This week I'm back in the gym like I should be every week (shame on me) and I'm reminded of my slightly peculiar talent (yes, I said it - RecruiterGuy has some peculiarity to him) to correlate my off-work experiences or journeys to goals and missions in my professional life. While punishing my abs and upper body last night I drew a correlation between the creation of (or at my age the maintenance of) my muscles and the 'm4d & cr4zy' skills I try to keep flexed and always honed at work.

It's simple, really - when we work muscles to the point that they can't go any further they react by repairing themselves and getting stronger. Our skill sets and spiritual development works much the same, I think. That feeling of having truly pushed our bodies or a set of muscles to the limit is one of the best in the world - if you've ever had an amazing workout or experienced a runner's high you'll identify with this quite easily. It's a good "hurt" as those endorphins race through our bodies and signal repair... and growth... and life.

Of course, if we go long enough without exercising our muscles (or X) we make it harder for them to grow. Too much time between workouts moves us backwards in this arena and actually causes us to be stagnant in development or even worse - to have to re-teach ourselves to go through what was once easy or second nature. We're forced to push harder to reach that same level of achievement or accomplishment that increases our fitness or professional worth. If you've ever been a consultant you'll find the comparison of sitting on the couch too long to the term 'bench time' a bit humorous, I think.

When we begin to look at self development and driving ourselves to improve we can't ignore the reality of abuse as well - it's clear that our bodies (including our brains) need adequate recovery time to maximize their efficiencies. Overuse and atrophy can lead to the same destructive wake that inactivity and laziness bring. Obsessing over achievement can be as detrimental to our professional and personal lives as ignoring our development all together. In my opinion the true path to success is to set reasonable expectations or goals and constantly evaluate them - constantly work on deliverables and raising that bar - and rewarding ourselves when we've truly pushed ourselves to meet those goals.

Whether my goals are physical, professional or spiritual, I cheat myself when I forget to push them to the limits, re-evaluate them periodically, and reward myself for accomplishments along the way. I'd love to hear how others find balance in their lives and how this reminder, or others like it, keep them in check either personally or professionally. Hit the comments box or one of my other blogs - the only thing I enjoy more than writing these are reading the emails and comments that come afterwards.

My train is pulling into the station - that's it for this morning!

Complete blog here.