<%@LANGUAGE="VBSCRIPT" CODEPAGE="1252"%> <%Option Explicit%> <%strPage = "Motivation" strCategory = "Article Library" strPageTitle = "Keep Your Resolve to Evolve... And Stay Committed to Building Your Very Best Body" %>

Keep Your Resolve to Evolve… And Stay Committed to Building Your Very Best Body By Stephen Adele, Nutros.com Here's the question I am most frequently asked… "I've been successful at getting myself inspired and motivated to completely rebuild my body and have started a new fitness program, but keeping myself involved and motivated is sometimes another matter—I tend to veer off course. How can I stay committed to my program? I desperately want to get into great shape!" ...And over the many years of helping people from all walks of life create measurable results in their physiques and performance my answer never wavers: THE KEY TO YOUR MOTIVATION IS TO FIND YOUR REASON! Yep. It's as simple as that… When you decided to undergo a fitness plan (perhaps at the turn of the Month!?), you started by making the decision first, then acting on it, right? Seemed simple enough, didn't it? But somewhere along the line, your emotions begin to wane, the enthusiasm wore off, and your resolve came to a near halt. ...maybe you started skipping workouts, eating a little less healthy, or stopped taking your supplements. Here's where I have one thing and only one thing to say: keep this up, and you're sure to not only keep yourself in poor condition (never to achieve the body you've always wanted), but more importantly, you're going to let yourself down. At this point, it's up to you--the decision is yours--you can either break your self-promise and watch your resolve crumble, or you can commit to keep your resolve... and resolve to evolve by honoring your commitments to yourself. Now, you're probably saying, "Yeah! Easier said than done." But make no mistake, there's a huge difference between "good" intentions and REAL ACTION...and the difference, my friend, is COMMITMENT. Commitment means no back doors...it doesn't mean, "I'll keep going unless it gets too difficult." Strategic genius Sun Tzu in his great teachings The Art of War writes, "If you land on an island to fight a war and you burn the boats you arrived on, your soldiers have no way to retreat, hence they are fully committed." Isn't that the truth? So, what boats do you need to burn? It's clear you've decided what you want (a NEW, strong, healthy, fit body), so you've already got a destination to move toward. You now must create what I call your commanding reasons--your reasons for change--in order to remain connected to the promise you made to yourself originally and to really commit yourself to your program! You see, the challenge with getting and keeping yourself committed is really fairly simple to overcome. If you can get yourself to remember WHY you got involved to begin with, it goes a long way to carrying you through to the finish line. And you can do this simply by stating the REASONS you started your program in the first place. In fact, I've found the more reasons you have and the more compelling they are, the more likely you are to create the change you desire. Yet while most people really know they want to change, they usually can't get themselves to actually do it. Why not? The reason is simple: change is often not a question of one's capability; rather it's almost always a question of motivation. If you are really committed to making a change, the only way to make it happen is to create a sense of immediate importance and attach reasons that are so compelling and so intense that you must follow through. This is the difference between intention and action. That is the true power of motivation, reason, and COMMITMENT. What really determines whether you harness this power of change, though, is your decision not to accept your current actions any longer. You see, you can be highly motivated to change but if you keep the same self-defeating mannerisms, you will never change, and most likely, you'll continue to experience the same level of frustration and lack of results. Sometimes, though, your mannerisms will not change until you've reached a threshold of dissatisfaction, a pivotal turning point when you find yourself saying, "Enough is enough! I will NOT feel or look this way any longer," or "I will not be fat and out of shape another day!" Have you ever experienced this before? Sure. We all have... Call them "moments of truth" or "rites of passage"—these events propel us to make a commitment to change and to begin moving in another direction to improve our lives. They might be painful at the time and could very well be your lowest point, but you can't discount the power of what happens in your mind when you decide enough is enough and your reasons become so strong, so compelling, so abundant that you cannot defeat your will to create personal change and achieve your desired success. This becomes the basis for your commitments. So, right now, ask yourself the following questions and come up with at least three intensely compelling reasons why you must succeed and achieve your transformation goals: · What will this cost me if I don't change right now? · What has this cost me so far, concerning my health, physical condition, self-confidence, and energy levels? And more importantly, ask yourself the most powerful questions: · If I do change now, how will that make me feel about myself? · How will this impact my life? · What will I gain as a result? Your answers to these questions will ultimately help you gain an understanding of what you are committed to and, more importantly, why you were committed to it in the first place! I promise you, by clearly stating your reasons for wanting to change and making them so compelling that you become truly committed to achieving your transformation goals, you WILL set your stage for success!! Remember, the bottom line is this: any purpose must have reason. This means becoming aware of what you will gain as a result of actualizing your goals...visualizing the ongoing rewards you will experience in the process of attaining them...and knowing, deep down, what special meaning your newfound vision holds for you. You must ask yourself these questions to gain a valid understanding of your level of commitment. And providing yourself with the answers will ultimately yield the power you need to change virtually anything you desire, in an instant...and keep you committed to your vision, and ultimately, keep you on your path to a new, healthier, stronger, fitter body.