Why You Should Just Give Up Trying to Get Healthy (Forever)
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Why You Should Give Up Trying To Get Healthy
Let’s be honest… most of us fail.
The weight loss statistics border on the ridiculous.
This meta-anlysis done at UCLA site says that “the majority of people regained all the weight, plus more” and that dieting often leaves people WORSE off than before.
And I tend to agree.
You should just quit.
Go back to your hum drum daily life. Be discontent with what you see and how you feel. Just do what you love, eat what you want, because we never know when we’ll be dead, right?
You might as well spend your days doing what you want, eating what you want, with whomever you want.
You should just quit trying.
You should quit trying, and instead commit.
I Tried Marriage… And Realized it Wasn’t For Me
Can you imagine if people these days went into marriage thinking “I’m gong to try and make it work, and see how it goes.”
Imagine you walked up to your partner the day before the wedding. “Are you excited??”
“Yeah, I’m going to try my best to make it work.”
How would you feel after that?
“Uhh… okay…” you might say, as your heart dropped and your commitment suddenly started evaporating.
That would be ridiculous, right?
No one would get married saying they were going to try their best. That’s suicide. Or maybe just a life of unhappiness.
In any case, that’s definitely not the right mindset for a successful, happy, long marriage, is it?
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been giving you a step by step roadmap to lose your first or next 20 pounds, by focusing on a few key principles and habits.
In the introduction, I asked you to share your powerful “whys” for wanting to lose weight. There’s an old saying that a person with a powerful “why” can bear almost any “how” or “what.” If you don’t know your “why” (and the more emotional, the better), you won’t have the fire to push through when things get tough. Watch that video here.
In the first 5 pounds video, I shared with you a few key habits. We talked about some of the key nutritional habits to embody every day, as well as how you should change your approach as you start to gain momentum and build those new habits. You can watch that one here.
In the next 5-10 pounds article, I introduced just three daily habits. Three! Whereas most people fail because they take on too much, I know you’re approaching this from a smarter perspective – you know that you need to just pick up a few things, and do those things well. You can read that here.
In pounds 10-15 video, I Introduced you to my three word daily health philosophy that is often the cornerstone of every successful person’s legacy. It doesn’t matter if you’re trying to lose weight, get healthier, build a business, be happier, or get a better relationship. It’s all about doing something every day. You can watch that one here.
And now, in this final installment in the series, I’m going to share a key mindset that virtually every successful person in history has shared. The burning desire to reach their goals – no matter what it takes, and no matter how long it takes.
The Only Way of Thinking That Guarantees Your Success
Here’s what it means when you say “I’ll try.”
Here’s what it means when you say “I’m committed.”
These two are fundamentally different mindsets.
A person who enters the pursuit of a goal with the idea that they are going to “try” simply uses that as a cop out. Because we’re afraid. Because we’re unsure of the outcome. Or because we’re flat out sure that we’re going to fail (and this often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy).
In other words, we often say “i’ll try” because we give ourselves an easy out. It’s easy to quit and just say “eh, I said I would try” – it’s a fear mindset.
But a person that enters the arena and says I’m going to do whatever it takes to get there, that person embodies a rare trait – commitment. In other words, the absolute conviction and dedication to reach the goal no matter how long it takes or how many challenges the person has to overcome.
The first kind of person quits at the first sign of adversity. The latter expects there to be trials and tribulations. What good is an epic story without any obstacles, barriers, or dragons to slay?
In fact, there are three reasons why I want you to quit trying.
1. People who “try” quit when they encounter adversity.
Bottom line: if you say you are going to try, you’re starting without even telling yourself you are GOING to make it to the end. “Yeah I’ll try and run a 5k.”
Does that person sound confident?
Does that person sound like they really want it?
Does that person sound like someone who would inspire you?
2. People who “try” expect themselves to fail, and thus provide an easy out.
How many times do we tell ourselves “I’ll do my best” because we think we’re going to fail?
Sometimes it’s easier just to quit right now, than it is to say, “You know what? I’m going to dedicate 3, 5, or 10 years of my life to this. To reaching my goal no matter what it takes or how long it takes.”
It’s easy, too easy, to just say “yeah I’ll do a bit here and there.” It’s easy to avoid commitment because we want to avoid effort – even if it means achieving our wildest dreams.
3. People who “try” often blame external circumstances, the world, the economy, their spouse, the weather…
Chronic “tryers,” because of the fact that they often fail to achieve their goals, tend to blame the world for their circumstances.
“I’m like this because of my genetics.”
“I’m like this because of my friends and my spouse.”
“I’m like this because my kids keep me up, or stress me out, or require 5 hours a day of my free time.”
Look – at the end of the day – what matters MOST is that YOU get the health, the body, and feel how YOU want. No one else wants this. At the end of the day you only have to look yourself in the mirror.
If you want it – it’s time to drop try and commit. Commit to staying the course no matter how long it takes. You will get there.
Napoleon Hill’s Ultimate Success Philosophy
What’s really interesting to me, is that an entire bestselling book, and still a bestselling book almost 100 years later, talks extensively about this philosophy:
“A long while ago, a great warrior faced a situation which made it necessary for him to make a decision which insured his success on the battlefield. He was about to send his armies against a powerful foe, whose men outnumbered his own. He loaded his soldiers into boats, sailed to the enemy’s country, unloaded soldiers and equipment, then gave the order to burn the ships that had carried them. Addressing his men before the first battle, he said, “You see the boats going up in smoke. That means that we cannot leave these shores alive unless we win! We now have no choice–we win–or we perish! They won.
Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut all sources of retreat. Only by so doing can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a BURNING DESIRE TO WIN, essential to success.”
Napoleon Hill interviewed 500 millionaires and billionaires – the richest people in the world – and if he found this key aspect of a person’s character to be that important to success, imagine how important it might be for those of us trying to transform our inner and outer health?
You need to have the burning desire to win – and no matter how many times you fail or quit temporarily, you have to keep going. You will arrive.
So, Go Ahead and Give Up. Just Quit Trying.
So. You should just quit trying. quit. trying. And instead COMMIT to doing whatever it takes, no matter how long it takes, to reach the goal you want.
It doesn’t matter if you’re 20 or 75, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, and as I like to say, in the pursuit of your dream, time is irrelevant and age doesn’t matter. Just tiny daily steps matter.
Something every day.
Thoughts?
Share them below.
– Alex
Want some help to make this a reality?: Would you like me to personally help you lose 20, 30 or 50 pounds, in the next 90 days by setting up a custom health and weight loss/nutrition plan for you? I’ve opened up room for a few totally free strategy calls. These are only available for a few more days so check it out ASAP before spots are closed. You can learn more here.
Splendid article! The secret to life really seems to be the art of quitting. The quicker we quit things we are not committed to, the more time we have to focus on our real goals. Also accepting that success is really hard but worth it right from the start helps. Very well said.
Thanks Supraja :-). Agree with you!