I hope that right now you’re experiencing a bright spot in your fitness pursuits. You’ve had a chance to wipe the slate clean and start over. Even if you haven’t started yet, it’s not too late now. I hope you’ve experienced some motivation to get healthier and you’ve taken action on your motivation by exercising and modifying your nutritional habits. If that’s the case I want you to take a quick internal assessment of how you feel right now. Try to record this place in your mind.
You may be a little sore from exercise, but you know that soreness signals growth and progress. Do you feel more energetic? Do you feel better about yourself now that you’re doing what’s needed to be done for a long time?
I am imaging that you’re saying yes to these questions. If not, then you need to really get into your program. If you’re not enjoying your current program, find a new one. Keep making continual progress so you can answer, “Yes Jeff, I feel great right now! I’m very happy with my progress and my self-esteem is already rising, even though I’ve only been exercising for a week and a half.”
Once you do begin to have those feelings, I want you to take a mental snapshot of how you feel and play it back anytime your motivation toward fitness starts to wane. Pay attention to the steps you take that produce motivational results in your particular situation. With our hectic lives we need all the motivation we can get to carve out the necessary time for each component.
Make fitness a lifelong priority by feeling the good things it’s doing to your body. Always be prepared to recall those feelings in light of the detriments you associate with exercise. Offset any physical pain with the mental anguish being out of shape leads to, or the future pain associated with the myriad of illnesses you are likely preventing or at least delaying by staying healthy.
