Let’s take Trevor’s idea one step further, let’s find out the reasons why people don’t exercise. Please tell us your reasons through this poll – full confidentiality guaranteed:
You can still participate in the What Makes You Happy? poll.
Author: Mush
Health – Hard Talk, by Trevor Lunn
Trevor Lunn has been one of my best friends, mentors and inspiration for almost two decades. At 60+ he is healthier and fitter than most people half his age. He recently left his long-term publishing career to pursue his dream of getting a degree in Health Sciences. Now he is a full-time university student in Melbourne, majoring in exercise science, psychology and nutrition. He has agreed to share his knowledge and wisdom about health and fitness through this blog. Here’s the first one:
Welcome to Health – Hard Talk. Here will not be found “handy hints and tips” or the latest headlines about “health research” reported in the media, or the supposed quick fixes or mystical herbal or alternative remedies. Here there are no easy, comforting words intended to lull you into the belief that there is little that you can do to improve your own health status; that it’s all in your genes or your circumstances make it unavoidable.
What you will find is ideas and recommendations drawn from high quality scientific literature. They will not be my ideas. They will come mainly from epidemiological studies conducted by the World Health Organization and governments and from scientific research published in peer-reviewed, reputable journals. For now references will not be provided though they can always be requested.
This journey is intended to help you understand where you are with your health compared to the population, what risks you expose yourself to and, hopefully, how you can address these risks and move towards a healthier life. Join me and see where the journey takes you.
Here’s a starting and perhaps startling thought. The leading modifiable risk factor for all-cause mortality world-wide is cigarette smoking. The second is physical inactivity. Putting that into simple language, cigarette smoking kills more people than any other risky behavior and physical inactivity kills more than any of the rest.
If you are in the majority, you do not exercise enough. What’s enough? We’ll get into the detail of that later, but the quick answer is 30 minutes of moderately vigorous activity at least five days a week. Why don’t you do it? Here’s a useful exercise to try. It’s called a Decisional Balance by psychologists. Draw a simple table with two columns side by side. Head one “pros” and the other “cons” Now write down under the “pros” heading all the positive outcomes you think would result from exercising and in the “cons” column all the possible negative outcomes.
Post your answers and we’ll start our journey.
What makes you happy? Preliminary results!
Here’s what it looks like, so far:
But that’s just based on 81 votes! Do you think the results would change much if we had 800 votes instead? Please help get some more votes, and let’s find out.
A respected friend of mine asked me the purpose of this survey, and whether I guarantee confidentiality. Yes, absolutely. I can only see this chart – no names or anything else. And the purposes of the survey are a) personal curiosity and b) obtain interesting statistics to share with my readers. Fair enough?
Six things for happiness!
What do you think really makes people happy? I have wondered this question for years. Is it money that allows you to buy the things and do the things that you like? Or is it strong relationships – people you love, and people who love you? Or is it success in your chosen career and the recognition that comes with it? Or optimum health, fitness and energy to enjoy life to the fullest? Or a religion that connects you to a higher being and guides you to do right? Or does it come from contribution to community or society or mankind or other life or our planet earth?
What makes you happy? Please take this poll and tell us. Please limit to three of the six choices. Get your friends to take this poll too. The more participants, the clearer the answer.
Jill Bolte Taylor studied her own stroke!
Learn about the human brain, the miracle of life and how we are all connected to each other and the universe. Watch this presentation by brain researcher Jill Bolte Taylor who studied her own stroke as it happened!
It was one of the ten most popular presentations since TED opened the talks to public two years ago. Watch it here.
Leo Buscaglia’s quotes
Early in my sales career, I had watched an inspiring video by Leo Buscaglia called The Politics of Love. His powerful presentation had a lasting impression on my heart and mind. Later, I read one of his books – Living, Learning and Loving – which was also one of the best books I’ve ever read. Today, I was searching for more of Leo’s work on the Internet and found lots of really inspiring stuff – books, quotes, audios, videos, sites! Some quotes:
- Don’t hold to anger, hurt or pain. They steal your energy and keep you from love.
- Don’t spend your precious time asking “Why isn’t the world a better place?” It will only be time wasted. The question to ask is “How can I make it better?” To that there is an answer.
- Our talents are the gift that God gives to us… What we make of our talents is our gift back to God.
- Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Coffee with David
I shared a table with an old wise man while having coffee today. After telling me a lot about himself, he asked me the two questions that I think every Chinese asks every non-Chinese in Hong Kong: How long have you lived in Hong Kong? And do you speak Cantonese? My answers are: More than 10 years, and no. David went on to ask the dreaded question: Why not? I explained why it’s never been my priority. He then offered the most profound advise: Just learn two new words every day!
Achieving big goals through small steps has long been established as a success principle. Imagine what could happen if every day we
- exercised for just half an hour
- replaced just one unhealthy snack with a healthy one
- walked down the stairs instead of taking the elevators just once
- spent just 15 minutes to breathe, or think, or unplug, or pray
- noticed just five good things in our day/life
- complimented just one person, or said one thank-you, or one I-love-you
- saved just x$ for that special something or that special someone
- read one useful piece of information or inspiration
- took one small step towards one of our goals
It all starts with one small step! What will be yours?
