Why your Mind is more important than your scale

“Make it so that today is not like yesterday, and tomorrow will be different forever.” – Tony Robbins

Last week I stumbled upon an online video interview of Tony Robbins by Frank Kern and John Reese. If you don’t know who any of these people are, Tony Robbins is a motivational coach and speaker (and the man I credit with starting my own personal transformation). Frank Kern and John Reese are very successful internet marketers.

Frank and John came to Tony with a problem. As they have learned to make oodles of money on the internet, Frank and John have packaged it all into information products that can teach any average Joe/Joanne to do the same. They feel strongly that they give out every step, in precise order, and that all their clients need to do is implement.

But they don’t. Implement.

And then these clients start making excuses about why it won’t work for them. “You guys are richer. You don’t have kids to support. You’re better looking. You have charisma. I can’t do it because, X, Y, Z, 1, 2, 3.” And some clients even get MAD at Frank and John, complaining that it is THEIR fault that they are not getting the promised results.

Ahem.

So, Frank and John come to Tony to ask “What is it in Human Nature that makes so many people unable to implement change? And what can we do about it?”

Now, I highly suggest you take 38 minutes and watch the interview HERE. It is SO content-rich, I am sure I can’t do it justice, but I will try. (Just go watch it).

Basically Tony’s answer is this:

We all have potential to achieve. But what we believe about our potential is what will drive the kind of action we take. This level of action we take, causes the kind of results we get. And finally, the results we get confirm the beliefs we have about our potential. And around and around we go.

Example from my field: Jane comes to me because she wants to lose weight. She has already tried a million ways (some crazy and totally unsustainable things – Cabbage Soup Diet, No Carbs, Fasts and Supplements…) and she is quite skeptical than she can really succeed. And if she doesn’t succeed, well, she has already lived with this body for years and although she doesn’t love it, whatever, it’s livable.

With this mindset, what kind of action do you think Jane will take? Will she take massive forward momentum or will she take some tentative, skeptical steps?

Right. And when those tentative skeptical steps lead to luke-warm results, is Jane going to say “I can do better than that!” OR will she say “See, I told you I don’t lose weight. It’s my metabolism. It’s my genes. It’s my thyroid. It’s my family who always want to eat junk food…”

And NOW what does Jane believe? Did she just strengthen her belief in her ability to succeed or did her perceived potential spiral even lower?

This is the negative spiral most people are trapped in. Low belief leads to small actions (or big actions but soaked in the spirit of defeat) which leads to luke-warm results, which confirm low beliefs.

Yuck!

Now let’s imagine it the other way: Sue has had the same experiences as Jane, but she decides “The Buck Stops Here!” and adopts the attitude “I will do whatever it takes to succeed at this, for as long as it takes. And no matter what the obstacles, this time I succeed.”

Wow, what kind action will Sue take?! What kind of results will Sue get? When she hits a bump in the road will Sue crumble and retreat, or will she re-double her efforts and push on? What will her amazing results teach her about herself? Yeah, “I can do whatever I set my mind to.” and she will certainly go on to set her mind to something even higher and greater!

So, how does one escape the circle of mediocrity and failure?

You tone your mind, Baby! You got to see it to achieve it!

What if you CAN’T see it though? Then get around people who CAN. Find the people who have done what you want to do and study them. Get inspired by their results. We humans have a deep “if she can do it so can I” gene so put it to work for you!

If all your friends and family sit around eating junk food and not exercising all day, then find some new folks to hang out with. The internet is full of them. So is the library. So is the gym and the tennis courts and the track. I listed my personal resources HERE.

After you get yourself fired up a bit, spend time conditioning your thoughts and your beliefs every. single. day. Vishen Lakhiani calls this “Bliss-ipline”. See yourself succeeding over and over again. Then reinforce that vision with daily steps you take towards your goal. Condition your body with exercise. Condition your mind with positive thoughts and meditation, or art or journaling or whatever floats your boat.

Keep at it and build up those mental muscles of certainty and potential. Tony says the Holy Grail of Success is Certainty and that even if you don’t currently have it, you can acquire it.