August 26, 2009

Conditioning

Brooks is going to play football for the first time. He is a big guy and is athletic so he should be good. But he has never had a coach really get on him. The first time a coach yells at him, maybe even grabs a little face mask, Brooks may want to quit. He is sensitive like his mother. I am worried that he has never been through the physical nature of football training. I keep encouraging him to start working out now, but his efforts have been half-hearted.

He and I played golf the other day, and we both were playing awful. You know how it is, some days you just can’t seem to hit anything where you want it. He wanted to quit. I kept encouraging him to fight through it; to be positive; to work hard at correcting mistakes. “Don’t just swing harder. Think through what you need to do.” But he would have nothing of it. He checked out mentally.

Consider the mental toughness required to make a 6 foot putt with a championship on the line, to complete a run or race in a personal record time, to make a difficult personnel decision, to give a closing argument, to perform a delicate surgery or to drive cross country by yourself! Each of these examples requires different conditioning. To be successful you have to practice the physical act and the mental and emotional act.

Success takes physical, mental and spiritual conditioning. Diet, exercise and drills can only take us so far. I have worked with so many talented people but they didn’t know how to take care of themselves and condition themselves with habits that lead to success. They had all of the innate skills to be a solid leader, but they would get distracted by…..well just call it immaturity.

Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is much more important, for it promises reward in both this life and the next. 1 Timothy 4:8

Commit yourself to staying fit physically, mentally and spiritually. You should desire to get in the best condition of your life, to use your time wisely and to have the desire to reach your goals. Spirit, Mind and Body - the Y way!!!!