I’m here to tell you it’s a lot easier than you think BUT…you must be “in the moment” as frequently as possible. Why do I say this? It’s called “self-talk”. We do it every minute of every day 24/7. What I want you to do is be totally aware of this self talk and beat it at its own game! I want to give you a few mental tips to overcome this self-sabotaging issue.

In that moment when you are supposed to exercise and your mind has other thoughts…DO IT ANYWAYS! Realize in that moment, the sabotage is trying to win and you’re stronger than that. You’re going to win this time ! When you prove to yourself you can do this, it gets easier and easier. In a short matter of time, you are a CONSISTENT exerciser and reaping all the benefits, which are feeling better, looking better, having a TON more ENERGY…and playing great golf!

Fit people NEVER, and I mean NEVER allow self-talk to win!

Fit people “do it anyways”, no matter what!

Out-of-shape people come up with all the excuses why they can’t do it (which by the way is a voluntary choice) and never become fit or lose weight. Haven’t you experienced this before? The self-talk sabotaged your intention and failure was the result. But you say…”I’ll do it tomorrow”, but the problem with this attitude is tomorrow NEVER comes! That’s why people aren’t successful. You must take action NOW! That is the ONLY way to be successful. No action equals no results. Plain and simple.

When you make a commitment to exercise or nutrition, nothing and I mean NOTHING is more important in that moment. You MUST make it priority number one to stick to your goals. When the time comes that you are supposed to do your exercise program, you DO IT. You don’t blow it off. You don’t find reasons (excuses) not to do it. You do it no matter what. This is the mindset of a successful person.

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Choices Determine Our Destiny

I want you to really give this some thought. We are faced with choices all day every day! The key is how we choose to answer these choices. Just think of all the opportunities you have to improve your life on an hourly basis. Be conscious of these choices and take the route you think will serve you the best.

These choices come in the form of self-talk and daily struggles and more. But making yourself more aware of every choice becomse an amazing situation. I have tried to get better at it and it is something I’ll be working on very hard. Being “in the moment” is a higher level of awareness that can create a better life and golf game.

This goes for life, health AND golf! You should have life goals, health goals and golf goals. With these goals comes decisions and choices. Everything you do towards achieving these goals entails choices you may not always want to do, but need to do to move closer to achieving your goals.

Golf Choices

Okay… so far you’re probably thinking have I can off the deep end with this post? Not hardly. I have come to the conclusion that golf and life are so closely linked that many of the aspects of life can apply directly to golf. Like choices!

So you suck at putting and know you need to practice it more. You get to the range and you are faced with a decision. Do you choose to practice your putting or pull out the big dog and bang balls? The obvious choice should be putting, but many golfers would choose hitting their driver.

How about fitness? You plan to workout in the morning, but when you wake up, you play the mental mind game as to if you should do the workout or blow it off. You know what wins most of the time .

Now turn the two above scenarios around. You get to the course and practice your putting FIRST for a solid 20 minutes. Do you think you’ll putt better then next time you play? I’ll bet you do!

You get up and don’t even give yourself a chance to sabotage your morning workout. You JUST DO it. One step closer to a healthier body and a BETTER game!

Be Responsible For The Choices You Make

I think one of the biggest issues for people is blaming outside circumstances for there doings. As I have already mentioned, we make choices all day long. If we make bad choices, we’ll get bad results. If this happens, we need to accept personal responsibility for this and not put it on some other person or circumstance.

Don’t let circumstances control you. Make good decisions and circumstances won’t even be in the picture.

Pay more attention to every choice you make, and do the best you can… making choices that will move you in the direction of your goals and not away from them.

The ONLY way to stop the madness and become a consistent exerciser is to make it a habit. Habits are hard to form, but will a little guidance and support, you’ll be one of the very few people who can say they exercise regularly and feel great.

Simple Steps To Creating An Exercise Habit

Focus on one at a time. Don’t try to create a new exercise habit AND diet plan. You’ll be setting yourself up for failure. Focus on exercise first, then when you’ve got that one licked you can slowly work on your eating plan.

Design your plan, then put it on paper. Just saying you’re going to exercise isn’t enough. We all have the best of intentions, but seeing the plan in writing will make it feel like a real commitment. Make it as specific as you can. Will you do it in the morning or everning? How many days each week are you going to do it? How long for each session?

Refine it. Now it’s time to break it down even more. Whatever you come up with, ask yourself if you can really do it. This is important. I want to set you up for success not failure . Show it to your spouse or a close friend and get their opinion. Don’t take it as gospel, but get a second opinion.

I see many people with lofty goals and plans that are not realistic. In fact, studies have shown people’s ‘realistic’ plans for exercising more often are virtually the same as their ‘best case scenario’ plans.

To put it simply, many people think that everything will turn out as well as it possibly can. This is not the real world . Not very often does anything turn out in the best possible way. To avoid this from happening, cast a critical eye on your plan and make sure that it is truly realistic.