A Confession!
I had breakfast from McDonald’s! An Egg McMuffin and a Hash Brown. Later during the day, I checked the amount of damage done at “McDonald’s nutrition facts” site:
- Calories: 450
- Calories from fat: 190
- Total fat: 21 grams
- Cholesterol: 260 mg
To put the 450 calories in perspective: I’d need to jog for 30 minutes, or swim for 45 minutes, or walk for an hour and a half to burn that many calories! And the fat and cholesterol will still keep me guilty forever. But this confession has made me feel much better 🙂
Pacific Coffee also gets it!
One more company that uses their customers’ date of birth to enhance their service is Pacific Coffee!
When I touched my Pacific Coffee debit card on their scanner to pay for my coffee, the barista immediately said, “Happy Birthday, today we can upgrade your tall coffee to grande.” WOW! I responded by changing my order to short coffee and getting it upgraded to tall. It was just a $5 saving for me, but surely a WOW customer service!
Read my last post about brithdays in case you missed it.
The Dash by Linda Ellis
This poem continues to be one of the most inspiring pieces for over ten years. It’s been published in many forms. Here’s part of it:
I read of a man who stood to speak
at the funeral of a friend.
He referred to the dates on her tombstone
from the beginning…to the end.
He noted that first came the date of her birth
and spoke of the following date with tears,
but he said what mattered most of all
was the dash between those years.
For that dash represents all the time
that she spent alive on earth…
and now only those who loved her
know what that little line is worth.
For it matters not, how much we own;
the cars….the house…the cash.
What matters is how we live and love
and how we spend our dash.
Read the full poem here. And watch a short movie here.
American Express and Mandarin Oriental get it!
Most hotels are very particular about getting their guests’ date of birth upon check in. Whenever I am asked to fill in mine, I ask, “Are you planning to send me a birthday card?” I usually get a sheepish smile in response.
Out of the hundreds of hotels that have collected my DOB during the last ten years of my traveling – including some of the biggest chains and brands – only Mandarin Oriental in Macau sends me a birthday card every year. And it comes with a special offer of a deluxe room for two at almost half the price for any two nights during my birthday month! That’s WOW!
This year, I also got a birthday card from American Express. And this included six discount coupons on meals at some of the best restaurants in Hong Kong! Another WOW!
If you are in any kind of business or sales, remember that one of the easiest ways of enhancing the relationship with your customer, or with anyone in your life for that matter, is remembering their birthday. And then following up with a gift or a personalized card or a phone call or even an SMS – anything but a link to one of those electronic greeting cards!
I know you can’t help thinking what to do on Mush’s birthday 🙂 Forward a link to my blog to somebody who could benefit from the information and inspiration. Also, any feedback, good or bad, on my blog through comments on Why I Write? page would mean a lot to me.
Randy Pausch’s last lecture
I am sure most of you have heard or read about Professor Randy Pausch by now. But just in case you haven’t… his work is not to be missed!
Randy Pausch (Oct. 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008) gave his last lecture at the Carnegie Mellon University on Sept. 18, 2007. In his moving presentation, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams,” Pausch talked about his lessons learned and gave advice to students on how to achieve their own career and personal goals. His book, “The Last Lecture” which was based on this presentation was also a bestseller. You can watch that lecture here. It’s about an hour, but very inspiring from beginning to end:
Great day or lousy day?
It was one of those days when I was able to notice most of the good things in life – big and small.
Waking up to a new day – alive and healthy! Running water, hot and cold! Nice clothes to wear! Fresh juice to drink! A job to go to! Beautiful weather – neither hot nor cold! Train station close to home! Train that’s always on time! My favorite corner seat! An hour of thinking and reading time! Nice office – with a sea view! The old cleaning lady who cleans with a passion and greets with enthusiasm! Clean pantry with filtered drinking water! Lots of work to do – mostly enjoyable! A Mac that’s always reliable – no virus, no spam, no hanging up! High-speed Internet access! An email from Hamza recommending another productivity software! Lots of people who trust me with their problems and impossible deadlines! An unexpected lunch meeting in a nice and quiet restaurant with the most divine tempura! New things to learn! Central air-conditioning to keep us cold, and a portable heater under the desks when it gets too cold! Lots of things to laugh about! Coming home to a loving family! Still being in love with the same person after almost 30 years! Kids (many) that we are proud of! Amazing home-cooked food for dinner…WOW!
What kind of a day do you think I had? Amazing, exciting, wonderful, of course! There were some problems for sure and a few challenging situations, but somehow they all looked small and insignificant! On any given day we all have more good things than bad things. But when we fail to notice and acknowledge them, even small problems and challenges look big and we end up having a lousy day! If our days make up our life, we can pretty much control the quality of our lives, can’t we?
