Posted by Eric Twitty on January 1, 2009
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By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.burnthefat.com
Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, “I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps it’s because escape is easier than change.”
Success psychologists say that 95% - 97% of the people in the world do NOT have written goals and fail, while 3-5% have written goals and succeed.
If these statistics are correct, then Mr Rohn’s observation really IS quite fascinating isn’t it?
Unfortunately for most people, the odds for success are actually even lower, because out of the few people who do set goals, most don’t take goal setting seriously, they don’t do it scientifically and they only do it once a year.
Goal setting is so important, that I always teach goal setting and mind dynamics first, and only THEN, do I teach nutrition and training second.
It doesn’t matter how much you know about nutrition or exercise. Until specialized fitness knowledge is linked with goals and directions, the knowledge is useless and you won’t accomplish very much or keep the changes long term.
In fact, I devoted the entire first chapter of my book, Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle (www.burnthefat.com) to the subject of goals and constructive “mind programming” for successful, permanent behavior change.
I’ve also studied neuro linguistic programming (NLP) for many years and more recently spent many months researching the latest information about neuroscience to see just how much of the traditional self help and goal setting wisdom is actually backed by brain research.
As you start thinking about your goals for 2007 right Now, I’d like to help you start the year off right by sharing two very valuable, science based tips on achieving your goals:
SCIENTIFIC GOAL SETTING TIP #1: Repetition is an effective way to “plant” a goal in the non-conscious mind
Why don’t most resolutions stick? Psychology and neuroscience today are giving us the answers.
Thanks to new technologies in brain imaging, such as PET scans, SPECT scans and functional MRI’s, we can now actually see your thoughts as electrochemical impulses and we can see the formation of new neural connections in real time right before our eyes.
We can also see where, geographically, in your brain, a particular type of thought is occuring.
most importantly, we can see how long it takes to form strong neural patterns and what types of stimuli cause the patterns to form more quickly
Here’s what we’ve discovered:
Setting a goal once is a conscious activity. Willpower is also a conscious activity. But research has shown that at least 5/6 of your brain power is in the non conscious mind and that the information and instructions that reach the non conscious mind are responsible for your automatic behavior.
Some psychologists believe that 95% of our behaviors are unconscious and automatic… more commonly known as habits.
Long term behavior changes don’t take place when you set goals one time as with most new years resolutions. There’s an old saying in “self help” circles that it takes at least 21-30 days to form a habit. This has now been proven to be fairly accurate on a neurological basis.
New neural patterns begin to form only after they’ve been repeated enough times. They continue to strengthen with further repetition. If you make resolutions on January 1st and you don’t continue to repeat and reinforce your desire for those “goals,” no new neural connection is formed, no new habits are formed, no new behaviors are formed….
Your resolutions wither away and die and any results obtained through willpower (trying to force the new behaviors through conscious effort), are quickly lost when you slip back to your old ways.
What you repeat over and over again is programmed into the subconscious mind and begins to take root. On a practical level, this means RE-writing your goals everyday and thinking about them in positive terms and in mental pictures, every day, repeatedly until the habit is formed and turned over to “auto-piliot.”
In 1956, when Earl Nightingale wrote “The Strangest Secret is that we become what we think about most of the time,” we didn’t know what we know now about the brain.
Nevertheless, Earl was right.
You don’t change your body by trying to change your body. You change your body by creating new habitual patterns of thinking and visualizing.
Trying to force new behaviors with willpower while continuing with your old ways of thinking will always fail because your automatic behavior is mostly under non-conscious control.
Its not the resolution you set once… its the goals (mental thoughts and images) you focus on all day long that create the long term (and automatic) behavioral change… when you change your behaviors, you change your body and your life…
SCIENTIFIC GOAL SETTING TIP #2: Emotion is a goal-turbocharger
Is there any way around this tedious process of “mental programming” through repetition? Not really. The fields of NLP and hypnosis have given us some tools for creating more rapid changes, but ultimately you have to begin to “run your own brain” and change your habitual way of thinking. No one else can do it for you and there’s no way around it.
there is however, a scientifically proven way to to speed up the process and that is with the use of strong emotion.
Since modern imaging technology can see activity in the brain and scientists have located the seat of emotions in the brain, we know that the strength and number of neural connections associated with a thought or behavior are increased when you’re in a highly emotional state.
The neuron connections are also stronger, longer lasting and it takes longer to lose a neural connection when it was formed with great emotion.
With this knowledge, we see another reason why new years resolutions fail: They are set casually with no emotion and no strong emotional “reason why” that gives you the leverage to you need to make a change permanent.
