Continuous Productivity

It's the Calories, Stupid

I recently read about baseball player, Heath Bell, who lost 25lbs over the winter using the Nintendo Wii. Given my own inability to lose the lingering 20lbs that I have gained over the last few years, I diligently researched the Wii for fitness purposes. I quickly came to realize that like any other form of exercise, you actually have to commit to it and do it...and it's not really as fun as it sounds.

So, I was reassured by reading this article yesterday that basically said that you have to cut calories:

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Pennington Biomedical Research Center put four popular diets -- high carb, high fat, low-fat and high protein -- to the test to see which of the regimens resulted in more weight-loss success.

After two years of monitoring the participants, "all the diets were winners," said study co-author Dr. Frank Sacks, a professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health. "All produced weight loss and improvements in lipids, reduction in insulin.

"The key really is that it's calories. It's not the content of fat or carbohydrates, it's just calories," said Sacks. The findings are published in the latest edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.

I'd love to take the time one day and research the diet advice market, as a whole. It seems like, despite the obvious, there are so many revenue channels from books to fad diets to support groups. It seems like all you have to do is write a book with a clever name, get on a TV show, and success is guaranteed.

Yes We Can

I've been meaning to get this video up since election night, but we never got around to uploading it until recently. Barack, post-election victory:

Church Business Succession Planning

Even churches have the same succession planning issues as do family-owned businesses. When the patriarch withers away, the children often foil the life's work:

The Crystal Cathedral blames the recession for its woes. But it's clear that the elder Schuller's carefully orchestrated leadership transition, planned over a decade, has stumbled badly.

It's a problem common to personality driven ministries. Most have collapsed or been greatly diminished after their founders left the pulpit or died.

Members often tie their donations to the pastor, not the institution, said Nancy Ammerman, a sociologist of religion at Boston University. Schuller, with a style that blends pop psychology and theology, has a particularly devoted following, she said.

"Viewers are probably much less likely to give when it's not their preacher they're giving to," she said. "There's something about these televised programs where people develop a certain loyalty."

Even in a religious setting, the stories are similar to many charisma-driven co-founders of the world's biggest companies:

The elder Schuller, who called his weekly show "America's Television Church," founded his ministry in a drive-in theater after moving to Southern California in 1955.

He studied marketing strategies to attract worshippers and preached a feel-good Christianity, describing himself as a "possibility thinker" and spinning his upbeat style into a 10,000-member church and a broadcast watched by millions worldwide.

The church's main sanctuary, the Crystal Cathedral, is a landmark designed by renowned architect Philip Johnson, with a spire visible from afar amid Orange County's suburban sprawl. Thousands make the pilgrimage to see where the broadcast is filmed before a live congregation.