Make Mini-Plans. You’ve now tweaked your plan it is doable. You’ve removed the two hours everyday, seven days a week and any other lofty intentions. Now you’ve got to break it down into “bite-sized” chunks.

So you have a plan to exercise in the mornings. How are you going to achieve it? It’s all in the details! You must make a mini-plan. Do it the night before. Tell yourself “when the alarm goes off at five, I will have my workout clothes beside the bed, put them on and go grab a piece of fruit. At no later than 5:15 I’ll start my program (or head to the club if you don’t have any home equipment).

This is just one example of how a mini-plan can bridge the gap between wanting to do it and actually doing it.

Repeat! Repeat! Repeat! Repetition will solidify this new exercise habit. You’ve got to do this over and over to get to a point of automatic (with no self talk). Habits are something we do consistently and regularly.

Just think of something you currently do on a regular basis. Anything. Do you give it much thought? I’ll bet not. You just do it! To get to the automatic point with your new exercise plan, you then have to repeat it til you get it there. It will happen. Don’t deter or move away from this new plan. You will soon get to a point where it will just happen.

If you are having any difficulty at all, go back and take a look at my pain/pleasure approach and it will get you back on track.

So, there’s your new habit! I hope this information has been useful to you. I know how hard it is to create an exercise habit, but you MUST if you want to have a better quality of life and enjoy your golf game for years to come.

I know what you’re thinking. Doing anything in the morning is out of the question. Stay with me and I’ll bet I can get you to change your mind with the below tips and strategies to have more energy, motivation and proactiveness first thing in the morning.

No More Excuses

Using the reason (excuse) that you’re not a morning person is a cop out. I don’t mean to sound harsh, but I say it like it is. For many of you (and for myself) the morning is one of the only times you can actually get something done (exercise or cardio) and not have it hanging over your head all day long.

It’s so easy to talk yourself out of exercise throughout the day. Haven’t you done this? I mean…you wake up with the intention you’ll do an exercise or cardio session “after work”. You then proceed to find reasons (excuses) not to do it by the end of the day.

I’m not going to say it’s easy for me either, and I’m a fitness professional. But I find if I do it first thing in the morning, it’s out of my life, and I’m on with the day with no guilt or stress, to have to get it in later in the day.

Become An Early Riser

Do you wake up groggy? Do you feel like you drift off back to sleep before you get up? If so, you need to take a look at the reasons for this happening to overcome it and become a morning dynamo .

Here’s How To Get Up When Your Alarm Sounds

How much “self-talk” do you go through when your alarm goes off? Going through what you should do, but then finding reasons not to. For some, this is a daily occurrence. How about a new scenario? The alarm goes off, you hit it, get up, stretch your arms overhead and get out of bed.

You have no voice inside your head talking you out of it. Your conscious thought is out of the picture completely. How do you accomplish this? Practice. Yes…you are going to lay in your bed, set your alarm, and pretend you’re sleeping. When the alarm goes off…turn it off and get up immediately. No thought. Get up!

Do this several more times until you’ve got it down. It will soon become a habit . This is training your body to get up without hesitation.

Wake Up Ready To Go

If you wake up groggy nothing all you need to do is change your physiological approach. Not drastic, just change. It won’t happen overnight, but with practice you’ll find the tweak that works.

You have to make the decision to WANT to wake up early and feeling full of energy. If you don’t, you’ll never be able to. If you’re struggling with it, deal with your emotions til you truly feel you can do it. Don’t put it off. Deal and take action!

Make sure to get up at the same time 7 days a week. This will get your system use to the same routine for even better success. Sleeping in on the weekends confuses your system and makes that Monday morning wake up call even harder.

Wake up and put on your exercise clothes without delay. Have them close by so you can get out of bed and have them ready. Then put them on asap. No thought. Just do it! Getting your exercise clothes is the biggest hurdle to exercising.

Improve Your Nightly Nutrition!

Too many people eat horribly at night! They overconsume and put toxic heavy foods in their stomachs before bed. This will definitely cause a restless sleep and poor energy the following morning.

Instead…eat your dinner several hours before bed, and make it consist of protein and vegetables (BIG salads)…NO CARBS! You don’t need carbs to sleep. They convert to fat since you are not burning them off.

If you snack…make it be a fruit that’s not high in sugar. Sugar may get you even more hyped up and antsy. Cantaloupe is a fantastic fruit that’s not too high in sugar. You can also have sugar-free, fat-free popsicles, although I’m not a big fan of all the ingredients in these products.

Waking up with plenty of time to exercise and prepare for your day is critical. Make it a routine and do not deviate from it. You’ll soon be waking up with more energy and motivation .

If you’ve got a routine that’s worked for you, by all means let us know. The more ideas we have in here the better !!

But lets look at the phrase “Just Do It”

There are so many occurrences we have of talking ourselves out of doing something. Do you agree? How many would you say in a typical day? I can probably count on both hands and maybe my feet how many times for me .

