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About This Site.

This site is the website of motivational speaker Craig Harper. A constantly updated, one-stop information, inspiration, education and motivation station. Unlike many similar sites, it is a totally free resource for anyone who is serious about moving from mediocre to amazing in any area of their personal or professional life. With hundreds of articles covering a wide range of subject matter, great interviews with cool people and inspirational video posts, there's more than enough brain-food to keep you busy for hours. Okay, days!! Enjoy.


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Motivation - Craig Harper
life coach and mentor Life Coach Melbourne - Craig Harper
If you are interested in maximizing your potential, stepping out of that 'holding pattern' and being privately coached by Craig click here.

 

Business Coach Melbourne - Craig Harper
If you're a personal trainer, gym owner or studio owner who is interested in growing your business and/or your career, then mentoring with Craig could be a valuable part of your overall success strategy and professional development journey.

biological age testing

Biological Age Testing - Craig Harper
In a recent test, Jan Frazer, who has a chronological age (the number of years she's been on the planet) of 67 did a biological age test which showed she has the body of a 37 year old female. Pretty Impressive! How old is your body! Find out here.
body composition analysis Body Composition Analysis - Craig Harper
Craig's team of experts can provide you with a complete Body Composition Analysis in just 30 minutes.
High Performance Nutrition Services Nutrition Melbourne - Craig Harper
Many nutritional experts are confusing people with jargon and pseudo-science. Craig's HPN Service provides remote access to Craig's Director of Nutrition to cut through the dietary confusion and contradiction.
affiliate marketing Affiliate Marketing Partner - Craig Harper
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public speaking workshop Public Speaking Melbourne - Craig Harper
If you've ever thought about becoming a professional speaker or improving your public speaking then you can be privately coached here.
Craig Harper - Fattitude. Fattitude - Craig Harper
While many books focus on food, Craig Harper teaches that creating life-long change is more about the dieter, than the actual diet. This book is perfect for people who have a history of 'almost' getting in shape.
DVD or CD - Renovate Your Body - Craig Harper
In this entertaining presentation, Craig discusses the notion of Renovating Your Body - once and for all. Many of us have a curious ability to be able to get in shape for events (weddings, parties, reunions and birthdays), if only we'd get in shape for life.
Craig Harper - Food, Exercise, and Lifestyle Diary

Food, Exercise and Lifestyle Diary - Craig Harper
If you're serious about your training, nutrition and lifestyle - Craig Harper's training diary is an invaluable tool

Craig Harper - Food, Exercise, and Lifestyle Diary

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Katrina provides her own range of clothing including some cool t-shirt designs with Craig's motivational messages at Funkyas.


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Welcome to Craig's site.

Craig Harper is Australia's leading motivational speaker and educator (according to Google Australia). He is a highly sought-after corporate coach and is considered to be a leader and pioneer in the areas of personal and professional development.

Working with hundreds of teams, companies and a wide variety of organisations on numerous continents over the last twenty years has given Craig a unique insight into, and understanding of, human performance and all its variables. Craig has an ability to educate, inspire, challenge and make people laugh all at the same time!

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Renovate Your Life Blog


Saturday, April 7, 2007
Adaptation
Hi Guys.
Hope you're well... sorry I've been a little scarce lately. Have a safe, happy and fun Easter and take it easy on the chocolate consumption (keep it under ten kilos).
I hope you enjoy this post on adaptation.

Cheers. ( )

There's a school of thought which suggests that those who adapt most effectively (to their situation, environment, circumstance, challenge) are the ones who ultimately survive, or at the very least, do the best; succeed when others don't.
We see this play out, not only in nature but in business, relationships, sport, politics and life in general.

Our world, and nearly everything in it, is dynamic; that is, in a perpetual state of change.
Great for those who get bored easily... but kinda scary for those creatures of habit who are comfortable with familiarity and 'same'.
And while 'same' can be comfortable and safe (what we like) for a while... it can also be boring, unfulfilling, frustrating and unrewarding in the long term.

The irony is that the very thing most of us want (to learn, grow, succeed, improve, win) is usually facilitated by the the thing we (typically) do our best to avoid; discomfort.
In all it's various forms (physical, emotional, psychological, spiritual, financial, social), discomfort is a very real and ever-present part of out lives.

And a very real path to emotional development and personal growth.

And while we don't want to live there (discomfort-ville), it's when we deal with (and don't avoid) that discomfort (situation, circumstance, challenge) that we begin to develop the necessary skills, strength, attitude to move forward (that's where the adaptation happens).
By spending our life trying to stay perpetually comfortable and safe we are actually depriving ourselves of some amazing opportunities to grow, learn and do and be amazing.

To get strong.

We stress about change... but the interesting thing about stress is that, while it is commonly associated with all the negative stuff, it also has the potential to be a major positive if we manage it the right way.
When we talk about general stress we usually classify it into two different categories:

Distress - the bad one; results in anxiety, fear, unhappiness, depression, physical illness.

Eustress - the good one; the one that gets us moving to create positive outcomes. We all need a certain level of eustress to keep us moving, doing and creating.

Keep in mind that stress on an individual level (good or bad) is largely dependant on our interpretation of what's going on around us and how we deal with it.

How we adapt.

So one person's distress may be another person's eustress... depending on what it represents to them and how they deal with it.

Stress can be best described as an internal response to an external situation, event, circumstance.

That is, we create stress.

It's not about our situation, it's about us in the situation... and we don't adapt by avoiding certain situations or issues (are you paying attention!!), we develop, learn, grow, improve by facing up to, and working through those challenges.

Don't be an avoider !
When you take your head out of the sand... it (whatever it is for you) will still be there to deal with.

So deal with it!
Be an adapter.
(my post, my words!)

In Exercise Science we talk about a thing called progressive overload.

In simple terms, progressive overload means that we stress our body with exercise (all exercise is a form of physical stress) and then it adapts (gets stronger, fitter, faster, bigger, smaller, more flexible, healthier)... simple enough.

But the second part of the story is that if we want to see continued improvement (adaptation), we need to keep stressing the body in new, different and progressive ways.
Typically, we see people who are new to exercise make significant gains for a while (weeks to months) but then we often see those improvements start to slow, if not stop completely.

One of the biggest mistakes that people make with their exercise regime (other than giving up within the first month) is that after a period of time they will (typically) do the same thing, the same way, for the same amount of time at the same intensity... forever... and then wonder why their body isn't changing.

It ain't changing 'cause it don't need to baby!

This common exercise scenario that I describe (doing the same thing the same way) is, for many of us, a metaphor for our life.

We don't get 'stronger' (adapt) because we avoid anything that hurts.
We stop challenging ourselves, we do the same, we become creatures of predictability and repetition.
But sometimes (not all the time) that pain is exactly what we need (not want)... a little short term pain for some long-term gain.

Our body (and our mind) will only adapt when we give it a reason to... and most people following most exercise programs are not adapting (progressing), they are maintaining.
Not giving their body a reason to change.

The majority of people in gyms around the world are maintaining (staying in the same place physically) and not progressing because they continually stimulate their body the same way.

Same creates same.
Different creates different.
It ain't rocket science.

And this is exactly what we do with our relationships, our careers, our financial situations, our ambitions, our dreams... our life; we follow a very safe, predictable, comfortable (boring, unfulfilling, frustrating) maintenance program... and end up exactly where we didn't wanna be.

So why don't you step out of your 'holding pattern'... and become an adapter?

*Say hi and let us know where you're from.

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