Wish you had some support while doing your BFL challenge? Wishing

your significant other and certain co-workers or friends were a bit

more sympathetic? Is this causing you do doubt whether you have the

strength and resolve to finish what you started?

Well, now that you’re wondering if I read your mind this

morning–relax! This is all just a lead-in to what I think is the

best-kept and most powerful secret of body for life–the COMMUNITY!

In all individual athletics the participants are competitors, and

they keep that competitive edge by not getting too close to their

competition. In BFL, the challengers share a common interest and a

bond that is much like the bond of a family. I can’t explain it, but

you’ll know it when you see it and when you experience it. You’ll go

somewhere and meet with a group of people you have never met, and it

will be instantly like you’ve known and loved each other for years.

I’ve seen this happen many times, and have experienced it as well!

In fact I saw this in action just last Sunday! My daughter, Stefanie,

has been struggling for a long time to get started in body for life.

She lives 500 miles from me and I just can’t be there often enough to

give her the personal attention and encouragement I think she needs.

But, I knew someone who not only could help but was eager to do so. I

met this “someone” through body for life events, and saw her very

recently in person. When I asked her if she’d talk to my daughter and

meet with us, she generously offered to do so.

Well, this last Sunday we met Suzanne Ware at a mall in Des Moines

Iowa. But that’s not all. Suzanne was hosting an organizational

meeting with some others to consider the startup of an Iowa BFL club,

and she brought all of them as well! So, not only did my

self-conscious daughter meet Suzanne, but she also met several other

ladies at the same time! Anne from Dubuque Iowa, Amy, from the Cedar

Rapids area, and Jen Weatherman, the 2006 champion for 29 to 39 year

old women (one of my daughter’s idols). I could not have gotten

Stefanie together with all those women on my own no matter how hard I

tried, but Suzanne took care of it with ease, and the meeting was

just terrific. One of the things I worried about was who would keep

track of three kids while we visited a bit. My four year old grand

daughter, Cayler, is a budding gymnast and had just competed that

morning, so she was a little wired at the time! Well, it turns out

that Amy from the Cedar Rapids area is a teacher and a gymnastics

instructor, and she was so incredibly sweet to Cayler.

you know the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words?

Well, go to my tracker site, Michiganmike is my profile name, and

look at the front photos for challenge 1 week 0 and challenge 1 week

7 and I think you’ll see what I’m talking about! The first is our

whole group, including my wife Ruth, and the second is a photo of

Cayler and Amy.

It was great to see Jen and Anne and Suzanne again, and it was fun to

meet Amy as well. It was even more fun to hear a couple of things as

we left our family that Sunday evening–Stefanie saying, “I know I

can do this. I like those ladies!” And Cayler asking, “Will I get to

see that lady again?” That lady would be Amy!

Well, you needed to be there to understand what I’m talking about!

There will be meetings coming up throughout 2008 in various parts of

the country. There are regional and state groups in many places

getting together. What YOU need to do is launch yourself out of your

comfort zone and go to those meetings! You’ll love it; you’ll have

joy, energy and strength you never had before when you get home. I

guarantee it!

Every once in a while I see a post, or a blog or get an email from someone wanting to size up “the competition.” They ask how many might be in their “division,” or exactly what I think it will take in order to win. Like I would know! I was so sure I wasn’t going to win my 2006 end of the year challenge that when I was all done I declared it my last official challenge and tossed away all my notes, and even my copy of my winning entry!

But, I DO KNOW who your biggest opponent is going to be. And she or he is in your division, and they’re in your head, too!  Yes, your biggest opponent in your transformation challenge is going to be the OLD YOU. That’s who you have to beat to be a real winner, the old you that is a quitter, or a liar, or a perfectionist, or a glutton, or any combination of these! My “old you” was a self-pitier. Yes sir, he was willing to give away all the power he had been given by his creator and his circumstances in order to gain the faint hope that someone would see all the pain he was in and feel sorry for him. The horrible thing about any of these character defects I just mentioned is that they are quite common, and they are quite commonly denied by those who have them.

Thinking deeply about these things, and maybe even reviewing some of your past actions will help you figure out if you have issues with quitting, lying to yourself or others, or with perfectionism (which is just another form of quitting because perfectionists never finish anything) or gluttony. And if you do, then write it down, and promise yourself you’ll be willing to filter everything you do through a checklist that says, “Did I lie today?” Or whatever it is that you have issues with. Working on it will change it, and it will change the old you big-time too. You might find other issues cropping up to take its place, but steady, appropriate actions throughout your 12 week journey, along with frank and thorough journaling, will effect some changes you never thought possible.

In the end, your mirror will reflect a NEW YOU, one leaner, tougher, and MORE TRUSTWORTHY than the old you. And at that moment, having defeated your biggest opponent, you will indeed be a winner!