Lose Diet Or Exercise
I struggled with up and down motivation for a very long time when trying to lose arm flab. So called self help books and motivational speakers only provided temporary motivation that would always end up fading away.
What was my saving grace? The one and only David Burns M.D. He wrote an excellent book which provided easy to use methods for optimizing thought processes. Central to his method, was the identification of major thought distortions.
So without further delay, here are some major things you need to look out for if you want lasting motivation when learning how to lose arm flab:
1. Pressurizing statements. These types of statements are like using a whip to motivate yourself. They may work initially, but over time they will become too painful and your motivation will fade. How do you avoid them? Avoid telling yourself that you “should” exercise or diet. Instead, tell yourself that you WANT to exercise or diet. The slight shift in wording will have a tremendous impact on you.
2. Label statements. If you mess up with your diet one day and call yourself a “loser” or a “failure”, you are well on your way to motivational breakdown. The issue here is that abstract labels imply that there is something internally wrong with you. For example, how do you fix a loser or a failure? You can’t because these terms are immovable and set in stone.
3. Minimization. Doing this will make you feel one inch tall. You see, with minimization you assume that your “true potential” is much smaller than it actually is. Always assume that you can do something, never assume that you can’t. Test your distorted assumptions with action.
