The late Steven Covey wrote, “start with the end in mind.” in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®, a best-selling self help book he wrote in 1989.
It was written as a business book, but it can be applied to anything, including weight loss.
Imagine, your goal is to reduce your weight to a healthy level that feels comfortable and is a good fit with your life (notice I didn’t say to a specific number*). That’s your end and therefore it becomes your start. Now that you know how you want your weight loss journey to end, you will not only know how to get there, but it’s the best way to be certain that you will get there!
Knowing what you want for your goal, or your “end” is half of the way to ensure you get there.
Believing you will get there and stay there is the other half.
You can’t do it unless you believe it’s possible. It sounds simple and logical and yet so many people try to lose weight never believing it’s possible.
Believe me, an “I’ll believe it when I see it,” attitude won’t work for weight loss.
Not only must you start with the end in mind, but you must know that you can do it and you can. I’m not saying that weight loss is always easy or without challenges. I’m saying it’s possible for anybody – yes, anybody!
Some people will need more help than others. Some may need medical intervention. Some may need to adjust their desired weight to a realistic weight rather than the perfect weight, but everybody can do it.
I’m not going to discuss how to do it in this blog. I’ve written many blogs about how to lose weight, how to get more active, how to improve your eating habits and enjoy food more than you ever thought you could. Just look through my archives.
This blog is strictly to tell you, whoever you are, and no matter how much you weigh and no matter how many times you tried and how many times you never were successful, that you can live happily ever after at goal!
If you start with the end in mind, you can and you will, and no matter what little bumps or setbacks you run into along the way, you know that you will get there eventually.
It’s just a matter of never giving up!
* Numbers on a scale are arbitrary. Instead of picking a number and then working to get there make your goal to modify your eating and physical activity behaviors to reach a weight that is healthy for you and that makes you feel confident and comfortable and is a good fit with your life.