Another program, up in smoke

Weight Loss programs.  Lose weight!  Keep it off! Small steps, small goals. You gotta believe.

So I tried it. They give you little inspirational messages daily. They talk about your perception of food. They talk about psyche tips to help you overcome mental barriers. They encourage group support. There are manuals about exercise and food choices. Recipes. Coaching. I bet this works for most people.

Those that participate in the group discussions are frustrated that they’ve only lost 4-5 pounds in the first month. Some have lost 8-10 pounds. You have to weigh yourself every day. They give you a great incentive program…just walk 300 more steps today than you did yesterday. Ding! You’re at 10,000 steps! Woohoo! So why wouldn’t this work?

One of the things I’ve heard over the past 18 years is that “this program/job/self-improvement/learning system doesn’t work.” And over and over the people who run these programs/learning systems, etc.,  say it works if you work it. Ooops.

The one thing they stressed yesterday was that mistakes, setbacks, falling off the path are just that, not character flaws. Just like in music. This one student I was working with messed up her left hand going to the wrong chord repeatedly. Every time she got to that point in the music, she would panic and play the wrong note and say, “I’m so STUPID! Why can’t I GET this?! I’m hopeless!” I asked her why she was giving herself this rule? “What rule?” The rule that at this point in the music you MUST screw up. “I always mess up there” is a stupid rule to make.  Practice this part, erase the circle, and say to yourself, “I’m glad I solved that problem. Now it’s my favorite part of the song!” So when the program doesn’t seem to be working, it’s because I’m not working the program. It’s not a character flaw, it’s a consistency problem that I do not choose to fix. Well, that’s a dumb idea.

Sooooo, 4 weeks and have not lost a single pound. Not 1. I’m still at 2000 steps, not 10,000. It does NOT matter if I average 900-1200 calories a day. If I eat the wrong stuff, I don’t lose weight, I just get tired at weird times of the day. It doesn’t matter if I go to the gym and do 6000 steps and do a weight-lifting circuit if I don’t repeat the process the next day.

What can I conclude? There IS a character flaw. At this point in time, it is easier for me to distract myself from a plan than to work it all the way through. This can have a detrimental effect on every project I have chosen for myself.

1. Conference Handbook
2. Transcribe some music
3. Clean and remodel the house
4. Develop a rose garden
5. Run a music business
6. Run a financial business.
7. Blog

So, TODAY and every day, my mantra is “Finish something today!” Even if it isn’t the full project, finish a part of it.