You Are What You Think!
Dear Friend,
Success in any exercise program… and in LIFE, for that matter… depends largely on the attitude that a person brings to his endeavors. I want to touch on the importance of a positive mindset in achieving your ideal body.
That’s because it all starts in your head…
Every day, we make hundreds of choices, starting with whether to get out of bed or not. Some choices contribute to achieving our dreams and others keep us away from them. And even when we DON’T make a choice, we already have… by choosing not to. Our choices, and the actions that follow, add up to make us the people we are. In fact, we are the sum total of all the choices that we have made during our lives, right up to this very moment.
I believe that like a muscle, the mind can be trained. Motivation to accomplish all of your goals can be built just like a muscle, a little at a time. The more you work on building your motivation and developing a positive mindset, the stronger you become as a person.
I’ll give you an example. Whenever I travel on an airplane, I seldom take the time to talk to the person next to me. But I’ll never forget this one man that sat next to me. He looked terribly down, so I asked him, “How are you?” He said, “Oh, okay, I guess.” Then he asked me, “What do you do for a living?”
I said I was a personal trainer, but some people might call me a motivational speaker since that is a lot of what my job entails. I motivate people to be their physical best. Then, right out of nowhere, he asked, “Tell me something. Why does everything go wrong for me?” Well, I certainly didn’t know. I had never met the man before. So I replied, “Beats me.”
For the next thirty minutes he went on and on about all his difficulties. There I was, stuck on a crowded airplane listening to this man I’ve never seen before. And he repeated the same negative thoughts over and over again.
Then all of a sudden he exclaimed, “Hold it! Hold it! I know why everything goes wrong for me. It just came to me. Everything goes wrong for me because I’m wrong. I think wrong, speak wrong, and act wrong. I’m just too negative all the time.” He was right. He had gotten right to the crux of the matter.
The same is true for you. Your attitude is one of the most important, most powerful factors in your life. In fact, just about everything you achieve or don’t achieve can be traced back to your attitude. Quite simply, good attitudes bring good results, and bad attitudes bring bad results. It is your attitude, more than your aptitude, that will determine your altitude. YOU ARE WHAT YOU THINK!
Of course, a lot of people think its “cool” to joke about one’s attitude.
Comedian George Burns was once asked, “Can you do everything at 98 you could do at age 18?” He said, “Of course I can do everything at 98 I did at 18 — which tells you how pathetic my life was at 18.”
Sure, it can be fun to joke about a negative attitude, but in reality, nothing could be more serious. Benjamin Franklin knew that. He said, “Most people die at age 18, but we don’t bury them until they’re 65.” Think about that!
It’s like a point that a psychologist made to me a few years ago. He asked me, “How long have you been alive?” I responded something like “43 years.” Then he said, “No. That’s how long your heart has been beating. How long have you been ALIVE? How long have you been on fire?”
About that time I “got” it. The light bulb came on. I realized what he was getting at. It’s a person’s attitude that pushes them forward or holds them back.
Of course, you may be thinking that all this talk about attitude is just a bunch of pie-in-the-sky talk. Is there any evidence to back up my claims? Yup. Absolutely!
In one long-term study of 1500 people, group A — or 83% — of the people took their particular jobs because they believed they could make lots of money. Only 17% of them — or group B — took their particular jobs because they happened to have a positive attitude towards those jobs.
Twenty years later, the two groups had produced 101 millionaires. The amazing thing is, only one of those millionaires came from group A, but 100 of them came from group B. Now that’s significant!
Even more amazing, over 70% of these millionaires never went to college. And over 70% of those who became CEO’s graduated in the bottom half of their class. The conclusion was that it was their attitude, more than their aptitude, that determined their altitude. In no uncertain terms, this study determined that positive thinking is “the” hallmark of successful people.
My psychologist friend from above made this point even clearer to me. He explained that he asks clients to give him the words they would use to characterize a winner, and then he’ll write down the first ten words they give him.
What do you think they say? Over the years, he found their answers to be very consistent. They list: attitude, enthusiasm, determination, motivation, confidence, optimism, dedication, happiness, balance, and patience. Very interesting. None of these qualities has anything to do with physical or mental abilities. They all relate to attitude in some way or other.
You’re obviously interested in physical fitness. You want to build the best body possible. Well, your attitude has a lot to do with your physical success as well.
Most people think of mind and body as two separate realms when, in effect, they are part of the same whole. In order to have a healthy body, you must have a healthy mind. Sometimes the best medicine is in your head.
One of the first people to popularize the mind-body connection was Norman Cousins. As a respected journalist and professor, he wrote and spoke on the topic many times. One study was particularly interesting, a study done on 40 patients who recovered from “irreversible” illnesses.
When they were told they didn’t have much of a chance to live, they panicked. That was to be expected.
Recent battles with health problems had me fully understanding the emotions and feeling of despair that comes with such a diagnosis. I found myself making plans for the inevitable during that recent period. Life insurance, trusts, wills, etc. These things become matters that consumes one’s mind when they prepare for the “inevitable.”
But at some point those 40 patients decided to reject the notion of foreseeable death. They decided to live! They would take advantage of the best that medical science had to offer, but they would also get actively involved in their own recovery. They would do whatever it took to regain their health. According to Cousins, it was that decision, that attitude, which made the difference. Attitudes have a definite biochemical effect on the body. An attitude of defeat or panic constricts the blood vessels and has a debilitating effect on the entire endocrine system. By contrast, an attitude of confidence and determination activates benevolent, therapeutic secretions in the brain.
Apparently a positive attitude can help in the prevention of disease, and a positive attitude can help in the recovery from disease. Dr. James Strain, the director of Behavioral Medicine and Consultation Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City found that to be true. Dr. Strain compared pessimistic and optimistic men who had heart attacks. In the first group of 25, 21 of the 25 pessimistic men died within 8 years of their heart attack. But only 6 of the 25 optimistic men died during that time.
Of course, I’m not a physician. I’m not doctor, period. But I can see a definite connection between the mind and body. It’s pretty damn obvious to me that when faced with an “inevitable,” when the facts won’t budge, you have to change your attitude.
You may have no power to change the “facts” in your world, but you always have the power to change your response to those “facts,” and that power can be enormous.
More often than not, your attitude is the number one determining factor in your success. With the right attitude, you’re almost certain to achieve your goals. And the good news is, your attitude is self-chosen. You control whether or not you will be a winner in life, regardless of your natural ability.
So you can be a winner. You can have a stronger body. You can have better relationships. You can make more money — if you have the right attitude. It is your responsibility to change your attitude if it’s not as positive or as powerful as it needs to be. No one “gave” you your attitude, and no one can “take” it away — except you. It’s your responsibility.
I’m sure you want to be a “winner.” You don’t want to be a “loser.” And the difference between the two is huge.
The winner is always a part of the answer.
The loser is always a part of the problem.
The winner always has a program.
The loser always has an excuse.
The winner says, “Let me help you.”
The loser says, “That’s not my job.”
The winner sees an answer for every problem.
The loser sees a problem in every answer.
The winner sees a green near every sand trap.
The loser sees a sand trap near every green.
The winner says, “It may be difficult, but it’s possible.”
The loser says, “It may be possible, but it’s too difficult.”
Can you think of a bigger winner than Abraham Lincoln. I can’t think of anyone who had more pressures in life or in his career than Abraham Lincoln. Whether it was his repeated losses in various elections, his difficult marriage, or the nation falling apart, he lived and led with an indomitable positive attitude. He simply chose to be that way. As Lincoln said, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”
Starting today, I’m making up my mind to be like Abe! How about you?
Rick Streb