On January 1st, you may think you’re setting “real” goals, but if you’re like most people, you’re not only doing it a mere once a year and then losing focus, you’re also likely to be making flimsy, wishy-washy, emotion-less “resolutions.”
Zig Ziglar once said that, “A goal casually set and lightly taken will be freely abandoned at the first obstacle.”
You might want to back up and read that quote again, maybe even write it down or print it out, because this one hits the bull’s-eye!
This truly explains why New Year’s resolutions almost never work, and why so few people can keep off the pounds after they get rid of them.
Goal setting should not be casual or lightly taken. Goal setting is an important and serious matter. This is not a game - this is your life, and you only have one life to live.
Goal setting is also not a one time event - it is an ongoing process of literally “re-wiring your brain.” With the discovery of brain plasticity, we now know that this is science fact, not self-help fiction.
Make the time to set REAL goals, today! Take it seriously, do it scientifically, re-write your goals every day, think about them constantly, and then take massive action
Do it and this will be the most successful year of your life!
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder and author of the #1 best selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to burn fat without drugs or supplements using the little-known secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and turbo-charge your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com.
Posted by Eric Twitty on December 18, 2008
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com
One of my favorite motivational speakers is a guy by the name of Brian Tracy, who is one of the world’s top experts on success psychology and personal achievement. In case you haven’t heard of Brian, he is sort of like a calmer, more “laid back” version of infomercial guru, Tony Robbins.
Not long ago, I had the chance to attend a seminar Brian held at the Jacob Javitz center here in New York City. One part of his talk really grabbed my attention, and I’d like to share it with you…
Brian said that that there are two diseases running rampant across America and much of the industrialized world today. If you had to hazard a guess, which two do you think they are? Cancer? Diabetes? Heart Disease? Osteoporosis? Obesity?
Guess what? They’re NONE of the above. In fact, they’re not even physical diseases – they are mental diseases.
The first mental disease, according to Tracy, is called something-for nothing disease. Something for nothing disease is contracted by people who believe they can take more out than what they put in. These are the people who want all the rewards without paying full price, or as Brian put it, “They want to go through the revolving door of life on someone else’s push.”
Quick fix disease is the second of the mental diseases. According to Brian, this disease is contracted by people who always want a quick way to reach their goals. They search for instant cures to solve problems that may have taken months or even years to develop. They seek short cuts to acquire key skills that actually take many months and years of hard work to master.
These diseases are not to be confused with the desire to constantly get better and search for more efficient ways to reach your goals (which is a positive trait). The “diseased” people are those trying to reach their goals faster than nature intended without any effort (which is a negative trait). As a friend of mine once said, “There’s a big difference between seeking efficiency and being lazy.”
Brian’s New York City seminar was mostly filled with businesspeople, sales professionals and entrepreneurs, so he referred to financial examples, such as: wanting to work fewer hours and earn more money, investing in get rich quick schemes, or buying lottery tickets.
However, I personally feel that quick fix and something for nothing disease are more rampant and insidious among people with fitness goals than they are among any other group.
Health and fitness seekers with something for nothing disease they think they can get twice the results in half the time. They want weight loss without dieting, fitness without exercise, and perfect health while eating, drinking and smoking whatever they want.
Those with quick fix disease want to take a pill, go to sleep, and wake up skinny. They are forever on a quest to find short cuts to fitness goals that that normally take months or years to attain.
People afflicted by quick fix disease are suckers for the latest “exercise in a bottle,” “fat burning cream,” “diet pill,” or “steroid replacement” scams. They impulsively buy miracle solutions on a whim, which they haven’t researched and know nothing about.
Saddest of all, they often waste YEARS of their lives on a misguided quest for the holy grail of weight loss or muscle growth, when they could have reached their goals with a better work ethic and a little bit of persistence.
People with these diseases are violating some of the most basic laws of the universe: Cause and effect, sowing and reaping, action and reaction. This is just as ridiculous as attempting to violate other natural laws such as the law of gravity. Jump off a cliff, and you’re going to plummet to the Earth below – 100% of the time.
But there’s more: Not only are you going to FAIL and hit bottom if you catch one or both of these diseases - the very act of seeking a quick fix or wanting something for nothing makes you a weaker person.
On the other hand, the act of setting a worthy goal for something you want and reaching it through diligence, determination, discipline and hard work changes the very fiber of your being. You literally change on a cellular level; you become a stronger person.
