There are points in this health journey that I become exhausted. I lift weights at least five days a week, I do intense cardio at least 3 days, and I watch my nutrition very closely. However, sometimes I feel like I am failing. I even look in the mirror and appear to look worse than before. What is the point of all this? I want to keep moving forward. I want to make progress, but I feel that I’m not.

If you have ever had feelings similar to this, it is completely normal! As you train your mind to realize what you want, we become very critical of our own selves. I would say that having these negative thoughts about yourself is a good thing. Let me explain why!

Throughout my previous blog posts, I have mentioned eating healthy and working out regularly. What I want to talk about now is the psychological battle that we face. This is arguably the hardest part of the journey because our brain can be the most stubborn piece to influence. After you take a look at your journey from the beginning to where you are now, I can almost promise that something in your life has changed. You have, indeed, made progress. It is hard to say this about yourself, I know, but you should trust me. Each day when you look in the mirror, it is nearly impossible to notice a difference from the day before. Therefore, we need a new measuring stick, so to speak.

Therefore I am going to present a couple challenges that I want you to make use of –

1. Compliment at least one other person each day:

Lifting others up will make you feel amazing. I look at it like this: I may have the opportunity to say the nicest thing that a person has heard all week, month, or even year. So why wouldn’t I want to take advantage of this opportunity? Complimenting others generates smiles! I think this is important because it gets our eyes onto other people. Instead of examining ourselves, we can instead look into the good of our peers.

2. Highlight three positives each day:

This gives you an opportunity to notice how great you are doing! For example, when I began this strategy, it helped me out greatly because I noticed that I was lifting all-time highs almost every other workout! That is very impressive, but I failed to notice for such a long time. Prior to doing this, my only measure of success was through the mirror. As I mentioned above, it can be very difficult to see changes from day to day. Therefore, it is a discouraging tool to use. However, pointing out things like running a new personal record on the mile is an amazing milestone that you may over look by gazing into the mirror.

These two tips will take a little bit of work in the beginning, but then it becomes second nature. I routinely compliment others and examine the positives in each day. These will without a doubt help you fight the physiological battle that your brain is up against! It will be the best way to notice changes in yourself!

Now it’s time to go out and put these into practice. Comment below the reactions of people! It will be a great experience, I know it. Also, let me know the positives you pick out of your day. It is impressive to hear the personal records that people break each and every day. I cannot wait to hear!

Yours truly,

Health Cop