There’s a guy I know. Let’s call him Salami Sam.
Salami Sam is a really nice guy. He’s got a beautiful wife, 2 kids and a dog. He’s a corporate executive running a very big public company. Salami Sam is important – to a lot of people.
I was chatting with Salami Sam over dinner the other night and he was telling me about what he eats when his wife isn’t around managing his food for him. He said, “yesterday morning I had a salami sandwich with cheese for breakfast. And for lunch I had a salami sandwich with cheese. And for dinner, I had a salami sandwich with cheese.” Do you see why I call him Salami Sam?
When I told him he was going to kill himself eating that way, he said he had been to the doctor and had a checkup. He has extremely high cholesterol and his liver is waving a red flag. When he told me this he chuckled and said “but salami and cheese is soooooo good!” as he licked his lips.
And I said, “Dead executives don’t get bonuses! You’ve got to start taking care of yourself!”
Salami Sam just laughed at me. He knew the dangers. He knew he should be exercising. He knew he should be eating vegetables. He acknowledged all of this as he chomped down on yet another piece of fried chicken.
The whole conversation reminded me of a presupposition of NLP.
When you know better you do better
In Salami Sam’s case it was more like,
We know better but we don’t do better.
Why? Why do we sabotage ourselves when we know better?
There’s 3 reasons I believe are at the heart of the problem:
- Some people think they are invincible
- Some people think they are unique
- Some people think they would rather die than “suffer”
Yes, some people think they’re going to live forever no matter how badly they treat themselves. It isn’t like they are going around thinking they are immortal, just a little closer to Superman than the rest of us. I’m sure you know someone like this. A few addicts I know are like this. They think they’re better than the substance they’re addicted to. Ya, right!
And some people believe they are unique. They can do whatever they want and somehow the rules don’t apply to them. Sure, there are a choice few that defy the odds but are you really like that? Salami Sam’s liver says no!
And some people just believe that eating vegetables and exercising is a pain worse than death (or triple bypass, or losing their eyesight due to diabetes). As if the alternatives don’t make you suffer!
Stop the sabotage!
It’s time to start taking care of yourself! You’re the best “you” in the world and we would rather have you here than 6 feet under because the salami caught up with you.
For all the Salami Sams in the world, I wish you a salad and a good workout.
Read the e-book Dead Executives Don’t Get Bonuses by Dr. Joel Kahn
Leave a Reply