In his incredible definition of self-esteem, Dr. Nathanial Branden (author of one of Life By Design's favourite books - The Six Pillars Of Self-Esteem) mentions that the hardest judgment we pass is on ourselves.   Interestingly, he chose to keep that thought in the definition, most likely because of the astonishing amount of times we, humans, think that our behaviour, thoughts, and actions are inherently broken or wrong.   Our culture has done an excellent job of pushing it into our minds that no matter our personal circumstances, we are never enough. We are never rich, beautiful, happy, in love, thin, strong, etc., enough no matter what we do.   On today's episode, I'd like to talk about procrastination, willpower and laziness. Of course, there are times we are these things. Even the hardest working and most productive person will have times when they feel lazy and unmotivated.   I'm going to argue that procrastination and lack of will power get substituted, more often than not, for the real cause that you don't get things done which is - lack of clarity.   The purpose of this episode is to discuss how lack of clarity can be the primary cause of failing to meet your goals and vision.   What I Covered

• Self-esteem and why it's so important to have it in today's modern times.
• The importance of clarity, how to develop it, and why having a good plan is necessary for getting things done.
• How to develop more clarity in your life.

"Don't go to a chiropractor because they can cause you to have a herniated disc."   Hopefully, this is the first time you've heard this but, as is often the case, bad news travels much faster than good news.   Is this true?    A new study suggests that this is not the case at all. The study concludes that patients have the same risk of an acute disc herniation going to their medical doctor as they would going to the chiropractor with low back pain.   It's important to know precisely what these conclusions mean and how they affect you.   Low back pain can be a severe problem. Low back pain affects 70% of the population throughout their life and on any given day anywhere from 15-30% of the population is affected by low back pain.   An issue is that sometimes low back pain is prodromal to a lumbar disc herniation. Meaning that the individual has already suffered from an acute disc herniation and the nature of that injury has not fully expressed itself with the first symptom.   It would have appeared, on first inspection, that a visit to the chiropractor made the injury worse.  However, when we compare the number of chiropractic visits with the number of medical visits, the rate of acute disc herniation was the same.   The purpose of this podcast is to discuss this research and how it applies to you and your health.

What We Covered

• The initial mechanism of why it was thought that going to a chiropractor could cause a herniated disc.
• The research study - how it was conducted and what it means.
• The limitations of the study.

This truly was one of my favorite episodes to record.

Was it because of the fantastic content? Yes. Of course the content was wonderful and for many, the concepts we covered will challenge your current training approach and lead to significant and results boosting action.

But it was more than the content... it was the guest.

On today's episode of the Life By Design Podcast I had the opportunity to speak with 6x CrossFit Games athlete (including finishing as the 12th fittest man in the world in 2016) Marcus Filly.

Marcus is a husband, father of 2 daughters and the CEO and Founder of Revival Strength and Functional Bodybuilding, and creator of Awaken Training Series.

What I loved about this episode was the value systems and principles that make up this functional bodybuilding model. The amount of crossover with Life By Design lead to a detailed dive into what works in the functional fitness real world and what doesn't.

What We Covered

• The journey that lead Marcus from a high school athlete to Division 1 athletics to the CrossFit Games and eventually leaving CrossFit altogether to create a more logical approach to functional fitness.
• The pitfalls of Traditional CrossFit Marcus witnessed while coaching in his own facility...including the secret to behind the "I look too bulky" statement heard from many women.
• The 3 fundamentals of Functional Bodybuilding that highlight a massive shift from most program design within the functional fitness world.
• How to move athletes from trying to hit PR's and burning out to consistently, frequent, recoverable training that yields results over time.

