Need Help Losing Weight? Challenge Or Change Your Assumptions!
One of the most important drivers of personal success is our assumption regarding a particular project. If a baseball player assumes, while stepping up to the plate, that he is not going to hit the ball, chances are that baseball player is going to strike out. Similarly, if a basketball player assumes that he is not going to make that free throw, chances are pretty good that he is going to miss the ring. Your assumptions dramatically impact your level of success, whether it is in sports, academics, business, your career or losing weight. Unfortunately, when it comes to weight loss, most people think that losing weight is a purely physical exercise.
In other words, they just need to take the right supplements, follow the right exercise regime and adopt the right diet, and they are good to go. Well, I am sorry to break it to you, but if this is how you think, you are missing the most important ingredient. You are missing your mindset. More specifically, you are missing your assumptions. The wrong assumptions can destroy your weight loss plans. The right assumptions can make your weight loss goals a reality. Keep reading below to see how powerful assumptions are in helping us achieve our weight loss goals.
We Place Invisible Limits On Ourselves
If you really think about it, all human beings are capable of doing the same things. Why? We pretty much have the same physical hardware. While there are super athletes at the far extreme end of the global bell curve, for the most part we all have the same physical capabilities. This is a very important concept to understand. If you are not making the amount of money that you feel you should be making, if you are not as happy as you think you should be, chances are you placed those limitations on yourself.
The reality is that, physically speaking, you can achieve what other people are able to achieve. There is really nothing fundamentally different between you and other people, except the limits that you consciously or subconsciously subscribe to. Make no mistake about it. The big difference between people who are successful and happy and people who are unsuccessful and frustrated, are the invisible limits that they chose to place on themselves. One very important sub set of these limits are our assumptions.
Our Assumptions Limit Our Capabilities
If you assume that something is impossible, guess what, that thing will be impossible. When your mind looks at the external set of possibilities, and arbitrarily closes off certain possibilities, your mind will be unable to send your body the right kind of messages to achieve that seemingly impossible goal. Do you see how this works out? In other word, you are essentially limiting the range of outcomes from your actions based on mental or arbitrary inputs.
As mentioned above, in terms of physical capability, most people can do the same things. Physically speaking, you can do the same things that Bill Gates or Warren Buffett can do. However, they are multi-billionaires and you are not. Why? You chose to place limits on yourself. We all place invisible limits on ourselves. It is really important to understand this, because it limits our capabilities.
Our Assumptions Impact Our Attitudes
By assuming that we can only do certain things, we limit our physical capabilities. However, it gets worse. When we assume that our capabilities are limited, it also triggers certain negative attitudes that we have. You have to remember, your external reality is a reflection of your internal reality. If you feel like a loser inside, then your external reality will be that of an unsuccessful person. I am sorry to break it to you. If you feel fat inside, your external physical appearance will be that of a fat person. Unfortunately, many people who are trying to lose weight do not wrap their minds around this. They automatically think that losing weight is just a completely automated process. That they only need to buy certain products, adopt a certain lifestyle, and they are good to go. No. It does not work that way. You may be able to lose weight, however, it will not be sustainable.
Moreover, you will be missing out on the opportunity to transform your life by transforming your mind first. Make no mistake about it. Our attitudes impact how we chose the world, but our assumptions color our attitudes. By being clear as to what our assumptions are, we can change our attitudes. When we change our attitudes, we get better results. That is how it works. You can not just look at the complete weight loss process as this self executing and automatic system. There is no magic in it. There is nothing automatic about it. It is all a reflection of your assumptions, your mindset and your attitudes. By focusing on these things that you can control, which is in your mind, you increase the likelihood of weight loss success.
Assuming Inconvenience Will Make An Activity Inconvenient
Just as when you assume that something is hard will make that thing hard. Assuming that exercise is inconvenient, will make exercise inconvenient. You have to take control of your assumptions. In many cases, you even have to feel like you are lying to yourself when you change your assumptions. Instead of thinking that exercise is a hassle, inconvenient and sometimes painful, assume that it is fun. Assume that it is fulfilling. Assume that it is easy. A lot of people would think that well, I’ll be lying to myself and I am not really practicing a lot of integrity when I do it this way, I am not being realistic when I say these things to myself. Well, let us face it, your assumption is a choice.
The reality is that, external stimuli are neutral. We make value judgment whether they are negative or positive. It is not lying when instead of choosing almost automatically that these external stimuli are negative, to chose positivity. You are not play acting by focusing on the positive, instead you are taking control of your mental processes which can lead to better weight loss results and higher levels of personal happiness.
Changing Assumptions Produce Different Levels Of Physical Performance
When you assume that something is easy or fun, you tend to do it more. The key is to get started. It is not going to be easy, because for the longest time your mind has been conditioned to look at exercise as a hassle. Your mind has been conditioned to look at eating candy and high fat foods as pleasurable. However, you need to start. Once you override the process and you assume different things, it would be easier to gain momentum so you can eat less, move around more and lose more weight. To make this all sustainable, you have to tie the healthy actions that you are doing to an emotional payoff.
You have to understand, bad health habits like smoking, eating fatty foods, eating lots of sweets, they have emotional payoffs. Understand the emotional linkage and break it. Place different rewards. Think about the muscular and slim body that you would have if you make the right decisions. Regardless of what you need to do, you need to change your assumption so you can increase the likelihood that your weight loss goals will become a reality.
Britanica
So many people make the mistake of looking at others when they are trying to lose weight. Why is this a problem? Well, what works for one person, might not work for you. We have to stop comparing ourselves in order to be happy. Miserable people don’t lose weight. Happy people do.