This idea to “Know Thyself” is nothing new. It can be traced back to aphorisms in Ancient Greece or sage teachings of “the Self ought to be the subject to know” in Ancient India.
The theme of “Self” can also be traced back through Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
The thirst to Know Thyself has also fueled physiologists, psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists, and philosophers alike. There is a teaching in Confucianism that you should reflect on yourself 3 times a day.
When is the last time you reflected on yourself 3 times a day? I mean truly slowed down and just. be. still.
Push notifications from social media, emails, phone calls, text messages, adult responsibilities — Who has the time?
Confucius says 3 times a day but Confucius never had ESPN.
We are inundated with dings, illuminations, and vibrations — information, information, information!
We have no time for silence or clear thought.
“True intelligence operates silently. Stillness is where creativity and solutions to problems are found.” - Eckhart Tolle
We then operate in chaos and to survive chaos we limit our decision making — in other words we form habits and often times not good ones.
This lack of mindfulness and reliance on habits only perpetuates our stress. Being mindful is always the brake, if you don’t use it sooner or later you run out of gas.
Coaches Get Ready
With more and more tech companies creating applications for health, sooner or later you will have athletes walking into your gym with quantified self knowledge. That means you better have answers.
A recent conversation with a coach/business owner asked “Why would I want my clients to monitor themselves? They would only come in 2 or 3 times a week? Why would we market the 4 or 5 time (unlimited) option? We would lose money.”
Like I said you will need answers. For us at TAE our answers are always “Less is More” and Health is always first.
Below is a video of Carl Valle who talks about the “Quantified Self” and I am in full agreement.
This is the future. As I stated above an individual’s need to “Know Thyself” is not going away anytime soon. Though Carl states this will be a disruption to the healthcare industry, I believe it will be a disruption to the fitness industry first. What do you think?
By: Aaron Davis
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