What Losers Have That Winners Don’t
This post is going to get a little personal, but if it helps at least one of you then I’m okay with that.
I’m going to be talking about excuses related to my weight loss journey, but the same principles and methods apply for any excuses or goals you may have. (If you are interested in weight loss tips, head over to my fitness blog).
Back in college, I gained about 40-50lbs.
I rarely tell people why or how I gained it though. Despite the fact that I’m telling the entire internet right now…
Most would probably assume it was the typical freshman 15… err freshman 50. Yikes.
That wasn’t the case for me.
I grew up in a relatively small town and ended up going to a pretty big, well known college to study engineering.
The pressure and workload really got to me.
I was having severe anxiety.
Widget not in any sidebars
The kind of anxiety that makes you faint in the middle of a calculus class.
I’m sure you can imagine how fun it is to faint in front of 100 people.
Fainting in class was the point where I knew I had to do something. I went to my doctor who prescribed me an anti-anxiety medication.
After starting the medication, I gained all of the 40-50lbs in the matter of a month or two.
I ended up finding out that the weight gain was a known side effect of the medication I was given.
I immediately stopped taking it, but the weight stuck around.
Gaining that much weight in such a short amount of time shook my whole world.
Nothing fit any more.
I did not have a single pair of jeans I could fit into. Plus I was broke, so it’s not like I could just go out and buy more.
This was an all time low for me.
I felt so low, ashamed and sorry for myself.
Why Am I Telling You This?
My dad has this saying (one of many) that he likes to tell… all. The. time.
“You know what losers have that winners don’t?”
..Yea, Dad, I know… Excuses.
Winners do not have excuses. Only losers do.
Put more gently, those who fail at their goal make excuses.
The difference between someone who makes a goal and succeeds and one who fails is how they respond to challenges.
It is human nature to take the path of least resistance.
Your brain WILL try to come up with every excuse in the book for you to quit.
I know this because I’ve been there.
I gave myself 101 excuses during that time. I told myself I was too busy studying to try and lose the weight. I didn’t have money to eat healthy.
Even when I “tried to eat healthy and workout” without seeing results, I gave up because I convinced myself that was all I had to give – That since what I was doing wasn’t working, I must be incapable of losing the weight.
You know what happened when I started seeing results? I stopped making excuses.
Quitting Excuses Is Easier Than It Sounds.
The reason excuses seem difficult to stop to begin with is because it’s usually our subconscious creating them.
Once you know what to look for, it’s surprisingly easy to build up discipline against them.
Here’s the exact 3 step method I used for shutting down my excuses.
- Acknowledge
- Mindfulness
- Find Counter Arguments
Acknowledge
Your already halfway through step one just reading this.
Your already halfway through step one just reading this.
The first step is just to acknowledge and realize that creating excuses is something that you have been doing.
If you’re shaking your head right now saying, “Nope, I don’t make excuses for myself” but you’re having trouble reaching your goal, maybe take another second to think about it.
We often try to disguise our excuses as “reasons”.
“It’s not an excuse, I just don’t have the time!”
“I’m already working out as hard as I can, it’s not my fault I’m not losing weight.”
Mindfulness
Once you’ve accepted that creating excuses is something you’ve been doing, the next step is to be mindful of when you’re actually doing it.
All this means is to be aware and try to realize that you’re making an excuse the second that you do it.
Find Counter Arguments
Once you start immediately realizing the moments you’re creating excuses, take it a step further and play devil’s advocate for yourself.
The second you start to think of an excuse, and you realize it, come up with a counter argument to shut it down.
“I just don’t have time to workout.” is a very common one. Try one of these counter arguments for not having time on this list to shut that excuse down.