Cesar Millan, Human Whisperer

There was a fascinating article in Sunday's New York Times, titled "Cesar Millan, Whispering to Rottweillers, and to CEOs."    I'm not a dog person - I am allergic to pets and like clean floors.  But the title grabbed me.  I encourage you to read it.

The article explains Cesar Millan's philosophy and career progression.  What an amazing success story.  Even more interesting is how his philosophy about dogs can be used with similar success with humans. 

One of the most interesting excerpts from the article:

"(Dogs) accept you as who you are - one leg, two legs, no eyes, no problem," he says.  "But they won't be around unstable energy.  That's how much integrity they have."    Not so with humans.  "One of Cesar's favorite sayings," says Jim Milio, a partner in MPH, which produces the show out of a mini-mall in Burbank, Calif., "is that humans are the only animals who will follow unstable pack leaders."

His mantra is "exercise, discipline and affection."  These elements, when applied to dogs, will make dog owners successful pack leaders.  Applied to yourself, they will also make you more stable, more confident, more in-balance.  So, even people who are not dog owners can apply these elements in their lives to improve their relationships in the workplace and with their families.  Stable, confident, strong, compassionate people attract other people.  So, be fit, be disciplined, offer friendship/affection/love (as appropriate) and people will want to follow you, be around you.  That makes total sense to me.  I was able to explain this to my husband in two minutes and it made sense to him, too. 

So I plan to post Cesar Millan's mantra (with some elaboration) in my kitchen to remind everyone in my household what they need to do every day to be strong, confident, stable and warm:

Exercise - get your heart rate up every single day
Discipline - practice this across all facets of life - sleep, eating, budget, emotions, respect, work, time management, family time
Affection - everyone needs to show everyone in the house affection every single day

I'm going to see how this works out for us over the next two weeks and I will report back here.  Now excuse me while I go do a Shred.  Hopefully, my toddler won't try to sit on me while I'm doing crunches.