In a previous post, I mention that I sat down and wrote out a lot of things, and that they all came true. One of the last things to happen was I lost a lot of weight; about 40 pounds. After that, other things fell into place, mostly related to health.
Because so many things are related to your health, and your weight is inextricably bound to your overall health, I do pay attention to my weight. I’ve gained a couple of pounds, and it really irritates me. Mostly because I can spell out exactly why I’m gaining weight, and it’s my own damn fault. Of course.
There is basically one way to lose weight, namely reduce your relative caloric intake. Here’s a news flash: If you lose all the weight you want, and then you go back to eating the same stuff you were eating before you lost the weight, you are going to gain all of the weight back.
In American society, sometimes I feel like I’m on an alien planet where the native food is very tasty but essentially a slow poison. I need to pick and choose what I eat very carefully. I mentioned that to a doctor, and he agreed that it was quite literally true. But – that’s another story for another day.
I happen to love all of the same foods that everybody else does. I love pizza, pasta, ice cream, I’m a regular cookie monster. That is a partial list of things I need to eat if I want to gain, say, forty or fifty pounds. Don’t even get me started on nachos (really, please, don’t!).
It occurred to me this morning that the way we eat is an exact analogy of how we live our lives with regards to Success Principles. We eat and drink, that is a given. What we eat and drink (and how much of it) has a very direct affect on our weight and our health.
When evaluating how well we achieve the level of success we want in life we need to consider this: We are always moving, and everything we do affects our future, and so affects our achievement.
It’s really easy to eat junk food. It’s actually designed that way, because given an opportunity we will eat the most convenient thing available, especially if it tastes good. We are not wired to think about the long-term consequences of what we stuff into our mouths. “It tastes good, it is right here, and I just ate it” is our default operating mode.
Like healthy eating in our society, living a successful life requires thought and conscious effort. You need to think about what you really want in life, and you need to keep those thoughts in the forefront of your consciousness. It’s too easy to get caught up in email, work, chores, and then read the news, play a game, watch a program, or whatever happens to be right in front of you at the moment.
That’s all well and good in the moment, but it may not be getting you where you want to be. The truth is, many of those things don’t really require any effort at all on your part. It is the “… feels good, it is right here, and I just did it” default mode of operation, and the default is usually going to land you somewhere other than where you want to be.
