Kevin W. McCarthy

The Professor of On-Purpose

Health & Fitness

Are You a Fathead?

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Dumb decisions come from dumb people or fatheads, right? Wrong!

We’re all subject to making poor choices.

Would you knowingly inflict brain damage on another person or yourself? Would you willingly diminish your brain capacity? Of course not! Hmmm, then again …

  • What if a particular series of your choices repeated over time is making you especially susceptible to being a fathead?
  • What if those choices were within your control and could help prevent you from the compound effect of one bad decision after another?
  • Would you be interested in learning how to improve your decision-making and to stop the waist?

At the risk of offending, this On-Purpose Minute challenges you to look down on yourself for the answer to the question, “Am I a fathead?”

Your waist size is a dead giveaway.

You’ll know immediately if you suffer from this condition while watching this video. 70% of the U.S. population is overweight or obese according to the Center for Disease Control.

This is the confession of a recovering “fathead.” In 2008, I lost 50 pounds and have kept it off since. Honestly, it has been a struggle. I discovered I was an emotional eater when I was really happy or really sad. Doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room, does it?

I found my right mind by working with Lori, my Health Coach. She gently spoke truth in love into my life and health. She provided me with a meal replacement plan plus regular food while helping me to become more mindful of what and how much I was consuming on a day-to-day basis.

You, too, can work with a Health Coach who can guide and support you in your decision to reboot your brain, bottom, and life. It is very affordable. I’m not talking about a personal trainer who will attempt to grind the pounds off you. Don’t do that! Exercise is great for toning and conditioning but lousy for weight loss. Nutrition is 600% more effective than exercise. The problem is you probably don’t really know how to create a safe, effective, portion-controlled menu for yourself.

If you have Health Coach, then really lean into what he or she has to say. Borrow Can't Out-Exercise a Bad Dietfrom their training, experience, and certification to regain your vitality, vim, and vigor.

Do you want to talk with a Health Coach? If so, I’ll make the arrangements for you. I have an affiliation with health coaches across the USA who will gladly clear your thinking. Email me for a recommendation. Each Health Coach will help your life, health, and style of living be more on-purpose.

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Some great weight loss/health quotes:
A waist is a terrible thing to mind. – Tom Wilson
The one way to get thin is to re-establish a purpose in life. –  Cyril Connolly, The Unquiet Grave
Never eat more than you can lift. – Miss Piggy

Will You Be a Boom or Bust?

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The following text of this On-Purpose Business Minute is dedicated to Baby Boomers, but the video is applicable to anyone in, entering, or exiting the workforce.

Think of a Baby Boomer you know—he or she may be your parents or you.

Three big trends are converging to create an economic swirl of circumstances that will define their next twenty to thirty years.

  1. Baby Boomers are now hitting retirement age in record numbers.
  2. The world economy is unstable and so are many retirement and pension plans.
  3. Baby Boomers are retiring from jobs, but not from life, or the desire (need!) to keep earning.

Many Boomers will find themselves with

  • an empty nest
  • plenty of time on their hands
  • a desire to make a difference
  • a smaller retirement nest egg or pension than anticipated

Rather than heading for assisted living, they’ll be doing a “working retirement”—some by choice and others by necessity.

So what’s your plan for retirement?

Many of your friends may be saying, “I want to retire to Florida or Arizona to play golf, eat out, see movies, read books, relax, and visit my grandchildren.” Some of you may be thinking, “I’m interested in beginning my own business.” I hope so!

Perry James is a character appearing in both The On-Purpose Person and The On-Purpose Business Person. He’s a retired gentleman who provides mentoring and consulting services to a variety of small- and medium-sized business owners.

Perry is based on a dear friend and mentor of mine—Perry Nies, an MIT graduate with a Harvard Business School MBA, and retired business executive and owner. When I was in my early thirties Perry engineered me through some true business challenges. To this day we remain friends and are connected through church. At over 90 years of age Perry is an engaged and vital contributor who still consults and is involved in ministries. He’s also a role model for many Boomers of how to have an On-Purpose retirement.

