When it comes to understanding how our minds and bodies perform, very few people know as much as Dr. Mark Cheng.
He’s a licensed acupuncturist, the creator of Beachbody’s #TaiCheng workout program, the creator of K3 Combat systems, and he’s a Master Instructor for StrongFirst (the leading Kettlebell training system).
And that’s not even his full resume!
Mark joined me on Episode #116 of the Better Human Project for a in-depth chat about how we can push the envelop in our pursuits of progress…without destroying ourselves (or our sanity) in the process.
It’s a great podcast and you can listen to the full interview at any of these links:
My big 3 takeaways from Dr. Mark Cheng are below.
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Have A Roadmap For How To Conduct Yourself
This first takeaway from Dr. Mark Cheng is near and dear to my heart.
Essentially, he’s suggesting the same thing I teach - and wrote about in F*ck Your Feelings - the importance of having a framework for decision making, or a “true north star” to keep us on the right path in life.
You’ve probably heard me talk about this as “defining your values” and letting values serve as the framework to help us align our choices with our goals - and said values.
Mark simply calls it a roadmap.
Here are the 3 questions Mark uses as his own personal roadmap:
Is it beneficial?
Is it challenging?
Is it fun?
Make Every Rep Rehabilitative
What a concept! We don’t have to punish ourselves in the gym or destroy our bodies in our efforts to “get fit”.
We can (we should) actually feel better for having done the things we do in our movement practices.
For a lot of people, this is a massive paradigm shift.
Many of us start this shift once we’re North of 30 years old and we begin to realize that we won’t feel like 25-years-olds anymore.
I like to think of it this way:
“What can I do now that my future self will thank me for?”
Not only does this apply to movement practices, but it also applies to relationships, careers, financial health, etc, etc…
Why not think about our future and set ourselves up for the best possible future?
Struggling to make the paradigm shift?
Consider this advice from Mark:
“Push the envelope, but don’t tear it.” - Dr. Mark Cheng
Honesty & Humility
Hard to go wrong here!
Ever meet a humble and honest person that you didn’t like?
Why not be that way ourselves?
As Mark notes, pursuing these traits requires us to develop a depth of self-knowledge that affords us enhanced awareness.
And awareness creates choice…
Who are we choosing to be?
How are we choosing to move through the world?
Hopefully, the answers to those questions fit into our personal roadmap (See Takeaway #1) 😉👊
Catch the full interview at any of these links:
Pursue Progress,
Munsey