Training is Not the Same Thing as Exercising

What it takes to GROW!

In almost every workshop we deliver, we try to teach the principle that the mind is a muscle. What does this mean? Well, your mind and really your whole life operate on the same growth and strengthening principles as any muscle in your body, and almost everyone misunderstands what it takes to make a muscle grow. Pay attention, here.

I always ask my students "what do you need to do to make a muscle grow stronger or larger?" They always reply with great enthusiasm, "You need to EXERCISE!" That is totally incorrect. You can exercise your muscles all day long and they will never get one iota stronger. To make a muscle grow, you must TRAIN that muscle - work it and tax it beyond what it's ever done before, and then you must FEED that muscle with the right balance of nutrients so it can recover and grow. In fact, muscles don't grow while you're working out. They grow as a RESULT of your workout, but the growth actually happens while you are resting. I'll suggest that your mind and your life are exactly the same. You've got to have both "intense workout" time and proper recovery time in your life if you want to see growth. How do you do this?

"Life Workouts"

The main key here is that in your professional life as well as your physical life, you must push beyond what you are comfortable with. Working a muscle in a growth-inducing manner requires some discomfort, even pain. Apply this principle to the rest of your life. Set goals that are out of your current reach. Think big! Go someplace you've never been. If you're a salesperson, make more calls or appointments in a week than you ever have. PUSH yourself to new levels of focus and effort. Will this require some discipline? Absolutely! In fact, it will actually hurt a little. But that kind of pain is temporary and if you'll work through it, the growth in your life and your pocketbook will make you forget that pain quickly.

"Life Feeding"

If all you do is push with no recovery, growth does not occur. Quite the opposite, in fact. Once you've stretched your limits, it is important to feed your mind and your life just like you eat to replenish your strength. Some "recovery tips" for your Life:

? Celebrate your victories. When something goes right, when your "pushing beyond" actually gets the results you desire, enjoy it for a little while! Reward your wins and you get charged up to want more of them.

? Take time for yourself - by yourself and with those you love. Quiet time alone for a little bit each week is absolutely necessary to recharge your batteries. Just as important is quality time with family or those you care about. This is often the first thing a busy professional sacrifices, which is why so many are burned out. It doesn't need to be tons of time, but it has to be some.

? Feed your mind systematically. The practice of reading an inspiring or uplifting book for 15-30 minutes daily is absolutely the most refreshing and life-changing habit you can develop. If you want to grow, you must have BOTH the workout and the recovery time. Find the balance and growth is inevitable. Not easy, but inevitable.

Be Free!

Roger Seip

Roger Seip is a nationally known memory trainer. He has help thousands of students across the country improve their memory as well as study habits. His new program, The Student's Winning Edge - Memory Training, teaches students how to train their memory to study more effectively and get better grades. For more information on how your student can have a more Powerful memory visit http://www.MemoryTrainingForStudents.com or email info@MemoryTrainingForStudents.com

In The News:

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Auto executives, from left, General Motors Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner, UAW President Ron Gettelfinger,  Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan Mulally, and Chrysler Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli testify on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, before a Senate Banking Committee hearing on the auto industry bailout.  (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP - U.S. automakers drew fresh skepticism from lawmakers Thursday in a rocky confrontation over their pleas for an expanded $34 billion rescue package they say they need to survive. Congressional analysts said one bailout plan under consideration would fall short of what the carmakers want.



A Railway Special Forces personnel keeps guard at Mumbai's main train station, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, in Mumbai, India, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. India suspects that two senior leaders of a banned Pakistani militant group master minded last week's three-day terrorist attacks that killed 171 people in Mumbai, an Indian intelligence official said Thursday. (AP Photo/Saurabh Das)AP - Airports in India went on high alert Thursday following fresh attack warnings, and officials said India suspects two senior leaders of a banned Pakistani militant group orchestrated last week's deadly Mumbai attacks.



A wounded Iraqi policeman is brought to a hospital in Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008. The man was among two policemen wounded when their patrol car was struck by a roadside bomb. i(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)AP - Suicide bombers killed 17 people — including two American soldiers — and wounded more than 100 in a string of blasts in two Iraqi cities Thursday as a timetable for withdrawing all U.S. troops won final government approval.



Caren Ramirez is shown in this booking photo provided by the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department on Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008. Ramirez was arrested in connection with alleged abuse against her 17 year-old nephew who showed up Monday, Dec. 1, 2008 at a northern California gym with a chain locked to his ankle. (AP Photo/ San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department)AP - A California couple has been charged with kidnapping and torturing a 17-year-old boy police say they sometimes kept shackled in their home.



Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Albert Lea, Minn. is seen in an August 208 photo. Two teenage girls who worked at Good Samaritan Society nursing home have been charged with abuse, accused of taunting, spitting on and groping the breasts and genitals of residents who suffered from Alzheimer's disease and other dementia disorders in a complaint filed Monday, Dec. 1. 2008. Brianna Broitzman, 19, and Ashton Larson, 18, were charged as adults.  Four other teens who worked with them at the Good Samaritan Society were charged as juveniles for failing to report the incidents.(AP Photo/Albert Lea Tribune, Brie Cohen)AP - Two teenage girls who worked at a nursing home have been charged with abuse, accused of taunting, spitting on and groping residents who suffered from Alzheimer's disease.



