Brave New Life

Day Sixteen

I had a very disturbing realization today. I cannot do a single push up or sit up. When did I get this out of shape? I work a very physical outdoors job and have more arm muscle than ever before in my life, but back in high school I maxed out pushups every fitness test and I thought I was out of shape then?! I have come to the conclusion that I'm never going to be able to reach any of my fitness goals alone and I'll need to find a personal trainer. This seems extremely daunting and embarrassing to someone as out of shape as I am. 

Anyway, I'll try not to have a full mental breakdown over that and move on. I listened to my book today and got a lot out of it! This chapter/section was about interpersonal interactions and your mindset on them. It breaks down that there are a few different mindsets when dealing with people: win-win, win-lose, and lose-lose. There might be more, but that's all I really needed to remember to understand. I decided that I have mostly be operating from a win-lose mindset, where I think that if someone else wins, I lose. Or, I think that I always lose and so am never surprised when I do. It's really kept me in a negative mindset loop. I've already begun working on my mindset and have made progress, but progress is not linear and learning is (or should be) a lifelong process. Stephen (the author) suggests that the only realistic mindset is win-win. In particular, the concept of "win-win or no deal" resonated with me. Either we come to a solution that both parties are happy with, or there's no deal. It's such a simple answer to dealing with both people and business, yet so difficult to implement. My favorite part of this section was Stephen's definition of maturity. "Maturity is the balance between courage and consideration." -Stephen R. Covey. 

There's a lot more to say about this section of reading, but I am once again writing far too late at night so I'll wrap it up. What I did to better my tomorrow: I got up and made my bed, I ate very well, I worked out, and I made time to catch up with a friend. Besides the time that I used to watch TV with dinner (and the extra episode afterwards to digest), I hardly wasted a minute of my time today and feel pretty proud of that. Now if only I could do some pushups...

Til tomorrow my brave comrades,

-C.