You know the drill. You commit to exercising 5x a week and eliminating carbs from your diet to lose weight. But after a long day at work, you find yourself at happy hour eating pizza and drinking beer. Uh-oh. Oopses.
There is a better way, actually two better ways that work together. One without the other bears little fruit:
- Drop the excuses, and,
- Get into action
Excuses, you know, like the one you used when you decided to forgo your new weight-loss plan and go to happy hour instead.
You know, like the excuses that caused you to gain excess weight in the first place.
Excuses, justifications, reasons stop you … more often than you’d like to admit.
You’re too old. You’re too young. You’re not prepared. You’re overly qualified. You’re tired. You busy. You don’t have enough time. You’re not prepared. You’re not self-disciplined. You’re out with your friends. You’re family doesn’t eat like that. You don’t like vegetables. You deserve a treat (5 nights a week). Healthy people eat weird food. There are so many diets, I don’t know what to do …
The number one thing most dieters have in common is their lack of stick-with-it-ness, with 2 out of 5 people quitting within the first seven days!
And you unwittingly got entrenched in ways of doing things like your family, friends and community that may be thwarting you from achieving the results you most want, like losing weight and looking and feeling your best!
At the most fundamental level, you must challenge your ideas and perspectives about health and vitality, wellbeing and weight-loss versus what you learned in life, to get a closer look at the ways excuses get in your way of getting into action and achieving the results you want.
This is where you put the rubber on the road.
This is where you create congruency between what you do and what you say.
This is where you get into action.
You’ve got no game without action, without getting on the court.
To obliterate the excuses that impede you from creating vibrant health, increased productivity and even living an extraordinary life, take time to answer these questions. Think about each one, even journal your responses out. Journaling makes way for subconscious thoughts to emerge.
- Why do you pretend you do not know what to do? When I learned that I am 100% responsible for ever detail of my life, my life changed. There is unparalleled freedom in owning our stuff!
- What is the root of your lack of stick-with-it-ness? We choose, even when we don’t choose. Not choosing is a choice that brings it’s own set of results.
- Why don’t you do what you know you should be doing? Life happens in the actions you take, and the actions you don’t take. As Yoda said, “You do, and you don’t do. There is no try.”
- What is it costing you to not achieve your health goal? There is always a cost, a price to be paid. Are you sure your happy with what you are paying for?
- What is the benefit you are gaining by not really committing? You might be saying benefit? How could I be benefiting from holding unhealthy weight? Think about it, if you weren’t really happy with the results you have, you would change it. Identify the benefits = transformative awesomeness!
- What do you want your life to be in five years? Visualize your life in five years from now, if you do achieve your health goals, and visualize your life five years from now if you don’t achieve your health goals. Include every detail. Include every ripple effect of every detail. They matter.
- If you achieved your health goals how would you feel? This is so important. How would you feel?
By challenging your ideas and perspectives you create space for new actions to emerge that you might not have seen before.
If you want to lose weight, then you must give up all your go-to reasons for why you can’t commit right now and commit right now, to choose the actions that help you move the dial forward, even just one small step.
Reminds me of the time I said to my brother Danny, “Will you teach me about finance?” He said sure, “Don’t spend more than you make and save.”
Simple. Easy-peasy. Identify what excuses are working over-time in your life. Choose one action. Do it consistently. Make it a habit. And then choose another. Do it consistently and make it a habit …
I now have one rare spot in my Inner Circle Program. Let's explore whether that spot might be right for you. Email me at carol@carol-egan.com
