Over the past few days we’ve been discussing the importance of consistency when it comes to meeting our health goals (or any goal). On day two we talked about input/output – what we choose to feed our brains and how it can either help or harm our efforts. Yesterday, we discussed our associations – the people we spend time with. Do we spend time with people who are on a similar journey toward health (or are already healthy) or do we hang out with people who continually drag us into an unhealthy place? Today we discuss environment.
Darren Hardy says, in “The Compound Effect”, “The dream in your heart may be bigger than the environment in which you find yourself. Sometimes you have to get out of that environment to see that dream fulfilled.” This may be where you live, the restaurants you frequent, or even the gym you attend.
That last one might shock you but let’s consider the gym for a moment. Is your gym one in which people go primarily to socialize or is it one in which people go to exercise? I’ve been in both. There is nothing wrong with socializing or making friends at the gym. Hey, I’m glad you’re going to a gym – but make sure it’s one that meets your goals. And make sure it’s an environment where you are comfortable. Sometimes this isn’t the $10/month gym – it’s the $49/month gym.
What about your house? Is this a place you can succeed with your goals? Or is it filled with junk food? Or your office desk, do you have a candy bowl on your desk? If you have the candy bowl and you’re constantly taking a little bit every day – get rid of the candy bowl. Another environment which often derails us is the restaurants we visit. If you’re always choosing the place with great BBQ and those delicious little rolls over the place that has amazing, healthy salads, you’re going to the wrong place.
So choose your environments carefully. Make the places you hang out most work for you. If where you spend your time is causing you to not meet your goals and keep you in that unhealthy, overweight, sick and tired place it’s time to change.
So today, think about the places you find yourself in. Do they help you get healthier, thinner, more vibrant or do they keep you unhealthy!
Here’s to a day filled with healthy choices!
This week we have been discussing the importance of consistency and the impact it has on meeting our weight loss goals (or any life goal). Yesterday, we discussed input/output influences and how what we allow our brains to absorb can greatly impact the choices we make. Today, we’re going to talk about what might be a tough one….who we spend our time with.
In the “The Compound Effect,” by Darren Hardy, which was the springboard for this discussion, he asks the question, “Who’s Influencing You?” His mentor, Jim Rohn, a successful “business philosopher”, teaches that we are “the combined average of the five people we hang around most.” So ask yourself a few questions: Do the people I hang out with the most embody the type of person I want to be?; Do they take care of themselves the way I should take care of myself? Do they eat the way I should be eating? Do they care about their health?
If you have truly decided to lose weight and be a healthier person and you answered no to more than one of those questions…perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate who you spend the most of your time with. I’m not suggesting you dump your friends. But I am suggesting that if you truly want to be successful with your health goals it might be necessary to choose to spend less time with them. It’s like this – if you’ve decided to drink less how easy is that going to be if you’re going out with your “party friends” every weekend (and maybe even during the week)? Or maybe you’re trying to quit smoking? Are you going to be successful if you hang out with smokers? Probably not. Their influence is going to drag you down. You’ll end up deciding to have just that one drink or that you will just not smoke and next thing you know you’ve had three. It’s the same way with any other unhealthy habits. Unhealthy people don’t influence you to be healthy – they influence you to be unhealthy.
To wrap it up – if you want to be healthy and lose weight you have to hang out people who support you and live out the healthy lifestyle that you need to be successful.
Tomorrow we’ll discuss one more influence that can either help or hinder us: environment.
Have a great day!
I’ve been reading a book, “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy, and it has had a tremendous impact on my life. It has inspired me to write a 5-day piece on consistency and dealing with those things that influence you away from your weight loss goals.
Read on….
Weight loss often comes the same way water comes from an old fashion hand-pumped water well. It takes a bit of work to get the water really flowing. We stand there and pump and pump and pump and from the surface it looks like nothing is happening. No water. But something IS happening down below the surface that we cannot see. Pressure is building and we just need to have patience; keep pumping and the water will come.
Same thing goes for our weight loss efforts. Often times we improve our diets, start getting in a little exercise and on the surface, very little happens or, worse yet, nothing happens. The scale doesn’t budge much (or at all), the clothes don’t fit any loser, and we really don’t feel any better. This is where consistency comes in, we need to keep priming the pump – because improving our health and losing weight takes time, patience and consistency. It takes slow, steady, consistent work. We need to keep at it – keep doing those new healthy habits even when those results slow (or stop!) because underneath the surface big things are happening. We just need to trust and keep going. Consistency is the key. I know I sound like a broken record, don’t I?! But I want to really get that point across. Consistency is the key. We just can’t go in fits and starts and expect to see the results we’re hoping for.
Consistency, or “Sticktuitiveness” will get you where you want to be. You just have to trust your efforts are building toward a great pay off.
Tune in tomorrow for the first tip on dealing with the influences/choices that derail us from being consistent.
See you then!
Feel free to tag a friend(s) who you think might benefit from this series in the comments below!