There are three reasons for experiencing a lack of results at the gym, and they have almost nothing to do with willpower, procrastination, or hard work.   Yes, those are all important but, by far, they are not the most significant reason you fail to get the results you want.   The most significant reason is that your strategy is not compatible with your goals.   What does that mean in plain English? It means that, for the most part, you're not doing the things that will get you the result you want.   No matter how much scientific data, anecdotal evidence, and even personal experience show you, the widespread consensus still is that cardio produces weight loss, and to tone, you need to do low weight, high reps.   The second reason is the lack of consistent intensity. Your body adapts to the stress you place on it. Most people, when joining a gym, experience great results but then plateau and never improve. The improvement occurs because your body gets used to what you're doing. If you want to keep improving, you need to change what you're doing and the rate and intensity at which you're doing it.   And the third, which is closely related to the second, is periodization. Periodization means changing your tempo, exercises, and volume to both allow for adaptation, but also avoid a long term plateau.   Yes of course, a coach or a great gym will be able to provide all this for you. However what if you don't live close to a great gym or can't afford to go? What can you do?   What We Covered

• An overview of general physiology, the importance of diet and the training effect.
• How does a lack of structure, intensity, and periodization negatively affect you?
• What a good program looks like and the necessary features for it's success.

  Stuff From The Episode: CLICK HERE to Download the FREE Move By Design Manual   Stuff From The Episode: CLICK HERE to Download the FREE Move By Design Manual

Beware the health halo.

The health halo is a term or in this case, group of words, that are often associated with a particular outcome.

For example, when you hear the term organic what comes to mind? Most likely, your brain jumps to fresh, healthy, crispy, colourful, etc.

Now, what if we mentioned that both cocaine and heroin can be by definition organic?

Health halo terms also include "natural, drugless, vegan, vegetarian, paleo, keto" and the topic of today's episode "plant-based."

Recently, and it's unknown if this is correlated or coincidental, but a change in Canada's food guide toward a more 'plant-based' diet (their words not ours) has seen many fast food chains jump on board and begin offering 'meatless, beyond meat, and plant-based' options to their customers.

Of course, since we love business and free enterprise, it's lovely to see companies meet (meat would have been a pun) the needs of their customers. The issue, in this case, is that these products are promoted as (or at least assumed to be) healthy. We would argue that this might not be the case.

The purpose of this podcast is to discuss halo health terms and why understanding your body's requirements is the key to knowing what you should be eating.

Here's what we cover

• Thinking in principle - why it's the most crucial step to being able to make your own health decisions.
• Your body's macro and micronutrient requirements.
• The best way to fuel your body whether you are vegan or choose to eat meat.

Oct 18, 2017, will always be remembered by Canadians.    That was the day that Gord Downie, leader of The Tragically Hip and Canadian Icon passed away.   The Tragically Hip have been called a Canadian treasure, the national band of Canada and many other flattering things have been said about them.   Gord Downie was (and will continue to be) a role model and an influence. He inspired many in Canada, his vision reached much wider than music, and he had a lot to say.   Role models are a real and powerful force in your life. If you have good ones you can overcome the worst that life can throw at you and still be successful. If, on the other hand, you (either consciously or unconsciously) have selected poor role models your life might never reach it' s full potential.   The purpose of this episode it to help you understand why having and worshiping heroes is a key to success; and how to choose a proper role model.   What we cover:

• Issac Newton said, "The reason I can see so far is that I've stood on the shoulders of giants." Role models are an excellent shortcut to help you become the person you want to be in order to achieve the things you want to achieve.
• Choose your role models carefully and you can even be selective in that process. It's OK to look up to and admire someone, that's human nature, but you don't have to accept all of them. You can pick and choose which parts you like and which parts you don't like. Tiger Woods would have been an excellent golf role model; not so much in the relationship department.
• Role models are art in motion. As a human being you need art to survive. Your role model - in a very real example - embodies that. Be very careful who you choose.

Old habits die hard right?   I still find it shocking that despite the current and steady stream of consistent scientific evidence you are still scared to make fat a major part of your diet.   But on the other hand, I get it.   I mean, after all, fat has been vilified for so many years, by so many people that you respect (your teachers and your doctors) that it's hard to go against the low fat mantra.   I remember being in public school and our Phys Ed teacher brought in this disgusting yellow lumpy jelly and said: "This is hardened body fat. You will get this in your arteries and on the sides of your body from eating too much fat."    Talk about leaving a mark...that was almost 30 years ago and I still remember that event. So it's no wonder that most of us are completely fat phobic.   But, science (good science, and a lot of it) is proving time and time again that fat is NOT an enemy of health. On the contrary, fat is looking more like your health's best friend.   I'm not advocating eating as much fat as you want; especially the unhealthy kinds. But, I am saying that there is much more harm done to your body from avoiding fat, then there ever could be from including good fats in your diet.   I don't mean this to be a jerk, but the reality is your body requires fat. If you don't get it, there will consequences...potentially major ones.    On today's podcast, we cover the 7 Signs You Need To Add More Fat To Your Diet   What we cover

