Before I teach you how to get over those annoyingly persistent afternoon and relentless nighttime cravings, I’m going to teach you how to swim.

“Why in the world would learning how to swim benefit me?” you wonder.

I’ll explain…

Let’s say we don’t know how to swim and we decide it’s finally time to learn. We want to overcome our fear of water. Bravo! That takes a lot of courage.

So, we find a local gym or pool club. Maybe there’s even a public pool that we weren’t aware of.

Then, we look online to find a swim instructor. After plenty of wrong numbers, we find someone who’s really passionate about helping people learn how to swim with a successful track record. Boom! We’re getting somewhere.

Next, we need to get the gear! We look online and find a bathing suit. Ohh, there’s one we like. Eh, we don’t really like it, after all. We go to another website…

We find the bathing suit. Ugh, it’s not in stock!

After spending three hours searching we finally find the one!

What about goggles? Can’t swim without goggles!

The big day comes. It’s the day of our first lesson.

Uh oh. We realize that we don’t have any shoes to wear by the pool! Whoops! We can’t swim without shoes to wear around the pool!

So we cancel and reschedule.

We’ve done everything we could possibly do BUT swim.

Sometimes, no matter what, we just gotta jump in the pool.

It’s like the monster I always talk about. Once we attack it, it’s not so bad. The monster is never as scary as it seems.

We just need that push.

But we gotta jump in…

**

When we’re faced with an intense craving, we’re usually only thinking about THAT craving. We’re not thinking about anything else. And because of that — we can’t imagine our life without giving into those cravings.

Here’s the challenge: many times, we think about what life would be like without EVER having that mid-afternoon or nighttime snack. We can’t imagine it!

(You might not realize it but it’s subconscious. And because we can’t imagine our life without our “usual” mid-afternoon snack or dessert, we think, “Screw it. Why bother? I DESERVE this and I’m entitled to this because I work hard.” Why do we do this? Because the discomfort in that moment is too great. So we have to rationalize it away.)

**

You’re a swimmer and someone is terrified of jumping in the pool. YOU know how much fun it is but they don’t.

There is a really fun amusement park ride that YOU know is fun but the person you’re with is scared.

You’re eating this really weird looking food that’s absolutely delicious. But the person you’re with is grossed out, and doesn’t want to try it.

What would you say?

Probably something along the lines of, “Just try it once. Everything will be okay. What’s the worst that can happen?”

**

What I’m suggesting is that if you want to break that mid-day or nighttime snacking habit — focus only on not having it TODAY. Don’t focus on tomorrow. Don’t focus on next week. Just focus on today. Because once we go through the afternoon or evening WITHOUT that snack or dessert, we realize it’s actually doable, and not nearly as bad as we thought it would be.

But again, we can’t know that unless we “just jump in” and try it once.

I’ll be right here waiting with a huge comfy towel for you.

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The creator of “Boardwalk Empire” credits my mom for inspiring him. He mentioned her in the NY Daily News the other day. Check it out here. It’s a pretty cool story.

People always ask me what my favorite spice is so I figured I’d share it with you right here, right now.

But I’m not going to just tell it to you because that would be booooring.

Getting the body we want is about 3 things: Eating right. Exercising. And doing those two things consistently.

Unfortunately, it’s the consistency part that’s so hard.

Besides the usual culprits like rationalizing, procrastinating and justifying – consistency is even harder because it CAN get so booooring.

Variety is the spice of life, right?

Not in our case.

In our case, consistency is the spice of life!

And because consistency can get boring we tend to bounce from one fad diet to the next, always in search of the newest fad diet, instead of focusing on what actually works.

We all know deep down, the secret to success is —> doing the right things over and over and over and over again. And doing the right things over and over and over and over again. And doing the right things over and over and over again.

No matter what diet we follow, or what ‘magic pill’ we take (they don’t exist!), or what the ‘magic food’ of the moment is, if we want to be successful, eventually, we’re going to have to do the actual work.

And the actual work means eating right, eating less, and moving more…consistently.

There is no escaping this! I repeat: We can’t escape the work if we want results.

While the majority of people are searching for the “latest and greatest fad diet” we’re doing the right things day in and day out. While the majority of people are searching for the “new and shiny diet” we’re losing weight week after week.

Once in a blue moon, a client will ask me if I get bored of what I do. “Don’t you get bored of reading my Daily Feedback every day?”

It’s an honest question.

The answer is absolutely not! Because I know each Daily Feedback will lead us one step closer to where we want to be. Each Daily Feedback is a critical part of this journey. Every meal counts. Every workout counts.

And what really drives me, and what I really love, is the thrill I get when you email me and say “Damn! This is working!” “My pants feel so loose!” “I hate you because I have to buy new clothes!”

That’s what gets me out of bed every morning. That’s what keeps me up at night.

THIS is what I live for!

