If you think you can’t lose weight, you won’t. If you think working out isn’t for you, then you will never enjoy it. The fact is, every person has the ability to choose how fit and happy they are in life. How you think about food, training and everything else in your life determines the results you receive.
How you think about things is called your Mindset.
Mindset is more than just being positive, it’s learning how to understand our motivations, biases, and thought processes. Below we give you a clear path to finding the mindset that will get you the body and life you want.
Mindset starts with mindfulness:
It’s pretty tough to work on your mindset if you aren’t even aware of what is swirling around in that noggin of yours. In today’s fast-paced world there is something to take every waking moment of your attention. You would not willingly let someone put your body in a prison, do not let our current societal pressures do it to your mind. Take time throughout your day to take a few great belly breathes, be still, and become aware of the thoughts and feelings you have surrounding the things happening in your day. At first, you don’t even need to do anything with this awareness, just be joyful that you are finally becoming aware of the things in your mind. Once you have a few days of data, you will start to see patterns emerging. Some patterns you will recognize as helping to make you successful, others, not so much. These harmful patterns of thought are the ones we need to work on in shifting our mindset to achieve our best results in life.
Are you a fixed or growth mindset oriented:
A fixed mindset believes that our ability is innate. If a fixed mindset person fails at something, they believe the problem to be unsolvable for them. Failure is really devastating to a fixed mindset person. The opposite is true of a growth mindset person. They believe we can always improve our abilities and talents. Failure shows a growth mindset person the things that they need to work on to succeed. A growth mindset person embraces failure as a teaching tool.
This is very important when wanting to attain outcomes in life. Let’s say you want to lose 10 pounds but fail at doing so. A fixed mindset person believes that the 10 extra pounds will just always be there. A growth mindset person will believe they failed because they have not yet learned the skills needed. They may read some fitness magazines, a book, or hire a personal trainer to educate them.
If you want to watch a great Ted Talk about this subject CLICK HERE.
Watch your language:
In this case, the four-letter word we are talking about is CAN’T. This word is something we don’t allow at The Spot Athletics. “Can’t” is a fixed mindset person’s crutch. With enough hard work and consistency, almost anything is possible in life. That’s why we should always say “not yet” instead of “can’t”.
There are many other words and phrases that will sabotage your life if you let them. Below is a quick rundown of ones to look out for and their replacements. You must remember that your thoughts dictate your actions. Your words are extensions of your thoughts and therefore have a massive impact on your actions.
Replace “HAVE TO” with “GET TO”: I “have to” workout makes it sound like a punishment. I “get to" workout sounds like a reward.
Replace “SHOULD” with “WILL”: I should workout means you are probably gonna skip training. I “will” workout means you are going.
Eliminate “TRY”. Yoda said it best, there is no try, only DO or DO NOT. Instead of “trying” things, you need to just do them if you want to be successful.
Know your motivation:
Cutting the grass is a task that some people love, and some people hate. Nutrition and exercise are no different. It is not the actual task that matters, it is the person’s motivational outlook that will determine their enjoyment, and ultimately their success with something.
There are six kinds of motivation for your health and fitness. Some lead to success and some lead to failure. Knowing where you are and shifting your motivation if you are on the path to failure is key to having success. I will use the example of working out below, but you can replace that with anything you are doing in life and see how knowing your motivational outlook is imperative to having the best mindset possible.
The three types of motivation that lead to failure are:
1. Disinterested. Someone who says they flat out hate working out.
2. External. Someone who is working out because of an external reward like winning a contest or to make someone else happy.
3. Imposed. Someone who is working out because someone is making or threatening them.
The three types of motivation that lead to success are:
Inherent. Someone who actually just loves the act of working out.
Aligned. Someone who believes that working out helps them achieve their goals.
Integrated. Someone who believes that working out is part of who they are.
There are two great books on this called “Why motivating people doesn’t work, and what does” and “Master your motivation: Three scientific truths to achieving your goals” by Susan Fowler if you want to dive deeper into this topic.
Mindset is yours to control:
No matter where your mindset is now, you have the power to make it better. Working on mindset is a constant endeavor, much like breathing and sleep, so make sure you don’t go a day without doing it. Always be mindful of your thoughts and words and your actions will automatically start to change. It might be a word or the type of motivation you have, but I promise you this, if you start to implement the strategies above, you will be more successful at everything you do in life.