Ok, so you set a goal of losing 20lbs. You plan. You google it ten ways from Sunday.
You create a vision board, plan to eat healthy, workout regularly, drink more water, and tell your friends and family (or people you are quarantining with) just how awesome you’ll be looking in 3 months.
In short, you are committed.
You launch into action. Week 1 ends, and you are thrilled to see that the plan is working. The trend continues- Week 2, Week 3, all the way to Week 6. Yay!
Then suddenly, one day you don’t feel like working out. You are sore. You really want to, but what’s wrong with missing one day? or Maybe your roommates are ordering takeout and you want to join in, and what’s wrong with enjoying yourself, just for one day?
And just like that, you’ve backslid into your past habits. All the work you’ve done is wasted. Completely.
What do you do next? Start the tedious process all over again? Give up on your goals entirely?
Einstein said the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
This is exactly where I was about 6 months ago.
After a lot of false starts, I eventually learned, I wasn’t messing up due to lack of willpower. I was messing up due to lack of mental power.
- The trick, it seems, is to program the right intention for your mind and set yourself up for success. Even before you begin.
So, how exactly do we go about doing that?
Here are three techniques that are working wonders for me:
- Sleep Affirmations and Meditations: Sleep affirmations help re-program your mind and allow you to release the old patterns of thinking that are stuck in your head, and replace them with new, positive powerful thoughts. Sometimes these thought patterns could be decades old. And could be blocking your success, unbeknownst to you.
Search YouTube to find plenty of these affirmation videos!
You can hear these affirmations for an hour before going to sleep, or you can fall asleep listening to them, or you can let them run all night long. I use some combination of all of these in my routine.
Right away, you’ll notice that your inner dialogue is changing. You like yourself more. You wake up feeling energized. You feel connected to your goals. You feel more confident in all areas of your life.
This one technique has, truly, been life changing for me.
2. Morning Visualization: If you want to go further, add in a 15-minute morning meditation and visualization routine. Again, easily found on YouTube.
Do this short meditation first thing in the morning, before getting out of bed. It empowers you to take right action by keeping your goals at the forefront of your mind all day.
It keeps you tuned in, tapped in, turned on, as Abraham Hicks would say!
3. Love the Weighing Scale: This is just a fun technique to trick your mind!! One morning, I woke up and weighed myself. I was feeling good about myself and my body—but I was disappointed to find that I hadn’t lost weight “on the scale.”
This really bummed me out. Exasperated, I got a post-it and stuck it on top of the digital screen, so I didn’t have to see the number on the scale. And instantly, I felt better.
On a whim, I wrote my ‘goal weight’ on top of that post-it and now every time I step on it to weigh myself—I “see” that I’ve hit my goal weight! It’s wonderful!
Please resist the urge to remove the post-it and peek at your ‘real’ weight. Trust the power of your mind.
- If you decide to try any of these techniques, try them for at least 21 days (this is the accepted time frame for adapting new habits into your life). I do them every day.
And you’re off to the races– Implement these techniques, and watch the magic happen right in front of your eyes! Your mind gets quieter, you get happier, and your body gets slimmer!
P.S. These techniques have worked well for me, in my personal life. If you feel uncomfortable in any way, for whatever reason, please don’t implement them. Always do what feels right for you, your body, and your life.
Please leave comments below to let me know if you’ve applied these techniques, and how they are working out for you. Let’s motivate and help each other!