• The science behind why you need to eat fat.
• The seven signs (not diseases) that you are not eating enough fat.
• The different kinds of fat, which ones to eat and which ones to avoid. HINT - DO NOT avoid saturated fat.

This is it!

The secret 'reveal' that you've been waiting for is finally here.

Someone is going to spill the beans on the one very specific thing you need to do in order to stick to your diet forever.

In fact, we can go even deeper than that. This 'secret' will help you not only stick to your diet but also your workout regime, and anything else that requires will power. Heck, it will also make you wealthy without working.

Hopefully, by now, you can tell that this idea I speak of, this secret gem, is not real at all.

There is no secret, no magic pill, special cream, surgery, extraction, etc., that will get the results that you want. There is just work.

But that doesn't mean you can't become the person who does the work and succeeds.

The purpose of this podcast is to share with you the strategies that I've found most helpful in helping me stick to my diet.

What I Cover

• A general overview of why there is no 'secret,' but that doesn't mean there are no strategies and way for you to improve. There is still a lot of work involved.
• The idea of compound interest/momentum and why this is such an important concept to leverage for success.
• Why willpower is not a light switch but, a muscle that needs to be developed. Creating a better environment is much easier.
• The lesson from the kids' movie Kung Fu - that there is only you. What that really means and how to apply it for your success.

Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.   -Theodore Roosevelt   In this episode of Life By Design, we are going back a bit in the history of the podcast with something we used to call a Baby Bullet episode.   If you remember the magic bullet kitchen utensil, you would recall that it was advertised as something where you could put many ingredients in it, and it would chop them all up with no problem.   The idea for today's show is to take a random topic generator, hit 'generate topic' and talk about whatever comes up.   Why are we doing this, and what's the benefit for you?   There was an article published in the Washington post recently on a book title "Compassionomics: The Revolutionary Scientific Evidence That Caring Makes A Difference". The theme of the book is that patients who have doctors they perceive as compassionate tend to recover faster and attain better health.    Full disclosure, we have not read the book but found the article interesting since it affirms a personal belief of ours that having a better relationship with your health care provider leads to better outcomes in general for the patients.   The podcast is an effort for you to get to know us better. It's a way to get more familiar we who we are as people and how we apply to Life By Design principles to many different areas.   What we covered

• Topics ranging from diet and exercise, legacy, favourite movies, books we're reading and plenty more randomly generated questions. 
• We answered the questions honestly, even if the generator gave us an uncomfortable issue.

Being a parent is a fantastic experience in many ways; sometimes, because it's challenging and other times because you can experience love and joy beyond any measure possible.

Children seem to be the great divider of time in our lives - almost like the B.C and A.D of us. There was your life before you had kids where you had time, other interests and could remember doing things and there's your life after kids where you're busy, on a schedule, and always have another part of you that's out there in the world...and whether you're 90 and they're 70, they will always be your kids.

One of the things you're forced to deal with when you have kids is your own mortality, what will happen to them if something happens to me, and what do I want to leave them with after I'm gone?

Most of the time, 'things' get thought of when you ask yourself that question: your house, your investments, your possessions, etc. That is an essential line of thinking because those things are important.

Yet, there is something more important than that - your values, principles, and ideas.

Of all the great Industrial families who made a massive amount of money - only the Rockefeller fortune still exists to an even higher level than it did when J.D was creating his wealth.

This is because J.D understood that things are a result of the way you think. So he set in motion a play that would only allow his heirs access to the Rockefeller trust if they proved they were worthy and could handle it.

Because we are humans - philosophy, ideas, and values matter, which ones are you leaving to your kids?

What We Covered

• The principles and ideas we want to leave our children and grandchildren; our legacy.