If you’ve ever wished that you were more motivated or disciplined to experience fitness and weight-loss at your full potential then this is for you.
Most of us set goals and work hard only to find our motivation fizzle out after a couple of days. But there are little tricks that will help you harness the power of your mind and propel you toward achieving your goal.
The Two Motivators
When you boil it down, you’re motivated by two simple things:
- To avoid pain (fear of failure)
- To gain pleasure (promise of reward)
You are naturally geared toward one of these motivators. To figure out which, think of the last time you accomplished a perfect day of eating well, drinking good amounts of water and working out, then ask yourself the following: While going through your day of staying focused, were you thinking about what would happen if you failed to finish, or were you thinking about what you would gain when you finished?
Take note as to which motivator works for you – fear of failure, or promise of reward.
Set Your Goal: The first step towards unstoppable motivation is to determine your goal. You know you’re unhappy with your body or fitness level, but what exactly do you want to change? Why is it important to you?
Perhaps you can relate to one of the following goals:
You need to lose weight for your health. Your doctor scared you straight or maybe you’ve had a recent health problem that landed you in the hospital. Your goal is to move away from the pain of sickness.
You want to look and feel incredible. You’ve always wanted to feel vibrant and attractive. The idea of having more energy really excites you. Your goal is to move toward the pleasure and reward of a fit body.
You’re worried about your kids. They don’t eat enough vegetables, they drink more sugar sodas than water and they play video games constantly. You have decided to model a healthier lifestyle and to encourage your kids to participate. Your goal is to move away from the risks of a sedentary lifestyle and to propel your kids toward a healthy future.
You just sick of feeling fat and uncomfortable. You wake up every morning feeling low energy, tummy bulging and you know you ate crap the night before but cannot kick the bad habits to finally knuckle down and FOCUS on yourself!
Have a look at our awesome boot camper Leandre – who kept going throughout this year. She stopped working out for 3 months because of an injury but picked herself back up. Leander keeps picking herself up and just does not quit!
You Need to Man Up and Train Your Mind for Weight Loss:
With your clear and important goal in mind, let’s take a few minutes to train your mind to achieve it. You know that weight loss comes as a result of eating right and regular challenging exercise, so let’s use your mind to conquer both.
Eating Right: Use this exercise to distance yourself from the self-sabotaging foods you really wish you didn’t eat, and to naturally begin selecting healthy foods.
Take a moment to review your current eating habits. Identify the foods that you should stop eating (hint: sweets, anything fried, refined carbohydrates, sugary drinks, cakes). Identify the worst food that you eat regularly but know you shouldn’t.
Now imagine the healthy foods that you should eat (hint: vegetables, fruits, whole grains, lean protein, salads). Identify the healthiest food that you know you should eat regularly.
Now with the image of these two foods in mind, find a quiet place and do the following exercise (seriously this stuff works):
- Draw up the image of your unhealthy food item. This image will likely be quite vivid, with smell, taste and bright color. In your mind, fade this picture to black and white and distance the image until it is dull, fuzzy and remote.
- Draw up the image of your healthy food item. This image will likely be fuzzy and faded. In your mind, bring this picture to life with smell, taste, sound and bright colour
Regular Exercise: This technique can be applied in a way that encourages you to crave exercise rather than avoid it.
Take a moment to imagine how you feel after a great workout (notice the emphasis on the word after). Remember the physical and emotional satisfaction as well as the sweet feeling of accomplishment.
Now bring to your mind the aspects of exercise that you dislike. What is your biggest reason for avoiding exercise? Are you too tired? Do you not have enough time? Is physical exertion too much of a hassle? Pinpoint your greatest complaint about exercise.
Now with the image of these two aspects of exercise in mind, find a quiet place and do the following exercise:
- Draw up the image of your exercise complaint. The image is likely to be clear and accompanied by the sounds, smells and sensations. In your mind, fade this picture to black and white and distance the image until it is dull, fuzzy and remote.
- Draw up the image of the wonderful feeling you have after accomplishing a great workout. Magnify this image in your mind. Fixate on how you feel physically, mentally and emotionally. View the experience in bright colours and add a sound track of inspirational music. (My personal favourite – U2 Beautiful Day)
Why It Works
If this was your first experience with training your mind (also called Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP) it may have felt a little odd. Many of the world’s top achievers regularly use techniques like these to accomplish astounding goals. I’m busy reading a book called NLP for dummies… Super Interesting and profoundly True!
The techniques above work because they train your mind to bring your behavior in line with your values. Think about it, you value health, you desire to be fit and attractive and you want to instill healthy habits in your kids.
These techniques encourage you to avoid self-sabotage and to make choices that line up with what you truly value.
Now that you are ready to accomplish your goals, try 3 of my classes for FREE here!
Chat soon,
GARTH HENDRICKS