Body Building, Mind Building - The Inescapable Truth

Taking part in body building, out of necessity, requires a change in mindset. And even more than mindset, it requires a change in action. A change in habits.

I'm not here to point fingers; it's just a simple fact. After all:

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always got."

Naturally, this will require changing some of your lifestyle habits. We're not talking rocket science, here. Although continual growth in wisdom is essential, you CAN learn how to make smart choices...and still have a life.

I've come to appreciate the power in my mind. After all, if I don't have the will, discipline, or focus to plan my training and nutrition, and then follow through on that plan, no amount of outside resources will help me. The determination to make my life better comes from inside of me.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed with information overload. There is so much information out there regarding body building, fat loss, muscle building... You can feel more knowledgeable than your physician and STILL not know how to systematically apply it in your own life to get RESULTS.

This is where habits come into play.

Habits can make or break you, depending on which habits you choose to adopt into your life. Habits can be great servants, but really bad bosses. Many people feel like their bad habits...and sometimes even their GOOD habits...are their masters. They give up responsibility, saying, "That's just the way that I am."

But even that statement is an extremely powerful declaration about the way you perceive your reality.

So, how do we change our habits? The same way we walk a thousand miles: one step at a time. Think of these as promises that you make to yourself. Start with something small, and keep that promise.

But what happens when you break a promise that you make to yourself? Well, what happens when you break a promise that you make to someone you love? Take a small child, for instance. If you break a promise with a small child, things get ugly. Their trust in you diminishes, and they may begin to feel resentful. If you break promises to a child over and over again, they distrust your word entirely, and may even begin to rebel against you.

Do you know who you are in this metaphor?

You are the parent...and you are also the child.

When you treat yourself better, you begin to treat others better as well.

So, make a promise to yourself in relation to your fitness and body building goals. Make sure it's one that you keep. Write it down, and follow through. If you've broken a promise to yourself in the past, it's important to build that trust up slowly.

If you overestimate your current ability to follow through or you genuinely have to submit that time to a higher calling (an unexpected accident or crisis, a death in the family, etc.), don't beat yourself up. Forgive yourself.

And then, make it up to yourself. The sooner, the better.

Make promises and keep them. Whether it's to drink an extra glass of water every day until you're drinking 8-10 glasses every day consistently, to go for a walk every day, to enter a body building competition, or to set a personal record in your squats, the philosophy is the same.

And in the end, the habits that we make and the promises that we keep are the results of our consistent actions. So, get to it! Build that mind, and take your body building to new heights!