Greetings!

My friend Alex carries a Fitbit on his belt - a digital device with wifi. A year ago, Alex shot up with insulin before every meal, took meds for cholesterol and high blood pressure, and seemed to be severely depressed - like all the time! Today, he is 90 pounds lighter with no high blood pressure or diabetes. He believes that using the Fitbit saved his life.

Every day the device counts steps walked, stairs climbed, miles covered, and calories burned. Fitbit also monitors sleep patterns, the hours slept, and even the calories burned overnight.  The wifi feature shows him results on remote computers and even lets him share results with fellow fitbitters. How about THEM apples!

I have one of those geeky tools myself and aim daily to walk 10,000 steps, climb at least 10 floors, burn 2400 calories, and sleep 7 or 8 hours.

This article is not an advertisement for Fitbit. The aim, instead, is to illustrate Green thinking when it comes to taking on challenges like losing weight and getting fit.

Greens ask what works. Then they want to know what the smartest systems and tools are to get good results. They do the required research. It's possible they will adopt a proven system, but it's more likely they will custom-design a system that seems to work best for them.

Efficiency and practicaliy rule for Greens. For example, the $100 tab to buy a Fitbit turns out to be cheap compared to wasted hours self-monitoring with forms, pen, pencil, etc.  A Green will find a way to stand up to work at a computer rather than sit, and may even purchase one of those new desks that have treadmills where chairs used to be.  For people who care most about competence and knowledge, our Green friends rely first on science and technology.

Successful fitness is intimately tied to who you are. For Greens, "who they are" is often linked directly to protecting the brain with a fiercely healthy body that oozes high energy and rarely gets sleepy. Even the fitness program itself must fulfill Green requirements for the efficient use of time and resources. Many of us multitask while exercising, but Greens can take it to extraordinary levels: listening to books and lectures on an iPod, entering data and ideas while on a treadmill, reading, practicing presentations, figuring out difficult math problems, or even engaging in mindfulness exercises about body functioning and mind control.

This final paragraph will end this fitness module each week: If we have not been successful with our own fitness programs in the past, maybe it's time to try to get fit by borrowing ideas from the other Colors. I know it's true for me (a Blue). The Green approach makes perfect sense to me and has been a key factor in getting me closer to optimal health. Both Green and Orange thinking work for me. So what about you? What have you not tried before that might work for you this time?

Natalie Portman Trained Smart for Her Black Swan Role

 

  

  

  

When it comes to personal growth, each temperament has some innate self-sabotage to deal with - believe it or not.

For Greens, their natural skepticism can be a killer. Scratch a Green and find some doubt about absolutely everything. And doubt easily leads to sarcasm. Where skepticism and sarcasm interfere with a fitness program is in excuses not to continue. The system "isn't perfect enough."  Maybe "more research is required" but "I'm too busy to do it right now, so what the hell, pass the cheesecake!"

Green folks find self-respect in their autonomy - living by their own laws and judging that other people's ideas are fraught with errors. Autonomy of this kind might breed genuine irreverence and even arrogance. Thus, a fitness program is derailed because "I don't want to trade my autonomy for dependence on other people or on their ideas." Greens want to ask themselves if they are self-sabotaging by not listening to others.

People of a Green temperament wallow in the pleasure of self-control  and glorious willpower if they can possible achieve it. However, they know that parts of the will are involuntary, such as our basic needs around sleep, food, and sex.  Green folks who are serious about fitness will generally work hard to understand where the lines are between the involuntary will and one's ability to exercise willpower. The trap of self-sabotage lies between Green perfectionism and the frustration of dealing with our less-than-perfect human natures. It's not easy to "forgive oneself," but it's always "easy" to say "what the hell" instead. 

The good news is that many Green folks have actually done the research and found many ways to work constantly to strengthen their resolve--when most needed--for exercising willpower.