As we move into late fall, many of us start to see that the holidays are coming upon us sooner than we want. Fall is such a beautiful time of year. It is almost hard to believe that some of those trees out there can produce such bright orange and yellow leaves. Warm air has been replaced by cool brisk mornings and we know that winter is knocking at the door. This also means that we are approaching the end of 2010 and, for many; it is a time to think about how different they want next year to be for them.
Right around now, many of us will start to think and lay out some goals for our selves. Work goals, weight goals and exercise goals probably top the list and it seems like every time January 1st rolls around, we jump on that band wagon and set out to create or form some new habits through setting some goals. Sound familiar to anyone? If this is you or you are thinking about setting some goals come the end of this year I want you to consider something. For now, consider that there are two different ways to move closer to those goals. Yes, hard work and persistence is and always will be the main way but there is also a way I want you to give some thought to and that is: changing your beliefs. As an example, I am going to use losing weight. Primarily because so many of us want to set new weight goals come late December.
Because the beliefs we hold about our self are such a huge limiting factor within each of us, I am going to start with that. Let’s say that I weigh 200 lbs and wanted to lose 40 lbs over the next 6 months, bringing me to an ideal weight (for my size) of 160 lbs. When I first think about this as a goal and start to consider it and even write it down, my deep rooted program (my belief about what I currently weigh) is going to start rejecting my new thoughts and actions. In fact, upon it hearing that I want to weigh 40 lbs less, it will start to put up a fight, maybe even throw a fit. It will tell you all the reasons why you can’t lose 40 lbs: You love food too much, you can’t exercise, you can’t give up those sweets and we can do that next year and so on and so on. Literally, it will throw every reason in the world at you as to why it just can’t happen and all of it is nothing more than a mental battle. Yes, it is all going to happen between our ears. The truth of the matter is you and I can lose as much weight as we want. It is our programmed belief that 9 times out of 10 will hold us back and most of us don’t even realize it.
Our belief about our self will mostly dictate nearly everything we do or want to do. When it comes to goal setting, if we want to be more effective, what we have to do is before we set that weight goal, is start to tell our selves that we can lose weight. Verbal, out loud affirmations usually work best at things like this. First we give our current program something to consider, (I can lose the weight) then we tell our self this over and over and over again. This starts the “re-programming of your belief”. Yes, that old program will push back, I can promise you but you will need to keep pushing forward. Until your belief is changed or has started to be changed about what you should weigh, starting any kind of new diet, exercise program or goals you have set, will most likely come up short. Simply because you will be not only battling your body and what it wants, you will also be in a mental battle. You and I are better off to get all the tools we can on our side if we are going to be successful, especially when are trying to change a built in program.
While there are many people who can charge forward without changing this belief first, they appear to be the ones with an extreme amount of will power, determination and a lot of drive. There will always be those folks who can and do reach their goals this way. It seems that later, after they have started the physical change in their body (through diet and exercise) that the belief is then changed secondary. If the belief is not changed, this is often when we see people bounce back to their old ways and old weight. The program in their mind (belief) was never changed.
For the rest of us though… this might be that one tool that will help give us that edge we have been looking for when it comes to making changes in our life. I don’t claim this as an elite tool for everyone I just know that what we believe to be true, is in fact true for us. If we can change our belief, we can change our actions. Change our actions and we can have a different outcome.
Have a great Friday everyone, be blessed.
No comments:
Post a Comment