Fit for Life: Are You “All In”

Saturday, October 19, 2019

Matt Espeut, GoLocalWorcester Health +Lifestyle Contributor

Matt Espeut

Do you go all out and do every task at 100%?

If not, why not?

Everything we do requires time, and time is our most valuable asset, so if you are going to invest any amount of time into something, wouldn’t it make sense to invest 100% effort into everything we do, and not waste the time.

Anything worth doing is worth doing properly, and we can’t do something well unless we invest thought and effort into it.

When you think deep enough about this concept, you will realize that it doesn’t take much more effort, and the same amount of time to exceed expectations and go above and beyond our call of duty.

This relates to every facet of our lives from folding your laundry to performing your occupation to the highest level.

In most cases, doing something well, to begin with, will actually save us valuable time on the back end, and when you go above and beyond, it creates a positive experience that will make others notice, and potentially elevate their game.

Let me explain with the least significant first. Something as mundane as folding laundry.

It doesn’t take any more time to fold your shirts the same way, place your pants on hangers facing the same direction, and neatly stacking them in your closet or drawers. If you want to take the next step, color coordinate and group all your colors together.

Now I know some of you are thinking “This guy’s completely nuts, and off the wall OCD”, which may be true, but let me give you my rationale behind this craziness.

First, it’s very satisfying to me and relives anxiety when my stuff is in order.

When I go into my closet, everything is uniform, facing the same direction, and grouped by color, which helps expedite making decisions on what to wear.

I look, grab, get dressed and go saving time trying to decide what I will wear and if the colors match. Again, it takes the same amount of time putting things away in this order, saves time on the back end, and relieves some anxiety by being organized.

Granted I’m a guy, don’t have a huge variety of colors and don’t care as much as most women when selecting an outfit, however, this strategy is effective for everyone.

On another more important level, do you perform at work and give 100% effort in everything you do?

I don’t care if you clean restrooms, or handle patients in a hospital, everything you do should be done to the best of your ability.

Not only is someone paying you for your best effort, but others in your organization will also emulate the effort you put forth.

If you are leading people, they see what you do overhear what you say, so if you expect someone else’s best, you better be delivering yours.

If you have coworkers around you, and they see you over exceed expectations, chances are they will too. It’s contagious on both levels.

If you are in the customer service business, it will create an experience that will keep people coming back and revisiting your establishment.

I was away last week for a couple of days, and relied on Ubers, visited new coffee shops and restaurants and received treatment from both categories.

I had several Uber drivers pick me up that had zero personality, their cars were a mess, and you could tell they exerted zero effort to make their passenger feel comfortable.

On the contrary, I had a couple that had nice clean cars, and were so nice and personable, I wanted to stay in the car and drive around with them longer. One woman barely spoke English and was so happy and talkative, I was grinning from ear to ear the whole ride. Another guy was showing me videos of his 8-year-old son doing pushups after he found out that I owned a gym.

That created an experience for me that made the day a little brighter, and I truly appreciated the hospitality.

The same went for a couple of coffee shops I visited. Some people could care less if you bought their coffee, and some came from around the counter to talk. Guess which people I will remember, and be sure to return to and patronize again? The ones that gave the effort to perform at a higher level and create a world-class experience.

Lastly, I need to throw your health and fitness routine into the mix.

When you work out, you are investing the same amount of time regardless of your effort level, so why not invest 100% and reap the best possible results.

Even worse, why invest the time and effort in the gym, only to leave and blow it by eating garbage, when it doesn’t require much more time to prepare something healthy over something that won’t net you a positive result.

Again, it’s the 100% factor. Why NOT go above and beyond and do a little extra to gain a favorable result?

The extra effort is worth it, and you will never disappoint yourself by giving a little more to get a lot better.

By thinking this way, we develop habits of discipline and discipline bleeds into everything in our lives and makes us do things better.

My definition of discipline is the ability to make ourselves do something uncomfortable or put ourselves through pain in order to produce a better outcome, or achieve a favorable result.

Discipline DOES discriminate and in order to be disciplined on all levels we need to work at it for a long time in order to develop it in every arena of our lives.

It’s easier to be disciplined doing the easy things and the things we like to do over the things we need to do, so it’s important to exercise it on every level in order to be able to focus on the difficult tasks, that require more.

In general, how you do anything is how you do everything, so it’s in all our best interests to focus, apply more effort and go at everything in life 100% of our abilities.

Remember easy choices = hard life and hard choices will = an easier life.

Committed to your success,

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitness consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one.