"Mental Jihad"

THESE ARE THE EVENTS OF THIS MORNING.

I know everyone has to deal with that little voice inside their head that helps them make decisions. Sometimes the voice inside them is negative, sometimes it's positive. Regardless, it's still there. I, like many of you, had to deal with this sort of situation this morning. My alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. then.....

Negative me: Hit the snooze button man!
Positive me: You haven't worked out properly in 2 days. Walking your dogs doesn't count. Get up!
Negative me: When you hit the snooze button, it's going to go off again in 9 minutes. Hit the damn thing, we are tired!
(I eventually ended up hitting that snooze button a few times.)

ONE HOUR LATER
(I'm somewhat awake trying to find my training clothes)
Negative me: Damn we are hungry! Let's grab some food and watch some tv.
Positive me: We have slacked off enough. We have goals to meet. Let's get going before your first session.
Negative me: Just think about what you have done over the last 6 months. You have worked our ass off, literally. All your shirts are big, people are telling you that your pants are sagging so bad it looks like you are wearing a diaper. Another day off isn't going to kill you.
Positive me: Now if one of your clients came to you with a tired excuse after taking 2 days off, what would you say to them? You'd most likely tell them to get off their ass and even threaten to come visit them to get them going.
Negative me: When is the last time you've had pizza. That used to be your favorite food. I have an idea. How about we cancel all our sessions for today, call Pizza Hut and order a stuffed crust meat lovers pizza and chill out for the rest of the day. We are stressed! We didn't have a proper cheat day, our whole weekend got messed up because of our car, we spent sooo much money trying to get it fixed and it's still broke! That pizza is sounding better and better huh?
Positive me: Hell, even I have to admit that pizza sounds nice. There is only one problem with that though. How long has it taken your body to recover in the past from eating pizza? Remember how frustrating it is to get back on track? Is it really worth it?

THE RESULT! (I got up and ran 5.99 miles)

My reason for sharing this story is some of the people I train and my readers know that I struggle sometimes also. To be successful at what you want to accomplish, sometimes you have to sacrifice. Would I love to have eaten that pizza and chilled out all day? OF COURSE! But, being set back a few weeks on my goal damn sure would not have been worth it. Also, I would feel totally like crap looking into my clients eyes and knowing what I had done. They've told me story of overcoming stress and food struggles and I cheered them on. What kind of a leader would I be if I couldn't even do it myself. A true leader leads by example and also leads from the front. In your time of struggle on your journey, follow my lead and choose the positive over the negative. Until next time people! Be consistent and train hard!