What Do You Want?

Nothing is achieved when the answer is ‘I don’t know.’ Deciding what you want, creating the time and devoting the necessary resources are critical to any type of success. They are critical functions in an executive role. Success is something that you have to go out and take, it is not something that comes to your while you exist in a passive state.

This is well known, yet when I ask people ‘What do they want’ the most common answer is ‘I don’t know.’

Knowing what you want is so critical when an overweight executive is sitting in front of me. The answer isn’t obvious. Yes, they want weight loss, but if you think that is the answer you have missed the point.

What they want is greater mental, physical and emotional energy to DO and FEEL things that are only available to them once they lose 20% of their body weight. The motivation to change is only developed when you can define with exquisite detail how your life will be different when you reach your goal.

What I want was inspired by something that Jarryd Hayne said when asked last year about his training goals. Jarryd explained — ‘I want to feel like I can run through brick walls.’

My brick wall is unlike Jarryd’s; it isn’t physical. My brick wall is what I want out of life.

I want (and will) change the health of the nation. I strive to be the catalyst that radically changes the health of each executive that I meet. Working with me must be a life-changing experience. However, I will not die on the field. I must operate with calmness to soothe the chaos that can exist in executives lives.

I must also have the energy to love with an open heart and develop close relationships with a partner, my family and friends. Being in my presence must be an energising experience, no matter if I am with you as a friend, a coach or as president of my branch of Make A Wish Australia.

This is what I want. This is why I use all of my knowledge and skill to create the high levels of health that I enjoy.

Now, it’s your turn — What do you want?

“You need to do it for a reason that is beyond self. Whether it’s for your kids or your wife, there has to be a purpose behind it. You’ve got to ask the same questions of yourself that organisations ask: Why am I doing what I am doing?”
 — Mina Ames, Consultant, Egon Zehnder

Mina is one of four executives who is profiled in my book The Executive Athlete which will be released later this year.