TIPS TO STAY MOTIVATED

When it comes to staying positive and consistently focused on achieving your goals, it can be easy to lose motivation and become tempted to give up altogether. Here are some tips to keep you inspired.

Never compare yourself to anyone

Comparing yourself to others is self-destructive and could make you feel demotivated or discourage you from ever sticking to an exercise program, especially if it seems like life has dealt you an unfair hand. When it comes to genetics, no two people will ever be equal or even comparable. What works for someone else might not work for you. Don’t be discouraged if you see someone else eating whatever they like without gaining weight, or if you work your butt off in the gym and still aren’t as ripped as someone who puts in half the effort you do. If you look for them, there will ALWAYS be someone leaner, fitter or with better genes. Resist the urge to compare. Why bother contrasting yourself with someone who has a different genetic makeup and has embarked on a different path than the one you’ve chosen to travel?

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Instead, focus on YOU and compare your own body at different stages to highlight how much you’ve grown or improved. If you’ve made any progress, no matter how little, give yourself a pat on the back. Focus on how much you’ve changed over the last week, month or year, instead of worrying about how you compare to others. Keep working as hard as you can to improve yourself. Seeing your progress and the changes in your body can give you the push you need to keep you moving forward and achieving your goals.

There is no such thing as failure

There may be times when you miss gym sessions, cheat on your diet or put in a lot of hard work without seeing results. This may make you want to give up and quit your program altogether. Tell yourself that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback and results. If what you’re doing isn’t working, it means you have to try something else, or you need to be more consistent. It doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Tom Venuto compares working to improve your physique to an airplane taking off: “the process of losing body fat is a lot like the takeoff and flight of an airplane. People make the fatal mistake of interpreting their results as failure. Because they believed they had failed, they gave up. Can you imagine if a pilot quit every time there was a delay, turbulence or a slight deviation in the plane’s course? No one would ever get anywhere. There is no such thing as failure – only feedback; only results.

Take a leaf out of Tom Venuto’s book and don’t give up just because you’ve come across a bump in the road. If you’ve cheated on your diet or missed a gym session, get right back on track. Body transformations are the result of habits repeated consistently the majority of the time. Keep doing what you need to do to build the best body you’ve ever had. If you aren’t getting results, try something else. Tweak your diet, do more cardio or click here for plateau breaking strategies.

It takes time

Be patient and don’t expect to see results overnight. Successful body transformations take time. Commit to a minimum of four weeks before you anticipate starting to see dramatic changes.

It isn’t going to be easy

It takes an extreme amount of willpower to transform your body. Don’t expect it to come easy, and don’t fall for gimmicks that promise you results without putting in any effort. Fitness must be earned and your body gives back whatever effort you put into it. Work hard and earn it - and once you do, celebrate it with an unlimited supply of health, happiness and confidence.