A Little Common Sense

Have you ever known someone and thought to yourself: “Damn that boy is book smart, but he doesn’t have the sense the good Lord gave a goose”? Seems to me these days particularly this statement applies quiet well in “young” management. I mean companies are hiring management personal based on their college credits and how well they did in school. I am not saying that schooling is not important or even that it isn’t a good thing, but somewhere down the line this “next” generation has not learned from anything from the school of hard nocks to go along with it. I am not sure where our society is going so wrong to tell you the truth. I could go on about how I think it’s that we are spoiling our children. I could tell you I think it’s because a lot of them haven’t been taken out behind the woodshed for things they really should have been. I could go on for hours on how it is that we are now siding with our children against teachers and schools in topics we shouldn’t. (Even though there are times I think we should side with our children against teachers.) I could say it’s that to me it seems times have gotten selfish. I mean children are only little for so long. Parents should be taking time to enjoy their children and should be devoting their time to their children while they are little. Instead I have unfortunately known several people who feel their needs to go out and do stuff or buy stuff supersede their need to spend alone time with their children. Or if these people are home with their children they are still not spending time with them but with someone else. I find that sad because I think the opportunity that they are passing up is one they will regret some day, but then again it’s not my life. Common sense is simply what I would call following your gut instinct or survival instinct. I mean common sense would tell you not to put your hand on top of a hot grill that you had just put the fire out on. It would tell a man not to comment on weight gain that his wife has. Common sense would tell management that employees who respect you will go farther for you and do things they wouldn’t normally do to help you out. It would also tell management that the smarter the people are around you and the more you take their advice the farther up the ladder you will climb. I believe if you go look up Donald Trumps latest book on success, if memory serves, it has a statement in there for him about how the people below him are smarter than him and that is what makes him so successful. The statement is something to that nature anyway. Successful people know that being stubborn and wanting your own way and thinking you are always right is pathetically wrong. I wasn’t really thinking along the paths of work though when I decided to write about common sense today though. I guess I allowed myself to get a little side tracked, but then I am good at getting side tracked. My thoughts on it were simply about my own journey and how I have been trying to apply common sense to my weight loss. Here are a few common sense things that I should have thought of a long time ago. One, if you aren’t hungry then don’t eat. I know that sounds like it is simple enough doesn’t it? Well, how many times have you eaten things simply out of boredom or because someone brought something into the office or because it was simply in front of you? I mean your mind and stomach told you it wasn’t hungry but there you sat stuffing your face anyway. This accounts for a lot of unnecessary eating. Two, if you don’t buy it or have it in your possession you can’t give into the temptation to eat it. Elementary I would say. Three, never shop when you’re hungry and always have a list with you of what you intend to buy. Get into the store buy only what is on your list and get out as quickly as possible. Four, before eating, drink an eight to sixteen ounce glass of water. People often mistake the bodies need for water as hunger. Five, ask yourself why you are about to eat whatever it is. Are you eating because it’s what you’re hungry for or is it out of comfort need? Six, one should not eat late at night. When you eat late at night your body doesn’t have time to properly digest the food and burn off excess prior to your going to bed. Seven, get an adequate amount of sleep. When your body is sleep deprived it holds onto fats and calories as an energy source. Studies have shown that people who do not get enough rest usually have weight issues. Lastly I would say the most common sense item I could say is remind yourself why you’re losing weight and ask yourself how important whatever item is that you’re about to eat. Food is a fuel source and should be seen as nothing else. That is what it comes down to. Your body needs fuel. This doesn’t mean one should never indulge in foods they enjoy. Heck I think it’s necessary to indulge every once in a while, but as I have been told over and over by doctors it all comes down to moderation. Simply put the most common sense thing to remember is simple math. To lose weight you must burn more calories than you take in on any given day. Muscle will burn more calories than fat. So if you exercise and maintain a proper diet you’ll get there. I keep reminding myself of that over and over and over. Also your body adjust to whatever you are putting it through. It’s your body’s basic survival instinct. So if one wants to continue to lose weight you must mix things up and change. If you simply walk you will lose weight for a few months, but your body will become accustomed to the lower calories and the walking and will balance out. So you must add to it or mix up and walk less then more. Throw in some strength training and weights. If you really want to get there you can. I know how hard it is to convince one’s self of this. I know how hard it is to fight every day to continue to believe it. I know that sitting on the sofa wanting it didn’t get me anywhere. I know there were no magic pills or short cuts. So I hope if you’re trying to stop smoking or lose weight or just get happy that you’ve found a few words of wisdom in my consummate babble. Either way, life in general on work or weight loss or basically anything else comes down to one thing: A little common sense.