First off, to be clear, I believe there is a big difference between motivation and inspiration. I explored that in this blog post here.

Great music inspires me. It changes the way I feel. It makes me want to move. It’s part of why I loved being a DJ in college so much (that is me in the yellow shirt).

Let’s get to the three weird ways I use music to inspire me.

1. If we listen to the same song over and over again (I used to be guilty of this when I’d find a new song I loved) it starts to lose its effect on us. Now when I discover a new song I love, I don’t listen to it over and over again, as much as I might want to.

INSTEAD, I only allow myself to listen to it while I’m exercising. There have been many times I’ve exercised just so I can listen to music.

2. Varying the volume of your music. I’ve been blasting music for a long time now. And with the advent of iPods, people are blasting music practically 24/7. But just like yelling at kids non-stop eventually loses its impact – so does loud music.

That is why I’ll constantly vary the volume when I’m exercising. Hard set coming up? Pump up the volume! Taking a break? Turn it down. Big hill to run? Pump it up! Going down hill? Lower it. Feeling tired at first? Pump up the volume!

3. Using music to change the way I feel.

Most people act BECAUSE of the way they feel. Feeling tired? Usually, when we’re feeling tired, we lounge around. Really what we’re doing is perpetuating that feeling. What most people don’t realize is that we feel because of the way we act.

If we act energized, we’ll feel that way too. It’s amazing what jogging in place, or doing jumping jacks can do for us when we’re feeling tired. It physiologically changes the way we feel.

Whenever I find myself on the couch wanting to exercise but lacking the energy — I’ll turn on my stereo until I find a song that does it for me. Sure, sometimes, it takes a little while to find the one, but there is always a song. The music we’re looking for is music that inspires us. Music that makes us want to move. Music that makes us feel good. Music that compels us to get off the couch!

Bonus:

I always find it funny when I’m in a restaurant that’s playing loud, energizing music. Why? Because the last thing I want to do when I’m feeling good is stuff my face with food. I want to move when I hear good music, not eat. In fact, there have been times when I’ve walked into an unhealthy eatery feeling tired and lethargic ready to eat poorly, and loud music was playing – ya know the, ooontz, ooonnntzzz type – and it changed my mood immediately.

Why not use music to change the way you feel as opposed to food? Music helps me to think rationally and long term, and it’s helped me many times to fight through cravings and urges.

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No matter your age, we all have music that inspires us. I bought my mom an iPod a little while back and we downloaded a ton of oldies but goodies for her. She said her exercise was taken to a whole new level.

If you’re not a fan of today’s music, why not go back to the music you loved when you were a teenager? Just like smells can bring us right back to a moment, so can music.

Let’s talk about reality today. NOT reality TV, although I could talk about that also because I watch way too much of it.

I’m talking about reality, like, LIFE.

Reality is always worth talking about.

When our life feels like it’s all out of whack, our diet and exercise tends to mimic that. When we’re stressed or upset or anxious, we tend to forget about everything else – especially eating right and exercising.

Whenever we’re unhappy about something that’s out of our control, we are fighting reality. Whether it’s traffic, people in our life, weather, and a million other things. Anything that we can’t control is what I call…fighting reality.

The more we become a lover of reality the happier we’ll be. And the less we’ll suffer.

Loving what is – is extremely important. Why? Because The more we love what is, a.k.a reality, the less anxious we’ll be.

Why bother loving reality or what is? Because no amount of wishing or hoping will change it. No matter how much we hope or wish, we can’t change things we can’t control.

But WHY we insist? “Why is this happening? Why did it happen? Why is it like this? Why is the bus late!?! Why is there so much traffic!?!? Why is he like that?! Why is my kid misbehaving?! Why is she so unappreciative! Why is he such a jerk!? Why is my boss so mean?!”

Cats meow and dogs bark! And whatever happened happened. No amount of fighting or hoping can or will change it.

The sooner we become a lover of reality, of accepting what is, the happier we’ll be and the less we’ll suffer.

Fighting reality is like hoping a cat will bark and a dog will meow.

Believe me. Don’t think for a second I don’t freak out! Everything I write is aspirational.

