I originally posted this on Facebook. I've modified it a bit for the blog...
I felt motivated (ha!) to write this today because: a) I've lost 30 pounds (13.6078 kg) so far, and b) a lot of people have asked me the same question: "How did you do it?" Allow me to address this question...
How did I do it? "Did" is past tense. There's no "did," there's just "do" (I almost sound like Yoda). In other words, I had to change my lifestyle: how I eat, how I sleep, how I train and exercize. It's an ongoing process, and it takes work. There isn't a shortcut, or an easy road; however, such a lifestyle can become a habit. A habit is something we do that, when we don't do it, makes us feel weird or bad. There are bad habits, and even those habits make us feel bad when we don't do them. I used to smoke. I understand how that works. Habits take time to develop, and once good habits are in place, one still needs discipline to keep up a healthy lifestyle. So, it gets easier, but there's never really an easy road to living well.
This leads me to motivation. "How do I find the motivation to eat right and exercise?" I wish I had better answers. All I can do is share my story. I consider myself a regular guy. I'm not a pro fighter. I'm not a guru levitating in the lotus position on a mountain top. I'm not a body builder or a wrestler in the WWE. I'm just some guy, and I'm grateful for that, because it makes my story more relevant to people I'd like to help who want to improve their lives.
I didn't have the motivation to train on my own. I needed a push, and I received that push from my friend Will, who has been one of my best friends for well over a decade. He's been my sensei and mentor in the martial arts since I've been a part of the martial arts academy where I teach. He decided that *we* (he and I) were going to start lifting weights. Now, being a man, and having the same male ego as any man, I wasn't going to tell him I didn't want to lift weights because I didn't want my body wracked with pain. Nope. I went along with it. But I had my reservations.
The first two weeks of lifting felt like I got hit by a truck, every morning. My body ached in places I didn't even know I had. After a month or two, I still felt terrible... but not as bad. After a couple more months, it started to become just something I did. I didn't always want to, but it was part of my weekly schedule. And with Will around, we had each other to keep us accountable.
On occasion, Will would text me to tell me he couldn't work out. If he had something come up that required his attention, he'd text, "No workout today." For a while, when I received those texts, I'd celebrate a little and then roll over and go back to sleep for a little while longer. Then, after some months of working out, I got that occasional text from Will: "No workout today." But I went to the gym anyway.
That's when I noticed the change: the gym had become a habit. There is strength in routine. The danger in routine is that things become, well, routine, and it loses the flavor of newness and variety. But routine is strong because it sets a path in front of you. Better to have a path from which you can deviate when you need variety than to have no path at all.
I started hitting the gym regardless of whether I was alone or not. I started wearing my ear buds, and I created a workout playlist to motivate me. I set goals for myself. In mid-May I weighed 220; now I weigh 190. My current goal is 180. I keep my goals flexible to allow me to adjust them if needed. When I weighed 220, my goal was to reach 200. When I hit 205, I reevaluated myself and then set the goal for 190. When I reached 195, I once again examined myself and set the goal for 180. As I get closer to that goal, I'll determine where I need to be.
A huge source of motivation for me was our most recent black belt test at the academy. This time, I wasn't one of the instructors testing candidates, I was one of the candidates, testing for my 1st degree under Hanshi Geyston (the owner and master instructor of the academy). Earning my 1st degree opened my eyes a bit. After I went through the physical rigors of the test along with the other candidates - most of whom were my own students - I realized that I could do better. I could be better than I was. I should be better than I am. I'm not saying I didn't earn my degree. I left enough sweat and pain on the mat to know I earned it. But I knew I had a lot more potential. I had the ability to accomplish so much more. Achievement is a matter of our minds.
Secondly, when Hanshi tied my belt around my waist, I felt a sense of responsibility. A lot of people reach black belt and then quit, which just means they spent a whole lot of time in the dojo and learned absolutely nothing. I've learned a lot from Hanshi, and have been fortunate to be a student of his. A black belt represents a lifestyle. It is a symbol that a student is now ready to really learn and grow. I currently hold a 1st degree black belt in two styles, and a blue belt in Jiu Jitsu. I've only begun to learn.
Furthermore, that belt represents a standard I need to uphold: discipline, character, focus, respect, setting and achieving goals. That's what I teach my students. I can only be as good a teacher as I am a student. I can only teach values as well as I live them.
So, after the black belt test, I became resolved to better myself. To take what I was already doing and push myself to the next level. If you say, "I could never do that," then... you're right. You can't. But if you tell yourself that anything's possible, and apply your mind to it, then you will surprise yourself by what you can achieve.
Don't set dates. Don't make New Year's Resolutions. Don't wait till the first of the month. When you set a date, it just means you're not ready yet, but you make yourself feel better by fooling yourself into thinking that you've actually done something positive. But there's a reason why most New Year's Resolutions fail. If you aren't prepared to make a change now, you're not ready to make a change at all. I told you that I used to smoke. I tried to quit several times. I tried gum, the patch, pills, electronic cigarettes, et cetera. And I would set dates. "Starting May 1st, I quit!" Or I'd say, "When this pack of smokes are gone, I'm done!" I said those things because I wanted to quit, but I wasn't ready to quit. Then, one day, I was half-way through a pack of cigarettes, and I had a moment of strength. I decided to use it right then. I threw away the rest of the pack, and never smoked again. Had I let that moment pass, I might still be a smoker today. Who knows?
The right time to do the right thing is always right now. When that moment of strength hits you, don't ignore it. Use it.
If I sound preachy, well, I used to be a preacher. Trust me, I could be a lot worse. ;-)
