On achieving extraordinary results

Does the following scenario sound familiar to you?

You decide that you’ve had enough of being out of shape, so you start reading up about all things fat loss. You read articles here, peruse fitness forums there, and you comb the Internet searching for information that will allow you put together a training and nutrition program tailored toward your goals.

You’re more motivated than ever, and you’re ready to rock that teeny tiny body at the beach this summer.

With each passing day, you eagerly step on the scale, expecting to witness some miraculous Biggest Loser transformation. The contestants on that show lose upwards of 10+ pounds a week, so naturally, you expect the same.

Yet you’re three days in and you’ve absolutely dismayed to find that you’re only down one pound — one measly pound!

So you panic.

You must not be doing enough cardio, you reason.

Surely you’re eating too much food, you conclude.

You steadily increase the time you spend in the gym and, though you’re feeling more and more exhausted, you reckon that this is just the way things are if you want to be lean.

Two weeks later, it’s time for your checkin. You diligently take your body measurements, log down your dietary adherence, and take a step back.

Despite having lost TWO whole inches off your waist in a fortnight (an accomplishment that anyone should be proud of), the scale has only budged two pounds total, and for that, you’re entirely disappointed.

THIS MUST NOT BE WORKING, you declare.

You’re frustrated. You’re angry.

You should be WAY leaner by now. And yet here you are.

You feel leaner, and you definitely look leaner, but that’s simply not enough for you.

ALL THIS WORK FOR NOTHING.

You decide that “this fitness thing” ooooobviously isn’t for you. You cancel your gym membership and take up permanent residence back on the couch again with a bag of Cheetos in your lap.

Screw fitness. It must not be in your genetics.

You quit.

———————

It’s a sad unraveling of events, I know. Yet this is the norm.

The harder thing is to be patient, you see.

It’s tougher to consistently adhere to a *moderate* program long enough to see long-term, lasting change.

What happens a lot of times is that people think that, in order to achieve extraordinary results, drastic and extreme measures must be taken. Not only that, but they believe that it all must happen RIGHT AWAY.

That’s not the case, though.

The individuals who experience true success understand and accept that any worthwhile endeavor takes time.

They get that, if they want to build their goal body, they have to keep on keepin’ on *for long enough*. For most, that takes a bare minimum of 3 months.

Extraordinary results requires nothing more than patience and consistent execution of the correct behaviors, day in and day out.

The ones who win carry on despite setbacks, obstacles, and slip-ups.

The rest? Well, they find themselves swinging wildly from one extreme to the other and never achieve their goals.