Retired marine urges focus on health, energy as keys to success

Retired United States Marine Corps Lt. Col. Bruce Bright asked members and guests at the November Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce meeting to name their priorities.

Bright, who is a leadership coach and title broker, spoke on ways people can better themselves, and thereby their business.

Answers from around the room about priorities centered on the usual suspects: family, religion, work and friends, but Bright said he has a different approach.

To him, he said, it should go God, then oneself, then anyone else down the line.

"Take care of you so that you can take care of them," he said.

Step one to improving one's life or workplace, Bright said, is getting well.

"You can't run a business from a gurney," he said.

Alabama has the second lowest life expectancy in the country, Bright said, and is only second to Mississippi because of a less than 1 percent difference.

Making a choice to focus on physical health through a nutritious diet and exercise needs to be the first thing anyone does, Bright said, in order to maximize the limited time each person is given on earth.

"The only thing you can do is take care of yourself," he said.

Then, he said, one needs to make a choice about the kind of "energy" to operate with.

Bright listed five "levels" of energy: 1. Victim, 2. Conflict, 3. Justification, 4. Concern and 5. Opportunity. The higher the level, the higher the amount of emotional intelligence required, but also the better the outcome for that person.

"All of these are by choice," he said.

The "levels" come from Bright's company On Target Leading's E4Life program, a 12-month coaching program to bring individuals and teams balance.

Bright will publish a book, "1300 Saturdays" later this year, which will focus on maximizing the time one has on earth and speak to some of the items he spoke about in his talk, Bright said.

For more information, visit ontargetleading.com.