The purpose of having a worthy goal then, is not to possess the goal, it is to become a better person as result of pursuing and achieving the goal. If you get something for nothing, you may have that thing, but you have not become anything. Pity the person who wins a million dollars who has not become a millionaire in spirit and character.
It’s been said you don’t get what you want in life, you get what you deserve. If you want to achieve your perfect weight and improve your health… if you want success and achievement… if you want to win the championship title… then set the goal and go for it!
But whatever you do, don’t catch these two diseases. SHUN THE QUICK FIX, AVOID THE FREE RIDE and deserve it. You can have, do or be anything you want - just pay the price and it’s yours!
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written hundreds of articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit: www.burnthefat.com.
Posted by Eric Twitty on November 12, 2008
When you look around and see the situation most people are in, why would anyone want to be in a similar situation? People are stressed and looking for any way out of their situation they can find. To turn things around you must first change your mindset.
Thinking differently from the crowd and adopting the mindset of the successful will put you on track to making positive changes in your life.
Let’s take a look at the average person, then we will look at what successful people do.
What is average?
So what is average in the United States today? The statistics show that most Americans are:
- Overweight
- Have little or no savings
- Have lot’s of debt
- Completely dependent on their job for financial stability
If this is what is average in the U.S., why would you want to be average?
Do what successful people do
These are the habits of the successful:
- They exercise and eat well- eating well and exercising keeps you healthy and energetic
- They build wealth for themselves- actively save and invest a portion of your income to build financial stability
- They avoid debt- avoid debt by living frugally and not worrying about owning all the superficial things with little or no value that most Americans purchase
Take steps to better your health. Build wealth for yourself so that you can retire and enjoy life. Avoid debt. Develop other sources of income. These are things that very few people do yet everyone should strive for.
This is what successful people do. They have a different approach to life.
Be Different
Imagine living a life where you are in shape and healthy, have little or no debt, and have money invested in various asset classes that have been proven to appreciate in value over time. This is a life that anyone can have. It does take work and sacrifice though. It doesn’t come easy.
“The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is.”
Charles Schwab
People will try to bring you down and tell you to live your life, eat what you want, and spend your money, but resist their temptations. Look at the person that’s trying to bring you down. Are they living the life they want?
Toxic people will always attempt to sabotage your productive habits but don’t let them. This is too important to you. If you are unhappy with your life then you must change it. Don’t let anything or anyone get in your way.
Don’t be like most people. Strive to be different. It will put you on the path to success.
Posted by Eric Twitty on November 7, 2008
What is rationalization? Most people do it without even realizing it. When you rationalize your negative habits, you definitely impede your progress towards your goals in life.
Basically, rationalization is creating plausible excuses to justify your negative behaviors. You are essentially lying to yourself to relieve guilt or make yourself feel better.
Here are some common examples of rationalization:
- “I had a good workout today so I can eat whatever I want.”
- “I’ll start saving money once I make more money.”
- “I’ll quit smoking after my birthday.”
- “I was drunk, so it was not my fault I cheated on my girlfriend.”
- “I’m underpaid, why should I work hard at work?”
These excuses can be the single biggest roadblock to a person’s success in any endeavor. Once you internalize the concept of rationalization, you can begin to recognize it and stop doing it.
Think about the times in the past you have rationalized your negative habits. Has anything good come from it?
Keep this concept in mind and try to recognize it in yourself and other people. Learning to recognize other people’s rationalizations is good practice for recognizing it in yourself. When you catch yourself rationalizing, recognize it for what it is and don’t let it be a roadblock to achieving your goals.
Once you stop rationalizing your negative behaviors, you will begin to achieve your goals faster than ever before. You will no longer be sabotaging your own success.
Posted by Eric Twitty on November 4, 2008
Are the people you spend your time with holding you back? Do they constantly want you to do things with them that aren’t exactly productive?
People like this are keeping you from realizing your potential. Successful people surround themselves with other successful people. We are extremely susceptible to the way of thinking of the people we are around most often.
When you spend time with a negative person with negative habits it tends to rub off on you. You begin to adopt those negative habits. These habits are counter-productive in achieving your goals.
When you spend time with a successful person the opposite occurs. You begin to adopt their successful habits. One of the best ways to become successful in anything is to mimic what a successful person in your chosen field is doing.
Successful people know that it takes hard work to achieve your goals and they will be more supportive and encouraging. They will keep you motivated and on the right path.
Avoid Toxic People
Avoid negative people that are insecure and jealous of your actions to improve your life. There is nothing to be gained by spending time with these “toxic” people. They will bring you down and sabotage your efforts in achieving your goals.
