The Surprising Reasons You Procrastinate On Getting The Body You Want
You can’t will yourself into creating the life you want; the body you want. It’s not as simple as saying ‘now I just will be this uber-disciplined person and I will just DO IT. I don’t care that I haven’t managed to follow through before, this time it’s just HAPPENING!‘
And ‘enough is enough’
And ‘this time it’s for real!’
And ‘maybe I should try that new detox I heard about, just to kick things off; just to get me started and boost my confidence’.
And you do, perhaps, you do try the detox or you clean out your cupboards, you download an awesome eating plan and you look into hiring a trainer or saving money by just training at home.
And it’s all really good, it all makes sense and you can see that it WILL work, that this time really could be the time and you’re so …
Excited! And happy! Proud of yourself for making a change.
And (and this part is just quietly, but maybe not so quietly on the inside) … you’re also so freaking terrified that you won’t be able to do it.
That once again, you will fail to follow through. That once again, you’ll prove to yourself that you’re lazy. Undisciplined. That you’re just not one of those girls. You don’t have the mental stamina, the energy, the willpower, enough inner drive. Enough …
Well. That you’re just not good enough, really.
And so because you know, deep down and where nobody else looks, that you’re not that girl, that you couldn’t be as disciplined or consistent as those girls, and that no, actually it’s just not going to happen for you anyway –
You fail. You sabotage. You find a reason to stop, once again. And eventually perhaps to start again, but it’s really just more of the same, isn’t it?
i understand.
For years, I played this daily game with myself when it came to getting ‘fully’ into shape.
Will I?
Won’t I?
Can I?
Should I?
Okay, I will.
I will walk past the cupboard despite the fact that I can hear the nut butter just begging me to consume it in its entirety. I will turn away from the delicious dark chocolate and its smooth seduction. I will do that extra sweat HIIT or circuit session, the way I used to do extra sessions back before life got so complicated and when I stayed more effortlessly in shape. I will eat the extra plate of greens and refrain from eating an entire bag of pistachios with 2 glasses of red right before bed.
I will be slender again, lithe-like.
I will be lean.
I will be fit, powerful.
I will be happy.
It’s not that simple.
The thing with procrastination is that it’s not about willpower. It’s not about muscling through and saying ‘now I will be lean. Fit. Happy. Now I will ‘just do it’. Exclamation mark.
If it were that simple, wouldn’t you have done it a million times over before? Except you wouldn’t have had to do it a million times, but rather just the one.
If it were that simple, wouldn’t everyone out there be walking around in the body of their dreams, running the biz of their dreams, living the life of their dreams?
Imagine!
Tomorrow you wake up and say ‘you know what?‘ I think I’m going to just stop with the self-sabotage. No more binge eating. No more rules and sacrifice followed by blow-outs and going way off track. No more dilly-dallying around whether to train or how hard to train.
As of now (click!) I am officially a machine. A fitness model waiting to break out. Yeah!
I’m not mocking you.
I’ve been there, oh so many times. My scale weight has fluctuated by an easy 10kg over the past 10 years. I’ve had the super lean fitness model body, and even won some fitness model comps. And I’ve had the chunky ‘is she really a personal trainer?‘ body. I’ve had the post-baby body that just wouldn’t go away, and I’ve had the rebound weight that haunted me even after I did get back in shape.
Can I look back and pin my ‘successes’ down to how I ate, how I trained, what I did? Yes, to a large degree. Learning how to eat right and train smart makes a true difference.
But it only works if you work it, doesn’t it? If only it could be as simple as just knowing what you need to do!
So no, it’s not about willpower or knowledge or any of those things. It’s not about saying ‘now I will do this‘.
What it is about, and what it’s always been about for me, for you, for all of us, is the beliefs you have about yourself and your ability to succeed.
You believe that you’re not disciplined? Guess what, it’s true.
You *know* deep down that you’re just not one of those girls; that it will never happen for you? You’re bang on.
You’re certain that no matter how hard you work, no matter how perfectly you eat or how well it works for other people that you just won’t quite get there? Yep, right again.
Whatever you believe about yourself becomes your reality. Day after day after day after day. And you can fight and push yourself all you like to get those results, to reach that mirage of the dream body, but it will never happen until you change your underlying beliefs.
You see, you are trained to respond to your beliefs. It’s like the saying ‘filthy rich’, if you believe that it’s wrong to be wealthy or if a deep part of you thinks wealthy people are selfish or bad … well, you’re always going to have money problems.
Why would you want to be rich if the inner you thinks it’s wrong?
And why would you ever be able to achieve your get lean goals if the inner you believes you’re not capable, that you don’t have what it takes?
stop procrastinating … and get the body you want
To stop procrastinating, this is what you do.
You sit down. You get out your journal. You ask yourself, and then you write the answer –
What is this really about?
What do I believe about myself and my ability to change my body?
What is stopping me? What is really, really stopping me? Why?
Why is it important to me anyway? Why is it really, really, important to me?
And – What is the worst thing that might happen if I achieve my goal? What am I scared of?
And – What do I think about being in amazing shape? What kind of person would that make me? How would others see me? Is that an issue, and why?
And for each belief – What if that WERE true? (I.e. being undisciplined). What if it weren’t true?
And you listen. You really listen to yourself on the answers. Awareness is the first step. It’s knowing the why behind not being able to cross that hurdle. It’s understanding, and then choosing to change.
And then you change.
If you think it’s tough to change your beliefs, that it will take much time and effort, to an extent you are right. But only in as much as you believe that to be true, don’t you see?
You can make the choice right now to change your beliefs. To choose –
I choose to believe I can be one of those girls. That I am already becoming her. I choose to enjoy putting in food that makes me feel great. I choose to believe I DO have what it takes. I choose to act each day based on how I want to feel rather than on how I feel in the moment. I choose to practice building and strengthening my new beliefs, rather than trying to ‘muscle’ my way into doing the right thing, or at least as well as.
Can you see the difference between choosing, making it based on belief, rather than just saying ‘I will’?
The thing you called procrastination, or laziness, or lack of willpower, is nothing more fancy or scary than you just not understanding yourself. Just not realizing that failing to synch your beliefs with your goals and dreams makes it impossible to achieve them.
So get the right tools of course, to make sure you know where to go with those newfound beliefs (see below for an awesome deal on my Look Great Naked Training and Eating Plans). And then start synching. Make the choice.
Change a belief, even one.
Remember also that it’s a daily practice, this changing beliefs thing. A daily thing to remind yourself of, until one day you look back and say ‘hey, you know what? That’s me. That’s who I am. I, yes I, am that girl’
And the truth? You always have been. You just didn’t know how to let her out 🙂
the question
What is one belief you know is holding you back when it comes to getting the body you want? Comment below! And please share this post with your friends if you enjoyed it.
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