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"Pleasure, Pain, and Fitness"

By Stan Small

Fitness, people either love it or they hate it. Is that really true or could it be something else.

A while ago I finished going through a motivational program that I have on a set of cassettes (yes cassettes, it's an old program). The name of the speaker on the tapes is Tony Robbins. If you need motivation to change your life and start moving toward your goals I highly recommend you Google his name and see what he has to offer.

This program was given to me a few years ago and has been in my closet collecting dust ever since. For some unknown reason, about 6 months ago, I decided to dust it off and begin listening to the program.

The program is aimed at empowering a person to be able to take action in all areas of their lives and become successful. Being in the fitness business, I naturally related everything I was learning to my business and how to make it better.

However, as I progressed through the program, the main theme of the tapes got me thinking about a certain group of people that I discuss fitness with on a regular basis. These are the people that say they want to get in shape "someday" when they have the time.

In other words, fitness is not important enough to them to take action. Does this sound like someone you know? Someone you know exceptionally well?

People tend to ignore things that they don't want to think about. For example, say you're overweight and know that it would benefit you to lose some or all of it.

You say to yourself "I know I need to lose the weight, and I will, I'm just not motivated enough to start right now" or "It's getting close to the holidays so I may as well wait until the they're over?. Why all of the excuses? Most likely it's because you know that getting in shape means hard work and dedication for a long period of time.

In order to put off taking action you ignore the negative things in your life that are a result of your lack of fitness. These could be things like having a lack of energy, being depressed, or not being able to run around outside with your kids. You are willing to concentrate on the mental or physical pain you may endure in getting fit but not on the pain that you will face for the rest of your life.

You choose either consciously or subconsciously to ignore it. The way that Tony Robbins puts it is that your brain will do much more to avoid pain than it will to gain pleasure. It's just human nature. I mean, who likes pain, right? I'd like to share with you some steps that have helped me make the necessary changes in my life to move me toward success.

Change your focus. In order to change your habits you need to change the things you focus on. Instead of thinking about all of the reasons you can't start a fitness program right now you need to start thinking about all of the ways that not being fit is affecting your life. These are the thoughts that you're pushing aside because they're too painful to think about.

They may be things like not feeling attractive, low self-esteem, not being able to participate in physical activities with your family or friends, or even the possibility of developing health problems.

The other things you need to focus on are what you would gain by reaching your fitness goals. How would achieving these goals affect your life? Would it allow you to do things that you've always dreamt about doing? It could be something big or very small.

It doesn't matter as long as it's important to you. These thoughts might also be painful because you believe that they will never happen. Here's something simple but effective for you to try. It just might motivate you.

Take out a piece of paper, go to a room where it's quiet and you can think without interruptions, and write a list of things you would do if you were in better shape. Take as much time as necessary and put a lot of thought into it.

Write anything you can think of, just make sure it's something you truly want to do or accomplish. Now pick out the most important items from your list. It could be three things or five, as long as they're very important to you.

Next, for each of the items that you've chosen, write down the emotional pain you feel from not achieving or maybe not even attempting to reach these goals. As you write your reasons you've got to experience the pain on a real level. Don't hold back; make it real in your mind. It may not be pleasant but it's something you need to do. You need to convince yourself that continuing to live your life this way is unacceptable.

Look at your list again, only this time I want you to write down all of the pleasure you'd get from achieving these goals. Would you feel happier, more confident, excited, adventurous, and proud of yourself? Truly imagine that you've already accomplished these things. Experience it as if it were real.

Doesn't this make you feel a lot better deep down inside? You have to make the decision that these goals are going to become reality. You've already imagined the pleasure from reaching these goals. Wouldn't it be nice to feel like this every day, for real? You need to decide that this is the way you want to live.

The key to making this work is to take out your list every morning and spend 5 or 10 minutes looking at it. As you review it, remind yourself of the pain you have from not taking action, and also the pleasure you will get from going for it.

Then decide on at least one thing you can do that day to move a step closer toward your goals. Write it down and make sure you follow through with it. You will gain a great deal of satisfaction from following through like this on a regular basis.

If you continue to make it a morning ritual you'll be reminded daily how important these things are to you and your happiness. The pain associated with not taking action will become insignificant compared to the pain of not realizing your goals.

I have used this technique in different areas of my life that I've had trouble with. I can't begin to tell you how much I've improved in these areas. Good luck in the quest for your goals.

About the Author:

Stan Small is a certified personal trainer in Ellsworth, Maine. He is the owner of Personal Fitness Solutions providing in home training programs for the Ellsworth, Maine vicinity. His website is www.Personal-Fitness-Solutions.com