and deeds. If want health, you must strive for it — gain knowledge and put that knowledge into action. If you want influence a behavior you have to exemplify the positive aspects of that behavior. Want you kids slim and active? You cannot be a couch potato !!
This kind of change toward a positive lifestyle begins in one moment — that moment when one realizes that change is essential to reach the life style desired.
Know your values and you can visualize the lifestyle desired. It begins with only one step.
18. April 2009 at 8:54 pm
Hi Shawn,
I just got a reminder that you wanted to hear from me about my lifestyle. Here it is.
My lifestyle is a dance or dialogue between the inner and the outer, stillness and action, the inner impulse and the outer reality. It is in constant change and, yet, is eternal. It is the manifestation of a single and simple vision: an intention that is movement that flows with the Kosmos until it will return to is Source, which it always has been. This simplicity is paradoxical because it allows for more and greater complexity that expands consciousness, an expansion and a contraction of Consciousness with a capital C.
My life is a structure of relating that I allow to take its space.
Yours,
Pierre
20. April 2009 at 5:00 pm
Shawn,
To me lifestyle is a component of diet, exercise, habits good or bad, spirituality, good relationships and mentality. Diet and exercise are addressed frequently. I think we all can agree that the vast majority of us know we have to eat well and move somehow to change the physical bodies. But a full life which leans to healthy habits incorporates the way we think, the daily things we say to ourselves in our minds (which make us feel worthy or unworthy of the good things in life). The way we think also handles the way we deal with stress. You can’t change life, you can only change your reaction to it. So when something happens that is stressful, do we say to ourselves Oh I am never gonna see the end of this, why me… etc or do we pick ourselves up quickly with thoughts such as Ok what did I do that might have brought this along and how can I change that for the future, or come up with a plan of action even if the situation is so severe that we can only pray (prayer is a good thing). that is where the spiritual life comes in.
The Bible says “As a man thinks, so is he”. Even if you don’t believe in the Bible you got to admit that is true. A belief in higher power gives us hope and faith so things can change. Prayer or meditations is calming (yoga is good for this and Tai chi) with our prayers. Going to meetings or a place of worship is good for people. It will change the way you think. And thoughts are very consistent with our verbal language and how we really believe and live.
Good relationships are a must. Isolation or poor relationships leads to actual stress, depression and early death. A bad relationhsip has made many a person fat and unhealthy due to stress and depression that goes with it.
We have to take stock of oursleves and every five years I evaluate my life and reinvent where necessary. Flexibilty is important. If you don’t bend you break.