Part of Character Fitness is also developing your mind to take charge of your actions.  I know for it has always been hard for me to be able to make those healthy choices when there are so many better tasting options available.  (Not to mention the portion control problem once I decided to eat the “good stuff”!)  So, Day recommended that I read The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  I have read this book several times and its currently on my rotating list to read every 2 or 3 years.

I am normally a fairly quick reader.  I usually read about a book and a half per week, so its probably a good thing that I will be reading this book slowly one chapter a week.  This week we focused on Part One: Paradigms and Principles.

I think I probably expected, at some level, that my problems with being healthy came from within myself.  I guess I just didn’t want to admit that I had a problem with my thinking.  In the book Covey talks about a shift from what he calls the Character Ethic to the Personality Ethic.  He talks about researching the topic of success by looking at all of the books published in the United States on that topic in the last 200 years.  (Since 1776)  He notes, “…I began to feel more and more that much of the success literature of the past 50 years was superficial.  It was filled with social image consciousness, techniques and quick fixes – with social band-aids and aspirin that addressed acute problems and sometimes even appeared to solve them temporarily, but left the underlying chronic problems untouched to fester and resurface time and again.” (p. 18)

I began to dwell on those couple of sentences and realized that my health and fitness had been guided by those same shallow principles.  Each time I tried to go work out, eat better, or eat less, I wasn’t getting to the root of my problems.  I was merely “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”  In sharp contrast, he talks about the prior 150 years as being about the Character Ethic, “…things like integrity, humility, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, patience, industry, simplicity, modesty, and the Golden Rule.” (p. 18)  According to Covey, “The Character Ethic taught that there are basic principles of effective living, and that people can only experience true success and enduring happiness as they learn and integrate these principles into their basic character.”

This is what Day attempts to do with all of his clients.  His goal is to change the way you approach your health and fitness according to your character.  So that when options present themselves you know how to handle it.  Day is the first to tell you that he does not offer a quick fix for your health and fitness.  I can attest to the fact that it is not easy to play the BALANCE Game.

I liken my experience to the Karate Kid.  In the movie the main character, Daniel, is being trained by Mr. Miyagi and the first tasks given to him seem like mere chores: waxing the cars; sanding the floor; painting the fence; and painting the house.  It is then revealed that the motions he uses to do these mundane tasks are the foundation for his Karate training.  Mr. Miyagi knows that he cannot begin to really train him until he has mastered these movements.

In the same way my training at this point is boring and mundane.  We work on proper breathing techniques, low weight and very slow movements.  There are lots of holds and few reps.  But, this is building the foundation…the Character Ethic Mr. Covey talks about in his book.  So, I am content to know that I must have my foundation secure before the real training can begin.