Because I know we can’t escape the discomfort we have to endure, we just can’t.

Here’s what I mean: change by nature is uncomfortable. And if we’re doing the same things we used to do, we’re not changing and therefore we won’t feel any discomfort. In other words, discomfort IS our compass. Discomfort means we’re doing things DIFFERENTLY, and therefore getting closer to where we want to be.) Nor can we escape the day to day consistency we have to stick to, which isn’t sexy whatsoever – even though, it’s ridiculously effective!

And because it’s so easy to avoid the inevitable – being consistent and sticking with a sensible eating and exercise plan – I know (in fact, I’m 1000% convinced – though I’m admittedly biased) daily and personal accountability and support is what makes ALL of the difference.

No one said it’s easy. Nor sexy. But ask anyone who’s pursued anything worth doing —> (usually, things that are hard to obtain or else it wouldn’t be worth all that much nor would it be inspiring) — and they’re certainly convinced it’s worth it.

So let’s embrace the consistency for today and this week.

And when it feels a little boring, that’s our time to LEAN in even more and make more change happen. Because like our moods, we have ups and downs. And when we’re up, it feels easy.

But when it’s easy, we quickly forget about the inevitable downs that 9.9 times out of 10 knock us off our tracks for good.

And that’s when most people go back to their old ways and then start something else and repeat the cycle over and over again.

But not on my watch. Oh no. Not on my watch.

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And this guy guarantees weight loss success with my program or your money back! Insane? Nope. I just believe that much in what we’re doing, and I’m putting my money where my words are. In fact, we’re the only program that offers a 100% money-back gaurantee.

You can literally work with a tutor for a month, and if you don’t see/feel results, I’ll give you your money back. It’s as simple as that. What are you waiting for? Join now!

Today, I want to write about how to get stuff done that you’re not excited about. (If you were excited about it, you’d do it!)

By the way, I think this is pretty powerful. Actually, I think all of my stuff is powerful and useful — otherwise, I wouldn’t bother posting it. And I wouldn’t spend the time I do writing these. Anyway, read this when you have a few free minutes of uninterrupted time.

Let’s get to it.

I like to look at things in ‘have tos’ versus ‘get tos’.

Let me explain…

There are plenty of things we ‘have to’ do versus a lot of things we ‘get to’ do.

For example, if we want to ‘get to’ feel and look awesome, we ‘have to’ eat healthfully.

If we want to ‘get to’ feel really energized, we ‘have to’ exercise.

Do I love exercising? Do I love eating healthfully?

Sure, sometimes I do. But I don’t necessarily love it ALL the time. Sometimes, I’d rather be watching TV and eating hamburgers, and drinking milkshakes.

What I love is how I FEEL when I’m done exercising, and how I feel when I eat healthfully.

So therefore if I want to ‘get to’ feel incredible, I ‘have to’ exercise. If I want to ‘get to’ feel vibrant and healthy, I have to eat natural, whole and nutritious foods *consistently*.

Everything we do has a consequence. And when we break down all the things we ‘get to’ do, we realize all the things we ‘have to’ do.

We all have things we look forward to doing. And we all have things we need to do to be able to do the things we look forward to.

Do you love packing for vacation? I hate it. But if I want to ‘get to’ go on vacation, I ‘have to’ pack.

Let’s take MBT, for example. We all know and love MBT, right? “Right!”

Well, there are lots of things I ‘have to’ do in order to ‘get to’ do the things I really live for — actually helping my clients, writing, doing Feedbacks, etc. But there are lots of things I ‘have to’ do in order to be able to ‘get to’ help people. (Some would argue that I should outsource the things I don’t love doing. Sure, I could. But I still think there will always be things I ‘have to’ do.)

Anyway, when you start to look at all of the things in your life you might ‘have to’ do so you ‘get to’ do, it makes the ‘have to’s’ become a lot more appealing….

WHAT IF you looked at all of the ‘have tos’ as opportunities? How would that change the way you approach getting stuff done.

WHAT IF before you do something really annoying or something you don’t want to do…you said to yourself, “I ‘have to’ do this in order to ‘get to’ do….”

Imagine how differently you’d approach everything.

BUT — Who wants to ‘have to’ do anything?!? A really powerful way to re-frame that is to switch the ‘have to’ with ‘CHOOSE to’ or ‘WANT to’.

I CHOOSE to and WANT to do a lot of things because I know what I’ll GET to do or feel…

I CHOOSE to eat healthfully because I will GET TO feel freakin’ awesome.

I CHOOSE to exercise because I want to feel happier and energized.

I WANT to do the boring things of MBT because I will GET TO do the parts I love doing.

Kapeech?

What do you want to ‘get to’ do or feel?

What do you ‘CHOOSE to or WANT to’ do to make that happen?

