My Body Tutor : No More Excuses

Let me start off by saying I hate change. But you know what? No one likes change! No one likes to be uncomfortable!

We’re creatures of habit.

Now, let me ask you a question: how many times have you felt uncomfortable so far this week?

We do what we do because we’re familiar with it and therefore comfortable doing it – even if we know the outcome will be bad.

That means if we’re used to acting, eating and exercising a certain way and it’s not producing the results we want —> we must change.

If we want to grow and evolve, we must do things differently, no matter what facet of life we’re talking about here.

That means automatic discomfort will ensue.

Being ready for it helps tremendously.

So, let’s get to the root of it. What is keeping us from changing?

Let’s ask ourselves two questions:

1. What is the worst that can happen?
2. What is the best that can happen?

#2 is almost always greater than 1. The pain, discomfort, tension, resistance (whatever you want to call it) is temporary.

Here’s where it gets interesting though: The benefits of 2 are forever.

What doesn’t kill us only makes us stronger. (I know. I know. But it’s the truth.) The more we push change on ourselves, the more tolerance we’ll have for it.

So what can we change?

Here are some ideas:

Your attitude. Your outlook. How quickly you eat. What you eat. How much you eat. How long you exercise for. How intense you exercise. How many times a week you exercise. If you exercise. Your beliefs (this is hard!).

Every single one of these requires change and experiencing some sort of discomfort.

Try pushing yourself out of your comfort zone today and for the rest of the week. Whatever feels most uncomfortable – do that.

For example, you walk into the kitchen at work and there are cookies everywhere. The most uncomfortable thing to do in this moment would be to pick up the plate of cookies and throw them on the wall and scream as loud as you can, “Damn! This isn’t a part of my plan! What’s the matter with you people?” Do that! (Or just walk away. To each his own.)

Try it. You’ll be surprised at how empowering it feels to choose the most uncomfortable option.

Hi Team,

Motivation is a huge business in America. There are thousands of speakers waiting to motivate us on any subject we can imagine.

Motivation is worth every penny.

For example, I believe everyone should (and can) be in awesome shape. But not everyone is.

The reason why is because it’s very hard to stay consistent with our exercise and/or healthy eating.

If you don’t have a problem staying consistent with your diet and/or exercise, you should be in great shape.

A highly motivated person wouldn’t have any problem staying consistent though.

["Adam! Aren't you calling us lazy then?" you might think. No not at all! I'm about to unveil what's really behind motivated people.]

As Zig Ziglar said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.”

But most people keep searching for more tactics. The problem with that strategy is it delays action. And consistent action is the only way to get to where we want to be.

I don’t think you can teach someone to be motivated. Motivation has to come from with in.

However; I know inspiration can absolutely make someone motivated!

I believe motivation occurs once a switch is flipped in our mind. Maybe we caught a glimpse of our self in the mirror and don’t like what we see. Maybe our jeans aren’t fitting the way they used to. Maybe we have a vacation coming up. Maybe a Rocky marathon is on TV. Maybe our Body Tutor wrote something that hit home.

Inspiration, on the other hand, is all about looking inside our selves. Connections we make are far more powerful than connections made for us.

If he can do it why can’t I? If she can do it why can’t I? If I was able to do this back then why can’t I do it now?

I don’t know any kid who dreams of being overweight and out of shape. It just happens. Life happens! Work, kids, friends, and on and on….(I know! That’s why I started MBT.)

But when no one is forcing us to look inside our selves (I believe good inspiration should) and to be honest with our selves; it’s really easy to lose sight of the life we want to lead.

It’s really easy to rationalize all of our excuses.

I know professional athletes that have 3 coaches. Why shouldn’t we?

[The point is they're constantly surrounding themselves with inspiration, and that's why they appear so motivated.]

These highly successful people are highly motivated…so it appears…because they’re constantly being inspired. But like any human being, we slip up and sometimes we lose sight of where we’re going and we lose our motivation.

This is when we should:

Listen to our favorite music. Look at pictures. Read old inspirations. Reach out to our Body Tutor. And do whatever it is we do that inspires us.

Know the difference between motivation and inspiration. And when you’re loosing motivation; seek inspiration!

Also, if you’re losing motivation often then you should:

Surround yourself with more inspiring people. Accomplish one small task every day. And take a look at everything around you. What’s bringing you down?

You don’t want mediocrity for yourself. You know you don’t. The most successful people I know are constantly investing in inspiration.

Inspiration = Successful. Successful = happy.

