How many times have you looked in the mirror and wanted to see a leaner, more cut physique staring back at you?
Perhaps you’ve looked in the mirror after doing everything you know to do to get there, and you’re still not seeing the results you want to see.
Or perhaps you are spending loads of time in the gym, but not really paying attention to diet because you don’t know what “diet” is “right.”
Maybe you want to get in better shape, but you just don’t know how to get there.
“I do not have the right material yet, but I do know of about ten thousand materials that won’t work.” — Thomas Edison
Ten Letter Word
There are a million experts out there telling you how to get to where you want to go. While achieving your ideal physique isn’t a one-approach-fits-all undertaking, there is one common denominator for success.
For more than 30 years, I’ve worked up thousands of plans for thousands of patients and clients.
There is literally one thing that makes all the programs work for you.
Ready for it?
Discipline.
That’s right. The D-Word.
Now, I don’t want to scare you or deter you. Often, when I say that word to a patient, I can see troubled or alarmed expressions staring back at me.
But this is truly the success of the programs I’ve helped develop for people. Discipline affects the way you dress, the way you do your job, your relationships, the quality of your work… it affects everything.
What we eat, how we move and how often we do both needs to be undertaken in the same disciplined way we would pursue any goal.
If you want to get ahead at work, you don’t wander in late, with your shirt untucked, and never volunteer for leadership roles. No way! You’re the first person in the office in the morning, the first person to volunteer to lead, and first in line to ask for more responsibility.
People often ask me how I’m able to maintain my weight, keep my shape and still enjoy my life as I do. The answer is discipline.
I’m not talking about a sustained restriction of foods or criminalizing going to the movies over going to the gym. Rather, I’m talking about the decision I make every day to make choices that support my goals of staying fit, being active, keeping healthy.
The trait of discipline can be learned and enables you to achieve your goals. Your health requires planning, follow through, and persistence.
But I Never Stick With Anything
“The difference between who you are and who you want to be is what you do.” — Charles Duhigg
Ok, ok, I know what you’re saying to yourself.
“I have a hard time with discipline.”
No, you don’t.
Do you brush your teeth every day?
Do you get up and use the restroom when nature calls?
Of course you do!
Now, unless you are truly supernatural, you didn’t come out of the womb holding a toothbrush or knowing where and how to relieve yourself in polite society.
These habits, even as silly as it seems, demonstrate your capacity for discipline.
I promise you, we all have the ability to lead disciplined lives, obtain our goals and maintain our health.
Give Yourself 90 Days
Do not be tempted by a quick fix. In the vast majority of cases, it is not a quick fix. In fact, it is a sure failure.
Research shows it takes ninety days for most of us to build good habits while breaking the ones we no longer want. That’s just a little more than twelve weeks (this is why so many of my suggested eating and lifting programs are twelve weeks).
To achieve your desired physique, you might need several 12-week cycles, or far less. But you’ll never get there without discipline. Experiment with different protocols; try mine, try one from an expert you’ve hired or whom you respect, or make up your own.
You might find it easier if you’re on the journey with someone. Find a cohort and work together to meet your goals. Success is much more likely if you have discipline, accountability, and accountability.
Whatever you do, stay in the driver’s seat with discipline and do it.
Trust me — the true power of transformation lies in these ten characters —
D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E.
