We all walk around looking for results. We look in the mirror and we get on the scale because those are the places that we're taught to look. And that's the problem with this microwave society. Of course, you want results. But you can't put the cart before the horse. People get frustrated because we don't see what we want to see as fast as we want to see it. We have these quick and easy expectations because that's how things are sold to us. Commercials say, “lose weight now.” I see videos that say, “lose weight get in great shape without exercising or changing your nutrition.” That's the snake oil sales technique. They tell you what you want to hear, so they can get what they want out of you. And what do they want? Your money of course. But that's not how it goes. However, if you change your mentality, you can avoid these quick fix failures and frustrations. Instead of waiting to reward yourself for the end result, start rewarding yourself based on the consistency of your effort as you take steps in the proper direction on your journey. The truth is that consistency makes us or breaks us. What you consistently do is what you will achieve. There's seven days in a week. If I exercise and am active three days I'm going to get the results of that. Which means that there are four days that I’m inactive. That means I'm consistently more inactive than I am active. So, if I'm not happy with the goals of that pattern, I need to increase the number of days that I am active. Notice I said active and not working out. If someone works out three times a week and spends the rest of the time seated watching TV, seated at work, seated in a car and lying in bed, they will become a strong couch potato.
Look at everything we do and look at the results we've achieved over our individual lifetimes. Look at the person that consistently studied and did their homework and then look at the grades. They didn't get their final grade until the end of the school year, but the teacher gave them stars by their name every time they did the assignments. See, that teacher was showing us that if we reward the accomplishment of the assignment, the student will have some short-term motivation to work towards. If the student keeps working for those stars, more than likely the grades will be great. I was watching an interview with the late Kobe Bryant and he was talking about how the highlights of NBA Players are emphasized but he wished that more people would emphasize what the players did when the cameras were off to become great. He's talking about showing how hard and often the players practice. Kobe Bryant was one of the biggest proponents for putting in extra work and being consistent with your efforts. He talked about showing up when no one was looking because he knew that by the time they looked he'd be awesome. It wasn't that he leaned only on his natural talent, he practiced and practiced and practiced to elevate his skills.
I want you to come up with a reward system for acknowledging your own efforts and consistency. Set aside something for yourself That you can use as a reward. Here's an idea. For example, set the consistency goal of working out five days a week and achieving 10,000 steps a per day. Place a calendar where it is very visible to you. You can put it on your desk or maybe on your refrigerator. Each day that you achieve your goal, mark it on a calendar. You can get your family and friends involved to help you as accountability partners. So now instead of checking the scale and mirror, you can check your calendar. Over time that calendar will help to predict your healthy outcome.
How will you track and reward your consistency?
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