Friday, September 12, 2014

Handling the Negativity and the Naysayers

The fitness industry is saturated with negativity: don’t this or that, that exercise hurts your knees, this one is bad for you back, your form is bad, you will hurt yourself. YOU CAN”T DO IT. For an industry that is supposed to be about helping people become healthier and be better it sometimes feels like the fitness media, some professionals, or sometimes friends and family seem more bent on telling what we cannot do rather than focusing on helping us discover what we can do. Idiots, I say that in the most loving way possible, but still, idiots.

There is a simple solution for these kinds of people or forms of influence in your life. Ignore them and minimize contact with them. If that is not possible then surround yourself with enough positive voices to drown out the few negative ones and remember these words:

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how THE STRONG MAN stumbles or where the DOER OF DEEDS could have done better. The CREDIT belongs to THE ONE who is actually IN THE ARENA, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, WHO STRIVES VALIANTLY, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is NO EFFORT WITHOUT ERROR or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a WORTHY CAUSE; who at best, knows in the end, the TRIUMPH of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least he fails while DARING GREATLY, so that his place shall NEVER be with those COLD and TIMID SOULS, who knew neither victory nor defeat.- Theodore Roosevelt

When my weight loss journey began as a teenager, I put that quote up in my bedroom to remind me that the critics do not count. Too many times people misunderstand success, and in doing so, allow the failures of others to predestine their own failure. This is a major mistake. People criticize what they unable to do for themselves. Critics are absolutely useless; forget about them. Along the way, these experts at failing will explain and reason away why they failed. When someone starts into a litany of why you cannot succeed, remember, that person is telling their story of failure, not yours. You will not have story of failure because you will succeed. Success comes because you understand something that the bitter failures do not.

Success comes to those who do not compete with others but instead compete only with themselves. This is the only way to avoid jealousy. It is the only way to become better instead of bitter. The competition is the person in the mirror starring back at you. Become better today than you were yesterday and every day you will be winning. “The greatest fear in the world is the opinions of others, and the moment you are unafraid of the crowd you are no longer a sheep, you become a lion. A great roar arises in your heart, the roar of freedom.”-OSHO

Life is performance based. Results come to those who make an effort, not excuses. Successful people are not gifted with some secret talent or ability. They work hard and succeed on purpose. The success comes because they have learned to ignore the critics and get back up after getting knocked down. People who criticize fail because they thought success is about how high a person can climb. It is not, success is persisting despite the odds going against you. Sound uncomfortable? It is, and successful people learn to fall in love with discomfort because discomfort is the catalyst of growth and change. Negative people do not win at weight loss because they are unwilling to become uncomfortable. So they never experience growth.

Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new. - Brian Tracy


Negative people refuse to take action, so they never go anywhere, try anything or ever experience progress. Success is directly tied to action. There may be mistakes along the way but successful people do not quit.

No comments:

Post a Comment