I hope you had an awesome, fun, and active weekend! And if you didn’t that’s okay. It’s never to late to change. And if you did – you still might want more…

Enter one-minute excellence!

I can sense the curling of your lips. While such a catchphrase makes me shudder, too, it contains a gem waiting to be discovered.

How do you go on an effective diet? How do you stop smoking? How do you stop drinking?

In short, you do it, and it’s done. Then you work like hell for the rest of your life to stay on the weight-maintenance, non-smoking, or booze-free wagon.

A while back, I came across a line attributed to IBM founder Thomas Watson. If you want to achieve excellence, he said, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.

The idea is extremely profound.

Suppose you’re a waiter (I used to be one) and, for your own future’s sake (not because of pressure from the owner who runs the restaurant), you decide to set matchless standard for service.

How?

You do it. Now.

Sure, you’ll be clumsy at first. You’ll get a lot of it wrong. You’ll need to prepare, listen to CD’s, take classes, visit other restaurants to collect clues, hire a coach, and read and sign up for all the appropriate material.

And you’ll need to keep doing such things to maintain your edge (as an opera
singer or professional athlete does) until the day you hang up your corkscrew.

Nonetheless, you can become excellent in a nanosecond, starting with your first guest tonight. Simply picture yourself, even if it’s a very fuzzy picture, as the greatest waiter ever – and start accordingly.

Put yourself in lights on Broadway, as a world-class waiter; then perform what you set out to do.

Does it sound silly? Wild? Naive? Maybe, but it isn’t.

The first 99.9 percent of getting from here to there is the determination to do it and not compromise, no matter what sort of roadblocks those around you (including peers) create.

The last 99.9 percent ( I know it adds up to more than 100 percent – that’s life) is working like the devil to 1) keep your spirits up through inevitable storms 2) gain insight every day, and 3) practice that something, awkward or not, until it’s become part of your nature.

Once the fire is lit, assume you’ve arrived – and never, ever look back or do anything, no matter how trivial, that’s inconsistent with your new found quality persona.

Change IS that simple. Honest.

There’s a rumor around town that if you don’t give into a craving it’ll come back again and again. Ya know the old, “I might as well just eat this now so the craving doesn’t come back.”

I’ve been doing some poor eating (for research purposes only, of course) and I’ve found that the more sugar and salt and fat I eat – the more I want it. It’s truly addicting.

In fact, I think I create more cravings by giving in, not less!

However, for the last week or so (since I’m no longer doing research) I’ve realized that when I don’t give into a craving, they fade!

In this case: out of sight, out of mind. Time apart does not make the heart grow fonder.

And guess what…they don’t come back, either.

Last night I was craving…actually, I don’t even want to tell you…and I brushed my teeth and flossed and used mouth wash and I was over it.

And you know what? When I woke up this morning, I didn’t even think about the craving. I felt really good that I didn’t give in.

Remember: We never regret making good diet choices. But we usually regret making poor ones.

So, let’s all stop thinking that if we don’t give into a craving, it’ll come back again until we give in.

I think we’re mixing the word cravings with feelings. Feelings, if not dealt with, usually come back again and again. Unless you deal with them. Or suppress them. But that’s an entirely different ball game.

Fact: Cravings Fade!

A client feels she’s entitled to eat whatever she wants. However, she hates how she feels afterward.

Let’s explore this a little:

Absolutely! We’re all entitled to eat whatever we want. You can eat 5 cookies or 1000 cookies a day. And guess what? No one can stop you!

But unfortunately every single action we take has a consequence. Whether we take no action at all (that’s still action) or do take action – there is a consequence which can be a good one or bad one.

That’s our choice. (The action part.)

Not only will you feel like crap afterward, but you’ll also hate how you look later.

Which leads me to the now versus later mentality.

So many of us live in the “I want it yesterday mentality” or only thinking about today. As Daniel Gilbert points out in his book Stumbling on happiness the major difference between human beings and every other organism is that we think about the past, present and future.

Thinking about the future causes us to act differently. But so many people ‘must,’ ‘need,’ or ‘want’ that cookie now. Then when it comes time to get dressed up, or put on a bathing suit, or take our shirts off we scream and cry and hate how we look and feel.

Now versus later. The only way to look good later is to eat healthy now. Of course, you can’t eat healthy later now…because now is…well, now!

Just as much as we’re entitled to eat whatever we want, we’re entitled to feel however we want. And if you feel you’re entitled to eat whatever you want, you’re going to feel bad later on.

Thinking about how you want to feel helps a lot. I asked this client, “Have you ever felt better from eating junk than you have from eating healthy food?” She replied, “Of course not. I hate how I feel when I eat junk!”

Exactly. And until eating junk makes me feel better than eating healthy, I will keep doing what I do. I will keep fighting.

If you focus on how you want to feel, and think about how certain foods make you feel physically and mentally it becomes so much easier to say no to a 5 minute high as opposed to an all day high.

This client is letting food own her. She isn’t in control…yet.

I will remind you of this: Food is only food. It’s not your best friend. It’s not your worst friend. It’s only food!

Living for food is unreliable. It’s not sustainable nor is it healthy. It’s a dysfunctional relationship.

If you had a friend that made you feel awful after you spoke with him/her….and then made you feel guilty so you wanted to speak to him/her again to try to get rid of the awful feeling you got…you’d call that an abusive relationship. (And if you wouldn’t, it is.)

Food is only food.

Focus on how you want to feel. You’re absolutely entitled to eat whatever you want but remember every action has a consequence.

Your body never lies. And when you really listen to your body (not your mind) you’ll want to make it feel as good as you can.

This weekend I was watching some college basketball. March Madness is here!

As I was watching some of the games, I realized we can all learn from basketball players and how they get ready for foul shots.

When basketball players get fouled, they take foul shots. Every basketball player whether they are pro, collegiate, high school, middle school or even elementary level (if they are any good) has a foul shot routine.

Here are some examples: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mttHlV1WjMk&NR=1

Every time a player is at the foul line they do their routine before each shot.

So, what if before we ate, we did a little pre eating routine. Say, for example, a deep breath.

In basketball, usually it’s a deep breath and a combination of a certain number of dribbles and/or spins. Some players touch their face, others point, and some even blow a kiss.

The point is to slow down. To regain some composure and to forget about the last play – to just focus on the task at hand: Making the foul shot (s).

In our case, it should be to focus only on the meal or snack in front of us – not how good or bad the last meal was – and to eat as mindfully as possible.

What if your routine was always making sure you had a glass of water to the right of the plate, a fork and knife and a napkin. Some players also say something to themselves whether it’s a mantra or an affirmation. What if you said a little something to yourself?

The point is to slow down. If you create a routine like this, it’ll help a lot. That’s also why I suggest you only eat while sitting down.

You should be consistent with your routine too. A consistent routine will lead to a consistent performance, which in our case, hopefully leads to slower and more mindful eating.

Next time you eat, pretend you’re at the foul line. What’s your routine going to be?

P.S. I realize some of you may already have a pre eating routine in which you say thanks or give blessings for your food. Even better! Could you do it for every meal?