Extreme Makeover - Compliments of Me

There is a fascination these days with reality shows that completely make over people, rooms, homes, businesses and now towns, in a short amount of time. I have to admit, I love them too. I love the neat story with a happy ending. They make it look easy, in spite of the pain and hard work many of them have to endure. People have always had this fascination. It's no different than the old shows (and I'm dating myself here) like Bewitched, where Samantha, who was a witch, would just twitch her nose and, Voila! - her house was clean as a whistle. To go even further back, there was a very popular show called The Millionaire, where a mysterious benefactor would come anonymously with a check for a million dollars and transform someone's life.

Our fascination with quick fixes extends to every area of our lives. In the area of weight loss, the stomach stapling or banding operation is now more popular than ever. People are disappearing before our very eyes. Why diet when you can just have surgery? Lotto is another variation on this fascination. Someone takes a dollar and a dream, purchases a Lotto ticket and all their troubles fade away. Or do they?

We live in an age of instant gratification. Fast food, fast results. We want it now and we want it easy. The problem is that life is not really that simple. The makeover shows have an unseen staff of people helping them to get it all done, not to mention a budget and a host of willing resources looking for their own 15 minutes of fame.

The people themselves, I am sure, experience all sorts of things like the reality that overeating really has nothing to do with your stomach or hunger and more to do with what's going on in your head. And when someone fixes your stomach, you are now forced to fix what's going on in your head. And sometimes, I'll bet, that's even harder than exercising and dieting. And I'm sure months of therapy are needed for a lot of the other show recipients to cope with the instant and dramatic changes in their lives. I'm not saying some of these people don't work hard either.

The Biggest Loser contestants have to do the work themselves and many of the makeover recipients endure extreme pain. But you have to admit they've got a heck of a support system.

The drawback of watching these fast ways of relieving yourself of the responsibility of creating the results you want in your life, making it almost as easy as taking a pill, is that this makes us even less motivated to do it for ourselves. We sit around and scheme and whine about how we wish that we could get on this show or what we would do if we hit Lotto. The entire time I road the train to work on my 9-5, all I heard was that "there's gotta be a better way". But how many people were working on figuring out what that better way was?

Well, here's a newsflash. You can do it for yourself! You can improve yourself and your life. You can find that better way. You can have the same results these people have had on TV. There is nothing stopping you! But here's the drawback. 1- It won't be that quick. 2- It won't be as easy as it looks 3- You have to rely on yourself or cultivate your own supporting staff. 4- You must create your own budget. 5- Staying motivated is your job.

But beyond this, the rewards are so much more gratifying. They are not instant but much more lasting. Why? Because you've done it for yourself. So now, not only are you feeling pretty good about your efforts, you now know how to get it done. It's somewhat like the proverb about teaching a man to fish instead of giving him a fish dinner. Of course, I have paraphrased here. But you understand what I mean.

I believe that once you have recreated your own reality, the rewards can be tremendous and far more satisfying than someone whisking you away and changing you into someone you didn't have a chance to grow into, growth being the operative word.

I am working on an extreme makeover in three areas of my own life, as if one area would not be enough (and no, none of them involve surgery!). I am using a method of goal setting taught to me by Denise Michaels, a coach, author and Ryze Network (www.ryze.com) moderator of the Testosterone-Free Marketing Network. It is a powerful method of goal setting that meshes your goals with your values and brings those goals into your daily life. It includes the daily reaffirming of your goal through a vivid vision statement, guiding principles and so much more.

Is it easy? No! Trust me, I am working hard and battling my personal demons in the process, but should I succeed, and I believe I surely will, I will be every bit as happy and excited as the people you see on the makeover shows, including a few tears, but somehow I believe that my victory will be just a bit sweeter. Why? Because this victory will be totally compliments of me!

Gayle Santana is the owner of The PVS Network and The PVS Network Virtual Call Center helping business owners everywhere focus on the bottom line! http://www.pvsnetwork.com; gayle@pvsnetwork.com