Do you want to lose weight, tone up, and improve your overall health? Well, I have great news — You can! One’s ability to acquire his or her ideal weight does not begin in the gym, aerobic class, or the nutritionist’s office – but inside your mind. If you’ve never made the discovery before, you’re about to see how the power of your thoughts possess the key to success in achieving your health and fitness goals.
When you understand these concepts and apply them into your life, you will literally begin to transform yourself from the inside out. I developed my Four D’s of Fitness Success to help you override all your doubts and become aware of this one absolute fact: within our thought process, we create and water the seed’s that bring our dreams and goals to fruition.
- Desire. The first step toward attaining your fitness goals is becoming aware of what you want. Take a minute to assess where you are and where you want to be. Think about what you want to acquire or change in your life. Do you want to shed a few pounds? Tone up? Lose body fat? Feel better? Have more energy? The first step to getting what you want is allowing your desires that manifest inside of you, to stir and awaken. Desire is a powerful key to a successful lifestyle, because what you think about, you bring about. When you think continually about the things you desire to have in your life, You will develop a pattern that will help you focus on your “wants” instead of your “don’t wants” — If you make this a habit, you’re well on your way to mastering your fitness goals. Give your desires room to develop into powerful pictures in your mind.
- Decision. Decision crystallizes your desires into a fine definite vision. It is a fact that positive mental imagery, will project a positive outcome. Sometimes desires might be vague – we want to feel healthier, lose weight, gain muscle. Take it to the next level by choosing “specifically” what you want to accomplish. Transfer those specific goals into detailed mental pictures. Visualize yourself achieving your goals. What do you look like? How do you feel? What are you doing now that you’re fit and healthy that you wouldn’t have done before? What clothes are you wearing? Envision yourself striding confidently down the street, looking slim and wearing a super sexy outfit or slipping into those jeans that you once wore with confidence. Envision yourself hanging out at the beach, wearing you swimsuit, irresistibly attractive to the opposite sex. Envision yourself running the trail at the park with incredible strength and endurance. Details like this make your vision become reality. Let your mind wander until you’ve pinpointed exactly what you want and where you want to go. Keep that visual in your mind. If it slips and you start to focus on fearful and doubtful thoughts, become aware that you are having a negative thought attack. Remember that negative input from the conscious mind results in negative output from the subconscious mind. That’s why reprogramming our thoughts to “new” empowering positive affirmations which is a statement of belief is so effective. Without it, the subconscious if free to be programmed by others or whatever happens to be poured into it. Your thoughts, good or bad, dictate the life you live. “If you keep believing what you’ve been believing, then you’ll keep achieving what you’ve been achieving.” The vision you dwell on becomes the decision you make to advance toward and achieve your fitness goals. Decide to take control of your life, now!
- Determination. Having determination to reach your goals means you must first believe that you’ll attain them. Can you imagine striving wholeheartedly toward something you don’t believe will happen? You would become discouraged, lose faith and settle for mediocrity. Determination comes from having a conviction and unwavering belief that your goals are within your reach of being achieved. Meditate on your weight loss and fitness vision and have faith that you will experience it. Be determined not make excuses or let reasons why things won’t work, develop in your mind. You can achieve them. Feed your faith and doubt will starve to death. The beginning of your triumph begins today – by believing that you are on the path of accomplishing your fitness goals! As your vision solidifies and your belief establishes a new thought foundation in your mind, your determination will push aside past obstacles and propel you to new heights on the road to success.
- Discipline. Discipline is the LAST step for creating a lifestyle you love. The idea of discipline is a turnoff for some, but instead of cringing at the word, simply reframe your thoughts about the concept. Discipline is really inspired action. When you have specific goals and an exciting vision of where you’re going to be, taking action is exhilarating! Not because it’s always easy – but because you know that each productive thing you do or don’t do is bringing you closer to
becoming who you want to be.
Boxing champion Muhammad Ali said it best:
“I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.'”
When you are resistant to something, IT’S when you need it the most. Break through the barriers that are holding you back. Research shows that progress can be increased by more than 50% when you supplement your activities with concentration and visualization. Successful men and women from all walks of life are empowered to live out their commitments because they have a burning desire to attain and achieve their goals which come from within. Ali trained with perseverance because his vision of Being the Champion provided motivation for overcoming negative, pessimistic resistance. Ali also, believed and affirmed one thing, he said, “I’m the greatest!”
Just as dreaming itself will produce few results, actions that are not inspired by dreams, mostly miss the mark. But by balancing the Four D’s of Fitness Success – Desire, Decision, Determination, and Discipline – you’re mixing the essential components for living a lifestyle of power, strength, and confidence. How would your life be different if you operated from this framework in all areas of your life? Make the decision, right NOW, to take action and engage in these four practices to create THE life of your dreams. You have the tools – now put them to work and make it happen! REMEMBER, YOUR SUCCESS, IS YOUR CHOICE. You can do it!
1 Comment
Great article! I can’t say enough about the importance of discipline in reaching our fitness goals. Many people have the desire, and some make the decision and have some determination, but not a lot of us have discipline. I think part of it is because a lot of people look at exercising and eating healthy as a project they can drop once they achieve their goals, but fitness should be a lifelong pursuit, not a temporary thing you can drop once you get there. If you look at fitness as something you have to work on every day, then having discipline becomes almost automatic.