How I Motivated My Friends to the Quest of Healthy Living - Term Paper Example

How I Motivated my Friends to the Quest of Healthy Living It is a well-known fact that exercise has a lot of good health benefits to everybody acrosscultures and ages. Benefits of exercise ranges from preventing chronic health conditions and staying healthy to promoting weight less, a better sleep, and a better outlook in life. Mayo Clinic Health Manager (2010), gave seven specific ways on how exercise can improve an individual’s life. The points below come from the Mayo Clinic Health Manager 2010: 1. Exercise improves and individual’s mood It is a well-known fact that a work-out in the gym or a 30-minute brisk walk will help an individual calm down. Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave an individual feel happier and more relaxed that they were before they worked out. They also look better and feel better when they exercise regularly, which can boost their confidence ajd improve their self esteem. Regular physical activity can preven depression. 2. Exercise combats chronic diseases Physical activity prevents heart disease and osteoporosis along with other chronic diseases. Regular physical activity can help an individual prevent – or manage— high blood pressure. Your cholesterol will benefit, too. Regular physical activity boosts high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol while decreasing triglycerides. This one-two punch keeps your blood flowing smoothly by lowering the buildup of plaques in your arteries. Regular physical activity can help you prevent type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and certain type of cancer. 3. Exercise helps you manage your health This ones a no-brainer. When you engage in physical activity, you burn calories. The more intense the activity, the more calories you burn — and the easier it is to keep your weight under control. You dont even need to set aside major chunks of time for working out. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Walk during your lunch break. Do jumping jacks during commercials. Better yet, turn off the TV and take a brisk walk. Dedicated workouts are great, but physical activity you accumulate throughout the day helps you burn calories, too. With these points in mind, I realized that I need to adopt another kind of lifestyle. Me and my friends are not an avid fan or exercise. Before, we thought that exercising is just for health buffs who are spending all their precious time in the gym. However, as I read more health articles and compare a healthy living to my own, I was able to understand that exercise is imperative to a person’s well being. One of my short term goals this year is to climb Mt. Blanc with my friends. In order for me to achieve my goal, I need to prepare myself physically by exercising at the same time continuously motivate my friends to go to the gym three times a week. The purpose of this paper is to provide its reader with pertinent information derived from a real-life, performance based activity on how to motivate other people to get out of their shell and explore something that would eventually improve themselves. This paper also provides a glimpse on different leadership styles that a person could use in a certain situation. I discussed these insights with my friends then we agreed to accept this challenging revelation and start taking good care of our health. We challenged one another to try to live healthier and go to the gym three times each week. To make it more interesting, we set a goal to climb Mt. Blanc this winter. It is quite idealistic but it is somehow achievable if only we will exert our full effort. During the first few weeks of our new life in going to the gym and embracing healthy living, everybody is motivated to achieve our goal! However, as weeks passed by, I noticed that some of my friends started to become lacks in exercising. Before everybody loses their enthusiasm,I devised a plan on how I can motivate my friends and even myself to go back on track. In this endeavor, I used positive and negative reinforcements. Since we agreed on the plan that we will exercise in the gym three times a week, every individual who would skip a day during this scheduled work-out will be obliged to provide a healthy breakfast for everybody and pay 20 US Dollars which will be used as an additional funds for our mountain climbing. Without them noticing, I was able to integrate a hidden curriculum in this activity. Through this activity, I was able to assess whether my ideas are being respected by my friends. Of course, it is but natural that some will respond negatively to my ideas but to my amazement, when they saw my sincerity and concern, they started listening intently to the things that I am telling them. I can’t believe it at first but indeed, they respected my suggestions and take my statements seriously. I didn’t act bossy or autocratic. I just acted normally and sincerely as I tried to help them understand why do we need to strive to go to the gym on a regular basis and why do we need to impose sanctions for those who can’t follow that agreed routine. We had set our goal – and that is to climb Mt. Blanc by the end of the semester. These work-outs are just pre-requisites for us to attain our short term goal which we all think is fulfilling in our part if we can achieve it. There are times when my ideas clashed with the ideas of the other members of the group. Whenever that happens, I will ask the other person to talk about his/her ideas and explain it to the rest of the group. I in turn would try to empathize – not simply sympathize with that person. I will try to put myself in the other person’s shoes and I am asking my friends to do the same. Through this, we were able to understand one another all the more. What is nice about this agreement is that it turned out to be a team-building activity. We are closer now more than ever. I also realize that when dealing with people, you need to have leadership skills and know when and how to apply it. As what Theodore Hesburrgh said, “The very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision. Its got to be a vision you articulate clearly and forcefully on every occasion.” Articulating clearly and forcefully needs a lot of patience and skills. Before we move on continuing this discussion, let us first talk about the different leadership that a person may use in a specific situation. Kendra Cherry (2010), in her paper under the New York Times company, wrote about the eight major leadership theories: 1. "Great Man" Theories: Great Man theories assume that the capacity for leadership is inherent – that great leaders are born, not made. These theories often portray great leaders as heroic, mythic and destined to rise to leadership when needed. The term "Great Man" was used because, at the time, leadership was thought of primarily as a male quality, especially in terms of military leadership. 2. Trait Theories: Similar in some ways to "Great Man" theories,trait theories assume that people inherit certain qualities and traits that make them better suited to leadership. Trait theories often identify particular personality or behavioral characteristics shared by leaders. If particular traits are key features of leadership, then how do we explain people who possess those qualities but are not leaders? This question is one of the difficulties in using trait theories to explain leadership. 3. Contingency Theories: Contingency theories of leadership focus on particular variables related to the environment that might determine which particular style of leadership is best suited for the situation. According to this theory, no leadership style is best in all situations. Success depends upon a number of variables, including the leadership style, qualities of the followers and aspects of the situation. 