(ThyBlackMan.com) A ‘couch potato’ is a person who spends little or no time exercising and a great deal of time watching television. Likewise, a ‘life potato’ is a person who spends little or no time aspiring to be better and a great deal of time watching their lives pass them by. Are you a life potato?
Holistically, the physical, mental and spiritual life of a life potato has grown stagnant; he or she is alive but is not living. In fact, you can even say they are the ‘walking dead’.
It’s important to know this, because each of us is literally surrounded by such people on an almost daily basis. When life potatoes hang out together, well, life becomes one big sofa. Look through the following three signs to see if your life has gone the route of a potato. If so, implement action steps to produce a different
result.
Sign#One
You Aren’t Dreaming Anymore
Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities, writes Gloria Steinem. A life potato, much like the couch potato, will dream often – but it’s only daydreaming! A life potato lacks the internal mechanism for dreaming and has ceased dreaming altogether. When you stop dreaming, you are confined to the ‘sofa’ of life. In fact, the sofa is the ‘ICU’ of life. While it’s one thing to relax and watch your favorite program time to time, it becomes critical when you all of your time is spent in ‘relaxation’ mode. Don’t become glued to the sofa. Make it your mission to dream again, to regain your focus. Dreaming is infectious. Surround yourself with dreamers.
Sign#Two
You Don’t Have Goals
One of the casualties of not having dreams is to become goal-less. A person without goals is like a ship adrift at sea. A life potato lacks goals; consequently, he or she always waits for the perfect time or perfect circumstances that will never come.
Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible. –Tony Robbins
Worse still is the person who only has a vague idea of a goal. A life potato proclaims ‘I want to be happy’ but has little idea of what it will take to make them happy. Most people leave their goals ambiguous. For goals to be effective, they must be specific and purposeful and filled with belief. Set clear goals today.
Sign#Three
You Don’t Sweat
Don’t get me wrong here. ‘Sweat’ here is not stress; conversely, it’s a way of saying you have grown accustomed to things as they are as opposed to as they can become. It’s simply a result of no dreams and no goals. Not just physically but mentally as well. You haven’t ‘worked out’ your life!
Consequently, there is no sweat and there are no results. It’s no different than being in the gym; if you don’t push your body to excrete sweat, it’s likely you did not have a very effective workout. Put some sweat in your life! Develop a mindful awareness of your values and aspirations. Take risks. Do not be afraid fail. My late college professor and mentor John D. Mangram was fond of saying, “Faith is maximizing the risks.”
Don’t get glued to the sofa of life!
Staff Writer; W. Eric Croomes
This talented brother is a holistic lifestyle exercise expert and founder and executive coach of Infinite Strategies LLC, a multi-level coaching firm that develops and executes strategies for fitness training, youth achievement and lifestyle management. Eric is an author, fitness professional, holistic life coach and motivational speaker.
In October 2015, Eric released Life’s A Gym: Seven Fitness Principles to Get the Best of Both, which shows readers how to use exercise to attract a feeling of wellness, success and freedom (Infinite Strategies Coaching LLC, 2015) – http://www.infinitefitnesscoaching.com.