You open one eye and look around to see it's still dark. You sneak an arm out from the clutches of the blankets to check the time. Sweet….. five more minutes until the alarm. The fear of icicles forming on your arm makes you quickly retreat to the warm confines of your bed. In what feels like seconds you awake from your dreams to hear the loud clanging of the alarm in your ears. You open one eye again and spot the gym clothes you set out the night before when you had all good intentions of getting to cross training this morning. Ever so quickly you turn off the alarm as your bed draws you back in to its warm realm. With your eyes squeezed tight you hear the words of your PT in your head……'it will be fun', it's a great way to kick-start your day', you will meet some awesome people', but your blankets have you enveloped in their grasp, what do you do???
Most people start off relatively healthy but a build-up of negative habits lead to people becoming unhealthy. Rewarding yourself with food, grazing the pantry when your board, binge drinking on weekends or dining out instead of cooking at home are just some of the negative habits we develop over time. What is scarier is most people don't even realise they are creating this monster.
What is difficult for many people to understand is the added weight may have taken you 20 years to pile on but some want to lose the added weight almost overnight. The main contributor to body shape transformations is the slow implementation of healthy habits. Going for two walks a week is a simple habit to create with extremely beneficial results, however because it is easy to do it is also easy not to do. You have the ability to use or create healthy habits that are extremely beneficial if you really want to change. It all begins with a small decision.
At Vision we talk about the sexy red line. The victor plays above the line by taking Ownership, Accountability and Responsibility (O.A.R) of their decisions and choices. This allows them to be empowered by their actions and take control of their lives. The victim plays below the line and uses Blame, Excuses and Denial (B.E.D) to disempower themselves. Staying in B.E.D takes away a person's autonomy and responsibility towards their choices, decisions and actions. Your ability to create a positive habit starts with a small decision. Something small, that might seem to have no effect at all can make a huge impact, something as small as making it to an early morning group session instead of that extra 15 minute sleep in?
Everyone struggles to create positive habits, if it was easy everyone would be doing it. However, once you have created new habits they are harder to break. If you fail to come to a group session simply try again, and if you fail again, try again! With a little persistence it will become easier.
So I invite you to grab your O.A.R! Get out of B.E.D ,and make the choices to create positive change TODAY.
Sam Manganaro
