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    Ready, Set...Go
    Ready, Set...Go
    Ready, Set...Go
    Ebook186 pages2 hours

    Ready, Set...Go

    By Julie Meek

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Could scheduling a daily power nap help you make a Nobel Prize-winning discovery, win gold at the Olympics or rise to the top of the business world? Might deciding not to dive into the world of social media deliver the success you dream of? Or could choosing to view work trips as mini health retreats be the magic bullet that helps you consistently be your best?

    Ready, Set...Go sees some of the globe’s most successful people divulge their tips for peak health and performance - their secret strategies for gaining the unique edge needed to conquer and contribute in their careers and lives.

    Find inspiration and ideas for creating your own winning formula from a raft of extraordinary individuals including celebrity chefs Rick Stein and Maggie Beer, long-running Australian Prime Minister John Howard, New York Times best-selling author Andy Griffiths and award winning footballer and Fremantle Dockers Captain Matthew Pavlich.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherJulie Meek
    Release dateMar 3, 2014
    ISBN9781310782701
    Ready, Set...Go
    Author

    Julie Meek

    Julie Meek is one of the most respected sports dietitians in Australia. She has, over the past 20 years, partnered with many top corporate performers and world-class athletes, helping them achieve the highest levels of professional and personal success through eating well.A nutritionist as well as an Accredited Practising Dietitian, professional speaker and coach, Julie is the resident expert on a top- rating Australian radio station, answering the health questions of the broader community.Her first book, truth, lies & chocolate, outlining 99 facts and fairytales about food, was named as a Finalist in the 2010 Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards.A married mum of three, Julie loves to challenge herself by running marathons.

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      Book preview

      Ready, Set...Go - Julie Meek

      foreword

      The area of peak performance has fascinated me ever since I attempted to cycle the long and hilly 96 km in the Sydney to Wollongong race back in the '90s, with disastrous results. My performance that day was spectacularly dismal due to my poor preparation and complete lack of knowledge, but the hard lessons I learned from it have never left me.

      Performance is a funny thing though - it means different things to each of us and there is no doubt that it is one thing to perform and yet another to achieve success. It was this link between performance and success that inspired me to discover what some of the world's top performers are doing that enables them to be the best in their fields. Innate talent and motivation are common threads, but quite often they have physical tactics or mental strategies they've developed and honed over the years to gain an advantage, and stay at the top of their game.

      You may not be an international artist, award-winning chef, prime minister or elite athlete, but in the many roles you play in your everyday life you are expected to 'perform' from the minute your feet touch the floor each morning.

      Ready, Set...Go is a treasure trove of inspiring stories of high performers both in Australia and internationally. But it's not just about inspiration. You will discover valuable tips from these celebrities that you can apply immediately in your own quest for peak performance in your health and life.

      Please enjoy the ride.

      Yours in health and performance,

      Julie

      habits

      ANDY GRIFFITHS

      Author

      about andy

      Andy Griffiths' interest in books began as a 10-year-old boy at school, when he accompanied his mother to a school fête, where she ran a second-hand bookstall. Andy's fascination with words led to his first published story in the first year of high school. Following graduation, his gift with words was put to use as a songwriter and lead singer of the energetic punk rock band, Gothic Farmyard. While leading the punk rocker lifestyle by night, Andy qualified as a secondary school English teacher by day and found himself a position in Ballarat, Victoria. Soon after, in an effort to get fit and make friends, Andy discovered running in regional Victoria and he became quite the cheetah. However, an overabundance of enthusiasm and dedication resulted in injury, which grounded him for some time.

      The urge to write stories had never left Andy, and in the late 1980s, whilst still working in the education system, he began applying the same discipline to writing that he had to running. While this didn't produce physical injuries, the emotional investment was high as Andy realised that, for many authors, success is a long and perilous journey. Regardless, Andy made the leap and took leave without pay from his day job to embark upon a two-year fiction writing and editing course in Melbourne that forced him to write from 9-5 pm each day.

      Andy knew there was every chance he wouldn't make it as a writer and naturally this was quite stressful. So his daily mantra became Start small and you can't fail, never letting go of his self-belief. He dedicated one hour each day to exercise - to clear his head, exercise his body and gather ideas. Despite being immersed in writing, studying, and raising his young daughter, Andy found that walking for an hour each day was not just a luxury but a crucial aspect to his productivity and well-being.

      Fast-forward to now and Andy Griffiths is Australia's most popular children's writer. He is the author of over 30 books, including nonsense verse, short stories, comic novels and plays. Andy's books have been NewYorkTimes bestsellers, won over 50 children's choice awards, been adapted as plays and television cartoon series and sold over five million copies worldwide. Andy is best known as the author of the Just series, the Treehouse books and The Day My Bum Went Psycho. While there are many reasons why children love his books, the outstanding attractions surely include his injection of humour, fun and play as well as his suggestions on how to annoy parents, instructions on riding spiders without getting bitten and the real story behind the demise of dinosaurs!