Make Today Count by John Maxwell
I was just looking; I wasn’t going to buy anything. Until I saw this little book with a bold red and white cover and an interesting title. In fact, I liked the subtitle even better. I read it on the flight back from Singapore last month, and started re-reading it this week. Here’s a piece from the Introduction:
You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. You see, success doesn’t just suddenly occur one day in someone’s life. For that matter, neither does failure. Each is a process. Every day of your life is merely a preparation for the next. What you become is the result of what you do today. In other words… you are preparing for something. The way you live your life today is preparing you for tomorrow. The questions is, What are you preparing for? As my father used to tell me when I was growing up, “You can pay now and play later, or you can play now and pay later. But either way, you are going to pay.”
The book has twelve chapters – a dozen to focus on daily: Attitude, Priorities, Health, Family, Thinking, Commitment, Finances, Faith, Relationships, Generosity, Values and Growth. I’ll be happy to give my copy to the first person who asks.
Favorite Quotes – Dreams
It is precisely the possibility of realizing a dream that makes life interesting. (Paulo Coelho)
When you really want something, the whole universe conspires to help you realize your dream. (Paulo Coelho)
Some men see things as they are and say, “Why?” I dream of things that never were and say, “Why not?” (George Bernard Shaw)
Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men. (Goethe)
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. (Mark Twain)
The most pitiful among men is he who turns his dreams into silver and gold. (Khalil Gibran)
Health Calculators
Thee very useful links for anyone concerned about calories in our food and other health indicators:
Calories Burned provides a calcalutor where you input your weight, activity and duration. A 76-kg person can burn 44 calories while sitting and blogging for half an hour, or 153 calories by swimming for the same amount of time!
Calories Calculator is a helpful tool to measure the amount of calories and fat in what we eat. E.g. a medium size banana has only 0.6 gm of fat and 105 calories, while half a cup of banana chips have 16 gm of fat and 239 calories!
Health Calculators is part of Medindia.com that offers many useful calculators e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, stress meter, drugs directory, calories in Indian food, teeth chart and even world population and death clocks!
If you want to control your weight but find calorie counting too complicated, stay tuned for the next post on easy steps to better health and fitness.
Sixth Sense Mobile device!
This demo from Pattie Maes’ lab at MIT, spearheaded by Pranav Mistry, was the buzz of TED. It’s a wearable device with a projector that allows interaction with our environment. Imagine “Minority Report” and then some:
Time Management: do less, get more done!
We are all so busy. We have so many things to do, and so little time. We can’t get everything done. And even if we do, we don’t always get the sense of fulfillment. Most time management books try to teach you how to do more in less time. I think the secret to fulfillment is doing less, not more, but doing it with passion and attention and focus. To do less, I use the “4 D’s Principle”:
- First D is for ‘Drop it’. Some things don’t need to be done at all. E.g. what would happen if you don’t take that call while having dinner with your family? What if you don’t go to pick up that friend from the airport? What if you stopped washing the tub before and after every shower? What difference would it make?
- Second D is for ‘Delay it’. You notice your car is dirty. Do you have to wash it right now, or you can do it tomorrow? That email doesn’t have to be answered right now; you can do it after completing the proposal you are working on. You don’t have to open all the mail as soon as it arrives. Are there things you do every day that can be done once a week? Or things you do every week that can be done once a month?
- Third D is for ‘Delegate it’. So here’s something that can’t be dropped or delayed e.g. Your child needs to be taken to a doctor. The air conditioning needs to be fixed. The customer needs a product replacement or a refund. Ask yourself if you have to do it yourself, or whether you can get someone else to do it for you. You’ll be surprised how many people are willing to do things for you, only if you ask (nicely).
- Fourth D is obviously ‘Do it’. Your daily exercise. Time with your kids – reading, talking, playing, helping them with their school work, or just listening to them. Being with your loved one – the dinner, movie, walk or just being together. That course you have been wanting to do. That customer you need to call. That paper you need to write. The books you want to read. The friend you want to call. The vacation that you need. These are some of the things you won’t have to drop, delay or delegate if you follow the 4 D’s.
Look at all the stuff you do and see what can be dropped, delayed or delegated. How much more time you’ll have to do the things that really matter – that are important, as well as urgent! Please share your own examples.
Health Facts
Some useful facts from Women’s Health (April issue):
- Increasing your water consumption by one liter a day for a year can result in five pounds of weight loss.
- Obese people are more likely to develop age-related macular degeneration – AMD, a disease that destroys part of the eye responsible for seeing detail.
- Eating red meat increases the risk of malignant tumors.
- How much more likely you are to be overweight if you eat quickly and until you feel full: 3 x
Favorite Quotes – Attitude
“I am still determined to be cheerful and happy, in whatever situation I may be; for I have also learned from experience that the greater part of our happiness or misery depends upon our dispositions, and not upon our circumstances.” Martha Washington
“To be a great champion you must believe you are the best. If you’re not, pretend you are.” Muhammad Ali
“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Please share your favorites through comments.
Mush Panjwani 