**

Are we friends on Facebook? Here’s the link —> https://www.facebook.com/MyBodyTutor

There’s a story about a guy who attends a weight loss seminar, and complains to the keynote speaker that, despite trying everything, he can’t lose weight.

“You’ve tried everything?” asks the speaker.

“Everything,” the guy replies.

“What were the last hundred things you tried?” asks the speaker.

“Well,” the guy admits, “I haven’t actually tried a hundred things.”

“Then what were the last twenty-five things you did?” asks the speaker.

“I haven’t tried twenty-five things, really, either,” the guy responds.

“So how many things have you actually tried?” asks the speaker.

“Well,” says the guy, sheepishly, “maybe five or six.”

**

When Jeff first signed up, he told me he had tried everything and nothing worked. Naturally that excited me. It’s always fun to see if MBT is as effective as I believe/know it is.

What happened?

After a week of working with him he wanted to quit! And remember before Jeff started, he had told me that no matter what he’s done in the past, he couldn’t lose weight!

I was astonished.

You know why?

In our first week together, we LOST 3 pounds!

[This is also why a few people have wanted to quit the program WITHOUT even trying it! They'll sign up, have their initial phone consult, and then decide it's not for them. And with EACH and EVERY instance - it came down to fear. And I'm proud to say all of those people went onto reach their goal and then some. By helping them understand their behavior, they had a breakthrough and were able to push through their former patterns and behavior. Otherwise, they would have been seven diets removed from MBT - not having been able to stick to any of them.]

This is fascinating to me…

This is all part of human behavior. This is what keeps me so interested in this game.

I love exploring the psychological reasons behind our actions. After all, it’s ALL psychological.

Let’s talk about cognitive dissonance…

This happens when we have two conflicting desires. For example, smoking. It is well known that smoking cigarettes can cause lung cancer yet every person I’ve ever met wants to live a long, healthy and fit life. But the short term / irrational mind of a smoker enjoys it, and wants to smoke.

The uncomfortable tension caused by these two opposing desires is known as dissonance. As humans, we look to get rid of this uncomfortable feeling. This is known as dissonance reduction.

The only way to get rid of this uncomfortable feeling is by a) quitting smoking b) denying that people actually get sick from smoking or c) justifying and rationalizing.

For example, a smoker could rationalize their behavior by believing that few people get sick from smoking, it only happens to people who smoke more than they do, if smoking doesn’t kill them something else will, they’ll quit next year, they only live once and they deserve to smoke or it’s too expensive to quit (amazing to me how cheap people are with themselves when it comes to their own health and fitness. Yet, they’ll gladly spend money on restaurants, stuff, activities, etc. Everything means NOTHING without our health and fitness).

In essence, they either need to take action (quit smoking and get whatever help they need <—- this is very hard!) or they need to make themselves feel better by rationalizing their smoking, and do the easiest thing of all — do nothing at all. (<—this is much easier and that’s why most people do it).

Knowing this, let’s talk about why Jeff who has “tried everything” to lose weight, and finally did with MBT, wants to quit the program.

I’ll tell you why:

F.E.A.R.

It comes down to either fear of change, fear of failure or fear of success.

Everything he says boils down to fear.

There’s an old saying that I love:

“The temptation to quit will be greatest just before you are about to succeed.”

In this case because Jeff actually succeeded, he realized he was going to have to change for the long term. And unfortunately, real change is uncomfortable.

He got scared.

Because deep down, Jeff wasn’t ready to really change. He didn’t think MBT would actually work. So he wasn’t prepared to let go of emotional eating.

In his mind, he needs to emotionally eat and he can’t imagine life without doing so.

His success made him fear the change.

So now, Jeff is coming up with all sorts of excuses because he really doesn’t want to change. His main excuse is that now is not the right time to lose weight.

Interesting.

Because he wants to change – but sorta doesn’t want to change – that’s causing a lot of dissonance or tension or discomfort (whatever you want to call it).

He has to get rid of that discomfort somehow…so he’ll find anything and latch on to it so he can ease the tension.

(Ahhh yes…I’m too busy to focus on my health and fitness. Now is not the right time. I’ll wait until the stars are aligned. Yes!!! Whew. Now I can rationalize my excuse – and not feel as bad and quit the program so I don’t have to change…because I’m really scared to change.)

The real problem ISN’T that it takes so much time to be BE and ACT healthy. We make time for what’s important to us.

The real problem is that he doesn’t want to actually change. He rather just talk about changing. (We’ll work on this.)

Instead of criticizing or shaming him like so many people out there would do (because it’s the obvious and easy thing to do), it’s far more effective to help him understand his own behavior. (Shaming or criticizing never leads to long lasting change.)

Fighting human nature is silly.

Instead, when we understand what’s going on around us, it makes it a lot easier to call it what it is and move forward.

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No More Excuses. It’s time to invest in yourself. Join my program today at MyBodyTutor.com!