Before working with Ascend many of our clients had tried countless diets and plans in the past. They were frustrated and lost hope in their ability to create lasting change.
They no longer believed in themself.
I get it. It’s true that it’s hard to believe that we can create change in an area when we’ve failed over and over again. It’s hard to stay optimistic when we have a long history of failure.
This is also true: Our past does not predict our future. Our history is not our destiny… unless we choose to let this be the case.
We have the power, in any moment, to choose a new way of thinking.
And this is important… because we can’t solve our problems with the same thinking that created the problem in the first place (we can thank Albert Einstein for this quote)
Ready to change?
Here’s what to expect: Expect it to be a process that happens over time because you need to re-train our brain so these new ways of thinking and believing become second nature. Essentially you are rewiring our brain… no easy task.
You see, the reptilian part of your brain doesn’t care about your health and fitness goals. It’s designed to keep you alive. It looks for comfort and familiarity. While returning to old habits and limiting beliefs might be holding you back, it’s still a comforting, familiar place for your brain to go.
When you start to change things, the old reptile part of your brain views what you’re doing as a threat. Your brain is going to try to talk you out of your potential because it cares more about keeping you safe.
Changing our beliefs and our way of thinking isn’t going to happen overnight.
Here are a few things that can help:
- Start playing the long game… and stop looking for quick short term fixes.
- And stay focused on ONE DAY at a time. Maybe you’ve failed in the past and aren’t sure you can maintain a healthy lifestyle for the next ten or twenty years. But do you believe you can make one healthy choice today? Do you believe you can take one small step right now to move you closer to your goals?
- Keep it simple, and keep it small. This is more about building trust with yourself than getting to your goal as quickly as possible, with no consideration for whether or not you can sustain your results.
- Stay focused on the present. Thinking about how you’ve failed in the past isn’t going to help. That’s done now. We also want to avoid thinking too much about the future. Thinking about whether or not we can sustain our progress for the next ten or twenty years is overwhelming. Instead, the very best thing we can do is take advantage of the present moment. It’s by doing this consistently over time that our belief grows and we can achieve the success we’re looking for.
At this moment… what will you choose?