I hope your Tuesday is off to a rocking start!

Let’s explore the difference between a drug addict and us, shall we?

The reason why I’ve been able to stick with this business since February of 2007 is because I truly believe in what I’m doing and I know what I offer works. I believe in what I do 1000% and my belief only gets stronger each and every day.

Again – persistence isn’t about doing the same things over and over. It’s about wanting the same thing over and over.

Something I’ve wanted for as long as I can remember – and something I’ll always want – is to live the best life I possibly can and to help others do the same.

One fact remains constant and it’s what drives me: when I eat healthfully and exercise – I feel better, in other words, happier, then when I don’t.

Believe me. I love cookies. I love ice cream. I love hamburgers. I really do. It’s a constant battle. And I indulge. But, I try to only indulge for the right reasons.

Even when I do give myself permission I still don’t feel as good as when I eat healthfully.

Which brings me to the question we always ask our selves, “Why am I not enjoying now?”

The now versus later debate.

“Screw Adam, screw MBT, screw the Daily Feedback right now! I want to enjoy life now!”

That’s the devil on your shoulder talking to the Body Tutor. That’s our irrational, short term mind yelling at our rational, long term mind.

So try this thought on for size:

Why not enjoy life now, even if it means more health problems later?

Really.

Go for that cookie! Go for that burger! Go for that ice cream!

But! It seems to me, unless you are already doing heroin then you aren’t being true to your own philosophy. Why not enjoy a good high now? Who cares what happens later!?

All of us have always thought about later on, and not now, though.

Think about the first 20 or so years of your life. Everything we did in school was to (hopefully) set ourselves up for a better future.

The one downside of planning ahead is that we may enjoy today a tad less. The upside is that our future might be a bit better! Maybe, even a lot better!

I’m not saying my thinking here is the best, but I think you get my point.

I don’t think it’s fair to call the “live for today” approach any kind of philosophy unless you’re also quitting your job, doing heroin, living at McDonald’s and only doing what feels the best every minute of your life.

Junkies have a philosophy. We have rationalizations.

Now there’s always a twist:

1. It turns out – we actually enjoy today more when we eat and exercise for the future. We’ve all had days when do nothing but eat and watch TV – at least I have. Yet, I always feel better when I’m eating right and exercising. Always! I know you do too.

2. I’ve never done drugs. Had/have no desire. I’m not saying you should. It was just to make a point. Actually, as a public service announcement I’ll write it: don’t do drugs!

3. It turns out that when live and plan for the future it’ll also make us happier today!

Happy Friday Team!

I believe happiness is the name of the game – making yourself happy and the people around you happy.

I also believe achievement is the key to happiness. Growing, evolving, and changing (for the better) is what it’s about.

But how do we achieve?

Well, we need to be disciplined. Discipline, then, is the key to happiness.

What is discipline?

Discipline is doing what we really want to do deep down without letting temptations get in our way. Discipline is being focused on the outcomes and feelings we want to feel. Discipline is listening to our long term, rational mind as opposed to our short term, irrational mind.

Discipline is driving to our destination without making a rest stop.

When I say destination I mean either going to the gym, going for a run, preparing a healthy meal, choosing a healthy meal, etc.

The destination in this case are all the tasks that help us get to where we want to be.

The climb up is always more fun than reaching the summit. The journey is where it’s at. All the fun and challenge and growth and evolution happens during the journey.

In order to be disciplined, though, we need to make sacrifices. Sacrifices are absolutely the key to discipline. If you’re not making any sacrifices you’re not being very disciplined because there’s always a constant battle between our short term and long term self.

Sacrifices come in the form of:

Going 3 extra reps…when you’re in pain.
Running an extra 5 minutes…when you feel like stopping.
Putting the fork down when you’re satisfied…but not full.
Squeezing your muscles extra hard as you’re working out..even though it hurts.
Waking up early…even though you’d like to sleep late.
Dealing with your emotions…as opposed to eating them.
Submitting your feedback…even though you ate poorly.

So today and this weekend, see how many sacrifices you’re making. Think about them. Every time you do, you’re one step closer to feeling (and looking) the way you want.

Every single day we’re tempted. Every day is another chance to give in. Every day is a battle.

That’s why it’s important to practice making sacrifices. Keep filling up that space on the Daily Feedback. It’s there for a reason and it becomes a very fun game.

It’s there because the more sacrifices we make, the more disciplined we’ll be. And the more disciplined we are, the happier we’ll be!