Fit For Life: 3 Things To Stop Saying – Today

Sunday, April 03, 2016

Matt Espeut, GoLocalWorcester Health +Lifestyle Contributor

I am always writing about what things you can do to improve your current health and fitness situation, so today I have come up with a few things you should stop doing to improve your health and fitness, or anything else in life you are trying to accomplish.

Stop saying “I don’t have the time”. We all have 24 hours in the day and 168 hours a week. So it’s just a matter of organizing your time and prioritizing the things that are important to get done. Did you get that last line? The “important” things, not the things you “feel” like doing, but the things you need to be doing, should be at the top of your daily list. When you organize your day, you will find that the time to do the things you need to do will be there. If your excuse for not working out is time, then your health and wellness is not a priority in your life. You are basically saying, “I am not worth investing 3 out of my 168 hours this week to take care of myself. If you watch any television, spend hours on social media, take long lunches, gossip with friends on the phone, well, you do have the time - you just choose to waste it with things that aren’t “important”. So stop using the term, “I didn’t have time”, and instead replace it with the line, “I didn’t get it done because it wasn’t a priority”.

Stop saying “I am trying”.

“I am trying” is a soft way of saying “I am NOT doing”. When someone says “I am trying to eat better” they are really saying, “I have no will power and discipline, I am weak, and do not feel like giving 100% to follow a good nutrition plan”. Because there is no “trying” to eat healthy. You either do it or you don’t. There isn’t anybody knocking carrots out of your hand, and forcing cupcakes down your throat. Or following you to the supermarket, and making you buy junk food. This is not a hard concept. You have to eat, and its all your decision to eat right. If you truly try to do something, you will be “doing it” and not “trying to do it". If you were trying to achieve the gold medal in the Olympics, and you kept falling fractions of a second short, you have the right to say, “I keep trying for gold, but keep earning silver” but if you fall short of eating healthy, and getting to the gym, you aren’t trying hard enough.

Stop saying “Its not my fault”.

Sigmund Freud once said “Most people don’t want freedom, because freedom comes with responsibility”.

Be responsible for your own actions, and don’t blame others for what you are doing or going through, because when you deny responsibility, you are surrendering control over your own life. Take control of your life and accept responsibility for your own actions. You are in full control of how you choose to deal with the current state of your life. Blaming your spouse, parents, or co-workers is just another way to transfer your falling short of your goals onto others. Stop saying “but it’s not my fault” because it is. If you want to change, get healthy, and succeed at anything, it’s up to you. The only person that can make it happen is you.

If you get rid of these terms from your vocabulary, success in whatever you set out to do will become more likely. I have a rule that I wrote down, and it is to never complain about time, or anything time related. I try to structure my day with a priority list, and I find that I get my important tasks done 99% of the time. If I didn’t get something done I say “that wasn’t a priority, and I used my time for something else”, not "I didn’t have the time", because that’s a lie. When someone suddenly gets sick, or has an accident, you miraculously find/make the time to help them. You would never say “I don’t have time to drive you to the emergency room or visit you in the hospital. You make it a priority and the time gets used there, taking care of a priority.

If things in life, like fitness, and success were easy, everyone would be doing it. It’s much easier to say these ‘failing’ reasons – and that’s why obesity, disease, and poverty is at an all time high. It’s all about mindset, discipline, and execution. Program yourself to be a doer, and an action taker, and stop hiding behind excuses. Think to yourself that if others can do it, so can you. We are all in the same boat with pretty much the same opportunities, and the same amount of time in the day. What separates us is the decisions we make, and how we choose to spend our time.

How will you spend yours today?

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one!"

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