Q: Hey Mark, I am a perfectionist by nature. I feel if I eat one bad thing my whole day is ruined. Do you have any tips?
A: You might think the answer to this question would be simply, share the tips, “the end”. But, because it is the Enterprise blog and I am Mark Ottobre, bare with me while I dig a little deeper.
Have you ever visited the Enterprise Fitness Studio? When you walk in, you will find it to be clean, ordered and inviting.
Now take a closer look…
You will notice that the dumbbells are branded and the handles have been customized to give a better grip, benches and machinery are black and blue, just like our perfectly collared 2XU uniforms, the platforms are loaded with weights in a certain order, even our receptionist chair, it all matches. Monday through Sunday this is how my studio looks each and every single day. My nature doesn’t allow it any other way.
Everyone has a nature. It is what makes us unique. Set alight in childhood, it flickers and grows as we do. But people often mistakenly blame their nature. I believe this is a mistake. Your innate nature is a strength so long as you harness it to your advantage.
You may think it’s in your ‘nature’ not to complete things or it’s in your ‘nature’ to not be able to control what you eat or it’s your ‘nature’ to hate your body. Or in this case, it’s in your nature to be a perfectionist… (You’re not alone by the way).
If you are a perfectionist, great, use it to better yourself and strive for more. If it’s in your nature not to complete things, then hire people to complete them for you. Make it mean that you’re great at starting projects. If it’s in your nature not to control your choices, get someone to coach you and make it in your nature to listen to them.
For example, I trained a young girl who despised herself. Her each and every thought was riddled with negativity. She was “mad at people”. I taught her that it’s in her nature to care about others and when she doesn’t allow that part of her to shine, she doesn’t feel good about herself and that she couldn’t just block out caring for others, it was in her nature. As a result of allowing that part of her to shine, she “got happy”.
My nature is reflected in my surroundings and bleeds into every thing I do. Hell yes I am a perfectionist and everything does need to be a certain way. It is relentless- AND so is staying at the top of your game and having a world-class environment for people to train where every trainer is trained to the same exceptionally high standard.
Embrace your nature and use it to achieve your greatest goals.
Oh, and in answer to your question, how did you know the day was perfect to begin with? Just playing… but it does make you think…
Another tip, make rules with yourself you don’t break. One I encourage is; if you are going to indulge, make it the last thing you eat for the day. MEANING; you eat it at the end of the day after dinner. (No, NOT for breakfast in an effort you can “burn it off”.)
Reason being, eat something out of diet, you go to bed- The End. Wake up the next day with a fresh start.
When you have pancakes with ice cream for breakfast, what tends to follow?
Pizza for lunch.
Piece a chocolate for a snack.
Thai for dinner.
Chocolate cake for dessert.
I mean, you might as well right? You ruined it at breakfast. It sets up a downward spiral for the day thus doing it at the end of the day doesn’t allow you to spiral out of control for the day.
Remember, this is ONE strategy out of thousands. The best is always one that you believe in.
Maximus Mark Ottobre
Owner & Director of Enterprise Fitness
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