Here's To Feeling Good All The Time!

When I was trying to quit porn (before the Big Boy Quitting), I would shame myself for peeking and other dubious behavior.

If I had instead praised myself for doing better than ever before, I would’ve enjoyed that positive reinforcement and sought more, making my journey less frustrating.

Switching gears: even with fitness, it’s hard to not compare yourself to others, as a newbie.

But instead of being upset with yourself for not having started your fitness journey earlier, it’s far more conducive to consider yourself a badass for making whatever progress you’ve made so far.

For behavior changes, making yourself feel good will always yield better results than self-flagellation.

Think about the times you’ve told yourself either “Wow, good job, Me” or “I’m such a shitty person, and I hate myself.”

Which one yielded better results?

Even slight self-praise will push you in a better direction than guilting yourself.

It’s all about framing the situation differently in your mind.

Ideally, in a positive way.

But what happens if you frame everything in a negative way?

• Making yourself feel bad will keep you feeling bad. It’s obvious, but it’s true.

• If you slap yourself down at every opportunity, you’ll deprive yourself of the opportunity to rise up.

😈 DEVIL’S ADVOCACY 😈

• “I legitimately fucked up this time, and I deserve to call myself out for it.” (Maybe so, but the very least you can do is be thankful that you’re even able to acknowledge this failure. Many just keep spiraling down. Praise your self-awareness because that’s what’s gonna bring you out of the failure’s shadow.)

• “I’m a masochist.” (I can’t help you there. Godspeed.)

Whether it’s a behavior change you’re looking to make, or you’re dealing with the ups and downs of a larger goal, finding the silver lining will always be better than looking for the shadow.

How? Like so:

• Getting yourself into a positive reinforcement loop will set you up for continuous improvement instead of constantly whipping yourself. And really, which would feel better for you?

• Ask yourself which makes more sense: Celebrating each milestone? Or punching yourself in the face because you’re only 14% of the way there instead of already being at 100%?

ACTION STEPS:

1. Wherever you are on the paths to your goals, always look for the positives.

2. Don’t completely forget the negatives, but don’t dwell on them or punish yourself. Use those negatives as your plan of attack for next time.

3. If you can only see the bad in regards to your situation or your progress in a goal, remember that you can always fall back on: “At least I’m aware of how bad this is. If I can acknowledge it, I can change it.” Always.

Okay, bye!