Best Tip On How To Reach Goals & Be Motivated

Hey this is Derek Doepker with Excuse Proof Fitness at excuseproof.com and in this video
I'm going to be giving you my number one strategy for overcoming any obstacle or excuse that
you have to getting healthy and fit.
Now when I first started out, I ate junk food every night. I was not into health and exercise
and all that sort of stuff. Like a lot of people, I had many excuses and limiting beliefs
that kept me from being enthusiastic about pursuing a healthy lifestyle. Now for me it
tended to be things like I hate healthy food. I love my McDonalds and fast food and things
like that. And for a lot of people I talk to nowadays it's things like "I just don't
have enough time" "I don't have enough money" "I can't do it" "I don't know what to do"
It's these sort of limiting beliefs that seem very real and there's a certain truth to them
that keep people from getting the results that they want.
And I've found it doesn't really do someone any good to tell them "well just think positively.
Just believe in yourself." Those sorts of things that are sort of cute sayings but they
don't actually help.
If someone says "just believe in yourself" I've found that doesn't really make any difference.
I need to know how to actually go inside my brain, "hack it" so to speak, and get it to
change the wiring so that I see things differently. I have a different perspective. I have a different
belief system.
And the way to do that is through the technique that I'm going to share with you in this video.
Now this is really powerful because it can apply to any area of life. In fact, I highly
encourage you... I almost don't even care as much if you apply this to health and fitness.
Just apply it to other areas of your life and see the benefits that it can bring you.
Like I said when I got started I had my limiting beliefs and my thought patterns. There's a
quote by Henry Ford and he says that "whether you believe you can or can't, you're right."
So if a person believes "I can't do this because I don't have enough time. I don't have enough
money. I hate healthy food."
They're not going to succeed. There's no getting around it until they go in and change those
beliefs.
And the way that I've found to do this, what shifted my perspective, was understanding
that the brain works through the language that runs through it.
What I mean by this is that a lot of people, myself included, even to this day in certain
areas, they are making what I call disempowering declarations and disempowering questions.
So like I said before these excuses are what I call disempowering declarations. "I don't
have enough time." "I don't have enough money." "I hate exercising."
But on the other hand, there's also disempowering questions. These are probably more damaging.
These are things like "why do I hate exercise so much?" "Why do I always screw up?" "why
can't I resist ice cream? Why can't I stop myself from eating it?"
It could be more dangerous and take on a broader perspective of a person's life to be something
like "why do I always screw up?" "why does no one like me?" "why am I a failure at everything
I do?" "why are things so hopeless?" "why are there not enough hours in the day to do
what I want to do?"
Now when a person is asking themselves these questions, the brain will look for an answer.
It doesn't matter who you are, the brain is designed to look for an answer to these questions.
So when a person says "why do I always screw up?"
The brains going to go "well the first reason you screw up is this. And remember that one
time you did this, well that probably explains it."
The brain will start giving a person answers and then they will start going in this downward
spiral of depression. And if you've ever felt like your mood was down, not feeling too good
and not sure why, there's a very good chance that even if you weren't consciously aware
of it, subconsciously it was probably because of asking these disempowering questions.
Or making statements like "my life is so hopeless. I always screw things up." Stuff like that.
The simple trick to get out of that is to realize that your brain is equally capable
of bringing you into an upward spiral of success and momentum by asking yourself empowering
questions.
When I started doing this, everything shifted. Because I can just as easily go "what do I
love about ice cream?"
Well it tastes great. It's one of the best foods ever. I can also ask myself "what do
I love about apples?"
Now I might not be as excited by the answer, but I do enjoy apples. I think they taste
good, they're portable, they're convenient. They're affordable. So I can ask myself that
question just as easily.
I can also ask myself the question what don't I like about ice cream. I don't like that
if I eat a bunch of it I feel lethargic, I feel bad about myself, I feel like I'm going
to gain weight if I eat too much of it.
What don't I like about an apple? Well.... it's not as good as ice cream.
So I can ask myself any of these questions. What questions I choose to ask myself will
determine my focus.
So when I first got started I was asking myself a lot of disempowering questions. I was asking
myself "why do I love this junk food so much?" "why do I hate vegetables and healthy food?"
All I had to do was switch the question and ask "what healthy foods do I like?" Well I
like apples and a few other things.
SO then I could ask myself "could I at least eat those things?" and the answer was yes.
Then I started to focus more on what I could do. What happens is this shifts the brain
out of focusing on the problem and more focusing on the solution.
I could go on and on about this. This could be a book. This could be hours worth of video.
So I'm just going to keep this short and let you experience this for yourself.
If you find yourself having any obstacles or excuses coming up, even if they're somewhat
legitimate. A person might legitmately not have a lot of free time. But instead of saying
"I don't have enough time." What if you asked a question like "what can I do with the time
that I have?"
"Can I at least find the time to do five jumping jacks in the morning?" Yes. Ok. So do that
for a few days.
Then I could ask myself "do I have enough time to do six jumping jacks?" Yes. "could
I do even more?" "could I throw in a couple pushups?" Yes. Right.
So by asking these questions, the key thing is doesn't have to be "can I do absolutely
everything I want to do right now." It's "what can I do?" "what can I do with the time that
I have?" "can I at least do this?"
Now can you imagine a person if for a year straight they said "I don't have enough time.
I don't have enough time. I can't do it. Why don't I have enough time?" They're basically
never going to make any progress.
But if a person gets in the habit of going "what can I do?" "What can I do with the time
that I have?" "How can I make a little bit of time?"
Then they will slowly but surely start taking steps in the right direction. They'll start
to change their thought process. They'll get in the habit of looking for solutions rather
than looking at the problem.
A year later, if they just keep asking themselves these questions, keep pushing the comfort
zone a little bit at a time, they'll be amazed at the results that they'll get.
I've seen this time and time again in my life and in other people's lives.
So a simple solution to excuses is ask an empowering question and apply this to every
area of your life.
I promise it will change it. If you don't believe me, just try it for yourself.
This is Derek Doepker once again with Excuse Proof Fitness. YOu can check out my free survival
guide at excuseproof.com. If you have any questions or comments leave a note below.
You can also check out my book with more tips and strategies for getting motivated called
How To Stick To A Diet available on amazon. You can go to excuseproof.com/diet or check
the link below this video.
Take care.