Summary: Many new fat loss coaching clients that Scott tend to make the same sorts of mistakes when it comes to staying consistent. These are the thoughts and thinking patterns that hold you back, and what to do instead!<br> <br> ----------------<br> ♦ MISTAKE 1. ♦ <br> » Focusing too much on what you’re trying to get rid of instead of focusing on what you DO want. <br> ----------------<br> <br> What you focus on expands: focus on small wins, and make ’em expand!<br> <br> Don’t use thoughts that emphasize weaknesses. If you focus on what you can do about ____, if your brain needs to address weaknesses, it will.<br> <br> Scott likes the Einstein quote about problems never being solved at the level of thinking that created them. Focusing on the problem is staying at the same level of thinking that created the problem, instead of rising above it.<br> <br> ----------------<br> ♦ MISTAKE 2. ♦ <br> » Catastrophizing, monkey mind, and scattered thinking<br> ----------------<br> <br> Scott likes that old Henry Ford quote: Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right! A problem, though, is people “think they can” but their focus is totally scattered.<br> <br> Catastrophizing is thinking a small slip up is the end of the world. “Oh, I missed a meal” is not the same as “I blew my diet! It’s all over!”<br> <br> Mike notes that our brains tend to catastrophize. You’re not abnormal because you think that way. It’s totally normal. The trick is to overcome it as a challenge.<br> <br> Mike likes working with your beliefs. You can’t lie to yourself. If you have a limiting belief you can’t just replace it with the opposite belief – your brain will say, “Uh… no? I don’t believe you.” But what you can do is work with those beliefs by using words like “but” or “however,” where what follows the “but” gets you moving forward. (E.g., “I might have bad genetics, but I have truly given it an honest shot of seeing what my genetic potential really is.”)<br> <br> ----------------<br> ♦ MISTAKE 3. ♦ <br> » Exposing yourself to things that disempower you, like social media, instead of exposing yourself to things you like and relate to more.<br> ----------------<br> <br> A trick here is being honest. Social media doesn’t seem seem like it’s disempowering to you, and figuring out whether it is, or how, or when and why — all of this requires being honest.<br> <br> Mike likes “pre-frames” for this. So if you need to dig in and do an honest self-check in some kind of journaling exercise, do a “pre” exercise that digs into how honest you are, or asks you to think about how good at self-checks you are, or anything that will put you into the right state of mind to do that self check.<br> <br> ----------------<br> ♦ MISTAKE 4. ♦ <br> » Not using thought boundaries and/or challenging your own thinking (constructive vs. positive)<br> ----------------<br> <br> Scott emphasizes that “positive thinking by itself won’t necessarily help. You need to be constructive in your thinking.<br> <br> Mike emphasized that “challenging” your own thinking always requires a bit of discomfort and getting outside your comfort zone. This is true by definition!<br> <br> ----------------<br> ♦ MISTAKE 5. ♦ <br> » Not letting go of specific outcomes.<br> ----------------<br> <br> Specific outcomes include things like a number on the scale, or a deadline, or things like that.<br> <br> These are tempting because they can make abstract goals feel concrete, as well as create bright lines in your own head (Which, yes, can be useful, but there is a huge danger if you’re feeling awful because you’re not losing “weight” and now you’re going to blow your diet… even though you’ve been doing awesome and lots of good things are happening if you’d just let those processes keep going.
