Ready? Get Fit!

Getting yourself motivated and staying motivated

All the decisions you’ve made in your life have brought you to where you are right now. So if you want to be somewhere else, you need to make new decisions; different decisions.

Your world is what you focus on. Energy will flow in the direction where your attention is. Because your own mediocrity constantly undermines the desire for excellence (and mediocre people do the same to those who are successful around them), you have to brace yourself for what’s to come. You need to be resilent, and you need to be focused. Essentially it is about being sure what it is you want, and then going for it.

Recently I wrote the Take Away Tummy article. The vital step in that article was identified as coming out of denial. Weighing oneself. But why stop there. If you are about to make investments in yourself, get yourself completely up to speed on what is happening to your body.

Just today, for example, we had a number of health groups visit our corporate headquarters, offering free medical measurements. I discovered that my eyesight is still in good nick, and resting heart rate and blood pressure are in a good range. But I was concerned that my body fat was borderline and BMI index out of the healthy range (it’s based on a height to mass ratio). These statistics tell you in black and white exactly where you stand. You can even assess your probability of suffering a heart attack. This depends on a host of factors, some you cannot change (genetic factors, age and sex) and even more that you can change (weight, blood pressure, exercise level). My risk level is 24%. It’s that low thanks to the fact that I am already exercising.

It’s important to decide on a level of commitment when you start. Remember that if you want to stay motivated, you will need to achieve results. So if you think you’re going to lose weight and be receiving compliments based on walking 30 minutes a day, think again. My suggestion is that you respond to what is happening to your body with a stern regimen. Don’t be easy on yourself, be disciplined. Put in a greater effort than your first estimate. Why? Because if you intend to gain momentum, if you intend for this to be a lasting change, the sooner you see results, the sooner you noticeably lose weight, the better your chances of sticking to the effort level. Conversely, even if you’re training fairly hard, it’s unlikely you’ll maintain it over the very long term given incremental improvements.

So briefly:

Work on a steep gradient of effort at first
Control your diet
Prepare yourself to be disciplined and strict on yourself
Focus on letting yourself be activated, not on getting yourself thin – there’s a difference
Celebrate your success

Finally remember this as a simple but effective ‘real world’ way to motivate yourself. You are where you are because of every single decision and action you have ever made. So be very conscious of the decisions you make from here on out, because they can get you to where you want to be. Whether you do is entirely up to you. Good luck!