Embrace the Stretch: The Law of the Rubber Band

Have you ever wondered how much tension you can handle before you snap? That's exactly what we explore on today's episode of the MD and Chef Team Show with Michael running the ship solo. 

We unpack the intriguing "law of the rubber band" and discover how life's challenges, much like walking against a strong wind, can ultimately fortify us. Michael shares personal stories, including a revealing walk with his wife Isabel, showing how resistance in life can lead to greater strength and resilience. 

This episode offers practical insights and personal anecdotes on maintaining the perfect balance of stretch—enough to propel you from point A to point B, but not so much that you break.

Prepare to challenge yourself as we discuss the essentials of stretching towards success without overexertion and burnout. From personal growth to business endeavors, relationships to parenting, keeping the right amount of tension is key to reaching your goals and serving your community more effectively. 

Michael wraps up with heartfelt gratitude and encouraging words, reminding us of the importance of self-awareness, discipline, and taking calculated risks for sustainable progress. Tune in and find out how you can embrace the stretch and keep pushing forward without snapping under pressure.

Chapters

• 0:13 Stretching Without Breaking
• 13:20 Stretching Towards Success

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:14

Hello and welcome to the MD and Chef Team Show. It's your Chef, michael, here today. I'm running solo because I want to bring you an amazing concept today. Today, we're going to be talking about the law of the rubber band. The law of the rubber band. Have you ever heard of that before? I hadn't until I started to study this and understand. Wow, this is amazing. When you understand this, you get it what this is all about. So let's get into it.

Speaker 1: 0:50

So what is the law of the rubber band? Well, it's a really, really powerful concept that we can apply to many areas of our life. It refers to the idea that, well, just like a rubber band, we can stretch ourselves to achieve our goals. But that's only up to a certain point, because, as you know, if you ever stretched a rubber band too far, what happens? Yep, it snaps. If we stretch too far, we risk breaking.

Speaker 1: 1:23

So this law, we can apply it to many areas of our life, like personal growth, relationships, business, parenting, pretty much anything we're doing in our life. Because what we want to do is, with the rubber band, is we look at where we are right now and then, when we apply some tension, we apply some stretch. That's what's going to help us to go to, let's say, point B. Being where we're at right now is point A, but where we want to be, where we could be, when we stretch, we apply some tension to the rubber band. Point B is where we could be. That could be a goal we've set up in certain areas of our life, set up in certain areas of our life. But guess what? That's not going to happen unless we apply some tension to our lives and to what we're doing.

Speaker 1: 2:23

See, stretching always requires change. It's simple, but it's not easy. It will always require some change, but it's not easy. It will always require some change. Now I want to say that one of the other things we need to understand is growth will stop when we lose the tension between where we are and where we could be. I don't know about you, but there's times where I just don't want to be stretched. It's like, oh, can I just grab my breath there for a little bit? Well, understand, okay, if that rubber band is being stretched and that's in our growth, and we stop that and we lose that tension, well, there's going to be a temporary hold on what we're trying to achieve. There's going to be a temporary hold on what we're trying to achieve. You know, what made me really think about this today is my beautiful wife Isabel, your doctor on the mission. A lot of things going on in our life today, as it always seems to be, and I imagine that you've got a lot of things going on in your life too.

Speaker 1: 3:37

But today we were out for a walk and it was very, very windy and we were walking against the wind and it was interesting. I started thinking well, first off, I really didn't want to be walking into the wind. I mean, it was a pretty blustery wind and it was cold it's autumn here in our part of the world but you know, okay, let's go for a walk. We got to get out Walking into the wind.

Speaker 1: 3:56

What I noticed was how hard I had to work, and you would probably notice this too. I had to, you know, breathe a little harder. I had to work a little harder. I had to pump my arms, my legs a little bit harder, but when I was being stretched to do that, my muscles were working harder. I was actually getting a better workout. You know, when I was going against that wind, my workout, my physical workout, was much better than what it would have been if I was totally going downhill with the wind. Have you ever noticed, when you go with the wind, you're just kind of floating along, you put your arms out, you're almost like a giant sail and it's so easy. Well, that's not really stretching, you're not really working, that feels good, it's very nice, and, hey, I hope that you get some periods of life that are like that, where it's nice, it's easy, you're cruising along. I love those points of life. However, if it's always like that and we're not getting any kind of stretch, well, we're really, most likely, probably not growing and getting to where we want to be in life as far as our goals that we've set for ourselves. Okay.

Speaker 1: 5:17

So what we need to do is maintain the tension between points A and B, where we are now and where we could be and want to be, by continually resetting our short and long-term goals so that we have to stretch, we have to stretch, we have to keep stretching. Now, there's a part we have to be careful with, though, because, however, we push too hard and we try to achieve those goals too quickly and we try to stretch too quickly, we can actually burn out or become overwhelmed. We need to stretch. But we got to be careful that you know, as we know, we're pulling that rubber band, we're stretching, stretching, all going good, we got to and boom it snaps. So in the law of the rubber band, one thing we have to know is we've got to find a balance between stretching ourselves and maintaining boundaries. So what I mean by those boundaries are it requires self-awareness, discipline and also a willingness to take calculated risks. So as we're growing, as we're moving forward, stretch yourself.

