We were lucky to catch up with Michael McCright recently and have shared our conversation below.

Michael, appreciate you joining us today. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

I spent 29 years in electronics. I begin as an Electronics Tech in the U.S. Navy. I spent 7 years on active duty and left as an E6. (Electronics Technician 1st Class. Over the next 22 years I worked my way from Elect. Tech. to R & D Supervisor, to Manufacturing Manager and then to V.P. of Customer Relations. I was doing quite well money wise, but not really happy with my career. My defining moment was having a disagreement, falling out, with the General Manager of the company I was working for and ended up being fired. This led me to the search for a new endeavor.
I joined with a friend and began an advertising adventure. Four and a half years and eight hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars later, we folded.
Second defining moment. Standing before a Judge and while he was pronouncing a sentence, I turned my will and my life over to the care of God. This happened when I was forty-two years old.
It was after that decision, at age fifty, that I started my training as a Massage Therapist. This became the ultimate defining moment in my life.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I am a down-home country boy from South Dakota. So, getting into a business that was people oriented, instead of working a job, was a strange endeavor. I began doing therapeutic massage and found that many of my clients experienced something called “Emotional Release”, while being massaged. I found that the mind must be considered when dealing with the physical being. I sought and received a Doctor of Divinity, so that I could coach those who were experiencing difficulties in their lives. Throughout the twenty-two years that I did massage, I found that more and more individuals were really seeking a more balanced lifestyle. This led me into combining coaching and massage for a more complete process for my clients.

In 2014 I teamed with “Take Shape for Life”, a subsidiary of Medifast Corporation. I found of all the weigh-loss programs that existed, Take Shape for Life was totally unique. They place eating fourth on the list of requirements for losing weight.
1. Was gain the assistance of a Health Coach
2. Learn Healthy Habits to replace the unhealthy habits that were being utilized.
3. Surround yourself with a community of likeminded individuals that would support you.
4. Use replacement meals during the weight loss portion of the program.
Of course, “unhealthy eating” is the problem and “healthy eating” the solution when dealing with gaining or losing weight. The replacement meals were medically and scientifically designed to meet the bodies needs, while losing weight. They become a teaching tool that people can utilize when they are ready to transition from weight-loss to the maintenance arena of the program.
Gaining new insights, (Healthy Habits) a person can completely revise their life. A Certified Health Coach is instrumental in assisting them gain those insights. A person’s world view is often a determining factor as to their ability to maintain an Optimal Lifestyle for life. Working on Spiritual, Mental and Physical levels is required for optimal balance in one’s life.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I grew in a small town, population 600 people, in South Dakota, in a single parent home. I had an older sister, a younger sister and brother. My mom was a schoolteacher at a rural school and made very little money. It was incumbent upon us children to help in any way we could. At the age of eight I became a paperboy and maintained that position until I was fourteen years old. I grew to believe that if you applied yourself and worked hard that you could make things happen. I developed the mentality of a type “A” personality. Things to me were black / white, yes / no, one / zero, my way or the highway. That seemed to work for me growing up, on board the submarine in the navy, and working in the electronics industry. . I took the test from the book; “Please Understand Me”. That test labeled me an (ESTJ). Extrovert, Sensing, Thinking, and Judgmental. Even though that life was working for me financially, the fact that I was unhappy doing it was another thing. Accepting the training to become a massage therapist was a challenge for me. A whole different world. A world where I was required to do “Tai Chi” and to meditate. I learned that different individuals operate on different frequencies and that I could tune into those frequencies. My personality shifted from a type “A” to a type “B”. Instead of trying to think and figure everything out, I could just tap in and feel. After a couple of years of training I took the Meyers Briggs Personality test. (very similar to the “Please Understand Me” test. Turned out my personality had changed. I became an (ENFJ)(Teacher) a balance between the E and the I (Introvert). From someone who lived by my senses, I developed a way to live by intuition. Instead of thinking of solutions, I developed am aptitude for feeling my way through things. What was high on the Judgement, became balanced with perception.
The ultimate lesson I learned was that I didn’t have to remain who I thought I was. Who I was taught to be? I found that I should be working on my inside instead of my outside. As I continued the work, my life became happy, joyous, and free.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

The process of working on my inside, meant I had to change my way of thinking, my mind. I had to let go of being “right” all the time. Some books I’ve read that have been instrumental in changing the way I thought. 1. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
2. You Were Born Rich by Bob Proctor
3. Please Understand Me by David Keirsey and Marilyn Bates
4. It’s Not About The Money by Bob Proctor
5. The Ultimate Secret To Getting Absolutely Everything You Want by Mike Hernacki
6. If How-To’s Were Enough We Would All Be Skinny, Rich, and Happy by Brian Klemmer
7. The Slight Edge – Secret to a Successful Life by Jeff Olson
8. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell
9. You Can’t Make Me Angry by Dr. Paul O

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.togetherican.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michaelmccright
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/togetherican/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmccright
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bodymind
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/holisticspecifics
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/togetherican/

Image Credits
Michael McCright of TogetheriCan