“Do No Harm” in Healthcare has now turned in to “Do Nothing”. Medical professionals are now under the impression that nothing bad has ever gone down under the watch of the best in the industry. There is a misconception that if a client ever has a sore back, neck, hip, or ankle they’re a failure. This has led to a mindset of fragility and fear.

Therapy in many spheres has turned into avoidance of risk to a point where nothing actually happens that could be called training. The concept of injury mitigation or “prevention” has simply led to people avoiding injuries on their watch.

Reducing the likelihood of an injury is not found through avoidance of stress but rather through gradual progressions and becoming comfortable with more and more stressors.

My job is to prepare people for the challenges they face in life, so that they can eventually dominate those challenges. The goal of therapy and fitness is to shift people’s bodies, minds, and spirit towards confidence, ruggedness, and being adventurous.

When you treat people like the fine china (say, the china from my wedding that we have never used!), they’ll hide from use, and shatter from little to no stress. Instead, treat people like my travel mug from Starbucks (I bang it around and use it so often it is stained with coffee).

Throw them in the fire, hammer them down, blast them with cold, and mold them into something beautiful and devastating through a systematic means. Sometimes you need a little ice water in your veins and fire in your eyes to effectively treat and coach people. Trust that others will rise to the occasion when you raise the bar for them in an uncompromising manner.