However, I do believe we can try to make the best of our lives. And I do believe we can try to not dwell on things we can’t control.

For me, saying, “Cats meow, dogs bark and whatever happened happened,” helps me puts things into perspective. It reminds that it is what it is. It reminds to stop crying over spilled milk.

A cat will always meow. A dog will always bark. And reality, will always be reality.

Besides, I find that focusing on things we CAN control, and actually taking control, is far more empowering.

The less we fight reality, and love what is, the the less we’ll suffer and the happier we’ll be.

And the happier we are, the less emotional eating we’ll do, and the less our health and fitness will suffer!

As a bonus, I’ll leave you with my favorite mantra that I made up for myself. Ready?

If I can’t change what is, I might as well love what is.

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If you’re unhappy about the way you look and feel why not do something about it INSTEAD of just hoping and wishing? Why not at least try a proven program that can offer you the support, accountability and system to help you?

Here’s the best part: If you don’t like the program, you can get a full 100% refund. I only offer this because I’m that confident in what we do. You risk absolutely nothing. Join today!

When I was in 8th grade, I persuaded the starter at a country club near where I lived to let me caddy. I caddied for 6 summers and I learned so much about human behavior and psychology it was incredible. I learned how to deal with ALL sorts of people.

For a job that was usually reserved for professional caddies or for kids whose parents were members – it was a tough place to be. But I worked my tail off to prove I was a hardworking kid.

Every summer morning, my mom would drive me to the course at 5:30 AM, 6 days a week. I took what I could get at first. Either I’d carry golf bags or fore-caddy. (Fore-caddying was by far less taxing because you’re not carrying bags.)

No matter what, I’d always caddy for 2 rounds – even if I carried bags – which is what I usually wound up getting. Most caddies did their one round in the morning and then would go home. But I knew if I wanted to make an impression, I couldn’t say no when I was offered a loop ( = 18 holes) as it’s called. I usually wouldn’t be done until 4 or 5 pm, and sometimes I did 45 holes. That’s 2 full rounds and a 9-hole round (2.5 loops). My record was 54 holes. (3 loops.)

Although this sounds ENTIRELY self-congratulatory, I only say it to give some background.

I learned many valuable lessons but I’ll keep this only to the lesson that relates to our health and fitness, although everything relates to our health and fitness.

Here it is: Doing the right thing always feels the best. (“Thanks, Adam. Um, I knew that!”) (I know you do but stories are a powerful way to create change.)

Having caddied for such a wide range of people from professional athletes to CEO’s to wives of pro athletes to people who normally wouldn’t belong to a country club when there were outings (typically a company would rent out the course for the day as a thank you to their employees) I saw lots of interesting things and met lots of different types of people.

First off, being wealthy has nothing to do with money, in my opinion. And many times the people with the most money were the worst tippers and the best tippers were those you’d least expect.

You could tell, though, how miserable some of these people really were. They were taking their misery out on me. After a while, I realized this, and I didn’t take it personally. (It’s like trying to help someone who doesn’t want to be helped. It CAN’T be done.)

I’ve said it before: you can tell a lot about a person by how they tip. Thankfully, besides the outliers in our society, for the most part, we all know what the right thing to do is.

And I saw it on countless faces as I was being handed a tip throughout the years. When it was a terrible tip – there was a slight discomfort in the persons face. They knew it.

When it was a great tip there was a totally different expression. It’s as if they felt proud. And they were excited to give it to me. You know why? Doing good, feels good.

But we all know this.

Unfortunately, we DON’T have ignorance on our side. I’ve said many times that ignorance is bliss. We know how great eating right and exercising can and will make us feel. We know how important our health and fitness is. We know that a huge part of our wealth is how healthy and fit we are!

Once we know something, it’s extremely hard to ignore it. And it was only those who knew they should tip, and didn’t, or those who knowingly tipped very poorly – that you saw the pain in their face.

I was reminded of this just before as I accepted a delivery. I could’ve easily not tipped these guys – after all, I’ll never see them again in my life…

And as uncomfortable or whatever you might want to call reaching into your wallet to give a generous tip is – it always feels awesome once you do it.

