0 to 60...

Makers of performance automobiles often cite how quickly their cars can go “from zero to sixty” in their advertisements.  For whatever reason, they consider the ability to accelerate from a dead stop to a speed of 60 miles per hour a powerful selling point. I suppose it is the mechanical equivalent to an adrenalin rush.

We humans don’t operate like that, nor do we need to. (Disclaimer: I concede that should we be awakened by an angry grizzly bear in the middle of the night during a camping trip, then our “zero to sixty” capabilities would surely be an important factor).  

However, the more important factors in our performance abilities are related to our personal fitness along three dimensions:

-Mental

-Physical

-Emotional/Spiritual

It is a bit of a fabrication to disconnect those dimensions as shown above because they are holistically and inherently intertwined, interwoven, interrelated and interdependent within our beings.  A particular strength or weakness in the area of mental fitness, for instance, has vital implications for our physical and emotional/spiritual fitness.  As well, highs and lows in our physical fitness most assuredly generate derivative ramifications for our emotional/spiritual and mental well-being.  You get the idea.

To be truly fit, and in order to perform at our highest possible levels, we simply must attend to our holistic fitness.  That means regular and purposeful attention to the feeding, resting, and exercising of our intellect.  It means deliberate choices about what we eat/drink (and don’t), about improving our physical strength, agility, flexibility, and stamina.  And, it means resolute efforts to nurture our emotional and spiritual selves.

While there are a gazillion ways to attend to all three dimensions in a responsible and healthy way, the far too common approach to fitness is to do so in a disproportionate way.  A common error, for instance, is to focus immensely on the emotional/spiritual dimension while letting the mind and body atrophy.

Only in the rarest of instances is “zero to sixty” required of us.  Neither is there a typical need to be  "marathoners" with respect to all three dimensions.  However, to live our fullest and happiest lives, we should attend diligently, daily, purposefully to all three dimensions of our fitness.  As the old saying goes, “Inch by inch, life’s a cinch.”

We can do that.  But first, we have to decide that we want to live a life of fitness.