 

The Baby Boom began in 1945. Today, the wave of Baby Boomers is being presented with a remarkable opportunity to dream and plan their “retirement.” Many will become “retired professionally” but seek to keep an active hand and mind in the affairs of business and life. I know for a fact that the Millennial and Gen X Generations need their wisdom, experience, and skills. I’m at the tail end of the Baby Boom and I value their counsel.

What if the most on-purpose years of your career are just around the corner … and you never make the turn because you hadn’t planned on it?

This blog post is simply my way of putting the challenge before the retiring Baby Boomers—keep Booming (and blooming).

  • Plan new businesses
  • Outline books you’ve always wanted to write
  • Offer your talent
  • Be a mentor
  • Stay connected
  • Think ahead
  • Develop your business plan now not later

Once they’re out of the flow of activity, most never return because they’ve fallen behind and the effort to get back up to speed is overwhelming.

Avoid getting caught short at retirement without a life and work plan. Without one, you’re likely to become a Baby Buster instead of a Baby Boomer.

To Do: Begin writing what your future could be. Download the Discovery Guide to help you get started.

Are You Full of “Should”?

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Stop “shoulding” on yourself and others.

Should is a powerfully debilitating word. It combines the spirit of good intention with a built-in disclaimer of failure. It is more potent than wishful thinking but far less honest. At least when we wish, we don’t really have the expectation of it coming true. Should—however directive and well intended—is deceptive and shame inducing.Should

Shoulds can be self-proclaimed.

Here are examples of typical shoulds:

  • “I should lose 20 pounds.”
  • “I should exercise more.”
  • “I should call my mother.”
  • “I should make that sales call.”
  • “I should save more money.”
  • “I should speak up for myself.”

These decrees of self-deception are mere words tossed off our tongues so we sound like we’re on top of a matter and knowledgeable … when, truthfully, we are not committed. Words without action amount to just a pile of sh… shoulds.

These “I should … ” statements are weasel words that neither inspire nor encourage.

Instead, we exile ourselves to be mired in mediocrity.

In the pairings below, which statement do you find more believable?

  • “I should lose 20 pounds.” Or “I will lose 20 pounds.”
  • “I should call my mother.” Or “I will call my mother.”
  • “I should get a better job.” Or “I am working to find a better job.”

The bottom line: Strike should from your vocabulary whether talking to yourself or someone else. People of strength don’t mince their words by shoulding on themselves or others.Detail_discoveryfree

P.S. As promised, here is the link to the free Discovery Guide preview. Use this preview version to gain clarity and direction for your life so you can say “yes” to what’s important to your life, career, and work.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

Will You Have A Happy, Healthy, & Prosperous New Year?

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(This video was originally recorded in 2011. While the year mentioned is not current, the message shared is timeless.)

To kick off the New Year, I’ve gathered a handful of On-Purpose Minutes and Business Minutes relevant to the popular New Year’s toast for a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year. Rather than it being a mere sentiment, why not make it a reality or at least invest your self in making your good life even better?

Put your good intentions into action!

For each aspect of this New Year gesture, dig deeper by clicking on the provided links to relevant Minutes.

Happy On-Purpose New Year!
Kevin

A Happy New Year

Happy is rightfully a great word to be associated with New Year’s Day. Much like time itself, happiness is fleeting, yet so desired. Who doesn’t want to be happy? The term “Happy New Year” embraces the chronological odometer as it turns and makes a fresh start for 2018. Relish the reminder.

Comparing Christmas Day to New Year’s Day reveals an interesting shift of words and implications. We will say Merry Christmas, but the word most reverently associated with this Christian holy day is joy, as in the song, Joy to the World.

Joy can be one’s reality regardless of whether circumstances are happy or unhappy. Trading in happiness is a far less stable currency of emotion. Joy is the gold standard.

Are You Happily Distracted?

How Do You Get The Job Of Your Life?

How Do I Find Peace In My Life?

A Healthy New Year

Several years ago, this over-50 former athlete turned business advisor, author, and speaker was resigned to wearing “my fat suit.” This is going to sound awful, but I was so accepting of my extra pounds that I used to say, “Unless I have a cancer, I probably won’t lose this weight.” Ugh!

