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Learning how to cook is the first step in achieving self-actualization<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Hubris? Hyperbole? The ramblings of a sheltered blogger?<\/p>\n Hardly.<\/p>\n While learning how to make a pot roast with mashed potatoes won\u2019t make your life fulfilled in and of itself, it is a fundamental skill that will make your journey there all the easier.<\/p>\n This site is primarily interested in teaching guys how to make healthy (and tasty) food for themselves, but my inspiration for starting it starts in a much different place than most other health and fitness sites.<\/p>\n Instead of helping you get \u201cjacked,\u201d \u201cripped,\u201d or \u201cshredded,\u201d I\u2019d prefer to help you get happier and more self-fulfilled.<\/strong><\/p>\n If that doesn\u2019t sound like you, then you know where the door is.<\/em><\/p>\n One of the biggest motivations for starting this wasn\u2019t a fitness book. It wasn\u2019t a cooking show, and it wasn\u2019t a state of the art supplement.<\/p>\n It was a business book about energy management.<\/em><\/p>\n When I started this health and fitness site, I knew it wouldn\u2019t be the usual.<\/p>\n When I looked at a lot of the material available out there for us guys, I realized that most of it was written with a small sub-section of us in mind. Specifically, those of us who:<\/p>\n It\u2019s fitness for fitness\u2019s sake, which is fine if you\u2019re an athlete, bodybuilder, or Hollywood actor, but it\u2019s overkill for the rest of us.<\/strong><\/p>\n As I\u2019ve mentioned many times before, the benefits of being healthy and fit boil down to four things:<\/p>\n But the reality is that getting in shape has a fairly minimal effect on your sexual attractiveness and social status.<\/p>\n It does help to a point<\/em>, but there are better ways of improving both.<\/p>\n What it does have a tremendous impact on, however, is helping you live a long and productive life.<\/strong><\/p>\n Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz\u2019s The Power of Full Engagement<\/em> is an excellent book on energy management (as opposed to time management) that shows how your physical health increases your ability to make things happen in other areas of your life.<\/p>\n Its central objective is to help you \u201cbuild the necessary capacity to sustain high performance in the face of increasing demand.\u201d<\/p>\n On the surface it\u2019s a business book, but it illustrates better than the entire fitness section of a bookstore why getting in shape is so damned important.<\/p>\n Kicking ass and making things happen in life is perhaps the greatest metric for how self-fulfilled you are at the end of your life. And this can only be accomplished if you are physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused, and spiritually aligned.<\/p>\n The central conclusion of the book is this:<\/p>\n Energy is the fundamental currency of high performance.<\/p>\n And according to Loehr and Schwartz, we all have four sources of energy, defined as follows:<\/p>\n It can all sound a little woo and fuzzy, but this is a system that the authors used to coach high-performers from athletes to businessmen, and it seems to have worked quite well for them in real life.<\/p>\n It\u2019s when you are firing on all four cylinders (physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual) that you are fully engaged. And by being fully engaged, you give yourself the ultimate advantage to getting what you truly want out of life.<\/p>\n It all adds up to a lot of great theory, but how does it actually work<\/em> in real life?<\/p>\n Since physical energy is the most fundamental (and most often neglected by high-performing people), it\u2019s best to take a closer look at how to implement it into your life.<\/p>\n And it all boils down to one of the philosophies we have here:<\/p>\n Eat Better, Move Smarter, Live the Good Life<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n And here are the three most powerful skills you can learn to live this philosophy:<\/p>\n The path to self-actualization isn\u2019t an easy one.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll need to harness your energy in all four capacities in order to do so\u2013physically energized, emotionally connected, mentally focused, and spiritually aligned.<\/p>\n Of these four capacities, physical energy is most fundamental. Without it, you may still be able to live a life that is fulfilling emotionally, mentally, and spiritually, but it will be extremely difficult.<\/p>\n You can improve your physical energy by relaxing more, and you can improve it by exercising.<\/p>\nThe \u201cShocking\u201d Inspiration For This Site<\/h2>\n
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The Four Components of Energy<\/h2>\n
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How to Increase Your Energy Capacity<\/h2>\n
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The Journey to Full Engagement<\/h2>\n