Abe Lincoln said, “When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That is my religion.”

I believe Abe’s personal mantra is definitely one that rings very true, and one worth exploring.

Before we all reach for the candy, or cookies, or ice cream or fast food, or wine, we should think about Abe.

When I eat bad, I feel bad. When I eat good, I feel good.

When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad.

Have you ever disproved this?

Have you ever eaten bad and felt good?

Have you ever eaten good and felt bad?

I don’t think so.

When I eat good…I feel good!

When I do good…I feel good!

How do you want to feel?

Your template: Think Abe

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If MyBodyTutor worked for Irene (awesome before and after included), why can’t it work for you? Learn more about MBT right now, by clicking here.

Yesterday, I watched the NYC marathon from a bunch of different points along the 26.219 route, however, I purposely saved the finish line for my last stop.

People crossing the finish line 8+ hours into the marathon, in the dark, were not running through the finish line. They were barely jogging. Many were walking, usually limping, and in a lot of visible discomfort.

So, as I was watching person after person cross the finish line with their arms up in triumph between 5:30 and 6:15 PM, a recurring thought kept hitting me.

These people resolved that no matter what, they were going to finish. No matter how long it took them, they’d cross that line.

In the journey of life, there aren’t many cut and dry markers like start and finish lines. However, there are a ton of marathons we choose to enter (whether we realize it or not).

For the sake of consistency, let’s define a marathon in life as a process.

—> The reason why getting the body we want is so hard in 6 words is because: It’s a process. Not an event.

Dating is a process. Building a company is a process. Establishing trust is a process. And getting the body we want is a process.

Events, on the other hand, are easier to manage, pay for and get excited about.

Processes, though, build results for the long haul.

–

Hopefully, whatever marathons we choose to pursue are worthwhile ones. And when we focus on the benefit, it’s easier to get through the inevitable discomfort we’ll face. Of course, having support makes all of the difference – and in fact, every runner I asked post marathon said the cheering of the crowd is what kept them going.

But here’s the critical mistake so many people make: If you’re going to decide to start a marathon, decide up front that you will not quit when the going gets tough.

No matter what it takes, fight like heck to back that commitment up.

One famous couple’s counselor asked a simple question that allowed her to have a flawless track record.

The one question that set her apart and made her very successful was this:

At the very beginning, before the first session, she’d ask her clients: ‘Are you considering divorce?’

If the answer was yes, she refused to take them on.

Why? Because there really aren’t degrees of commitment. As soon as we consider giving up on anything, we are looking for reasons to support that decision.

If we, instead, commit to a project, or mission, or marriage, then we look for reasons to stick with it.

And when it comes to our health and fitness the reasons to stick with it are literally endless.

P.S. As a product of divorced parents, I am in no way, shape or form advocating that parents should stick to their marriage, if it’s not working. I think the best thing parents can do for their children is be happy themselves (whether it’s together or not).

Nikki, a Diamond client, asks me the following question this morning:

Her words…

“I am sure you get asked this question all the time, and it’s annoying and irrelevant but how come some people can eat endless amounts of ’shit’ (pardon my french but it is what it is) and still feel terrific and look great?”

Back to me…

So, let’s talk about effort.

People really want to believe effort is a myth, at least if we consider what we consume in the media:

* politicians and beauty queens who get by on a smile and a wink

* lottery winners who turn a lifetime of lousy jobs into one big payday

* sports stars who are born with skills we could never hope to acquire

* Hollywood celebrities with the talent of being in the right place at the right time

* failed CEOs with $40 million buyouts

* models with amazing bodies that don’t do a thing to look that way

It really seems (at least if we read popular media) that who we know and whether we get ‘picked’ are the two keys to success, in other words — LUCK.

The thing about luck is this: we’re already lucky.

We’re insanely lucky that we weren’t born during the black plague or in a country with no freedom. We’re lucky that we’ve got access to highly-leveraged tools and terrific opportunities. If we set that luck aside, though, something interesting shows up.

Delete the outliers — (the people who are hit by a bus or win the lottery, the people who truly workout every day and eat really well but are still overweight or those who eat whatever they want and do nothing but ‘fork lifts’ and still look amazing) — the people who luck out in a big way, and we’re left with everyone else.

And for everyone else, effort is directly related to success.

Not all the time, but as much as you would expect. Smarter, kinder and harder working people do better than other people, most of the time in everything they tackle.

Effort takes many forms.

Showing up, certainly. Knowing stuff (being smart might be luck of the draw, but knowing stuff is the result of effort).

Being kind when it’s more fun not to. Paying it forward when there’s no hope of a tangible reward.

Doing the right thing.

We’ve heard these things a hundred times before, of course, but I guess for so many of us it’s easier to bet on luck.

Why aren’t useful programs selling at 100 times the rate they sell now? Why do we watch so much TV?

I think we’ve all been tricked by the facade of lucky people at the top.

We see the people who do absolutely nothing, who manage to skate by, or who get so much more than we think they deserve, and it’s easy to forget these 2 things:

1. These people are the exceptions (the outliers)

2. There’s nothing we can do about it anyway (as much as we might hate it)

And that my extended family – is the question we all face…

While luck may be more appealing than effort, we don’t get to choose luck.

Effort, on the other hand, is totally available, all the time.

This is a very hard sell. It’s why “get rich quick” and “lose 30 pounds in 3 days” schemes exist.

Effort is, unfortunately, NOT effortless.

There is no way around that. (That IS why I believe so strongly in what we do. Without support and accountability and a system to monitor and track our progress it’s very hard to keep up the effort. It really is.)

But you know what?

Effort is a choice.

So I ask you, what are you going to do, bet on luck or effort?

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If MyBodyTutor worked for Stephanie, why can’t it work for you? (Insert your excuse here.) Learn more right now about our proven program that has worked for 100’s and 100’s of people of all ages, sizes and shapes!