The Power of Positive

There's some things in life you just can't control.

Everyone is going to deal with stuff in their life that they would consider negative.  People lose jobs, end relationships and lose loved ones.  Likely, most of those things are more or less out of our control.  But that's where one of my favorite quotes, from football coach Lou Holtz, comes in...

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it."

You just have to make sure you respond the right way.  Some people choose to be negative about little things while others smile and roll with the punches.  When your schedule gets busy, how will you respond?  Will you make excuses to yourself about why you can't exercise or why it's just impossible to eat healthy foods when things get stressful?

Especially when it comes to exercise, understand how important small actions can be.  I'm not talking about parking further away from the grocery store.  I'm talking about taking four minutes out of your day to kick your butt with a Tabata.  You're not too busy for that.  You have exactly the same number of hours in your day as Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein and Mother Teresa.  With all the things that a person can accomplish in their life given just 24 hours a day, make a few short minutes for your own well-being.  Even if you can only exercise with one Tabata per day, you'll fill the remaining 1,436 minutes with more productivity, better sleep, and most important of all...

Positive energy!

Never underestimate how much a simple smile can affect your mood and the people around you.  And I guarantee you, if you take care of yourself, if you find time for a little intense exercise, you WILL smile more.

That's my sappy thought for the day and it leads me to my new sign-off...

I love you and there's not a damn thing you can do about it!

-Mark

aimfitcamp.com

The Success Mindset

I remember when I used to do 1-on-1 personal training. I periodically did weigh ins with my weight loss clients. But before we ever did a weigh in, I always had to ask one simple question...

"Did you lose weight?"

I can tell you that, without exaggeration, 100% of the time their answer told me what we were going to see on that scale. The most common response among new clients was always the same - "I hope so." As soon as I heard that they "hoped" they lost weight, I knew that the scale wouldn't budge.

They already knew themselves that they didn't take care of business. They either didn't eat as well as they said they did in their journals or skipped a workout or two. Either way, they had to hope that they were going to see something good because they certainly knew they didn't do all they could.

After a while with the vast majority of clients, their answers changed. "Yes, I lost weight."

I even had a couple clients tell me it was time for the weigh in, clients who formerly shuddered when they thought about stepping on the scale.

What changed?

Their mindset had evolved from one of skepticism and defeatism to one of confidence. Once they knew what had to be done to lose weight, it took them a while to actually do it. They bought in and developed confidence in their efforts. They knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that they had earned their results.

It's that mindset - the difference between being defeated and being confident - that makes all the difference. Many people head into gyms with a history of failing in their weight loss efforts. They are skeptical about anything and everything related to fitness. And that skepticism prevents them from throwing all of their beings behind their efforts. They don't work out as hard or as often as they should. They let themselves maintain the same crappy diet. They hope that something is different this time around, but they're missing the point.

There's a Henry Ford quote that sums it up nicely. It goes, more or less, "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." If you think you can't lose weight - that it's not for you because you've failed before - it's going to show in your efforts. It's going to keep you from giving it your all because you're scared to try as hard as you can and fail.

Success in fitness can be attributed to so many factors - exercise, diet, genetics, just to name a few. But the overriding factor that contributes to everything else is your mindset.

So do you think you can, or do you think you can't?