Many discouraging people have a negative mindset and they really aren’t aware they are behaving towards you in a toxic way. Usually making them aware of their behavior is all you need to do to end it. It will be very hard for them to continue their sabotaging ways once you make them aware of what they are doing.
A great book about dealing with toxic people is “Toxic People” by Dr. Lillian Glass. It will give you specific ways of dealing with the people in your life that are holding you back.
Determine Who is Holding You Back
Write down everyone that you spend time with. Who is supportive and who is not? Do these people encourage you, or do they generally tell you that you can’t do something or you are crazy for trying? Consider each person on the list and make a decision whether they are toxic or supportive.
You should really consider spending less time with the discouraging people or make them aware of the negative effect they have on you.
Spend Your Time With the Successful
Choose to spend your time with people who are successful. Their positive way of thinking will rub off on you. By spending time with these people you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Posted by Eric Twitty on October 27, 2008
By Tom Venuto, CSCS, NSCA-CPT
www.BurnTheFat.com
Throughout my 18 years in the fitness industry as a trainer, nutrition consultant and motivational coach, I have noticed that some people who start a nutrition and exercise program give up very easily after hitting the first obstacle they encounter. If they feel the slightest bit of discouragement or frustration, they will abandon even their biggest goals and dreams.
On the other hand, I noticed that some people simply NEVER give up. They have ferocious persistence and they never let go of their goals. These people are like the bulldog that refuses to release its teeth-hold on a bone. The harder you try to pull the bone out of his mouth, the harder the dog chomps down with a vice-like grip.
What’s the difference between these two types of people? Psychologists say there is an answer.
An extremely important guideline for achieving fitness success is the concept that, “There is no failure; only feedback. You don’t “fail”, you only get results.”
This is a foundational principle from the field of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP), and the first time I ever heard it was from peak performance expert Anthony Robbins back in the late 1980’s. It’s a principle that stuck with me ever since, because it’s a very, very powerful shift in mindset.
A lot of people will second-guess themselves and they’ll bail out and quit, just because what they try at first doesn’t work. They consider it a permanent failure, but all they need is a little attitude change, a mindset change, or what we call a “reframe.”
Instead of saying, “This is failure” they can say to themselves, “I produced a result” and “This is only temporary.” This change in perspective is going to change the way that they feel and how they mentally process and explain the experience. It turns into a learning opportunity and valuable feedback for a course correction instead of a failure, and that drives continued action and forward movement.
It’s all about your results and your interpretation of those results
Dr Martin Seligman, a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, did some incredible research on this subject and wrote about it in his book, Learned Optimism. Dr. Seligman noticed that the difference between people who give up and people who persist and never quit is what he referred to as “explanatory style.” He said that explanatory style is the way we explain or interpret bad events or failures.
People who habitually give up have an explanatory style of permanence. For example, they hit a plateau in their progress and explain it by saying, “diets never work” or “I have bad genetics so I’ll always be fat.” These explanations imply permanence.
Other people hit the same plateaus and encounter the same challenges, but explain them differently. They say things such as, “I ate too many cheat meals this week,” or “I haven’t found the right diet for my body type yet.” These explanations of the results imply being temporary.
People who see negative results as permanent failure are the ones who give up easily and often generalize their “failure” into other areas of their lives and even into their own sense of self. It’s one thing to say, “I ate poorly this past week because I was traveling,” (a belief about temporary behavior and environment), and to say, “I am a fat person because of my genetics” (a belief about identity with a sense of permanence). Remember, body fat is a temporary condition, not a person!
People who see challenges and obstacles as temporary and as valuable learning experiences are the ones who never quit. If you learn from your experiences, not repeating what didn’t work in the past, and if you choose to never quit, your success is inevitable.
About the Author:
Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling e-book, “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle.” Tom has written more than 200 articles and has been featured in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise for Men and Men’s Exercise, as well as on hundreds of websites worldwide. For information on Tom’s Fat Loss program, visit:www.burnthefat.com
Posted by Eric Twitty on October 13, 2008
Successful people are successful because of their way of thinking. Success in any area of life has little to do with luck. If there is any area of your life you would like to improve then you should follow these eight steps:
Step 1: Know What You Want and Make a Plan
Sit down and visualize being the person you want to be. What areas of your life do you want to improve? You need to know what you want to become before you can get there. Write these thoughts down. It helps you stay focused when you have them down on paper. Make a commitment to yourself to improve these areas. Make a plan.
