Engage your CORE…

Next summer I’m taking a trip with family, friend, and client.  We’re headed to France and then to Greece.  We are going to ride across some of the toughest Tour de France mountain climbs including legendary climbs like Alp Duez.  We are going to push ourselves to our outer limits.  In preparation for this test, I’ve hired a personal trainer.  He is trying to prepare me for the trials that lie ahead.  Here’s what he keeps telling me every time that we train.  Do NOT miss this.  This is HUGE.

He keeps reminding me to “engage your core.”  He makes every exercise, a core exercise.  I can be doing a shoulder exercise and all the while he is asking me if I can “feel my core.”  At first this was simply frustrating. I could NOT feel my core when I was trying to work my shoulder.  Who would, I thought.  

After a handful of sessions with him one on one AND, do NOT miss this, triple that number on my own, I am beginning to understand.  He wants me to “engage the core” because as I do it provides stability to my entire body.  My posture improves, even as fatigue sets in.  The muscle I am trying to build is isolated.  The risk of “cheating” and using my back or legs to ‘help’ perform the task is eliminated.  So too is the risk of injury.  Very cool.

The same is true for engaging your CORE.  AT BTL we believe that nothing does more for an individual then a strong, well defined CORE.  

This starts with a clear understanding of what you believe.  Your WORLDVIEW.  What you believe is the biggest determiner of what you will achieve.  Study history and you will see this truth illustrated time and again.  

Most of us are too busy to take the time to answer the hard questions so we let the world define who we are instead  of ourselves.  Slow down and reflect.

Do you believe that we are all here by accident or by design?

Do you believe that there is a God, and that we can know Him?

Do you believe that we are accidents, and that we’ve got 70 or 80 years and then we’re done?

Do you believe that you are limited by others, your boss, your teacher, your spouse, your team?

Do you believe that you have what it takes?

Do you believe that you are here for a purpose and that discovering this purpose will engage your deepest passions?

Do you believe that success is only for the lucky few?

Do you believe that you are defined by your mistakes, your flaws and your failures?

Do you believe that God is a God of justice AND Grace, Mercy, and forgiveness?

Do you believe that humankind is capable of practicing any of those?

Do you believe that government is here to provide justice for ALL?

Do you know what you believe about the big questions in your life?

Have you spent the time and energy building and engaging your CORE?

Are you happy with how you respond to adversity?

Are you feeling prepared and ready for the struggle ahead?

Are you putting in the hours when the builder, the boss, or your bride is not around?

Are you investing your ten thousand hours toward something that fulfills a CORE purpose of yours, or are you just working your ass off for the almighty dollar, the over demanding boss, the career your Dad chose, or for someone else’s idea of SUCCESS?

Build your strong CORE.  Invest the time even when you feel you don’t have the time.  You have what it takes.  We all do.  The key, however, is what are you willing to do about it.  Are you willing to take the time to know who you are, what you believe, and what you want?  

Go on.

Engage your CORE.

 

Slow down and reflect…