Have you ever known someone who grew up the same as you, went to the same school, had the same opportunities, but ended up in a completely different situation than you did? The fact of the matter is that 2 people can go down the same path, but have very different outcomes in their lives. So, how does that happen? It all comes down to mindset and our internal dialogue. This doesn’t only apply to fitness, but it applies to every area of your life from your job to your relationships. What you speak to yourself determines your outcome and your experience of everyday life. But for now, let’s stick to how your internal dialogue can affect your fitness goals. If your goal is to lose weight, then we know there’s a certain path you need to stay on in order to do that. You likely will have to do one (or both) of these things: change your nutrition, or change your exercise habits, but one thing you will HAVE to do is change the way you talk to yourself. It’s easy to take the negative, complaining route: “It’s too hard, this stinks, I don’t get to do what I want anymore, this is never going to work!” Well when you speak it, you convince yourself that it is the truth. But what happened if you started speaking your goals and your victory on a daily basis? What if you started speaking encouragement to yourself? I got this! I AM going to reach my goals. This isn’t that difficult, and I can overcome any challenge that comes my way. This is nothing, I’ve had to do harder things and I’m ready to re-prioritize and get this done. You can talk about the struggle or you can talk about the victory. Your body performs according to how you speak to yourself. Psychologist Shad Helmstetter, says in his book What To Say When You Talk To Yourself: “Self-talk changes the picture--it changes the programming which creates the belief, which develops the attitude, which creates the feelings, which control the behavior.” He studied the effect self-talk can have on achieving goals and success in life and found correlation between positive internal dialogue and success, as well as negative internal dialogue and failure. So think about it, what are you saying when you talk to yourself? Are you speaking your victory or are you speaking your failure? Start training your brain to focus on the positive instead of the negative. I challenge you to sit in front of the mirror every day for 2 minutes and speak your victory. I can do this. I WILL reach my goal. I am amazing, capable, and can conquer my challenges. Whatever your goal is, start speaking your victory and you will see a change, not only in your mind but in the results you are getting as well. This exercise might seem a little silly, but try it out for a week, or maybe a month and see where it takes you. Remember, you are worthy of your goal.
