One of the best things I ever learned to do was to scare the crap out myself.
Allow me to explain.
Everyday I get scared. Everyday. I get scared of stupid things, smart things, real things, fake things, people, emotions, physical tests, and mostly infomercial of weight loss products. Being afraid is natural and it is not weak. However, letting the fear ruin and run your life, is being weak to your dreams.
I believe it is your dreams that keep you alive and fighting to be apart of this world. Because I believe in that, I believe anything that weakens that needs to be eliminated.
The question is what is your dream? It could be a million things,but I am going to assume that at least one dream of yours is to have the body and lifestyle that you always wanted. You want to be hot, relaxed, free, and have peace of mind.
What if I told you in order to get that piece of mind you had to scare yourself first?
Answer this question – Why do you not have the lifestyle and body you want right now?
I want you to write down the reasons and the excuses you gave. I am going to put one down right now.
“I don’t have time to devote to fat loss.”
What would happen if even not having the time, you did it anyway? What is the worse that can happen? This isn’t a rhetorical question. I want you to take every answer and every excuse you have written down and I want you to run through your worst case scenario.
It is now time to scare the crap out of yourself.
“I don’t have time to devote to fat loss. If I try not to eat as much right now I am going to be tired, less focused, and I need my focus to do my job. The economy is bad and I have to keep my job. If I can’t do my job I could get fired. If I get fired then I might lose my home. If I lose my home then I might end up on the streets. While I am living on the streets bad things could happen and next thing I know I am on CSI: Miami.”
Would that really happen? You could say it is a possibility. If you allow your imagination to run wild, and I assure you mine can be amazingly cruel, you would be surprised how gruesome you can make things get.
The funny thing is you do that to yourself, everyday, all day long. Your problem is you stop it before it gets good. If you really took those fears all the way, to the worst case scenario, you might see how ridiculous your fears are to have in the first place. You also will give name and face to your fears and automatically feel more prepared for battle of those fears. This will make you less likely to fall victim to them.
The only catch to running through the worse case scenario, is you have to turn right around and do the best case scenario.
“I will make the time to devote to fat loss. If I lose the weight and feel better I might have more confidence. If I have more confidence I might just get that job promotion that I have been wanting. If I get that job promotion I might be able to move to that beach house I always wanted. While I am living on the beach I might meet love of my life. Together we will travel and see beautiful things, spend time with our families, and I will spend my life knowing the joy and love of good people and fortune.
Would that really happen? You could say it is a possibility. If you allow your imagination to run wild, and I assure you mine can be amazingly beautiful, you would be surprised how amazing things can get.
Now it is your turn. Leave me your worst case and best scenario.
How do you get a log-in and password for the leighpeele.com site?
Very very good advice! I try to subscribe to the idea that I need to play those “what if” scenarios all the way out and then really determine the probability of the worst happening. Once I do that, then I try to figure out how I would deal with whatever that worst would be…that usually gives me confidence to start looking at some of the other (less drastic and scary) outcomes.
I’ll be back later with worst case and best case scenarios. Good news, though, just by making good choices in food (not limiting or anything) and nursing, I’m already down 19 lbs of the 33 I gained with Molly. I’d love to be back at my starting weight by the time I get clearance to actually go on a deficit, but we’ll see. I’ve got the rest of my life to do this (though I’m not planning to take that long!) and it didn’t all come on overnight.
Sinead!!
So glad for the weight loss already! I am sure you will be back down by the time you get the green light! Molly is too precious. Hope you are getting SOME rest
Good article Leigh (missed you). I am a major negative talker-thinker so I am always having worst case scenarios in my mind. I will have to come back later with mine as well, but it gives me alot to think on!!
Can’t wait for all the new site content!
Amazing post Leigh. I got to mine right away!
I can’t lose weight, because I don’t want my family to give me a hard time.
Worst:
If I try to lose weight my family will nag me.
If they nag me I will be sad and feel rejected by them.
All I have ever wanted them to do is to be proud of me.
Knowing that they are disapointed in my I will give up, eat more, and gain more weight.
I end up weighing 400 pounds.
No one loves me and I am all alone.
Best:
If I try to lose weight my family will nag me.
Even though they nag me, I get through it anyway.
My family sees I am strong and did something for myself.
They are proud!
Amazing what putting that to words does!
Great post Leigh.
I am going to make a list tonight. I have never thought about doing this before, but it makes a lot of sense.
I don’t want to think this much on a Thursday Leigh!
I’m actually focussed on fat loss right now, but I could apply that to other goals in my life. And the basic idea in my head is that I can only really be successful at one hard thing a month. Over April I attacked fat loss, and got that moving and now it’s on semi-auto-pilot. This month I attacked a work-related issue, having to do with a weakness that’s getting in my way. I’m trying to devote 3-4 hours a day on attacking that, though I haven’t been as consistent as I should be. At the same time, there are 3 major goals that have gotten back burnered. My concern is that if I pressure myself on any one of those goals, I’ll lose effectiveness on the fat loss and the work issue. Worst case: I’ll spread myself too thin, won’t be effective in any goal. Best case: adding a third goal will help me be focussed on the existing ones and the two sets of things I’m learning will synergize. Hey, that actually works!
ditto
how do you get a log in password for the leaigh peele site?
Once the LeighPeele.com site launches, you won’t need a log in and password and you’ll be able to go right to the site.
What happened to FLZine.com? I’m getting a log in screen there, too.
Yeah, this is rough that I don’t have access to my log at FLzine.com/.. Leigh, you should get your money back for the past 3 months; they are just not dependable and you are losing customers….
Leigh,
I don’t feel confident about having my log there. I will continue, only to support you and your venture there (but I’ll create a backup of my past entries, if they’re not lost permanently). Otherwise, I’d be moving it to JP Fitness where there’s more support and a many-year base of people… You can tell your lousy server company what one of your “customers” is saying…. twice in a month it failed… I’m stressed that I can’t log yesterday and today.
Etana
You’ve given me some good food for thought. I’d say right now my worst-case scenario is getting injured, and totally giving up on all the athletic goals I’ve ever set for myself. My best case is running a half marathon later on this year, and rockin’ it.
I also hope the FlZine forums and website are up and running again soon.
FLzine forums and website are live now!
etana
FLzine.com
NO, the forums are still not live.
etana
Forum Down For Extended Time
Please see main FLzine page for more detail on future of FLzine and forum.
But there is no info on the main FLzine page
Leigh, the only thing I’m concerned about is my log for the past 2 months. Will I be able to recover those posts for my records? Especially the past 3 weeks of my OPT for Fatloss logging.
thanks, Etana
Just to give a quick update the Flzine site has info on the main site now.
As for LeighPeele.com it will be up soon, just wanting on a few final details. That is why you see the log in.
That’s interesting.
Recently I tried something similar, yet different
I sat down and wrote down all the dissatisfaction and misery that awaits me if I don’t take action towards achieving my goals. I really tried to feel how unhappy I might be a few years from now. It’s been working pretty well so far, I am very motivated. It seems to me that most of us only take serious action when we feel threatened.
I am all for positive thinking and in fact I wouldn’t recommend these techniques to people who are rather negative. The idea is not to dwell on the negative but to take an objective look on where you current behavior is leading you and to make a better choice.