There’s one ingredient that turns your fat loss recipe into a gourmet product.
Without it, you’ll find yourself in a never ending cycle of poor tasting results.
And no, it’s not macros.
It’s not strength training.
It’s not even walking (although don’t underestimate the power of walking).
It’s even more fundamental than all of those things.
What’s the secret ingredient to fat loss?
It’s a little ingredient known as: Self Trust.
Doing the things you say you’re going to do.
Let’s get uncomfortable today …
Think back at the last year …
How many broken promises did you make to yourself?
Hell, think about the last week …
How many broken promises did you make to yourself?
I bet in the moment they seemed inconsequential like …
I know I said I’d go for a walk today but it’s really cold out so I’ll just go tomorrow.
I know I said that I’d track my food today but that stupid work meeting threw me off so I’ll just wait until Monday.
Micro commitments that go unfulfilled start to chip away at self trust.
Each moment is easy to justify and rationalize and excuse …
But those little micro tears ultimately result in a shattered foundation.
Then, we try to build on top of that.
Ok, this is it. I’m going to be perfect this week. I’m going to drop these 20 lbs. in the next 3 months. I’m going to eat right, train consistently, walk daily, drink my water, sleep 8 hours, manage stress, and finally do the damn thing!
Except you don’t have the most important ingredient …
Belief and trust in yourself to actually follow through.
You’ve given your brain a whole body of evidence to suggest that it’s only a matter of time until the house of cards comes crumbling down.
And crumble it shall.
So the question you should be asking yourself right now is …
How do I build back trust in myself?
Great question.
Here’s how to build self trust
Start with the smallest possible commitments and promises and actually keep them.
Sounds simple, right? Well this is only step 1 and it’s actually not that easy.
Consider this a life principle or value … “When I say I’m going to do something, I do it, regardless of how I feel.”
Now the key to actually following through on these commitments is making them so damn manageable that it almost feels too easy.
Like, I’m going to walk for 5 minutes today.
Or I’m going to lay out my workout clothes the night before so they’re ready in the morning.
Notice I didn’t say the commitment was actually working out. Simply getting out the clothes.
It takes all of 30 seconds and requires almost zero mental energy.
It should feel that easy.
If you think to yourself … this feels so dumb … you’re on the right track.
Anyway, I said this is only step 1.
You consistently follow through on tiny micro commitments that build self trust.
If you are operating with a broken foundation of trust … this is how you repair it.
Now, your brain will start to rewire itself to believe that when you say you’re going to do something … it gets done.
The second step is to dopaminize the follow through.
Basically, you want to use your own reward circuitry to solidify those behaviors.
Dopamine was created for our survival. It gets us moving. It motivates us to find the things that keep us alive as a species … like food and sex.
It was never intended to be something that could be achieved at the click of a button (like scrolling social media or watching porn).
That’s the dark side of dopamine.
The positive side of dopamine is we can use that reward system to follow through on the process that will ultimately get us to our goals.
So after we follow through on those promises we make to ourselves … the promises that are so mind numbingly small that it’s almost impossible to fail … we need to reward ourselves to reinforce the behavior.
And no, the reward doesn’t need to be some grand gesture like a treat or trophy.
The reward can simply be acknowledgement of following through on something that you said you would do.
For example, saying to yourself … I laid out my workout clothes like I said I would and this is going to help me on my path to making exercise part of my lifestyle.
Or … I walked for 5 minutes like I said I would and this is an important step in the process to improving my health.
That little moment of recognizing what you achieved, no matter how small, will give you that hit of dopamine to begin solidifying the behavior.
Checking a task off your to-do list will also do the trick.
Then, gradually you enhance the behaviors that you’re solidifying …
The 5 minute walk becomes a 10 minute walk.
Laying your clothes out becomes putting them on in the morning.
You get the point.
Here’s what we know about goal achievers …
They reward the PROCESS not the OUTCOME.
Read that again.
Goal achievers reward the process, not the outcome.
You are wiring your brain to value the process more than the outcome.
You are wiring your brain to trust you when you say you’re going to do something.
You are creating the most important ingredient from scratch.
Do this for a long enough period of time and you’ll see your masterpiece come to fruition.
But here’s the secret … if you truly implement this … you won’t actually care about the end product.
You’ll realize that the gift was in the process all along.
Hope this helps.
