Have you ever felt like a master of missing the obvious? What you're looking for is right in front of your nose but you just can't see it. Then when you do finally see it, you have that humbling "duh" moment where you wonder: "Why didn't I see that before?"

As human beings we struggle with certain thought patterns and behavior patterns that we learned from our parents or other people that we look up to. Since these thought patterns are so infused into our minds, we never stop to think that there may be another way to see a particular situation or to accomplish a particular goal.

Several years ago, Apple Computer had a simply brilliant two-word slogan: "Think Different"

It seems that it's about time for many of us to begin to "think different" about health, fitness, diet, and time management. Most people live their lives with all sorts of goals that they never attain (such as weightloss). In many cases I'm convinced that we are simply in need of some basic mental reprogramming.

Albert Einstein (a man well known for thinking different) said: "The world we've created is a result of the level of thinking we've done thus far and it produces problems, the solution to which does not exist at the same level of thinking."

We need a new level of thinking. We need to think different.

Let me give you a couple of simple examples of how "thinking different" about some normal day to day activities can have a dramatic effect on your health and waistline.

We have been programmed to THINK that the more convenient a thing is the better it is. As a result, when you or I take a trip to the mall, Stuff-Mart, or the local grocery store, we generally spend extra time struggling to find the parking spot that is as close to the front door as possible. After all, that's the "best spot." Parking there will get us from the car to the store the fastest (or so we think) and with the least possible amount of walking. But is that really better?

I'm always amazed when I think about how silly we humans really are. We spend the entire day doing all we can to avoid walking or any other unnecessary physical activity. Then we pay $50 each month to join a gym so that they can walk on a treadmill. Doesn't that seem a bit odd?

We all know that walking is beneficial. We know it will burn fat. We know that it's good for the heart. We know that it increases our respiration, clears the mind and eases stress. Yet, when it comes time to look for a parking space we forget these things because we've been conditioned to think that it's best to get the parking place closest to the front door so that we won't "have to walk."

So we struggle and strain to get that perfect parking spot and in the process we waste away precious minutes that we will never get back again. We could have simply parked at the far end of the lot (where no one else parks), walked to the front door and gotten started on our shopping before those who are fighting for the best spot have even gotten out of their cars. But our parking paradigm (and our walking paradigm) keeps us from seeing it that way. We want to get the "best spot" and we certainly don't want to "have to walk."

Guys and girls, here's the bottom-line. It's not about "having to walk." It's about GETTING TO WALK.

We need a new perspective. We need to begin to think different.

The world around us is truly is a gym. Think about that next time you pull into the Stuff-Mart parking lot or the next time you have the opportunity to choose between riding an elevator or taking the stairs. People pay good money to walk on stairs that take them nowhere, when we could be walking real stairs for free.