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I think todays subject: Don’t Buy A Dog And Bark Yourself… is on my mind because currently I’m super happy to hand over barking duties to the professionals I’ve just hired to help me with some videos.

Video, as you’ll know if you’ve listened to Healthification for any period of time is not something I find easy…. yet.

Now talking I can do, however once I see myself on camera I freak out at just how overly-crazy-expressive I am.

I’m working on embracing it – because I really don’t think I’ll change it – however my current approach is to hire some professionals and to take their advice. Or for the purpose of todays analogy… let them do the barking!

They’ve spent years refining their craft and I’d be stupid not to defer to their expertise. Well the super vast majority of the time anyway. I had a recent chat with my main point of contact video gent and I could tell he was hedging… trying to put something delicately so far as some photo’s on my website. I’m actually pretty alright with constructive criticism though I guess he doesn’t know that yet and commenting on a chicks appearance can certainly be dangerous territory!

Eventually he spat it out: “Kate, in some of those angles – the way you’re standing – your waist it’s just impossibly small we need to make it look BIGGER in this shoot.”

I burst out laughing.

As happy as I am to take any cues on shoot day and even to move shoot day to the great outdoors rather than the natural-light-free-zone… the weights-filled-noisey-somewhat-smelly-yet-very-familiar-GYM that I’d being planning to film in…

As happy as I am to compromise in that regard… so far as my waist I had to set him straight: “Nathan, your job is absolutely NOT to make my waist look any bigger… now you can make my chest look bigger and my thighs look slimmer but I’m quite happy with my waist thank you very much!” 

In all seriousness, the whole buying a dog and barking thing applies way too frequently to body gain.

It’s the program you buy and then only stick to the bits that slot easily into your current lifestyle.

It’s the trainer you hire and then tell them: “I need to do more sit-ups because my stomach is my problem area.”

Or: “I can’t lift heavy weights because I don’t want to get too bulky.”

Or even: “The only way I lose weight is when I skip meals and starve myself. I just need to NOT EAT!”

Here’s the 3-part caveat to consider before you hand over all barking duties:

A) You need to respect the professional you’re working with / buying from.

It sounds obvious however it happens a lot so maybe it’s not so obvious?

Surely though it’s got to be fairly short sighted to admit that help would be a valuable thing and then consistently refuse that help?

Even to choose a professional you trust enough to pay and then disregard their advice?

B) You need to want to improve / change.

Perhaps there’s a degree of satisfaction in investing in something whether you back up your cash investment with actually taking the actions or not? Like the self-help course or book you feel better for buying… better enough to not even take any action?

I guess gyms can sadly be the perfect example of this phenomena. A membership is a step in the right direction however as a Will Rogers quote I love goes: “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

C) You need to let go of your ego / your need to always be right.

The older I get the more I realise how much Ego has previously held me back. Not in a vain, egotistical way… more in a needing to ‘save face’ ‘not fail’ ‘be able to handle it’ way. When in fact now, especially in business I’m finding it incredibly freeing to just let go a bit.

To say: “I’m not an expert at this. I don’t even want to be an expert at this.

Hey, so since YOU are. Since I can see you are… I can see that you walk your talk… that you have pretty awesome results… that you have the sort of results I’d love to enjoy AND since I really want to improve the results I’m currently getting… Well considering all that: Could I please pay you to hep me?”

Oh, one more thing… the professional – the dog – NEEDS TO BARK!

I’m thinking of a certain young trainer I’ve seen. I’m sure he’s fairly knowledgeable however he trains a lady – around baby boomer age one hour a week and ALL they do is core. Mostly the least effective – trunk flexion type of sit-up and crunching core.

Now this lady powers through 60 minutes of various versions of crunching and twisting and tapping and I’m sure it’s because she told him: “I need to do more sit-ups because my stomach is my problem area.”

Cudos to her ability to stick with a routine that would have me crunched out OR passed out from supreme boredom in less than 20 minutes however the point is her trainer needs to bark!

Or the lady needs to walk.

Or maybe I need to continue to just let them be! It’s been a bit of a rambling vent type of show today which is exactly the way I intend the wednesday show to be. To drag forth some actionable though… let’s go with todays 3-part caveat.

I’d love you to apply it to that professional, that service, even that book you bought with true intentions to benefit, to grow and achieve a goal that is important to you. So to be clear, I’m talking about that example you’re thinking about that you’re currently not following. You’ve bought the dog and yet you’re continuing to bark.

It’s not the most effective use of anyones time.

Here are the 3 considerations again:

A) Do you respect the professional you’re working with / buying from?

B) Do you want to improve / change?

If you answered YES then,

C) You need to let go of your ego / your need to always be right.

That’s it for me today. I’ll be back with the Friday show which happens to be a bit of a celebration because it’s show #300!!!

I hope you can join me.

If you liked this you’ll also like: Debilitating shyness, big butt serenades, gym floor humiliation and the biz from hell… 4 weight loss lessons.

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.