4. Situational Theories: Situational theories propose that leaders choose the best course of action based upon situational variables. Different styles of leadership may be more appropriate for certain types of decision-making. 5. Behavioral Theories: Behavioral theories of leadership are based upon the belief that great leaders are made, not born. Rooted in behaviorism, this leadership theory focuses on the actions of leaders not on mental qualities or internal states. According to this theory, people can learn to become leaders through teaching and observation. 6. Participative Theories: Participative leadership theories suggest that the ideal leadership style is one that takes the input of others into account. These leaders encourage participation and contributions from group members and help group members feel more relevant and committed to the decision-making process. In participative theories, however, the leader retains the right to allow the input of others. 7. Management Theories: Management theories (also known as "Transactional theories") focus on the role of supervision, organization and group performance. These theories base leadership on a system of rewards and punishments. Managerial theories are often used in business; when employees are successful, they are rewarded; when they fail, they are reprimanded or punished. 8. Relationship Theories: Relationship theories (also known as "Transformational theories") focus upon the connections formed between leaders and followers. Transformational leaders motivate and inspire people by helping group members see the importance and higher good of the task. These leaders are focused on the performance of group members, but also want each person to fulfill his or her potential. Leaders with this style often have high ethical and moral standards. Not all of these theories are applicable to all situations intended for leaders. However, each of these theories might be applicable for a certain and given situation. A good leader must forsee and must have the skill to determine what kind of leadership strategy should he/she use for a given situation. He/she might choose one, a combination, or an amalgamation of these theories. Bass theory of leadership states that there are three basic ways to explain how people become leaders (Stogdill, 1989; Bass, 1990). The first two explain the leadership development for a small number of people. These theories are: Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. This is the Trait Theory. A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. This is the Great Events Theory. People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. This is the Transformational or Process Leadership Theory. It is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based. Now let us analyze the Bass’ Theory of Leadership and connect it to the situation that we are discussing earlier. The first point under the leadership theory of Bass is the Trait Theory. Some personality traits may lead people naturally into leadership roles. In the group that I have, it is possible that this specific theory is present. Since I am already working together with my circle of friends – there is a possibility that we might have a the same or not a workable personality trait that binds us together as friends. The second theory under Bass’ Theory of Leadership is the Great Events Theory. A crisis or important event may cause a person to rise to the occasion, which brings out extraordinary leadership qualities in an ordinary person. In the situation that we are having, there is no crisis at all. However, if we will look at it on a different perspective, then we might be bonded not because of a crisis but a common goal – to become physically fit and to climb Mt. Blanc. The third point under Bass’ theory of Leadership is the Transformational or Process Leadership Theory . People can choose to become leaders. People can learn leadership skills. It is the most widely accepted theory today and the premise on which this guide is based. Applying it in the situation that I am with at the moment, nobody appointed me to become a leader. However, there is a drive within me to motivate them to do their best so that everybody can achieve our goal which is to be physically healthy. I am aware that what we are going through is not easy since we are not really individuals who are health buffs but we know that it is for our personal well-being. Through this, I was able to learn some leadership skills – how to deal with people, how to motivate them, and how to empathize with them. This certain activity that I did with my friends made a great impact in me as a person. It helped me become a better individual, a better friend, and a better leader.I also think that it had a great impact to the lives of my friends. It made them realize that once they set their goal and it is of great benefit, they need to do their best to achieve it – instead of being pessimistic, try to be optimistic. With the ample amount of drive, motivation, and hard work, they can achieve it. Now, as I reflect back to my work, I could not help but to become happy. I didn’t thought that the seemingly simple pact of going to the gym three times a week would have a very rewarding output. Indeed we are having a positive pace towards achieving our goal but more than that, we learned a lot of things that would benefit us for that rest of our lives. It is very evident that since we started this activity, we were able to improve our interpersonal relationship toward one another. At the same time, I was able to enhance my leadership skills which in the first place I did not know that I possess. Another thing that I learned from this activity is that the way we look on things or situation would have a great effect on its outcome. For instance, the three-times a week gym work-out is really tiring for us to look at during the first few months of doing it. Maybe because it is not a oart if our routine. In every situation, we need to learn to look at the bigger picture, we need to focus on the end goal rather than complaining of the situation that we are in at the moment. Becoming a successful leader does not comes overnight. Let me share with you the road to great leadership (Kouzes & Posner, 1987) that is common to successful leaders: Challenge the process - First, find a process that you believe needs to be improved the most. Inspire a shared vision - Next, share your vision in words that can be understood by your followers. Enable others to act - Give them the tools and methods to solve the problem. Model the way - When the process gets tough, get your hands dirty. A boss tells others what to do, a leader shows that it can be done. Encourage the heart - Share the glory with your followers hearts, while keeping the pains within your own. In conclusion, life is a journey of ups and downs. Along the way, we might meet different situations that would mold us, hopefully to become a better person. There might be stumbling blocks along the way. But instead of becoming bitter and embracing defeat, let us use those stumbling blocks to become stepping stones as we strive to achieve our full potential as an individual. My seemingly simple journey of going to the gym with my friends turned out to become a rewarding and life changing experience. May the lessons that I learned and the things that I shared in this article inspire others as well as much as it inspires me. Works Cited: Mayo Foundation for Medical Education. The Benefits of Physical Activity. 2001. Web. 14 December 2010. http://www.mayoclinic.com/ Kendra Cherry. Leadership Theories. 2010. Web. 14 December 2010. http://psychology.about.com/ Don Clark. Concepts of Leadership. 1997. Web. 14 December 2010. file:///C:/Users/Audrey/Desktop Read More