Thinking Right Contributes to Success
Tommy
Boone, PhD, MPH, FASEP, EPC
Professor
and Chair
Director,
Exercise Physiology Laboratories
Department
of Exercise Physiology
The
College of St. Scholastica
Duluth, MN 55811
Rene' Dubos said, "To ward off
disease or recover health, men as a rule find it easier to depend on
healers than to attempt the more difficult task of living wisely." In
general, people tend to ignore the difficult task that underpin
prevention. Yet it is well accepted today that we can decrease risk
factors for different diseases and, therefore, alter the sense of an
inevitable outcome.
I wonder just how much a person
must stretch the mind to believe the following statement: "To continue
in the historical sense of what was exercise physiology, I find
colleagues (as a rule) believe it is easier to speak favorably on
behalf of sports medicine than to attempt the more difficult task of
creating their own future." Note that the meaning embedded in this
statement is essentially the same as the first.
Our desire to take the easier path
conflicts with our overall ability to be successful. In essence,
everything is a mess when our lives are driven by wrong thinking. We
can only improve ourselves and that which we profess to have control
when we think right (or think straight). Crooked thinking is not only
insensitive to the exercise physiologist's needs, it demonstrates the
lack of vision that is critical to success.
This idea is not as radical as it
may seem. Exercise physiologists have a lot to learn about themselves,
thinking right, and the work that it takes to develop and maintain a
healthcare profession. This is exactly why the American Society of
Exercise Physiologists is so important, especially as a new approach to
"exercise as medicine."
Consider the famous phrase by
Emile Coue, a French pharmacist who founded a clinic that used positive
imagery: "Every day, in every way, I am becoming better and better." I
believe this is a power suggestion, that when acknowledged has a
powerful positive effect on the mind. Positive imagery and
self-affirmation have an important physiological connectedness.
In regards to exercise physiology,
consider the following statement: "Every day, in every way, the
profession of exercise physiology is becoming better and better."
Repeating the affirmation daily should help develop a mental image of a
positive future based on thinking right about exercise physiology? The
visualization itself helps to begin the process of creating the future
that ASEP exercise physiologists desire.
Thinking right contributes to
success by redirecting the mind from yesterday's thinking toward a new
way, and through the efforts of the ASEP organization, the likelihood
of success is greatly enhanced. And, remember, members are needed for
every organization -- those who make it and those who need it. Naum
Gabo, the Russian artist expressed the same idea: "A work of art,
restricted to what the artist has put into it, is only a part of
itself. It only attains full stature with what people and time make of
it.
In other words, the world of ASEP
exercise physiology invites exercise physiologists to reflect on their
experiences, to think about the here and now, and above all challenge
those who find ASEP unacceptable. There are countless problems, many of
which can be solved by thinking right. ASEP has, in fact, helped us
solve many of these problems (e.g., code of ethics, professional
recognition, board certification, accreditation, standards of
professional practice, and so forth).
But in spite of the extraordinary
work of the ASEP Board of Directors, the world exercise physiologists
live in also confronts us with the past connection to sports medicine
that only can be lived yesterday. Today, with the endless expanse of
healthcare opportunities, exercise physiologists must envision new
possibilities for credibility and finanical stability. And, this is
precisely what ASEP is meant to do: to stimulate our thinking and
imagination. It encourages all exercise physiologists to dare to
explore their own story of professional development.
I’ve written a lot about exercise
physiology since the founding of the American Society of Exercise
Physiologists. Much of it is published in the Professionalization of
Exercise Physiologyonline. My purpose is obvious or it should be. I
want to help exercise physiologists think about what is exercise
physiology and who is an exercise physiologist.
The key to everything is dependent
upon our ability to think as exercise physiologists. At times, I wonder
whether we understand what it means to think. Thinking is obviously
important or it should be. But, what does it mean to think? What does
it mean to exercise physiology? Is it much the same as the role
thinking has played in art, literature, and science? I would like to
think so.
Also, I would like to think that
we are deliberate in how we think about ourselves and what we are.
Hence, whether it is an artist or a scientist, all good things come
from thinking. But, it is obvious that we don’t take thinking very
seriously. Why is that? Or, perhaps, better stated, “Why causes us to
think?”
I’ve heard that “thinking starts
with a problem and ends in a solution.” Have you heard that, too? I
can’t remember who said it or, perhaps, even where I read it. The more
I think about it though, the more I know that it applies 100% to
exercise physiology. Clearly or, at least, it should be, exercise
physiologists have a huge problem of not coming together in support of
each other. Maybe, they are just too independent for their own good.
If only they would work at
developing their thinking ability beyond doing research, I believe they
would attain a level of professional development and credibility that
would surprise them. I believe that if they were to take the time to
think better about the social and economic side of exercise physiology,
think about their students and how they would benefit from supporting
ASEP, and think about their own professionalism and not that of fitness
specialists, they would understand their problem.
In short, I’m talking about a
transformation that would be quick and almost unbelievable, that is, if
they were to begin thinking about the professionalism of exercise
physiology. And, of course, by this, I mean the development of a new
way to think about exercise physiology. That new way I’m referring to
is partly defined by less distraction and less misconceptions driven by
sports medicine. I’m also referring to the need to be more creative in
looking to the future, especially when it comes to our scope of
practice.
We need to anticipate the problems
of failing to adapt to what we really are, and our lack of thinking
about how to use exercise as medicine. And, in a similar way, we need
to get past how smart we think we are. I’m convinced our egos are
getting in our way of seeing the real future. I’m also convinced that
sports medicine has caused us to think in a one dimensional manner. We
need to look at exercise physiology from several different perspectives.