I Will Boast In My Weakness

In the Christian faith there’s a belief that when you humble yourself and admit your weaknesses you can gather the super natural strength from God that you need to overcome those weaknesses. I personally believe this principle to be true based on seeing it play out in multiple facets of life over the span of my first 48 years on this planet.

Now stay with me for a minute as I digress and don’t fault me for this but as a kid growing up in the 80’s for whatever reason I was attracted to the principles of bodybuilding. And one of the basic principles of bodybuilding is that you identify a weak muscle and then you tear it down only to rebuild it with the right nutrition and rest to maximize the body’s metabolic potential to be anabolic verses catabolic. Unarguably the most famous bodybuilder in history used this principle to develop his “weak” calves. In many early photos of Arnold Schwarzenegger, you will see him doing photo shoots designed to hide his weakness. In this famous photo Schwarzenegger is standing in water to conceal the fact that his calves were not proportionate to the rest of his body.

But in 1966, 19-year-old Schwarzenegger entered his first international competition, the Mr. Universe, and he learned the hard way that there’s more to bodybuilding than training the upper body. America’s Chet Yorton also competed in that show and handed The Oak his first major defeat. The hypercompetitive Schwarzenegger didn’t like to lose and decided on that very day that his calves would never again hold him back from his bodybuilding aspirations. And not only did he implement what bodybuilders today call “weak point training” by prioritizing extra training of his calves, but in doing so he went on to win seven Mr. Olympia titles which is the top award that can be won in bodybuilding.

But the principle of boasting in your weakness is not limited to the physical realm. You can apply this principle in any area of your life. You can apply it to your emotional quotient and your spiritual development, which I have done both, and in turn reaped the benefits of positive growth in those areas. But I’ve also applied it in business.

When my partner Ben Jones and I founded the Revolt Healthcare Alliance we experienced tremendous hypergrowth (and still are) simply due to the affordability to value ratio of our health insurance coverage as well as our sales methodology and marketing assets. But the moment came when we had to admit that operationally when it came to efficient scaling and client support, we had weaknesses. We were drowning with inefficient manual workflows putting us at risk for attrition due to both agent and client dissatisfaction. So, we had no other choice than to “boast in our weakness”.

Once we admitted we were weak in specific areas of our business we were able to turn those weaknesses into strengths with true innovation. The BUCAs and other titans of the healthcare industry like to pretend they are constantly implementing “innovative” technology solutions but I have yet to see any of their multi-million-dollar solutions actually benefit the consumer where it matters most…which is in lowering health insurance premiums. It’s all smoke and mirrors. The BUCAs run pilots and put out case studies with “data” to show isolated “savings” but holistically across the industry we all know the truth which is that premiums, deductibles and personal bankruptcies from crippling healthcare costs are rising year after year destroying the financial solvency of the backbone of America which is our families.

But at the Revolt Healthcare Alliance, by boasting in our weakness, we’ve authentically been able to develop technology solutions that in turn reduce healthcare costs. Our REVOS Tech suite reduces the cost of goods sold on the broker side because our agents are able to market more efficiently and spend less time on administration. I could continue on with how the Revolt Healthcare Alliance concierge service we built is also saving our clients money compared to the “concierge” of the BUCAs but I will save that for another time.

To wrap this up where I started, I don’t know if you have any weaknesses in your personal or professional life like I do, but I hope you’ll give some thought to what I’ve shared here today. Admitting your weakness can be a powerful thing that gives you the strength you need to grow.