02 July, 2018
If you're waiting for the perfect time to eat better, exercise more or lose weight so you can give it your 100%, it's not going to happen. There will always be an event like dinner plans with friends, a big date, or you don't want a new diet interfering with having a good time. These are just roadblocks you've put up to keep you from doing what needs to be done. We all have busy lives, we all make plans with friends and family, but if its important to you, you need to stop the procrastination and commit.
Maybe you're afraid of failure before you've barely begun. This is not a bad thing. In most cases, success can only come after multiple failures. The important part is making mental notes about your behaviours and can you improve on them to be a little bit more successful the next time you find yourself in a similar situation? And you don't have to adhere to a program 100% to benefit from it. If your commitment level is at 85% you're still doing better than many people and still can be successful in achieving your goals.
Stop thinking about the long term and be in the here and now. Just starting is a big part of the process. Going day to day is a lot easier that thinking about what it's going to be like next week. Anything worth doing requires a little effort and it could get tougher as you progress, but you should have the tools you'll need by then to better handle the challenges as they come up. Remember why you're doing the program in the first place – to get you the tools to help you succeed where you were unable to do it on your own.
Tools are coping mechanisms you learn from experiences you've done before and can reference should a similar situation repeat in the future. There can be multiple tools that can be applied to one situation. You choose the most appropriate that will get you through it. You may even develop a new tool to add to your expanding toolbox. An example of a tool might be to call out what your doing when you're binging on a bag of chips. This stops the mindless shovelling of chips into your mouth because you've now made yourself aware of what your doing. You should now be able to put the bag away. You're shopping tool will question whether you need to buy the chips and whether they aligned with your goals in the first place. Now you have the power to decide whether to put them in your basket or not, it's not a mindless or automatic one.
Now I want to hear from you so we can get you started on becoming a better version of who you are now. Everyone acknowledges that the first step is always the hardest to do when change is desired, but the unknown doesn't make it easier. The good news is we start off easy and as you get more comfortable with what you're doing, then it becomes a bit more challenging. By then, it's still easy and you've learned so much from me already.
Now's the time to stop reading and act, so off you go.
