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While enjoying a relaxed ride (Bicycle) in Geelong to check out the UCI course, we cruised over to East Geelong to meet a friend who rode over from Arthur’s Seat on the Mornington Peninsula.

After a bit of miscommunication as to the meeting point and a few phone calls later, we suddenly realised that we only had 45 minutes to get to Queenscliff where the ferry terminal was located.
So we hand this micro goal of covering 29kms in 45 minutes, no problems if you were driving there in a car.

Given it was 30 odd kilometers we new it was going to be close to get to the ferry on time.

So what was going to be a nice gentle ride ended being a breathe gasping smash feast with all 3 of us taking turns at being at the front while the other 2 riders formed an echelon behind.

The point is that we never gave up, even when there was only 15 minutes left and it seemed unlikely that we would get there in time, we pushed through. Not that this was a life or death scenario but we were committed and all three of us had the belief that we will just make it on time.

Well with aching legs and fatigue as we had not sufficiently warmed up, so going hard from the very beginning was always going to be tough.

Well we just made it as the ferry was about to raise the vehicle loading ramp, so in the end we covered 29km in 46 minutes, so we were lucky that our watch was 1 minute fast.

How often do you have a goal or something that you want to achieve but it’s too hard, can’t be bothered or the likelyhood of success is low so it’s easier to give up than continue.

Everyday we are presented with situations or micro goals that we have created only to give up.

Keep focused and you we enjoy the rewards.

Quite often the hardest habit to change is the habit you need to change the most. We have the greatest resistance, fear, anger and hesitation to the habits or beliefs that are so ingrained that bring about any changes seems the most challenging.

Think about the one thing which you would like to change the most, the habit can be smoking or eating too much junk food or chocolate, do you find when someone asks you how you are going with giving up smoking or reducing your chocolate consumption you become highly emotional.

Do you react defensively or get sad or upset, our minds we deliberately create these barriers as our deep subconscious mind really doesn’t want to change.

Are habits can be formed over many years with the belief being supported and re-established by our behaviour. By constantly reaffirming an undesirable belief system, it becomes so entrenched that to make a positive change requires a real commitment to bring about a change.
It’s all about creating new pathways and maintaining these new pathways.

So often we start off we great intentions to lose weight, to change are dietary intake but after a short period we quickly fall off the wagon, lose motivation and resume our old well trodden pathways. The thought patterns that we are familiar with gives us the most comfort and security and reassurance as opposed to pursing a thought pattern or belief system which is contrary to what we have performed for years.

There are many stages in changing your belief system, like any achieving any goal, its about persistence to override resistance.

Do you prioritize your health?

It’s interesting that I have a friend (Lets call him Bob) who decided to buy a “Fixie” bicycle, a single speed bicycle that is the latest “must have” for the urbanite.

With all the excitement of his new acquisition it was ridden to work for 3 days, enter day 4 and the fixie remained parked in the garage.

Well Bob also decided to start his “Health Kick” with some jogging around the local park, once again what started of with awesome intentions quickly dissipated into a distant memory.

However Bob loves the news, he must have the most up to date, current events that are happening locally or around the world so Bob will always ensure he gets up before work to watch the TV and check out the internet, during the day he will check updates and the evening news is always watched no matter what.

So Bob places a high priority on his news fix but a lot less on his health, while Bob is still young, neglecting his health will not have immediate effect, only in the long term.

Often we will do all of this other stuff in our life but ultimately it’s our health that matters in the end, if you are old and frail, have limited mobility it will be too late as the opportinity has passed.

When self-belief is combined with positive thinking anything is possible, especially when it comes to change your life. After losing his job, Bruce’s belief in himself, and what can be achieved if you set your mind to it, had awesome results.

A common occurrence within the Australian manufacturing sector also hit the compressor manufacturing company where Bruce worked – 40% of the workforce, including Bruce, were made redundant. With Bruce in his early 50s, the prospect of gaining employment was challenging and could’ve represented a very low point in his life.

But, for Bruce and his wife Lindy this was a watershed moment, and they were encouraged to pursue their own business, something that may not have done otherwise.

They sold their home in a Melbourne bayside suburb and with Bruce’s severance pay, purchased a beautiful B&B with restaurant called “The Shed Cafe” in the foothills of the Strathbogie Ranges in Victoria.

Well, for Lindy and Bruce the fact that they had zero experience in hospitality was no obstacle. They believed they could make it happen and learn the skills necessary to running a successful business, in Bruce’s words “we would rise to the challenge”. Lindy also knew she was a great cook and could adapt to managing 45 people, especially after her experiences running a busy medical centre.

Successful it is, within six months from initial purchase, bookings over winter proved to be very strong and restaurant patronage regularly met the 45 person capacity. They recently had a couple celebrating their 56th wedding anniversary.

The great thing about this positive change for Bruce and Lindy is that their work/life balance is now in check. If they want to take some time out to relax during the day they can, they recognise it’s all about getting balance in your life, rather than go, go, going all the time.

Often we talk about making changes in our lives, whether it be setting goals for weight loss, trying to get a better work/life balance, spending more time with the family or reaching big, hairy, audacious goals such as selling the family home and buying a business. Bruce and Lindy prove it’s possible.

Ultimately, you have to believe in yourself and think positively about achieving your goals.

Every now and then we have stuff that purports to enhance athletic performance, there is the skins body suit garments for example, now we have “Power balance” that people swear makes a difference to their performance. A very impressive list of athletes can’t rave enough about it.

Is it a case where the wearer truly believes it makes a difference so the psychological change in the brain creates the belief and there is an improvement. So is it more like a lucky charm, similar to athletes who wear a religious cross around there neck and upon winning a race, ie cycling, they kiss the lucky charm.

Sports people have for years had similar rituals that give them the confidence to succeed. Think about tennis/football players who must bounce the ball “x” numbers of times before making a crucial serve, or the cricketers who rubs the ball against there groin to the point they will wear a hole in their trousers.

There is a famous experiment from Jane Elliot in 1968 who used and an experiment in demonstrating prejudice to highlight the psychological effects of feeling superior and all the bad stuff associated with that situation as well. Children in a classroom were divided based on there eye colour whereby blue eyed children were treated as being more intelligent and the brown eyed children lacked intelligence.

The blue eyed group experienced better grades with their understanding of reading and mathematical tasks being greater than what they had previously achieved. Conversely there was a negative relationship with the brown eyed children who experienced a decrease in there grades.
Ultimately it came down to the psychological benefit, the belief system that having blue eyes made them smarter and more superior, sound familiar?

The test that is often sited to test the benefits of the Power Balance is to hold your arm out at 90º to your body and for someone to push down on it, then you repeat the experiment after placing the bracelet on and miraculously it’s harder to push the arm down.

Well try this experiment in reverse and you will get the same outcome, I would like to see the scientific evidence that there is a measurable improvement in a controlled environment with at least 500 people to get a true sample size, not testimonials from athletes.
All I have to say is “SHOW US THE EVIDENCE”?

The weight loss industry is another example of where being unregulated unsubstantiated claims can be made, often if there are clinical trials, it is based on there on testing guidelines with an extremely small sample group.

Well for a limited time we are offering the “Fitstyler” hologram technology, just $99 plus we will throw in some steak knives:))