This undated file photo released by the White House shows President Lyndon Johnson as he sits with three of his beagles during a flight to his Texas ranch aboard Air Force One. (AP Photo/White House, FILE)AP - In the last months of his administration, President Lyndon Johnson voiced worry over the Vietnam peace talks and stridently suggested that associates of Richard Nixon were attempting to keep South Vietnam away from the table until after the 1968 election, recordings of telephone conversations released Thursday show.



In this photo taken Oct. 29, 2005, Dominic Spano, front, of New Milford, Conn., and his son, Michael Spano, 12, load an MG-42 machine gun during the Westfield Sportsman's Club's annual Machine Gun Shoot and Firearms Expo at the club ground in Westfield, Mass. It was announced Thursday, Dec. 4, 2008, that Dominic Spano and two other men were indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of 8-year-old Christopher Bizilj, who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi during a gun show at the Westfield club in October 2008.  (AP Photo/The Republican, Christopher Evans)AP - Three men, including a small-town police chief, were indicted Thursday on involuntary manslaughter counts in the gun-fair death of an 8-year-old who accidentally shot himself in the head with an Uzi that a prosecutor said he never should have been allowed to handle.



In this April 19, 2007 file photo, Erik Estrada poses on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles.  (AP Photo/Nick Ut, file)AP - Erik Estrada has returned to Muncie to take part in overnight police patrols in the city where he starred in the short-lived reality series "Armed & Famous." The former star of the 1970s motorcycle cop drama "CHiPs" is a reserve officer on the Muncie Police Department.



AP - A New Jersey woman is suing a Pennsylvania sports bar and restaurant, saying she got stuck inside a toilet bowl for 20 minutes when the seat broke. Kathleen Hewko, of Delran Township, said she was in the bathroom at Starters Pub in an Allentown suburb when the handicapped toilet seat she was sitting on cracked and dumped her into the bowl.

In this Oct. 7, 2008, file photo, New Orleans Saints defensive end Will Smith is shown during a  football game against the Carolina Panthers at the Superdome in New Orleans. The NFL Players Association is suing to block five of the six player suspensions for violating the league's anti-doping policy. The suit filed in federal court is on behalf of Kevin Williams and Pat Williams of the Minnesota Vikings, and Charles Grant, Deuce McAllister and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon,file)AP - A federal judge will be asked to decide Friday whether five suspended NFL players deserve a chance to play this weekend. At issue is whether the league had a duty to notify its players and their union that a dietary supplement the five took contained a banned ingredient.



Robert Nardelli, Chairman and CEO of Chyrsler LLC, testifies during the Senate Banking Committee hearing on the financial assistance package for the big Detroit automakers on Capitol Hill, December 4, 2008. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)Reuters - The top executives of the major U.S. automakers faced skeptical questioning on Capitol Hill as they pleaded for $34 billion in federal aid and warned of a possible collapse that would jeopardize millions of jobs.



The AT and T logo in an undated photo. AT and T said on Thursday it would eliminate 12,000 jobs, about 4 percent of its workforce, as it joins a raft of corporations trying to slash costs in the face of the economic downturn. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Top U.S. phone company AT&T Inc said it will eliminate 12,000 jobs, or about 4 percent of its workforce, in a fresh wave of cuts to cope with an economic downturn that has exacerbated a decline in traditional phone sales.



A job seeker visits the ASSEDIC (jobless insurance) agency booth in Marseille, December 2, 2008. (Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters)Reuters - The European Central Bank, Britain and Sweden all made big cuts in interest rates on Thursday to shore up economies across Europe in the face of ever-bleaker financial news.



Closed circuit television footage released on December 3, 2008 shows gunmen walking across a parking lot after a shooting spree at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus train station in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. (Investigating Team Video via Reuters TV/Reuters)Reuters - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday Pakistan had given assurances of its commitment to root out terrorism and round up anyone connected to last week's attack in the Indian city of Mumbai.



Reuters - Iraq's Presidency Council has approved a security pact with the United States that paves the way for a complete U.S. troop pullout by the end of 2011, a spokesman for the council said on Thursday.

A shopkeeper is seen at an electronics shop in Moscow during Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's annual question-and-answer session with the Russian people, December 4, 2008. (Denis Sinyakov/Reuters)Reuters - The United States will quickly feel a change in attitude from Moscow if President-elect Barack Obama transforms Washington's policies toward Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday.



Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej attends the annual Trooping of the Colour, an annual military parade, in Bangkok's Royal Plaza, December 2, 2008. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)Reuters - Thailand's revered and influential king missed his traditional birthday eve address due to illness on Thursday, a speech many Thais had hoped would provide short-term relief to the country's intractable political crisis.



A still from a 2002 advertising campaign launched by the U.S. government to persuade Muslims around the world that U.S. Muslims are free to live and worship as they wish. (Handout/Reuters)Reuters - Hate crimes against Arab Americans have decreased steadily since the September 11 attacks but are still more common than they were before the hijackings, a civil rights group said on Thursday.



European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet gives a press conference after a meeting of ECB governors in Brussels. Leading European central banks took historic action Thursday to ward off spreading recessions, slashing their key lending rates to boost businesses and consumers.(AFP/BELGA/Dirk Waem)AFP - Leading European central banks took historic action Thursday to ward off spreading recessions, slashing their key lending rates to boost businesses and consumers.



A map locating the western Iraqi city of Fallujah. Car bombers killed at least 15 people in a former rebel bastion on Thursday as Iraq's security pact with Washington won final approval before its launch at the end of the month.(AFP/Graphic)AFP - Car bombers killed at least 15 people in a former rebel bastion on Thursday as Iraq's security pact with Washington won final approval before its launch at the end of the month.




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