Fortunately, that changed in March 2008, when I was booked by Dr. Wayne Andersen (sight unseen) to be the keynote speaker at the Take Shape For Life National Convention. I did the program, lost the weight, and haven’t really looked back at my old weight since. Admittedly, the holidays are the hardest part for me because I get so out of my normal routine; it is a festive time, and I’m addicted to sweets.

Are You Starting A Diet Monday?

Do You Want To Grow Into Maturity?

A Prosperous New Year

Prosperity is so overused, abused, and misunderstood. Let’s set the record straight.

Are You Prepared to Prosper?

Blessed Are The Profitmakers For They Shall Enrich The Earth

 

What If You Knew You Would Live to Be A Healthy 100 Year Old?

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Too many middle-aged people have succumbed to the popular notion that age defines attitude.

When your decades number close to five or more, who says you can’t start a new business, begin to learn new things, or be adventurous?

Don’t be down just because you’re up in age. Longevity lives in your spirit, not your chronology.

Resist the fractured logic that 65, the retirement age, is the end of your useful life. Retirement from a job doesn’t mean your life is over. It is simply a time for a new beginning. Let purpose—not your age—define your life, and you’re alive with the truth.

Who is the oldest person you know or have ever known? What did he or she tell you about the ups and downs of longevity?

Marie McCarthy, my Grandmother McCarthy, lived to age 97. She lived to 97. She didn’t die at 97. Do you see the difference? Sure, other people lived longer than Grandma, but few have had such a quick soft laugh and sense of humor that stayed even after her death.

A funny discovery came out at Grandma’s funeral. She lied about her age. It all began when she met my grandfather. She was born on November 2, 1900. He was born on February 20, 1901. Being older than him by three months didn’t sit well with her. She wanted him to think he was older. She was the eldest of eleven Kuhn children. Her whole family was in on the scam. Her youngest brothers and sisters (my father’s aunts and uncles) were actually younger than my father. They’re the ones who told my father at her funeral that her date of birth had the wrong year—she was born in 1900, not 1901.

Family secrets are sometimes funny things. At her 95th (actually her 96th!) birthday celebration, she was quite put off by all the attention. Now we know why. There, however, I remember her telling me, “If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have done things differently.” She never did tell me what things she would have done differently, but I sense she had some regrets and some insights.

Along these lines, here is a quote on aging sure to get your crow’s feet showing!

“If you live to the age of a hundred you have it made … because very few people die past the age of a hundred.” George Burns

One the great benefits of grey hair is that the older I get the more I see the hand of God at work in and around me. Of course, I’m asking for help regularly and am, therefore, expectant.

How On-Purpose Can You Be With Ill Health?

Dr. Wayne Andersen, Medical Director of Take Shape For Life, helped me learn new Habits of Health to not just prevent disease, but to move away from disease and toward health. Being at a healthy weight is essential to longevity.

My mother, who is 87, lives in an independent living situation. As I walk the halls on visits and greet people, I don’t see many overweight or obese residents. The thin ones are the lively ones.

If you need help (at any age) getting to a healthier place in your life, get a health coach and learn to develop a thin healthy mind and lifestyle. If you have a health coach, press him or her for more. If you need a health coach, email Judith, my wife. She’s a Certified Health Coach and works with clients across the U.S.

You, too, can live a longer and healthier life. It begins with a decision to be healthy.

I’ve found messages and the means to support my decision to live to be 100 years of age and healthy. Join me?

Is An Unhealthy Relationship Killing You?

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Unhealthy relationship

This On-Purpose Minute is designed to save lives. Perhaps it is you or someone you know who is caught in a cycle (yo-yo) of unhealthy weight gain and loss.

Why do we stay in unhealthy relationships? I’ve watched the reality crime shows on TV of domestic abuse and often wondered why people stay. It is easier to see the predicament of others than that of oneself.

I am recovering from an unhealthy relationship with chocolate, sugar, and ice cream—especially chocolate chip cookies. Watch today’s On-Purpose® Minute and see if you relate to my issue and what I’ve done to gain health in my life for the rest of my life.

Obesity in adults is highly avoidable.