Why do we do this? Why do we find reasons (excuses) to not do something we need to do? If our putting sucks, why would we not practice our putting? Because it’s boring? Or maybe, you don’t think it will help anyways? See how the reasons start creeping in?

Just imagine how many times we do this on a daily basis.

So what if EVERY time something came up we needed to do and we just DID IT? No thinking. No rationalizing. We JUST DID IT! Do you think we’d be more successful in everything we do? I think so.

Don’t Over Think!

Over thinking is a mind game with yourself. It makes you feel like you are working on the problem and gives you a false sense of security you are making it happen!

It also keeps you protected from failure, embarrassment and rejection. These feelings can be brutal. As you’re reading I want you to think of all the situations golf, life and business you can recognize this and make a change…right now!

Just do it is a trigger you should learn to use as much as possible. It becomes easier as you use it more. I’ve been applying this and it REALLY WORKS ! Whenever I have something I need to do I don’t let my mind start playing its games, I do it and move on. You can do this too!

It’s Motivational – It Works

Since I am first a fitness professional AND a golfer, I have used this approach to my fitness my entire life and never really thought about it until now. I NEVER skip workouts! I don’t say this to brag, it has been a part of my life since I was 10 years old. I know…I’m kind of a freak!

But you can use this with your fitness, weight loss, golf and business very effectively. When you sense your mind kicking in and over thinking…STOP and “just do it”. No more wasting time or thinking. Ready – fire – aim. It’s never going to be perfect, so why not just act and make modifications along the way?

One word I can’t stand that many, many people (and golfers) use is “tomorrow”. How many times have you learned of something that could help you…and you say “I’ll start tomorrow”? And what happens next? Tomorrow never comes !!

Remember…if you start talking (having thoughts) don’t listen! In one ear, out the other and move on. No more reasons for not doing it. If you know you need to do it, just do it!

Fitness And Golf

Here is where you can get some serious leverage to be successful in your golf (and health). You are going to act from now on. When you know you have a scheduled workout, and the time comes to do it, no more thinking…you’re going to do it.

The next time you go to the range and you know you need to work on your chipping. Do it first. Then go bang your driver all day long. When you have that morning cardio (fat-burning) session scheduled, you are going to do it asap…no delay or thinking about it. Do you see where I’m going with this?

You’re going to become an “action-oriented” machine!

The very next commitment that comes up…do this. You’re not going to “try to do it”. You’re going to do it. I hate when I hear someone say, I’ll give it a try”, I hope I can do it”, “wish me luck”. These are failure phrases. You’ll never achieve success saying those phrases!

I hope I’ve motivated you to take action and JUST DO IT!

It’s pretty cool when you gain an understanding of it and start applying it!

I’m not one to get into too much psycho babble, but it’s amazing when you get that “ah ha” moment and really get it!

Okay…here goes! By the way…this is my take on it, please add your opinions at the bottom via comment. I am curious what you think and how you’ve found success with your personal approach.

We make most decisions in our life based on pain and pleasure. Think of something you know you should do. It might be going to the range to improve your swing. Eating better to lose weight. Something around the house that’s been hanging over your head.

The pain of doing what you need to do is not great enough, therefore the pleasure in putting it off or choosing something else instead is greater.

Let me give you an example with people struggling with their weight. I know this might not apply to every single person, but this is a “no holds barred” explanation.

The person struggling to lose weight does not have enough pain of being overweight (seeing themselves in the mirror) to overpower the pleasure of eating the foods that got them there. Until they wake up, look in the mirror and finally blow (and say they are not going to accept this anymore, they are tired of looking like this, and they will never look like this again), they will continue to eat the wrong foods.

The day this does happen, the pain has plunged ahead of the pleasure of eating and they WILL make a change and start losing weight. This is amazing to me, because it is “dead on” in my opinion. Until people reach a boiling point (too much pain), they will continue down the path of destruction (including not improving in golf ).

Here’s a golf example for you!

A great example for golfers is the pleasure of going to the range and hitting your driver the whole time, compared to the pain of practicing your short game. I’m guilty of this one ! For most of us, it’s so much funner to watch that ball go a long ways at the range, than to go to the short game area and practice chipping and putting. We know we need to do it, but that dang pleasure of hitting the driver is greater than the pain of practicing our short game. Are you guilty like I am?

Does this make sense? I hope I’m not getting to “heady” with this, but I really think if exposed, people can really leverage this with golf, business and life. I think it’s that strong!

The golf scenarios might not be that dramatic compared to the weight loss example above, but it can still be applied. When you reach a point of total dissatisfaction, you WILL make a change in your approach and become successful.

I’ve seen this happen on the fitness side of golf with hundreds of golfers I’ve had the opportunity to help. They finally realized it’s their body that’s keeping them from a better game, and they are SO tired of walking of the course in disgust, they break down and start a golf exercise and stretching program. The rest is history (golf success that is).

Tell me what has worked for you. What approach in your life has helped you succeed in golf, life and in business? I want to hear about it, so don’t be shy!