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I know this is the case for me, and I am willing to bet it’s the case for you too. What I am going to share with you in this post could truly be a game changer. Even if it doesn’t click for you immediately, I encourage you to read through and listen to the full episode. You never know when this truth will come in handy! I’m sharing the number one thing we need to hear, but don’t want to accept.
The One Thing We Need to Hear but Don’t Want to Accept
A Revolutionary Truth
Let’s get into it. The more I think about this one thing and use it and apply it in my life, the more I realize how powerful and true it really is. It is a foundational truth that is applicable in nearly every area of our lives, and I believe it can revolutionize our lives. But, most of us don’t want to hear it much less accept it. Some of us might not even believe it. So, what is the number one thing we need to hear?
Learn and Master the Basics.
You’re probably thinking, really Corey? There’s got to be more to it than that. But hear me out. Most people’s responses to the basics are that they are boring. They overlook their power and skip over them. It’s much more fun to look for some special technique or some new tip or trick that seems really cool, they pass over the basics altogether. It’s more exciting to daydream about all of the amazing results you’ll get from some cutting-edge thing than to learn the boring basics. To get amazing results, all you NEED to do is learn and master the basics. The only thing that stands between you and everything you want is learning. The only thing that stands between you and everything you want from your body, is acquiring new abilities through learning.
You must learn and apply, learn and apply, learn and apply. Again and again, until you have taken the knowledge and transformed it into action. One of my all-time favorite quotes is by Josh Waitzkin. He says, “It is rarely a mysterious technique that drives us to the top. But rather a profound mastery of what may well be a basic skill set.” Amen. Now Josh Waitzkin is a genius. He won his first chess national championship at the age of nine when most of us are struggling to tie our shoes. Then, he went on to win seven more chess national championships. And then he published his first book at eighteen and went on to learn Tai Chi, winning 21 international martial arts competitions. After all of that, what did he attribute his success to? Being really good at the basics.
Learn the Basics and Do Them Consistently
So how does this concept apply to losing weight and getting into shape? Well, we need to learn the basics and then do them consistently. You don’t need a cutting-edge fat-burning workout, a special diet, a ton of supplements, or the newest and coolest shoes. Don’t worry about having a big gym with fancy exercise equipment, a Fitbit, or some other fitness gadget to wear on your wrist or finger. Can all those things be helpful? Sure. But you don’t need them. You just need to practice, learn, and master the basics. You just need commitment. Commitment to yourself, and commitment to the process, because that’s what losing weight is really all about. It’s a process of learning new skills that will help you achieve the body health and life you really want. Consistency is also key. Consistency with food, exercise, and showing up for yourself. Take action, keep taking action, and when you mess up, you learn from it and keep going.
You Need a New Mindset
In order to accomplish this, you are going to need a new mindset. To lose weight and change your body, you must first change your brain. When it comes to losing weight, so many people are scared to death to mess up. Messing up, giving into temptation, missing a workout, or getting something wrong, in most minds, all prelude to quitting. You think when you mess up, the end is near. That’s a mindset problem! Quitting after a few mess-ups only happens because you think it should. We have to get rid of our current mindset in order to learn a new mindset. We have to entertain the idea that what you’ve always done and believed about losing weight just might be wrong. Those beliefs just might be what is keeping you where you are and where you have been for so long. We need to release those ideas if we ever want to learn new things and progress in a positive direction.
If you ever want to get results, you have to let go of the old and start replacing it with the new.
That’s the one thing we need to hear but don’t want to accept. To quote Josh Waitzkin again, “The key to pursuing excellence is to embrace an organic, long-term learning process and not to live in a shell of static, safe mediocrity.” That steps on my toes. He continues, “Usually growth comes at the expense of previous comfort or safety. Embrace an organic long-term learning process.” Let’s dissect this. What does it mean to “embrace”? It means you willingly, enthusiastically accept, and adopt something. In other words, you’re acknowledging this is the way. All of the old things you’ve tried aren’t the path to success, this long-term learning process is the way. Next, he says we must embrace the “organic”. In this sense, organic literally means allowing something to happen naturally, not forcing it. You can’t force yourself or your body to lose weight. Sure, you might have done that in the past, but I can almost guarantee those were short-term results. If you truly want to change your life, it must be by organic choice.
After organic, he says “long-term”. Your entire life has brought you to where you are right now with your body and health, and I am sorry to say that you can’t fix it with some short-term solution. You can force short-term results, but you haven’t fixed or healed or truly changed anything. The only way that happens is by embracing an organic long-term learning process. I know I sound like a broken record with the word learning, but it’s the secret to success. Learning is defined as the acquisition of knowledge or skills through experience, study, or by being taught. The acquisition of knowledge and skills is exactly what leads to a changed life. It is rarely a new technique or fad that leads us to the top, but a profound mastery of a basic skill set. We must, as Josh says, embrace an organic long-term learning process and not live in a place of static, safe mediocrity.
