A Tale Of Two Attitudes

On the way to my sister's house on Christmas day, I decided to stop at a Turkey Hill (that's a local convenience store chain) and pick up some instant lottery tickets for additional gifts.

As I entered, the woman who was working offered up a cheery, "Merry Christmas".

I've only played the lottery a few times in my life and I don't remember ever buying instant tickets so I had questions. The woman patiently explained my options and after my purchase I told her it was too bad she had to work on Christmas. She explained that the store was down to a total of 3 employees (including the manager) so they were all working a shift.

She could have been grumpy or inpatient; she could have been depressed on annoyed that she got stuck working on Christmas but she wasn't. Instead, she was going out of her way to spread some Christmas spirit to her customers.

I don't know specifically why this woman acted as she did but do you think her day went faster or slower because of her attitude and behavior? She could have made herself miserable because of her circumstances but she didn't.


A few hours later, my brother's family arrived at my sister's. After exchanging gifts, the entire family starting to spread out throughout the house and my two nephews (ages 15 and 18) inevitably began wrestling.

You'd probably assume that the older one would have a clear physical advantage but that's really not the case. Neither one ever had any wrestling instruction and although the 18 year old is an inch or two taller, the 15 year old is definitely more solidly built.

He is also convinced that he can't beat his brother. The 18 year old gave him every advantage and encouraged him but the younger one "knows" he can't win.

I showed him one way to postion himself (I have no idea where I learned that) and he was able to hold off much longer but even that didn't give him any confidence that he could beat his big brother.

I told him that as long as he was convinced he couldn't win, that he never would but I'm sure he didn't get it. I hope you do.

If you think of good nutrition and regular workouts as drudgery or punishment, that's what they'll be. If you think you'll never lose the weight or be able to stick to your exercise plan, you won't.

Another Reason Why Strength Training Tops Endurance Exercise For Reshaping Your Body

I'm on vacation this week so I'll be presenting some articles from other fitness pros.

Besides her great fitness advice, I love Rachel Cosgrove's straight talk and no-nonsense attitude about women's negative self-chatter.

She gets it and you need to get it, too, if you're interested in reshaping your body. You MUST change your frame of mind / body hatred to experience major and long lasting changes.

Check out Rachel's recent blog post on the subject...

Another reason strength training is better than endurance for women

Master Your Mindset

I often remind people that their attitide, beliefs, and self talk are the key to dropping body fat and getting fit. Regular readers may even notice that I prefer using phrases like "dump fat", "slim down", rather than "lose weight". I don't always do it because I know it sounds awkard to people but there's a reason for it.

We have a negative connotation of the word "lose". Whether it's losing your car keys, a bet, your job, a game, our way- no one wants to lose something. And if we do lose or misplace something tangible, what do we do? We try to find what we lost or we replace it. The exact thing you don't want to do with lost pounds.

So, most of the time, I use other phrases. Fitness pro, Jon Benson, is fond of the term "release fat".

If you have challenges with following a healthy nutrition plan and/or getting your regular workouts in, check out the 3 free resources below. (You don't even need to provide an e-mail address.) Two are articles and one is an audio, which you can either listen to online or download.

Mindset Teleseminar with Scott Tousignant, Jim Katsoulis and Kevin Gianni

Motivation to Lose Weight -- Using Brain Science for Attaining the Proper Mindset for Success by Tom Venuto

How to Think Like an Exerciser


Let me know what you think.

A Little Pollyanna Is A Good Thing

I just came across the article below this morning. Obviously, the concept applies to every aspect of your life but I started thinking about how it specifically applied to getting in shape.

Too many people sabotage themselves through their attitudes and beliefs.

"I'll never be able to lose this weight."

"I'm too busy to work out regularly."

"Healthy food is boring and bland."

"I'm too old to exercise."

"I joined a gym before but I stopped going. I'll just do the same thing again if I sign up."

"Healthy food is too expensive."

"Sure celebrities can get in shape. They can afford personal trainers and chefs; I can't."

If you believe any of those statements, they will become self fulfilling prophecies. There are people who, at one time, believed the same things but did succeed when they changed their attitudes.

None of those above statements are "fact." You're never too old, you don't need a personal trainer or even a gym to exercise, healthy nutrition can be very tasty, etc.

Your negative expectations have so much to do with your success or failure at anything in life. See how you can change your life by changing your attitude...


The Expectation of Something Good
By John Carpenter Dealey

Ernest Holmen once said "Today I live in the quiet, joyous expectation of good." That's good advice for all of us. Generally speaking, we find what we expected to get.

So, when you got out of bed this morning, what kind of day were you expecting? Each morning you have a choice of what you will focus on. Were you anticipating a marvelous day filled with many blessings? I hope so!

Read the rest of the article here ==> The Expectation of Something Good

Finish Strong

If you need some extra motivation to stick with your fitness and nutrition program over the holidays, check out this video:

Finish Strong