How Your Thinking Determines Your Fitness Levels

by Shawn LeBrun

If you're interested in making each and every area of your life the best it can be, then this will be the most important article you ever read.

Here's why.

Like I'm always telling my clients, how you think, each and every day, will determine how you live. In other words, what you're usually thinking about will lead your life in that direction.

If you're always thinking about what you don't want, that's usually what you'll get: more of what you don't want.

That's one of the most important insights I made over the years. Your thinking determines the quality of your life.

Think, for a moment, how that's true. You need to know EXACTLY what it is you want in life. In all areas, not just fitness.

You must decide fully, and in black and white, what you want to have or do in life. It has to be crystal clear. Without clear, well-defined goals, long-lasting success in any area of life is impossible.

For example, you wouldn't say "I want to lose fat". You have to say "I'll shed 20 pounds in the next month." There's a big difference between those 2 goals.

One has a deadline, which is important. Goals must be specific and must have deadlines.

Now, take out some paper and make these headings: Health, Career, Finances, Spiritual, Family, Personal Relationships, Self Improvement.

Under each of these headings, write down exactly what it is you want to achieve with each... and when you want to achieve it by. Again, be absolutely specific.

Here are some examples.

Under health, you could say "I will have six pack abs by September 2005. I will be a size 6 by August. I will have 21 inch biceps by 8 weeks."

Career: "I will be promoted to manager of my department by October 2005."

Can you see what I did? Not only did I make each goal specific, with a deadline, but I also put it in the present tense, like it's already starting to happen.

Instead of saying "I want" you need to say "I will". Putting your goal in the present tense no longer makes it a wish, but rather something that's going to happen in the near future.

Most peoples' goals are "I want to lose weight" or "I want to gain muscle". These are just not specific enough for them to be drawn into your life. The more specific you are with your goals, the more likely you are in getting what you want.

And I'm not talking just material things, but rather qualities you want to have and certain attributes you find yourself being drawn to. Maybe you want to be more confident. Or more loving and compassionate. Maybe you want to be a good leader.

Your goals should not just be material things. Those come and go, but who you strive to become stays with you forever.

Each goal must be something you really, really want. Or else you will not work hard enough to achieve it.

After you're done making a list of your goals, go through them again and cross out the ones that aren't really that important to you. You want to have burning desires on that list. Things that would make your life happier and more fulfilled.

Here's an important point: You need to read that list both morning (when you wake up) and at night (before going to sleep) When you read the list, visualize it completely. Imagine that you have already achieved the goal and try to "feel" what it's like.

The step of visualizing each goal is so important. It crystallizes, in your subconscious, exactly what it is you want drawn to you.

Once you become aware of it consciously and start to visualize it more often, you're sending signals to your subconscious to have it start working towards drawing this goal into your life.

Here's a real-life example.

Say you want a new car. Write down, exactly what kind of car you want. Say it's a silver 2004 BMW, 4-door. Picture the car in your mind. Touch the steering wheel. Imagine what it would feel like being behind the wheel of that car.

Now, what's going to happen after you start thinking about that car is, you're going to start seeing silver BMW's everywhere you look when you drive.

But they were there all along. You're just now consciously aware of them. You've started the process of bringing that car into your life.

I just personally did this in my own life. 30 days ago, I started visualizing having a nice new Mitsubishi Eclipse sports car. And I wanted it fast.

I started seeing Eclipses everywhere on the road. 15 days after I set that goal, I drove past a dealership that had an incredibly sharp, blue Mitsubishi parked out front.

I went in, found out the owner was moving out of town and needed to sell the car fast. And was willing to let it go for about half of what it was worth.

I drove away in a beautiful Eclipse, right then and there. Just 15 days prior, I had set it as a goal.

Let me wrap this up by showing you how you can use this process to get the body you've always wanted.

You need to take these 4 steps:

1. Determine what it is you want, in all areas of your life. You need to be as specific as possible, right down to the color, the size, shape, kind, make, etc. Do you want more money, a better job, a life partner, better sex? Whatever you want, you can have. But you first have to identify it and write it down.

2. Write down when you want to achieve it by. This is extremely important because it puts the mysterious ways of the universe to work, by beginning to bring this goal into your life. Once you have a deadline, you begin to think about your goal continuously.

3. Read and study anything you feel will help you achieve your goal. Read a fitness book, a muscle magazine, study a course. Whatever you feel that you need to learn to achieve your goal, take action and do it. This is usually the step that separates winners from losers. Winners are willing to do what losers only think about doing.

4. Visualize and perform. This is where the rubber meets the road. Visualize what it is you want and how it will feel when you achieve it. Then get moving towards bringing it into your life. Think about it, read your list aloud, think about how you're going to accomplish it, make a plan to accomplish it, and then follow that plan.

If you take these steps in your life, I can assure you that everything you ever wanted in your life will begin to happen. I promise you.

There should be NO self-limitation that holds you back from having what you want. If you can think of it, you can have it.

Shawn Lebrun is a fitness trainer and natural bodybuilder dedicated to helping you build muscle, lose fat, and get your best body ever. Check out what he can do for you:

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