1. Acknowledge the rule of least resistance.
By default, your subconscious-mind, the ruler of your body, is a lazy entity. It follows a simple universal rule that is found in chemistry, physics and other natural phenomena: the path of least resistance. That is, your sub-mind will seek the path of least energy. If it can avoid doing something, you bet it will. It won’t get off its ass in the morning to go jogging. No. It has to be trained over a very long period of time (to build an habit), but until then you must make it do what you will.

2. Ignore your inner dialogue.
Now this one is very important. We all had those inner dialogues when you know you have to do something like to go running in the morning and start looking for excuses: “It’s cold outside you’ll get sick”, “You look awful when running, what will the people say”, “I am too tired today, I went to sleep very late last night. If I go now, I’ll be very tired all day.”, etc., etc., etc. In most cases (like 99%) these statements are false excuses. Even if your inner self was right 1% and you DO get cold after running: the positive build-up of your will is far more valauble than having cold for a day or two.

I have found a solution that works for me like a charm: I just ignore these dialogues. You cannot stop them: at least, in the beginning (when you build an habit they will disappear gradually. But YOU CAN ignore them). Just listen to your inner whining while starting what you have set to do. Mostly, the dialogue will disappear within the first 5 minutes as your sub-conscious realizes that you are un-bribable and cannot be talked out of your goal. This is really amazing. Who would have thought that you are NOT in control of your own body, by default. You have to take the control by power. Power of will by ignoring excuses.

3. Set goals and make them public.
The Runner’s Magazine suggests signing up for a competition regularly and making it public (among your family and friends). It doesn’t matter whether it’s a small or big one. This will kill two rabbits with one stone: First, you will be more motivated to go out and train since you have a definite goal and date to train for. Secondly, your submind will be more cooperative because it does care whothers will say should you flunk the competition after promising (publicly) to participate.

Don’t let anyone, incluiding your inner self, to talk you out of your goals!

This amount of data can actually overwhelm you and paralyze you. You will think “Oh my God, there is so much about this topic and I don’t know anything about it… It would take years to even get a glimpse at the basics…” And there goes your motivation down the hill. Your subconscious builds automatically resistance and blocks your way forward.

This happens in many areas of life, but most of all – you shouldn’t allow it to happen with your fitness. A wise man said that happiness lies in ignorance. In the first place – you do not have to know. You have to have fun and you have to feel free.

1. Stop chasing the knowledge - look at it as the first requirement in your new fitness lifestyle. Your first action is to actually get physical exercise. If you feel motivated, you can read about the topic afterwards. This has also the benefit that you can draw parallels between what you have just experienced and what you are reading.
2. Prototyping – This is a concept from software development. A software developer takes a look at the problem and then simply goes and programs a quick-and-dirty solution. It doesn’t have to solve the problem 100%, be pretty, complete or totally functional. The point is to get your feet wet and put the first milestone. You can always refine the details at a later point.
3. Do not be afraid of doing something wrong – Do not be afraid of doing something wrong and being labeled as a newbie. Go your own path, do not let the thoughts about “what others may think” cloud your experience. Enjoy what you are doing. Smile. You will instantly feel more confident and perform better.

To start with the Bodytweaking lifestyle I will just give you a hint: Run. Run 2-4 times a week. And now stop reading and go running. Everything else will come later

Let us suppose you are thinking about starting a bodytweaker lifestyle. You might have already allocated those extra 15-30 minutes per day and the motivation to get yourself started. Nevertheless you know something about yourself: you tend to give up after a week or two, due to the fact that you feel tired and lack the energy for that workout after a long day on the job. This is the most common excuse (next to time deficit) when it comes to people turning their back on a fitness lifestyle.

The beauty of energy is that you can generate it. The law of attraction says that you will attract more energy, the more you have of it and the more you release. You might know that principle from other sources in life (rich people get richer). A person with a lot of energy feels more and more energy coming back, the more energy he/she releases. You are naturally attracted to these people and feel energized yourself just by being next to them. You actually feel that special presence when such a person enters the room.

Those people are bundles of power that simply make things happen. Those people are the part-time entrepreneurs that find the strength and motivation to work at nights on a vision, a project, when wife and kids are already sleeping in bed. Those are the people that become world-class experts in a given field. Those are the athletes that run that extra mile.

The best part of the story is that once you learn how to generate your own power and ability to attract and bundle energy. It can be applied to any part of you life. So once you find the energy for fitness, you will naturally attract more and more of it in different forms and become more and more successful in other areas.

Energy for fitness

So let us begin.

