Building Muscles
Friday, July 13, 2007
For the past few weeks I've been putting myself voluntarily through torture ... aka physical therapy. As you may know, I had ACL replacement surgery in early May, after which I have done light stretching and the like. Early on I dropped my crutches to the side and forced myself to use my muscles whenever I could. Despite my best efforts, my thighs and calves atrophied quite a bit, to my alarm. It happened so quick! A nurse told me some statistic that I've now forgotten about how much muscle atrophies per day when not used (i.e., like when you're in a cast).
So, now I'm rebuilding muscles. Jill, my physical therapist at the Alticor gym, has me doing all kinds of squats and lifts and other tortuous acts, like standing on my affected leg only while tossing a medicine ball back and forth with another ACL patient. I think it's hard enough to stand on one good leg and do that! Crunches, workouts with weights and three-mile runs used to be my norm, resulting in mild muscle soreness. Now, lying on my side and lifting my leg in the air followed by isometric exercises involving me squeezing an exercise ball between my legs and butt cause extreme muscle fatigue. I'm rebuilding muscle.
It will all be worth it, of course, if I come out the other end enjoying many active years to come. I look forward to being able to jog again and, hopefully, to play some soccer. Not only that, I'll not fear stumbling down some staircase and breaking my neck. I have a long life to lead (I hope!) and I want to be able to enjoy it.
Here at Quixtar we're building muscles, too. There are some things we just haven't done before, and some things we haven't done so fast. Now, we're doing them. On a daily basis I'm hearing about new heroics from within the organization as we work to bring new products to market faster than ever before. Other teams are looking at compensation and how we can improve that for all levels of our business. We're actively working on building new training programs to help IBOs do a better job retailing products and building balanced businesses.
There is some pain. There are people working weekends and changing vacation plans. There are people doing jobs they've not done before, and some areas doing work that other areas used to do (which can be very uncomfortable for all involved). There is some reprioritization of work that we do, with some things that used to be part of our plan falling out altogether. A lot of investment is being made right now to transform this business, and the financial rewards for that investment may not be seen (by the company) for years.
Quixtar and this entire enterprise is going through some physical therapy and developing some new muscles. In some cases, we're repairing and strengthening muscles we've used before. In some cases we're working on muscles we never knew we had (or needed!!). But the soreness and pain we experience will be well worth it if we come out the other end a stronger, fitter, healthier organization.