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- First, always seek professional advice and assistance. Make
sure your doctor has cleared you for any weight control and fitness
program you undertake.
- Second, awareness is the gateway to change. You need some system
that will alert you to how, when and what you eat, and how and
when you exercise. Many people expect the same health results
without changing anything. That's the definition of insanity.
You need a food and exercise journal or some tool that creates
a record of your actions and inactions. We humans fool ourselves
far too easily by trusting our memory. Write down what you are
doing and you will ramp up your awareness very powerfully.
- Ask a few people to honestly tell you how your body, fitness
and health look to them. Don't be defensive. Just listen to them.
You may be shocked, and that's a good thing. If you think you
look fine, and they are concerned, you have a gap there. That
gap is what you will be dealing with in your program.
- If you are NOT very UNHAPPY with where you are NOW, you won't
be deeply motivated to make the necessary changes to get where
you want to GO. It is a GOOD thing now to take an honest look
at your health and fitness levels, and be shocked, disgusted,
appalled, upset, alarmed, scared and depressed.
- The more PAIN you can create within yourself now about where
you stand with your weight control and fitness, the more MOTIVATION
you will create to start, continue and succeed at a personal improvement
regimen.
- Fitness and weight changes work best when done from the inside-out,
rather than the outside-in. What that means is, discover WHY you
want to change, what the internal RESISTANCES are that may hold
you back, and how you will adjust your ATTITUDE to bring those
changes about.
- Will power comes from powerful, insightful motivation, and
the belief that what you are doing makes sense, is good, helps
you, and that you do NOT want to go BACK to the lifestyle you
are leaving. Once you set your mind to a new life this is key.
If you continually backslide you have not done the foundational
work of personal exploration that uncovers the subconscious motivators
and roadblocks to a new life.
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- Make a commitment with yourself to stay true to your program.
That means you will make smart daily decisions about your weight
control and fitness program, even when you don't FEEL like it.
- Choose GROWTH over COMFORT in your program, and you will make
steady progress.
- As you execute your program you will face hunger pains, physical
pains and psychic/emotional pains. The PAIN you encounter in your
quest for success CAN be overcome. When you butt your head up
against it, rejoice. THAT is the exact place you need to be to
create REAL results. Enter that painful place, go THROUGH it,
and take PRIDE in your overcoming that pain to move through the
other side of it to reach your goals.
513 words
Copyright © 2008 Bill Cole, MS, MA. All rights reserved.
Bill Cole, MS, MA, a leading authority on sports psychology, peak performance,
mental toughness and coaching, is founder and CEO of William
B. Cole Consultants, a consulting firm that helps sports teams and individuals
achieve more success. He is also the Founder and President of the International
Mental Game Coaching Association, an organization dedicated to advancing
the research, development, professionalism and growth of mental game coaching
worldwide. He is a multiple Hall-Of-Fame honoree as an athlete, coach and school
alumnus, an award-winning scholar-athlete, published author of books and articles,
and has coached at the highest levels of major-league pro sports and big-time
college athletics.
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