Master The Skill, Not The Pill

(Photo credit: epSos.de)

As a society, we’re conditioned to take a pill for every ill. This concept is now spilling over into the healthy lifestyle field. I get tons of people asking me what to take to lose weight, to feel better, to give them more energy. Don’t worry about solving the problem, just take pills (substitute vitamins, weight loss products, etc) to solve ills, or concerns. This type of attitude is a product of our “instant” society, where we’re promised everything but little is delivered.

Let’s step back look at it another way, where we teach people a skill – that is – how to live within the confines of a healthy lifestyle, one that takes some time but delivers long term results. It takes one small step at a time, perhaps letting go of that nightly glass or two of wine, or getting off the couch and starting to take a daily walk. Is this going to be an overnight success? Probably not! But look at it as a skill to master; and every skill takes time and effort. If that wasn’t true, then our kids would sound amazing on that very first piano lesson, rather than two cats fighting.

You might argue that eating healthier or going to a gym isn’t necessarily a learned skill. But it is, only on a psychological level. Mastering a movement, a principle, a habit or whatever you need to get better/healthier/move forward, takes willpower. And this has to be hammered home through habitual practice. Studies conclusively show that if you do a certain things so many times, you get a certain result, whether in business, diet, lifting weights or stopping a bad habit.

If you’ve been told that a particular problem isn’t your fault, then back up and analyze your situation. Surely overeating and sedentary living has been clearly identified as a health issue. That’s just common sense despite what some professionals tell you.

Why blame others?

Blaming things on genetics is usually a cop out,  a way of saying the healthy path isn’t fun. Probably not, because it takes time to love the practice of walking the path to the solution. This usually starts with the satisfaction of small successes, leading to a slow admiration of what can be achieved through a determined approach.

Do you want change? Change your approach! Steel your mind to desire the solution more than the problem and then implement the necessary steps to get to the solution. If you don’t like that approach, ask yourself if you like the consequences of inactivity more – feeling unhealthy, lethargic, unproductive, miserable, cranky, or worse, acquiring a disease. Once this is spelled out and you understand that change is needed whether you like the pathway or not, then go and do something about it.

The worst thing we can do to ourselves is to gain our own stubborn and lazy escape from responsibility through an inferior solution.

You have the power to alter the way your body functions. Pills cannot solve your problems, they are simply dangerous crutches. If you eat healthy and do the training, the adaptations (changes) WILL happen. They may go quicker or slower than other people – it doesn’t matter – but they will happen. Principles of healthy living are a law as sure as gravity. Throw a rock thrown from a certain height and it will hit the ground. Likewise, alter your lifestyle to a healthier path and you will reap the benefits.

It’s all about  learning and everyone learns differently. We have unique personalities which may require different tips, different methods or different approaches. If you’re not sure how to proceed, ask an expert in the field. Don’t hesitate, go and do it. Your progress starts with the first step – your step – not someone else’s. But master the skill of that first step, and then add another and another to get to your goal. You’ll get there, whether slowly or fast. Just like the Aesop’s fable about the tortoise and the hare, in the end it’s about who finishes, not who starts the strongest!

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