      ANDY'S PERFORMANCE TIP

      Start small and you can't fail

      what andy has learnt

      As a teenage punk rocker, drinking and smoking were part of the fabric of Andy's life, with any health concerns a mere blip in the background. Anybody who has ever been a teenager will relate to this.

      Since then Andy has learned a couple of things, and over the past 20 years he has been fine-tuning his performance tactics. He found that starting small to avoid failure in writing applied just as well to his well-being project. While he continues to write for three to four hours each day and completes at least one, sometimes two books every year, the pressure to perform has lessened with ongoing literary success and this has meant that stress no longer plays a starring role in Andy's life.

      Although the mental stress has taken a backseat, writing books does require travel and in the early days of his success, Andy recalls spending 10 months of the year on the road. These book tours often meant less sleep, erratic food choices and alcohol as a regular social companion. Over the years it became apparent that big nights on the turps (drinking) were not conducive to 5 am starts and attending book signings, readings and promotional events. Nowadays, Andy views book tours as health retreats and an opportunity to re-group, with alcohol being almost absent. He now finds these trips enjoyable rather than an endurance test and he is more present with his young fans and their parents.

      Exercise continues to be a crucial feature in Andy's life. After an hour of reading (early in the morning before anyone else in the family is up) Andy will either run, swim, cycle or circuit train. Andy still runs competitively and can smash out a 40-minute 10 km run.

      Just like his literary success, establishing and cementing healthy habits for Andy over his adult life has taken time, dedication, self-belief and small changes.

      establishing a health habit

      Does change seem like it is around the corner, or a world away? When considering a change to any habit that is affecting your personal performance such as nutrition, exercise, stress or sleep, it is easy to fall victim to paralysis by analysis. As a struggling author, Andy Griffiths held tight to his mantra of Start small and you can't fail and it's just the same when contemplating making changes to your health. You think about all the options over and over to the point where the end result is zip, nil, nada, nothing. Before you dive into changing a habit in your life, it is essential to work out where you stand and what stage of change you are at.

      James O. Prochaska and colleagues at the University of Rhode Island developed a model in 1977 known as the Transtheoretical Model of Behaviour Change or Stages of Change. This model assesses an individual's readiness to act on a new healthier behaviour, and provides strategies, or processes of change to guide an individual through the stages of change to action and maintenance.

      The Stages of Change can be applied to any new or desired health behaviour. Using smoking cessation as an example, the various stages could look like this.

      STAGE 1: CONTEMPLATION - IT HAS CROSSED MY MIND

      You might be thinking about quitting smoking and making a change because the graphic advertisements that you see on TV and the warnings on the cigarette packet are starting to get to you. Regardless, you are not quite ready to quit and still trying to get motivated. How to go about quitting seems rather overwhelming at this stage; you're not sure how to do it and haven't worked out specific goals and strategies. You do believe that your health, energy level or general well-being will improve if you quit smoking and develop new habits. As a result you know that making a change will result in better health. You are aware there will be roadblocks but haven't worked out how to get through them.

      STAGE 2: PREPARATION - I'M THINKING ABOUT IT

      This is the stage where you have decided to make a change and have determined specific goals and how to achieve them. You have a plan of action and you are ready to use it. For example, if deciding to lose weight you start choosing low fat foods or in preparing to quit smoking you might reduce the number of cigarettes you smoke each day. Now is a great time to start gathering resources and find out who will support you in this journey. Do you need to find professional support and which of your friends and family will be there for you? It is also a good time to write down your goals and get clear on what you plan to achieve.

      STAGE 3: ACTION - I'M GOING FOR IT

      You have been actively making change and not smoking for at least six months; you are looking for innovative ways to continue doing this and you have been troubleshooting along the way to overcome roadblocks, adjusting to how it feels with these new changes. The roadblocks will include the triggers that you associate with smoking and might include drinking alcohol and coffee, socialising with friends or being in a stressful situation.

      STAGE 4: MAINTENANCE - I'M DONE

      Arriving at this stage means that your change has become a habit; you are officially a non-smoker and an example to your co-workers, friends and family. You have designed creative ways to maintain new routines and you are looking for new ways to cement the change and prevent a relapse.

      Congratulations, your mind and body will thank you!

      sacrifice vs choice

      DAVID ADAMSON

      Extreme Helicopter Pilot

      about david

      David Adamson was born with an innate competitive streak. This streak was put to good use during his childhood in Dumfries, Scotland by kicking around a soccer ball. This Scottish pilot can also juggle five balls and ride a unicycle.

      So what attracted him to flying initially? David suggests he is no different from the majority of males who like loud, noisy machines, with helicopters fitting right into this category. Add a high degree of difficulty to fly properly, their capacity to do spectacular things in the air, plus a hefty price tag

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