Jermaine’s 5 rules for excellent health

Jermaine’s 5 Rules of Excellence

I’ve accomplished some hard things using these principles like winning bodybuilding shows, starting a successful business and now I’m ready to do something harder than ever, be an excellent dad. As trainer and coach, I help other people reach their goals and these are my favorite tools to get the job done. This will work on any goal, but especially on body transformations. If you want to get serious about your goals then follow these simple rules.

 Rule 1: Manage everything on paper 

You are 42 percent more likely to accomplish a goal if you write it down. A study on goal setting including 270 participants conducted by psychology professor DR. Gail Mathews at Dominican University in california showed that those who fail to write down their goal completely miss their mark 58 percent of the time (Economy, 2018). Since excellence requires incremental growth over time, it is absolutely non-negotiable that you have written out plans for actions you must take in order to see progress in your goal. Reviewing your written plans once a week has worked best for me.

Rule 2: PACE over pride. 

Remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? Finishing a project is more about consistency in your pace than speed of your pace. Similar to any long distance event, transforming your body has a lot more to do with staying on track than starting off fast. While short term commitments of 30 days or less may be easy to commit to, long term commitments like a 12 week body transformation will challenge your grit a lot more. Over doing anything will require too much rest to recover and you won’t be mentally and physically ready for the next day. Remember, excellence requires more than a once in a while hustle, it’s a repeatable action that you commit to at least 2 times a week. So even though it’s hard to NOT “go all out”, remember to pace yourself so that you can excel from week to week and work up to 5 or even 6 days over time.

Rule 3: Track your metrics. 

To be excellent you must excel. Improving your body, mind, or other areas of life requires a foundation to build upon. Write down some goal related actions you plan to take this week. Then take 5 to 10 minutes at the end of each day to jot down what you did and also what you meant to do for your goal that day. End each reflection by asking yourself; how can I get 5% better? Commit to that next week. Avoid questions like; how can I get twice as good or 50 percent better? Rule 2 will help you avoid burnout and quitting. Excellence is the opposite of burning out It is about making small corrections over time that lead to big lasting life changes. If you want a nice body for life then start with just 5 percent every week. In 4 months you double your personal best. Imagine getting twice as good every 4 month? Winners pace and track their metrics.

Rule 4: Be inspired. Follow excellent people

 One of my favorite inspirational persons to draw inspiration from was the late Kobe Bryant. Long goals require some real inspiration to motivate us to action when we do not want to act. Anyone at the TOP of their field will have good insights to excellence and they will inspire you. Choose to feed your mind with speeches or autobiographies that push you more than you can push yourself. You don’t have to copy anyone completely, just add their good actions and principles to what you’re missing. Take the good, leave the bad and follow your dreams.

Rule 5: Get away from weak or negative energy.

In Statistics, association shows you whether two variables are related. The direction of the association is either positive (+) or negative (-). [In other words no association is neutral. Every person in your life can affect you] in two directions of association either: positive association or negative association (Stephanie, 2019). If you can’t physically escape negative associations around you then escape mentally by reading about inspiring people. Anxiety can trigger your flight-or-fight stress response and release a flood of chemicals and hormones, like adrenaline, into your system. If you repeatedly feel anxious and stressed or it lasts a long time, your body never gets the signal to return to normal functioning. This can weaken your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to viral infections and frequent illnesses. Also, your regular vaccines may not work as well if you have anxiety (Cherney, 2009). This is why close associations with negative people are so crucial to avoid during moments of near exhaustion in pursuit of a goal. They will not hold us up, they cannot hold themselves up and we must remain strong until our mission is completed. Seek out time alone to edify your mind.

References

Economy, P. (2018, February 28). This Is the Way You Need to Write Down Your Goals for Faster Success. Retrieved July 21, 2020, from https://www.inc.com/peter-economy/this-is-way-you-need-to-write-down-your-goals-for-faster-success.html

Cherney, K. (2009, June 17). 12 Effects of Anxiety on the Body. Retrieved July 21, 2020, from https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/effects-on-body

Stephanie. (2019, January 20). Direction of Association in Statistics: What is it? Retrieved July 21, 2020, from https://www.statisticshowto.com/direction-of-association/