The title of this blog is insulting, admittedly. If you’re reading this for help, it seems like I’m calling you a failure from the start.
Henry Ford allegedly once said, “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.”
Say no to me if you want, but it looks like listening to one of the founding investors of the Ford Motor Company concerning the matters of failure and success is a good idea.
This is a near endless topic. You and I could get caught in an almost infinite amount of scenarios, many of which you don’t care to read and, frankly, I don’t have time to write. This blog post is going to focus on your mental game, more specifically the underlying, fundamental reasons you may be experiencing failure in your weight loss endeavors.
You should know that this is merely an opinion piece. You have every right to reject everything you read here. I have done zero clinical studies on this topic and I have a negligible background in psychology. Additionally, I and my close associates personally take a weird pleasure in going through grueling challenges that normal people would deem entirely unnecessary, so my mental game is a little…skewed.
*Side note: when you read “grueling challenges” it’s no way inferring Navy SEAL-type challenges, I’m absolutely not that cool or able.
If you’re still on board, let’s get to work!
You’re not going to do something you don’t want to do for long
Imagine back to that time in school where you were forced to silently read at your little desk. How many times did you just sit there and zone out into oblivion instead of diligently reading your book? As long as you could put up just a little bit of an act, how was your teacher to know the difference?
Bottom line, you’re just not going to do something you feel forced to do for long.
Every time I’m in a meeting with a potential client I always ask their why behind wanting to start their effective weight loss program. It seems like there should be a wide variety of answers, but surprisingly this is not the case.
When a potential client begins to explain to me that their only reason for wanting to achieve weight loss is the coaxing of another person, I do everything I can to gently explain that I cannot take them as a client.
It may be bad for business, but, I’m sorry, I just can’t be an enabler for their time-and-money wasting.
Weight loss, contrary to popular belief, is simple but it’s not easy. The mental challenge of feeling hungry for an extended period of time can be taxing, wearing down your energy, your mood, and your will.
If you’re reasoning for going through that suffering is another’s orders, you will most-likely fail.
The answer to this is to not begin until you want to achieve weight loss for yourself. The sad fact is that failure can beget more failure. It gets harder and harder to re-start after each failure, and if you don’t actually take ownership of goal itself, it just won’t happen.
Jim Rohn has been quoted to say, “If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”
You enjoy goal-setting over the actual work it takes to achieve your goal
Have you noticed that there are more idea people than action people?
“Man, if I were in your shoes I’d…”
“You know what you should do is…”
“I mean, I’ve never done what you’re doing, but I’ve thought about doing it and this is what I’d do…”
Who did you just think of?
That’s right, you know exactly the type.
You could be that type and it may be the reason why you keep failing in weight loss!
Hey, I get it, I enjoy thinking and daydreaming about all the goals I could crush and all the victories I could achieve, but you actually have to take action. After you take action, you must follow-through. Any meaningful endeavor requires work.
The weight won’t lift itself.
The book won’t read itself.
The project won’t complete itself.
Your goal won’t achieve itself.
So many times I’ve seen talented and able individuals with all the right intentions set goals that they never come close to achieving. They invest time and money on the front end, post all about it on their social media page, make bets with friends, and do all the things you’re supposed to do when you start something in the 21st century, just to quit as soon as the real effort was needed.
The good news is that there is a solution for everything.
Just as you read in the last section that failure tends to beget failure, a series of small victories over time seems to do the opposite. If you can grab small wins over time, it has the ability to propel you to your larger vision.
*Side note: SHAMELESS PLUG ALERT: this is where a guide like a Cornerstone Weight Loss Professional can help immensely. Sometimes you can overlook these small victories because your definition of victory is not clear, or perhaps the only victory you know to look for is your final goal. A guide can give you the proper perspective to see and grab those tiny victories along the way to help you reach your end goal. Additionally, and arguably more-importantly, a guide can help you celebrate those victories along the way. Celebrating small wins during the weight loss journey is essential.
Click below to get in touch with that guide who can help you achieve and celebrate all your weight loss victories!
You don’t really know how to struggle
You’re now thinking I’m entirely out of my mind. You may even think I’m patronizing you.
Hopefully you know by now that I only want the best for my Cornerstone Weight Loss Blog family, and my bluntness comes from a good place.
The reality is, if you’re an average person living in the Western World, especially the United States, there’s not much struggle to be had. At the risk of sounding like a jerk, it looks like we have to invent struggle for ourselves if we want to experience it. Relative to much of the world and its history, life is a cake-walk for us. (Pun intended).
During an effective weight loss program, you are simulating famine. Famine is a real, legitimate struggle that can severely impair you both physically and mentally. If you don’t know how to go through a struggle because you’ve never had to before, voluntarily imposing a famine upon yourself is not going to be an easy feat for you.
Many clients have told me that they did not know how to cope with being in a constant state of hunger, and we’re not just talking about some pre-lunch tummy rumbling either.
Unfortunately, the only solution here is to get over it.
You can either go through the struggle that is going to inevitably happen during an effective weight loss program, or not achieve what you set out to achieve.
Again, it’s simple, but it’s not easy.
At Cornerstone Weight Loss we help you better understand how food affects your body in a common sense way that will put you in control of how you look. In order to get in touch with a professional who can help tailor your weight loss plan to you, click below, fill out the information, and a member of the Cornerstone Weight Loss team will reach out to you to get the results in weight loss you deserve.