1. Accept your free choice

First thing in finding and keeping energy is the acceptance of your own ability to decide what to do with it.
You do not have to workout four times a week. You do not have to go jogging before work. There is absolutely no pressure from outside, and if there is, ignore it. Never ever give the power of decision to others. You must have the power to decide how to live your life. Others may or may not accept it, but they do not live your life. You do. Once you give them an opportunity to decide over what you should or should not be doing, you actually give them control over your energy.
Never ask anybody permission to live your life how you want it. Only when you understand that you are free to live a happy life as a couch potato, only then you will be able to embrace fully a bodytweaking lifestyle. The principle of free choice is the main tool you need to be able to direct your energies into a certain direction.
What will your wife think or say if you decide to put your alarm clock on 5:00am each morning to go for a run? Do not answer that question. The point is: why would you care? Make the decision and do it. If she likes it or not, is her problem. Your decision is what you are. If she does not like your decisions, she does not have to be married with you, but that again, is her decision

2. Stop self-pity and complaining

When you complain you actually direct your powers into reinforcement of all the negatives that you actually need to avoid. Statements, either said or thought, like “I am too tired to go for a run right now”, actually direct energy into that statement and make it come true. You drain yourself of power and the energies you have are actually used to create something you do not want. Stop right there. You do not have to be over-optimistic and feed yourself constantly with positive thoughts, but you can at least stop whining, either explicitly or implicitly. If you don’t go for a run, you do not go. Period. Don’t look for excuses by complaining or whining. Once you do it, you will actually find yourself more often running down the street

3. Never allow doubts control your decisions

This one is similar to the one above. The point here is again not to direct energies into negative thought patterns. “Maybe I won’t be able to run that half-marathon in a month”, “Maybe it will take too long, till I lose 50 pounds of weight”, … Or maybe it is a good idea to shut the h*** up? Spare your energies in actually doing something instead of thinking about what you will or will not be able to do. Remember the law of attraction? The more thought you give to doubts, the more doubts and failure you will attract.

4. Take small steps. Let the way be your aim, not the destination

There is a lot of advice about “how to reach your goals” out there and most of those urge you to keep the eyes on your goals. There is a problem with this approach though. If your goal is one that requires a lot of work on your part, the more you look at it, the further away it will appear. Most of us are not patient enough to be willing to work for something that is far away. We need instant results.

In a way it is like throwing a stone at a tree that is 60 yards away. You will lose a lot of energy and get impatient. While it is necessary to know your goals and want to reach them, do not become over-obsessed with them. Instead visualize your way as a set of many small goals that lead to your main goal. Focus your attention on each single step you make and congratulate yourself on accomplishing each single part. This way you will learn to perceive each workout as a part of your dream come true. Be grateful for what you have done and you will feel more and more energized to do it again.

1. Focus on the basics and the rest will follow by itself

Each of us has different roles and interests in our lives. So, it’s hard to say that something that is good for me will be the same for you or somebody else. That’s because we are so different, have different background and aims. However, there are certain “areas” in your life that do apply to everyone and have a great impact on anything else we have to deal with.

So is diet and fitness, which will increase your self-esteem, give you tough lessons on persistence and goal-setting, teach you control over your ego not to mention the huge changes in your body and mind that will give you more power and concentration for your tasks. Hence, this very “basic” change leads to a series of positive changes in the rest of your life and will consequently have a huge impact in other areas such as relationships, work, etc.!

Fitness for life

So, by taking care of your “physical core”, which could be as simple as 10 minutes workout/day and staying away from crap-food, you can achieve tremendous chain reaction of positive changes in your life. That is what I (as a guy with financial background) call a superb investment of your resources with astronomical returns. Which leads us to the second principle:

2. Do not spend too much on junk or save on quality.

Don’t waste your resources (time, money and effort) on useless things. Get the most out of them. BodyTweaking was built on the idea that staying fit could be completely free. That you can be healthy without buying all the fitness junk that is being heavily advertised all over the TV, internet and magazines. Now, we still think that there is no quick-fix for years of bad habits and that you can’t get a quality body and mind overnight. Quality that lasts has to be built gradually. Step by step. This natural progress will teach you lots of things and will change the way you think and see yourself tand your daily issues, forever. It’s a bonus for living your life as it should be lived

On the other side, you shouldn’t get into a scarcity mindset. If there’s something you need and you know it will be of a huge benefit and far more useful that the price you are paying, then you should definitely get it! For example, take some good cross-country running shoes for $300 that will last for the next 8 years. That is by far better choice than buying $70 shoes that you’ll have to trash in one year. Not to mention the knee problems and bad running experience which could lead you to give up completely. All for trying to save money today with catastrophic results in the long run.

3. Don’t be short-sighted. Keep in mind the big picture

Follow your workout plan and keep in mind the vision where you will be in two years instead of worrying why you didn’t lose those 3lbs before the pool-party next weekend.

Step by step, with your head up, your predator’s eyes and your mind focused on the desired result. Onward, bodytweaker!