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” Alan Lakein
Step 2: Learn, Learn, Learn
There is tons of information out there on just about any subject you can think of. After you have decided on what areas of your life you want to improve, acquire the knowledge necessary to get where you want to go. Read everything you can. Go to seminars. Do what you have to do. Learn the subject inside and out.
“Knowledge is the food of the soul.” Plato
Step 3: Think Positive
Know that you can achieve what you have set out to do. Positive thinking is a trait that all successful people have. They know they can succeed.
“For myself, I am an optimist–it does not seem to be much use being anything else.” Winston Churchill
Step 4: Take Action
Be a doer, not a thinker. This is the most important step. Anyone can spend countless hours researching the area they want to improve, but the truly successful take the knowledge they have acquired and do something with it. Read The Most Important Key to Success for more on taking action.
“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.” Henry David Thoreau
Step 5: Be Willing to Take Risks
Successful people know they are not perfect. They know they will make mistakes. The key is to control your risk. As long as you are able to try again, no risk is too great. Don’t let the fear of failure keep you from trying.
“Our doubts are traitors,And make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt.” William Shakespeare
Step 6: Be Persistent
Never give up. The only true failure is when you stop trying. They say it took Thomas Edison 1,000 tries before he invented the light bulb. Now that is persistence.
“Continuous effort–not strength or intelligence–is the key to unlocking our potential.”
Winston Churchill
Step 7: Network
Get out there and make some contacts. Find people that are good at what you want to be good at. Surround yourself with successful people. I’m sure you have heard the saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” I disagree. It should be “It’s what you know, and who you know.”
“Position yourself as a center of influence - the one who knows the movers and shakers. People will respond to that, and you’ll soon become what you project.” Bob Burg
Step 8: Be Patient
Patience is important. No one becomes successful at anything overnight. As long as you strive to make a positive step towards your goals everyday, success will come. Enjoy the journey.
“The value of achievement lies in the achieving.” Albert Einstein
Follow the Path
This is the path to success. It has been laid out for you. Now it is up to you to take these steps and achieve the things you always wanted. Don’t accept failure. If you follow these steps you will become successful in any area you want to improve.
Posted by Eric Twitty on October 9, 2008
There are many keys to success. Knowledge, persistence, and the willingness to take risks are a few. There is one in my opinion that stands out above all others. That key is the ability and willingness to take action. Without action all other keys are meaningless.
This is a common problem with the self-improvement programs out there. Some do a good job teaching you a particular subject but it is up to the reader to apply what they have learned to their life. Every one would like to improve their quality of life but few are willing to put forth the effort necessary. They spend countless hours studying the areas they would like to most improve but they never take the actions necessary to turn their dreams into reality.
Remember a dream is just a dream until you turn it into reality. Vision without action is meaningless. Stop telling yourself that you will take action when you have the time, or have more money, or have more knowledge. Excuses have no place in the path to success.
There are very few reasons out there that you cannot achieve what you want. If you keep thinking that you will take action when your situation is better you are kidding yourself. You have to take action to make positive changes in your life. Don’t wait around for the changes to happen for you.
Don’t let the life you want to live pass you by. Don’t be one of those people who look back 10 years from now and say, “I wish I would have started when I was younger.” Take the knowledge you learn and start applying it to your life immediately. Even if you take action and fail that is fine. Not taking action is admitting failure. At least if you try you have the chance of making positive changes in your life.
Action is what ties together all the other ingredients of success. Without it you accomplish nothing. Your entire life is left to chance. Leaving my life to chance is not good enough for me. I prefer to take my life into my own hands and start making things happen.
So how do you make things happen? It all begins with the decision to make positive changes in your life. You have to want it. Success doesn’t come easily. It’s easy to revert back to your old habits. Don’t settle for anything less than what you expect to achieve.
Next you need to take some time and think about the areas of your life you want to improve. What would you like to achieve in these areas? Only you can answer these questions.
Now you need a plan of action. What actions will it take to accomplish your objectives? Do you need to become more knowledgeable on the particular subject? Once you begin to acquire the knowledge required it will become clearer to you the steps that you need to take to get closer to your goal. Write everything out and hold yourself accountable. Set goals for yourself and smash through them.
Taking action cannot be taught. It is something that is left completely up to you. I think more often than not, it is what separates the successful from the unsuccessful. There are plenty of books and programs out there to teach you the particular subject you are interested in. You can check my recommended reading page for suggested books covering various subjects. It is not the amount of knowledge you have that matters though, it is what you do with that knowledge that will determine your chances of success.
For a complete step by step guide to achieving success in anything, have a look at my Path to Success article.
