What are you willing to do for your kids? Are you willing to move to another town for a better school system? Are you willing to work an extra job so that they could participate on a select team? Are you willing to give up some or all of your dreams so that they can pursue theirs? Most parents would answer yes to every one of the questions above.
At I.T.S. I tell our coaches repeatedly that we must practice what we preach. Who wants to get coached through a workout by a person who looks like a pile of goo? It’s important for our clients to see that we are all physically fit and that we have been through the same physical and mental battles that they are going through.
What does this have to do with your kids?
How often have you told your child, “you have to stick it out until the end” when they wanted to quit in the middle of something? How often have you stressed to them the importance of being disciplined? How often have you required that they finish their homework before they go play or go to a friend’s house?
Are YOU practicing the same principles that you are trying to teach them? Do YOU stick to something once you’ve started? Do YOU show discipline, even when it gets tough? Do YOU stay the course until a goal is achieved?
I’ve literally had a lady (who was at least 75 pounds overweight) tell me, “I’m not willing to spend an hour a day away from my kids just so that I can workout.” Luckily I was able to bite my tongue but I wanted to say, “Either steal an hour a day from them now or steal 15 years off of the end of your life from them later.”
But take health out of the argument for now. What a great example she could have set for her kids. Even though eating clean and training may not have been her favorite thing to do, her kids could have watched her display discipline, hard work and dedication!! They would have seen stick to and finish something. They would have seen her go through the ups and downs of trying to achieve a goal. They would have seen her fight through plateaus and days where motivation is hard to come by. They would have seen her, in spite of all of the obstacles that arise, SUCCEED!! What better lesson to teach your kids?
Are you practicing what you preach? The message that you send through actions is MUCH more powerful that the message you send with your words.
Ever stronger!!
Levi
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