Speaker 1: 6:38

When I talk about calculated risks, maybe it's right now you're comfortable and not being stretched in your job and you have to take what's called a calculated risk, where you're either asking for more responsibility and more of a raise or you're going to step out and look for a new position and start talking to other people about a new job. That's a calculated risk. To stretch yourself. To say I'm not just going to sit here and be comfortable. It might be many other areas. It might be a relationship in your relationships with either your kids or your spouses. You might be comfortable. There's a lot of things that aren't right, but it's like, eh, I'm not going to bother talking about them or I'm not going to talk a bother with a crucial conversation.

Speaker 1: 7:27

To have those crucial conversations in relationships, we've actually got to stretch ourselves. We've got to make some decisions and say, oh, this might be a little uncomfortable, I'm going to have to put some tension on this so that we can move forward to achieve a better option. To get that going, we've got to make sure we don't put too much tension on it. So we have to be self-aware of our own understanding of what our limitations, our strengths are. We have to allow ourselves to recognize when we're stretching ourselves a little too thin and then sometimes take a step back because that can happen, and then sometimes take a step back because that can happen. We have to identify our values and boundaries, because that's essential for maintaining our sense of self and preventing burnout or resentment. We have to have discipline, because that's necessary for staying focused on our goals and then we can resist the temptation to stretch too far quickly. It requires us to prioritize our tasks and allocate our time and resources wisely. Discipline, yes, I mean.

Speaker 1: 8:46

I know there's been times where I have pushed too hard, too fast. I have pushed too hard, too fast, and well, I could say a lot of different words about it, but the bottom line is. It doesn't work Because, yes, stretching, yes, I was making some moves, yes, some calculator risks, yes, stretching, but it was too fast, too quick and boom, the law of the rubber band said the rubber band broke. So we have to take calculated risks, which is also crucial for stretching ourselves without breaking. I mean, we have to evaluate the potential risks when we're moving forward and the rewards of particular actions. So we got to make sure that the actions we take are correct and then we make an informed decision based on the evaluations we make. That sounds like a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo, but it's very true. That's how we take calculated risks. That's how we stretch the rubber band without breaking it.

Speaker 1: 9:48

We actually have to think about yes, I'm going to stretch, yes, I'm going to move forward, but we got to make sure we're doing it correctly, we're doing it within our strengths, we're doing it taking a look at okay, what could potentially go wrong here and how do I make sure that I minimize those things that could happen? So, to apply this law effectively, we need to find the right balance between stretching ourselves and maintaining boundaries, and we do this with self-awareness about what's our strengths, what's the best things I'm good at how far am I comfortable with stretching, because some people can just stretch, stretch, stretch and they're okay. Others, they got to go a little smoother, a little easier, got to have the discipline to know that. Okay, I've got to maintain that tension once I'm stretching with the law of the rubber band, I've got to maintain that moving forward with the law of the rubber band, I've got to maintain that moving forward. And then we have to have a willingness to take some calculated risks to move forward. Keyword there being calculated risks yes, the risks, but we very much minimalized it to know that, okay, this is worthwhile because it's going to move me forward toward the goals I want to have.

Speaker 1: 11:15

So by applying the law of the rubber band in our lives, we can achieve our goals without a burnout, without overwhelm or compromising our own sense of self-worth, and maintain our integrity, and that is a real key. Just understand that stretching always requires change and stretching will always need to happen with to have some tension moving forward, because that's how we build strength, just like walking into the wind. You will build, strengthen your muscles by walking into the wind. When we have the law of the rubber band, we put tension on ourselves, we stretch ourselves and we build our muscles, our mental, so that we are stronger, moving forward and we can do more and we can set bigger goals. And when we reach those goals, we can reset them and go again, and reset and go again. And, yeah, take a break every once in a while, like we all like to.

Speaker 1: 12:27

But, as I say, the law of the rubber band is such a wonderful law when you understand it, that, wow, I feel really stretched right now. What is going on? Why am I? Oh, I've set these goals but now, all of a sudden, I'm very stretched, I've got tension on the rubber band. So just make sure that you do that wisely, because the rubber band can break. Hopefully that's made sense to you today.

Speaker 1: 12:58

I love that law. It's helped me to understand a lot in my life, to know that when I am stretching and feeling that stretch and having to understand, okay, I'm on the right path. Am I going too quick? Is this a good pace? Do I need to push it forward a little bit more or do I need to back off a little bit? It's really helped me out a lot. Hopefully it does you.

Speaker 1: 13:21

The law of the rubber band. And hey, it was fantastic having this opportunity to chat with you today, and we love having you here on the MD and Chef Team podcast. There's always something going on. You never know what's going to be going. It was just something different today, I know, but it came to me because of having to walk into the wind and a lot going on in our lives and we realized, wow, yes, we are really stretching and the rubber band stretched out right now, so we're making sure we don't break it, but we're keeping the tension on it because we've got a lot to achieve so we can serve you All. Righty, thank you, have an amazing day. God bless you. Bye for now.