The Power of Secondary Gains

When you consciously work on one area of your life, you experience an impact in every other area as well.

It's impossible to consciously work on improving one area of your life and not see benefits in other areas as well.

Let's look at a concrete example using the physical body as a metaphor: Say you go to the gym to work on your chest. Because you set the intention to work that specific part of your body, you've consciously chosen exercises that will challenge your pectoral muscles.

Exercises like pushups, chest press, chest fly, and plank--and all their variations.

Now, when you go to do those pushups, you're also working your triceps, shoulders, core, quads, and even glutes. So, while the pectorals were your primary muscles of focus, all these others became secondary muscles in this exercise.

Due to the kinetic chains of movement in the body, it's virtually impossible to work any one muscle group without recruiting (and therefore strengthening) at least one other secondary muscle group in the process.

The same thing applies to our lives as a whole. Because we are intricately and infinitely connected beings.

Now, of course, it is possible to work on one area to the detriment of others if you are completely neglecting them to hyperfocus on only that one area.

Take, for example, the above illustration with working your chest. If you only focused on working your chest muscles every time you went to the gym, you would develop an imbalance.

I know you've seen poster children of this in the bodybuilding world: guys with skinny legs and big chests who look like they're always in a slightly hunched-over Hulk flexing pose because their backs have grown weak and their posture has been compromised.

The same sort of thing happens when you hyperfocus on your career to the detriment of your relationships, for example.

This danger is why I no longer work with clients whose only goal has to do with weight/fitness/diet--because I know the perils, both personally and professionally, of becoming overly fixated on our physical vessels.

And yet, all my clients, whether 1:1 or group, have a desire to improve their physical health and well-being. It's just not their only goal.

Regardless of the specific goals they set, my clients are most surprised not by the degree to which they achieve those goals (and they certainly do), but by the unexpected secondary gains they get along the way:

• Clients whose intention it was to exercise daily are finding their meditation sessions easier and sleeping better at night.

• Clients who wanted to minimize debt are finding more joy in their relationships because they're spending more quality time with their loved ones (and less money shopping).

• Clients who set out to release unnecessary weight end up with better sex lives because they feel better about their bodies and have more energy for the act.

These secondary gains are not anomalies; they're the norm.

"It really has changed the trajectory of my life," says Teresa, one of the participants in my last group coaching program (and who is also signed up for Embracing Discomfort).

Just listen to how she describes the transformation from simple goal-setting exercises to radically altering her internal beliefs about herself:

To me, the most powerful secondary gains are those that aren't even about ourselves but, rather, encompass our loved ones.

Just like it's impossible for you to improve one area of your life without it trickling over into almost every other facet, it's impossible for one person to become healthier, happier, and more whole without it positively impacting everyone around them: friends, family, coworkers, community...everyone.

Teresa often says the work she's doing has already had such a profound impact on her loved ones that the ripple effect will be truly generational in its wake.

A rising tide lifts all boats.

The deadline to register for my last group container of the year and join Teresa and the other boats rising with the tide is TOMORROW, September 1.

If you have even the slightest nudge that this might be for you, send me a message NOW for a complimentary assessment call to make sure this is the right move for you.

Together with the other members, you'll be improving your physical health & fitness, yes, but also, strengthening your mental & emotional resilience, learning to set powerful intentions & follow through, and, of course, seeing unexpected secondary gains you could have never anticipated.

It's so incredible to achieve what you set out to do--and it's even more amazing to get what you never knew you were capable of :)

With Fierce Love,

Chazz