This is a rerun of an old blog from the past. It is old, but the principles in it are timeless. SAY IT OFTEN ENOUGH, and YOU BEGIN TO BELIEVE IT YOURSELF! How do you achieve what Bill Phillips called the “power mindset?” Well, as Bill points out in the book, it begins with getting organized and ends with keeping self-promises. That’s all true. But there is another dimension to it as well, that is a part of keeping self-promises. That is cleaning up your language and your thoughts!

No, I’m not talking about THOSE kinds of thoughts, guys!. I’m talking about negative or self-deceiving thoughts and statements. Here are some examples: “I am sooo tired, I think I’ll just sleep in a bit and then hit that cardio first thing after work.” TRUE MEANING: I’m too lazy to do cardio this morning and I’m blowing it off for the day.

“I’m thinking I may have another appointment this evening and I may have to reschedule our training session tonight.” TRUE MEANING: There’s something I’d rather do this evening than work out, though I don’t have the guts to tell you that directly!

“I’m going to have the cheesecake dessert but a little extra cardio tonight will burn that right off.” TRUE MEANING: I really don’t care nearly as much about how this challenge turns out as I say I do.

Well, you get the idea. What I’m suggesting is that the little white lies we tell others become the little white lies we tell ourselves. And, when we’re not honest with ourselves, we have no hope of engaging the kind of discipline it takes for a serious challenge result. To be successful you have to be able to master all those little fleshly lusts and desires, and you can’t do that until you have the quality of self-honesty. This is really the main reason you MUST keep a journal. If you intend to do it, and you write it down, you’re much less likely to lie to yourself later on!