O.K., maybe there ARE some things that are more worthless than what I’m about to talk about, but in the world of transformation athletics, these things–all mindsets–are right up close to the top! If you have them, read this carefully, and I’ll show you at the end how to get rid of them. They are challenge killers.

 GOOD INTENTIONS! This is the mindset that keeps saying to self and others, “O.K., that’s it! Tomorrow I’m absolutely going to start back on this with all I’ve got. No cheating, no missing workouts, no way–I’m in it to win it!” I cringe whenever I see that, because the word “tomorrow” is the clue that it will NEVER HAPPEN! This is just an immature way of acting and reasoning that has always led this person to failure after failure, but somehow it still makes sense to them to say it again and again. Good intentions–as the old saying goes, “the road to hell is paved with them.”

2. PERFECTIONISM! A perfectionist sets out to do this whole program just perfectly. And, when it can’t be done, he or she just starts over, and over, and over. Eventually, over and over leads to dropping out, and our perfectionist is always worse off than when they started. By the way, I also hate the saying “progress, not perfection,” not because it is wrong, but it is misused as an excuse for not trying your best. You owe it to yourself and others to try as hard as you can, but you owe it to yourself to also keep going when you don’t measure up to your own standards.

3. LIVING IN THE PAST! I’ll be 63 this week, and so I have lots of friends who are senior citizens. Unfortunately for many of them, real living stopped a while back, about the time they retired from their workplaces. When they talk with other guys, it’s all about what they used to do, and it not only is boring, but they don’t even realize that talking about things that start with “I remember the time…” really keeps them from forward vision about anything more important than looking for their sneakers so they can get to the early bird special. DON’T BE THAT GUY! Living in the past is not only ineffective, it becomes a way of slowly dying instead of living life to the utmost. You owe it to yourself and others to be the best you can be–TODAY! Not tomorrow, not perfectly, and not in the past!

The solution for killing off each one of these mindsets? ACTION. Consistent and persistent appropriate and effort-filled actions will eradicate these silly crutches. You’ll feel different once you take the right actions. You’ll think different. And others will like you a heck of a lot better. So, throw out your McDonald’s senior coffee cup, dust off those weights, and get back in the game–TODAY!