159: Fat to Fit Part 2 – Mindset

Mar 31, 2016

Ready for part 2 of our Fat to Fit series? If you missed part 1, which was all about fear and nutrition, you can listen to that episode here.

Today we’re diving into mindset. I believe very strongly that fat loss is achieved (or not) only when you conquer the battlefield of your mind.

Unfortunately, most of us spend the majority of our time & energy on trying to white-knuckle changes to our diets or fitness routine. We’d make progress faster if we spent the time understanding & tearing down the barriers between what we want to do & what we actually do in moments of temptation or emotion.

I also shared that between now and the end of April (2016), I’ll be sharing a daily question or mantra on Facebook & Instagram to help you implement these mindset strategies at critical points of decision.

You’ll absolutely want to listen to this episode if you struggle with:

Negativity
Excuses
Frustration
Disadvantages (barriers to change or success)
Inconsistency

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Fat to Fit Part 2: Mindset

The 6 strategies we dive into on today’s episode include:

Self-awareness
Affirmations
Open-mindedness
Defensiveness
Refusal to negotiate
Micro focus

Let me make a strong point here about why the mindset stuff is so critical.

Let’s say that you and I are driving together. You’re in the driver’s seat and I am in the passenger’s seat.

We are on the on-ramp to the highway, and you’re accelerating. All of a sudden, the engine starts to rev and I can tell you are slamming on that accelerator just as hard as you can. Lots of effort and attention. It’s like you’re trying to use brute strength to make the car go faster.

The car is working hard & so are you.

I glance at the center console and say, “Hey friend, the parking brake is on.”

You ignore me.

The RPMs are through the roof. You have the pedal pressed to the metal and I say it again:

“Hey friend, why don’t you pull over for just a second and release the parking brake?”

You say, “No way! We don’t have time to stop”

I raise my eyebrow, confused by the fact that what is so obvious to me is overlooked by you and respond, “Well, we’ll go a whole lot faster and it will be a whole lot easier on you (and the car) if you just pause for a second and release the parking brake”

If you stop and take my advice, you’ll realize that when you get back on the road you don’t have to work NEAR as a hard to power the car. It just goes with gentle effort.

You’re exerting yourself less but the car is responding more than when you were flooring it.

Or maybe you don’t.

If you don’t stop, if you don’t release the brake, you’re going to work really hard for little result.

You’re trying super hard but you’re frustrated, you’re damaging your engine, you’re wasting fuel and you’re not getting anywhere all that quickly.

That, guys, is the exact equivalent to what we do when we avoid the mindset side of fat loss.

The exact thing.

It is harder that it should be, it’s exhausting us more than it needs to, and we’re not seeing the progress we want because we have our parking brake on.

We’re slowing ourselves down while working harder than is required.

But, just like removing the parking brake isn’t hard once we decide to pause to do it, we can remove our mental barriers if we’re willing to take just a second to do it.

Here’s the thing: once we do, everything gets easier.

Don’t miss the full episode to hear these 6 strategies explained in detail!