I often use the phrase “well-centered fitness”. I distinguish this from the concept of “wellness” that most have heard often. If you have graduated from college in the last couple of decades or so, you likely took a required course that emphasized wellness. Wellness is defined as the balance among (usually) 5 or 6 “dimensions”. These dimensions are Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social. Some instructors might include Environmental and/or Occupational, but I see these as more intertwined with the basic 5-dimensional model of wellness.
I prefer “well-centered fitness” over merely “wellness” for one major distinction. Wellness emphasizes balance. Well-centeredness emphasizes the necessity for growth beyond simply balance. Well-centeredness requires change.
In The World’s Most Powerful Leadership Principle, James C. Hunter poses the question: “’By definition, can you improve if you don’t change?’” The answer is certainly “no”. Likewise, well-centered fitness emphasizes a growth-mindset. In business circles, the term used for constant improvement is kaizen. In life, like in business, if we are not growing, we are stagnating or shrinking. Well-centered fitness seeks growth in the Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social dimensions. If I were Dr. Suess, I would say that a well-centered person keeps “bettering and bettering”.
It is not enough to be balanced in life. We need to seek to be our best today and be better tomorrow. I see well-centeredness as bullseye that keeps getting smaller as our aim improves. I believe, legendary coach, Vince Lombardi captured this when he said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
I have read criticisms of the quote “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars”, which I have seen attributed to a number of different sources. The critics say “why shoot for the closest planetary object?” The point these critics are missing is that we have to shoot for something. My friend, Coyte Cooper (Make Your Mark; www.coytecooper.com) suggests that goals should be unreasonable by normal standards. He does not suggest that unreasonable should be impossible. Unreasonable suggest that we might miss, but we are going to be better off even if we come up short. True the “shoot for the moon” statement is flawed in that, if we land among the stars, we have gone beyond the moon, but going further than our intended goal is actually a good thing. If we aim for the stars—too far beyond our capabilities—we are more likely to miss our target. (As well, “among the stars” is pretty general.) In addition, if we can hit our goal—e.g., “the moon”—what is the point in repeatedly aiming for the same target. We get better by making the target more difficult to hit. Thus, is well-centered fitness. This is kaizen.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!