“The ones who mind, don’t matter. The ones who matter, don’t mind.”
-Dr. Seuss

Jillian Michaels stormed the stage of the Sony Centre in Toronto Tuesday night in her signature powerhouse-even-at-5’3” style – the final show of her “Maximize Your Life” tour. The quote from Dr. Seuss, which she referenced late in the evening, underpinned one of her most salient points of the night: when we are redefining our own truth (aka refusing to be sheep in life), we will elicit adversity from various people (said sheep). Our responsibility to ourselves is to differentiate between those who mind our path and those who do not. All those who mind should be booted off the island.

Very big and truthful words.

I’ll get back to Dr. Seuss. There was more to the evening.

Her show was divided into two segments, the first dedicated to nutrition and exercise, not surprisingly, the second half to “the self,” our emotional and psychological wellbeing – what holds us back, what we need to change in order to live a full life. That’s usually where I tune out, ever suspicious of anyone purporting to be a self-help expert. But Jillian Michaels has always struck me as pretty legit – at least as a personal trainer, so why not as a life coach?

Let’s start with the first half. Ms. Michaels credited her international stature as the premiere leader in all things fitness to her formula: “eat less, move more.”

And yes, she was the first to point out the “unoriginality” of those four words while laughing on the way to the bank.

Novel or not, what struck me, as an audience member, was how those four words appeared to be lost on so many people.

In a Larry David-esque moment, I wondered how many people in attendance actually did her workouts. Or did they simply watch them from the comforts of their cushy sofas?

I expected to be seated among a bevy of fit people. The kind of people who live and breathe all the tips, cautions and militaristic orders that Ms. Michaels is famous for. People in spandex and leggings jeans.

Ms. Michaels pulled no punches on the topic of exercise and how hard we need to work: “Move your ass fast.”

Perhaps some of these people underestimated just how fast?

Ms. Michaels held her audience’s attention for an impressive two and a half hours, leaving me to believe that her words might sink in.

Her first hour or so on nutrition and exercise hovered largely around the food industry’s shady business of hiding non-food ingredients in our food. She even referenced various lawsuits against her for such allegations – ones she shares with many other health gurus brave enough to challenge the food industry execs, lobbyists and the FDA.

When it came to the second segment’s subject of “self,” my ears opened wider. Not only because Ms. Michaels gave some genuinely constructive advice but because my firm belief was that this issue of “self” or “self-actualization” – or self-discipline? – was of some significance to our relationships with food and exercise. If we haven’t tackled internal demons that deprive us of the motivation to exercise, to buy organic, or to be the fittest selves we can be, all the tips on what to buy, what to eat, how fast to move our asses, well, they don’t really matter.

When she arrived at the Dr. Seuss quote on the subject of separating ourselves from the sheep and defining our own truths, even in the face of adversity, I realized the room couldn’t possibly be filled with uber-fit folks because, well, why would they need her advice?

And then Ms. Michaels posed this closing question: “So. Who’s gonna get up tomorrow and do things differently?”

Which made me wonder why I was there. I’m fit, I buy organic, I move my ass fast. Why did I go? I thought it was because her workouts made me fitter than I’ve been in 10 years and this inspired me to honor her by attending her lecture. But it was more than that. There’s a little sheep in me, too. To Ms. Michaels’ point, I still struggle beneath the “fear, shame, expectations, judgment and responsibilities” that swirl around me.

So today I got up and made a commitment to myself to spend more time writing. No matter whose expectations I fear I am not meeting (“minders” will be cast out).

We can all use a kick in the ass in our pursuit of the freedom of true self-definition, no matter what our body weight is. For that kick, I thank Ms. Michaels.