The best part? I left 15 minutes later and the guys were all outside their truck. They were all thrilled and said thank you many times over.

It felt great. And it’s nice to get that feedback (“Oh, you look so great!” “You’ve lost so much weight!” as people start noticing you.)

But it feels even better for ourselves. It changes US. In fact, because I value how I feel, it’s not uncomfortable for me to reach into my wallet and give a generous tip. It’s worth it to me. It makes ME feel good.

(For some people, and I know this from seeing it many times over – the thought of reaching into their wallet makes them very unhappy.)

In fact, because I value how I feel, I *try* to embrace the discomfort when I have a strong craving or urge. Because it makes me feel good to stick to my long term goals.

Our mantra for today: When we do what we know is right, we’ll feel far happier than the alternative.

P.S. After that first summer, and every summer after that until I was able to drive, I insisted on taking my mom out to dinner as a way to thank her for driving me so early every morning. That felt good too.

P.P.S. So who won the special prize? On Tuesday, I asked the question: You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What did you eat? The answer: I got all sorts of interesting answers from eggs to garbage to fish. But the answer I was looking for is corn.

As Tracy L. from Chicago, Illinois already knows, she’s the winner of a $50 gift card to iTunes! Thanks to all those who tried.

“Do I want this?” “No, I don’t want this!” “Do I want this?” “No, I don’t!” “How many calories is it?” You don’t want this!” “I deserve this!” “Eh, screw it, I’m just going to eat it!” “Actually, is this really worth it?” “I shouldn’t eat this…”

This internal chatter can be EXTREMELY taxing.

It’s a pure battle between our long term, rational mind versus our short term, irrational mind.

It’s Dr. Jekyllllllll versus Mr. Hyde.

It’s our Body Tutor versus the devil on our shoulder.

Whatever you want to call it —> it’s freakin’ taxing, and this internal debate can drive us crazy.

The weird reason why we might actually be eating junk food –> because we’re so sick of ‘listening’ to it! And we know that if we give in, and just eat whatever it is we’re obsessing over, we won’t have to listen to this internal debate anymore.

What I’m saying is that we might not even REALLY want the junk we’re eating. What we might want is peace and quiet!

Laurie, a client, writes this to me:

“I made the decision to eat like crap today. Because I’ve been thinking about it for a few days and I just don’t want to think about it anymore. It’s like what you were saying about the candy. I just ate to shut-up my food desires.”

Don’t you find this fascinating?

Because what we’re really after isn’t necessarily the food. And food, as much as we like to think it might, will NEVER give us what we’re truly after.

So, what can we do about this?

If you were watching TV with a little kid and suddenly something very graphic and disturbing appeared, what would you do?

I think, you’d change the channel as fast as you possibly could, right?

As soon as we find ourselves starting to negotiate with ourselves we have a chance to turn it off. We have a chance to change that channel. We can choose to focus on something else. And that’s the key!

Because in this moment, we’re focusing our attention ONLY on the temptation in front of us.

What would happen if your favorite person walked in the door?

You’d very quickly forget about the temptation, and the internal chatter would never start.

What would happen if going forward, instead of only focusing on our self in that moment, we focused on other things?

Thinking about this BEFORE we’re in the moment, is what makes this possible because after all, the moment IS the moment. It’s hard to control what we do in the moment. But, if God forbid there’s an emergency, we all know how to call 911 – even though we may never have in the moment, right?

How to practice: Right now whatever you’re thinking about, change that channel and think about this QUESTION: You throw away the outside and cook the inside. Then you eat the outside and throw away the inside. What did you eat?

Right now, you’re (hopefully) thinking fairly rational and you were able to change your focus to the question I just asked.

Next time you feel yourself starting to negotiate with yourself, why can’t you quickly think about something else?

When we know what’s going on, while it’s going on, it’s much, much easier to change what goes on.

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Who wants to win a special prize?!

Let’s have some fun, shall we?!

The FIRST person to message me with the correct answer to my question will get a special prize. I’ll announce the winner in my next inspiration. Oh, and don’t Google the answer because I will know if you did!