Figuring out how not to eat or choosing “the best diet” for yourself or deciding what exercise program to start or having gastric bypass surgery are delaying tactics for too often avoiding the underlying and very real issues of weight gain.

A revised nutritional lifestyle is essential.

Before I had my health coach, you can’t imagine how many weight loss mythologies and misunderstandings I had about eating, dieting, and exercise. It is no wonder I was adding 2 to 4 pounds of weight per year and yo-yoing my weight throughout the year.

I have to thank Lori and Dr. Wayne Scott Andersen for helping me better understand and approach my unhealthy relationship. Any health advice I have to offer herein can be traced to what I’ve learned from Lori and Dr. A. They’ve saved the quality of my life and now I’m paying it forward.

First, take care of you. Then, like me, you’ll have something to give to others. You, too, can save people’s lives from the self-inflicted diseases brought on by being overweight or obese. You, too, can learn to better manage your type 2 diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure, and more that is brought on by your choices and habits.

There is a better way. Dr. A calls it “Optimal Health.”

Please let our health coaches help you get to a healthy weight and learn how to stay there. The quality of your life depends on it.

  • If a doctor or health coach is forwarding this blog posting to you, then follow up with him or her to help you redefine your unhealthy relationship with food.
  • If you need an introduction to a health coach like the one who helped me, then contact me and I’ll set it up for you. Reach me at info@on-purpose.com. Add “Health Coach Request” to the subject line.
  • If you need to talk with a counselor or therapist to help you overcome what’s eating you, then let me make an introduction for you. Reach me at info@on-purpose.com. Add “Counselor Request” to the subject line.

Be On-Purpose!
Kevin

P.S. Have you read FIT 4 Leading? In this book I address the top four obstacles to success. As you FIT 4 LEADINGmight have guessed, one of the four is health. Learn what you can do to become a better leader of your life.

Are Your Excuses Getting Old?

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Listen to what you say about yourself!

Stop using your age, for example, as an excuse that prevents you from becoming and doing what is on-purpose or what is most important in your life. Age is a fact. It comes with certain physical realities—even some limitations—but why give it greater permission than it deserves to control the well-being of your life?

You get to choose your attitude about age.

BABY BOOMER & GEN X ALERT: Do not read unless you are prepared to face reality.

MILLENNIALS: Scroll down

Judith, my wife, and I offer health coaching services that help clients create a healthier, on-purpose lifestyle. Being overweight contributes to many diseases and conditions such as type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

Too many of our pre-clients subscribe to the “getting old” excuse to “rationalize” unhealthy choices versus accepting responsibility and actually doing something about it.

We can’t turn back the hands of time, but we don’t need to speed up the biological clock either.

The onset of aging is inevitable, even desirable considering the alternative. Edward Bulwer-Lytton‘s quotation about aging captures the essence of the choices about growing older: “It is not by the gray of the hair that one knows the age of the heart.”

Are You Maturing or Just Getting Old? is the title of a prior On-Purpose Minute. In it, viewers were confronted with a choice to mature or simply grow old. In a slightly different twist, I pose the question again: Are you resigned to your condition or will you accept responsibility?

Frankly, your “old age” excuses are getting old.

Avoid letting the measure of life be your years on the planet. It matters not whether we’re talking your health, career, attitude, finances, or whatever. You are in greater control than your age is. Don’t let hardening of your attitude be your downfall when you can harken new possibilities into being. Embrace the changing dynamics and adventures that come with time. Rather than running from them, run to them.

When chronology defines you, then the impersonal march of time becomes your master. Instead, reject the “I’m getting old” excuse and toss out the devil of your premature personal demise on his big fat red tail.

Stop willingly accepting age as an excuse for infirmities of many makings. It is one thing to age gracefully, quite another to employ it as a rationale for self-inflicted infirmities of the mind, body, and spirit. Age is a measure of a life in years, not a life sentence.

Let’s Retire Retirement

The age of retirement, even the concept of “the age of retirement,” is an artificial construct by the government or a company. Admittedly, for many it is a very important finish line in a long and productive career. And that’s all it is!

  • How might your thinking be different if the age of retirement were 80 years old instead of 65?
  • What if you had to be 70+ instead of 50+ to get an AARP or AMAC card?
  • Would you take better care of yourself?
  • Would you dream different dreams?
  • Would you invest your time differently?

Did you know that the two highest risks of mortality are birth and retirement? So, you got past the first one. Now what’s your thinking about the second highest risk factor? After traditional retirement there begins an 18-month time frame of high mortality for workers. There’s a profound link between health and the loss of feeling needed or useful.

What benefits are there to succumb to these artificial ages and deadlines?

You—the independent thinker and aspiring leader—have you bought into the cultural norm and fallen prey to the group think?

Resist the lies surrounding the age of retirement as being life-defining and health-declining. Yes, circumstances and conditions change, but your spirit and purpose are forever.

Millennial Alert, Too!

Age is not just an excuse of the senior citizens; it influences youth as well.

Excuses such as “I’m too young for anyone to take me seriously,” or “Hey, you’re only young once, so I might as well get drunk tonight,” are self-deceiving ploys often unwittingly designed to put off the inevitable maturation process of becoming a man or woman of fine character.

The “age of the heart” is timeless.

Baby boomer, Millennial, or Gen X: Choose to carry a youthful spirit, attitude, perspective, and activity in your heart regardless of the condition of your physical shell. Choose to mature into wisdom, leadership, grace, empathy, service, compassion, and well-being. That choice comes at any age. We’re blessed with the Great Generation because those who remain generally personify positive and productive choice. Think that’s a clue?

Purpose is a matter of the heart.

Explore your heart’s condition and you’ll more likely embrace the depth of your being and discover just how miraculously and wonderfully made you are and can be. You’ll also live a longer, healthier, and more meaningful life. There’s a reason why I autograph my books with “Be On-Purpose!” I want to remind you to be who you truly are and the best version of you possible.

Give yourself the gift of a joyful life by rejecting your old excuses and choose to be on-purpose.

Update: This On-Purpose Minute originally aired in March of 2011.

At that time I did start working out with Anne on the stadium steps at our local high school and got back into great shape. The point is that while age and aging is a reality—if we’re using age as an excuse—we must stop and take a hard look whether we’re painting with too broad of a brush. Stop using age, any age, as an excuse and be real about what’s really going on.

Update 2: Anne was home recently and invited me to go run the stadium steps. Game on! It had been some time, but I did 2 sets of stadium steps, felt my leg burns, and discovered what I already knew: I still have it … but not nearly as much of it! : ) I need to get back in better shape.

Is Your New Year’s Resolution To Get To A Healthier Place?

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Do you identify with any of the reasons in this video for being at a healthier place?

A Weighty Conversation is a short 3 minutes packed with inner thoughts. Consider all you have to gain by losing weight. Don’t go it alone! Get a proven system. Get help, and get to a healthier place.

In the New Year, many of us ponder this fresh start with an eye toward the bathroom scale and losing weight. I called this condition “my fat suit” — an extra layer of Kevin over the top of my inner athlete.

Weight loss for many of us is a place in our lives where we’re struggling. Refusing to be resigned to the extra pounds is one thing; raising the bar on what it is costing you is another. Awareness and goal setting are important, but a system makes all the difference for success.

If a health coach forwarded this message to you, then by all means get back to that person to help you.

If you don’t have a health coach, we offer an affordable solution to help you keep your New Year’s Resolution to lose that 10, 20, 30 pounds or more … and keep off the weight. This is a health gain approach rather than just weight loss. This glass half-full approach is positive, proactive, and proven if you’ll allow us to coach you and do the program as it is designed.

We lead a dedicated team of health coaches, who come alongside of you so you can experience weight loss success and health gain using the Take Shape For Life system. For most people, this approach is cost neutral relative to your current food intake and the coaching is free. You may even save money!

Invest in a free consultation to explore what’s possible for your health and well-being. Call Judith at 407.927.1642 or drop me an email via this blog and I’ll forward it to her. I lost 50 pounds on this program in 2008 and have kept it off. I fully endorse it because it helped me to be on-purpose in my health.

Be On-Purpose!

Kevin

P.S. The music in the presentation is from Dan Lewis, a musician friend in the Asheville, NC area.