Setting Yourself Up To Win

Hello All,

Newsletters have been getting a little detailed recently so here is one that is a  more superficial though none the less important…

Setting Yourself Up To Win

(The Real Secret To Achieving Your Health and Fitness Goals)

Everyday my inbox gets filled with countless e-mail from friends, clients and fitness enthusiasts. Most of the e-mail questions ask things such as what are the best workouts to follow, what are the best foods to eat, and what are the best supplements to take. While there is nothing wrong with these questions, they are not necessarily going to move you closer to reaching your ultimate health and fitness goals. The real key to fitness success involves zooming out and looking at things from a higher level.

If you could do a survey of the people who have the best bodies across the globe you would find that they all have different theories and approaches with regard to their workouts, diets, and supplements. Some prefer higher volume workouts, some prefer higher intensity workouts, some prefer low carb diets, some prefer high carb diets, some are supplement "junkies", while others don't take any supplements at all.

The actual techniques and strategies will vary from person to person. As the old saying goes there is more than one way to skin a cat. (Note: why anyone would want to skin a cat is beyond me.)

But there is one thing that all successful people have in common and that is they set up the conditions of their life in such a way to ensure their success is inevitable over the long term. Inevitability thinking is a way of putting things in place so that what you want to achieve happens automatically.

Before we can move forward and make progress in any area, we have to first accept the fact that everything in our life is at some level the way it is today because of conditions that were set up in our past. Whether these conditions where set up consciously, unconsciously, by us directly, or by our environment.

For example, if John is now working as an auto-mechanic then things happened in his life that made this career choice inevitable. Most likely there were people and situations in his past that sparked his interest in cars. Which then made John want to go to school and study auto-mechanics, and then this eventually lead him to working in that field. Bottom line, he didn't just somehow magically become a mechanic. The conditions were set in his life, either consciously or unconsciously, that made it inevitable.

The same thing applies to someone who is lean, athletic, and muscular. They didn't  just get that way by accident. The conditions of their life were set in such a way as to make the outcome of a strong muscular body inevitable. In virtually all cases people who are in great shape have individuals in their life who are in great shape and to whom they looked up to. They are members of a gym that provides them with the tools they need to build their body. They spend time studying books, courses, and videos so they can learn how to maximize their results. They most likely participate in some form of sports or activities that give them extra drive and motivation to get in top physical shape, such as bodybuilding, powerlifting, fitness modelling, team sports or something that provides an outside competitive drive to succeed.

We all live in set conditions that are affecting our daily lives whether we realize it or not. So if you are not happy with the results you have achieved thus far, then you need to change your conditions in order to change the results you are getting.

Ask yourself what conditions do you need to put in place so the outcomes you want happen automatically? How do you make achieving your goals a sure thing that is eventually going to happen no matter what?

One of the most important conditions that you can set that will determine your level of success in any area of your life is choosing the people you associate with. If you look at the 5 people you associate with the most you will find that you are the average of those 5 people.

For example, if you took the average income of the 5 people you associate with the most, chances are it would be very close to your income. If you took the average level of health and fitness of those 5 people, chances are it would be very close to your own level of health and fitness. Now of course there will be some rare exceptions to this rule. But for the most part any measurable area of your life can be related back to the average of the 5 people you associate with the most.

So knowing that we are the average of the 5 people we hang around with the most. The quickest way to set the conditions of your life to help you move towards your desired outcomes is to get around people who are living life at a higher level. We imitate people around us whether we know it or not. So if you want to have a strong, lean, and athletic body, then you must associate with other people who are strong, lean, and athletic so their positive energy will help pull you up to that level. Probably the easiest way to do this is to join the local gym. Make use of the support structure provided by Altered Images. Talk to other members all of whom are undertaking their own personal transformations. I did send out a newsletter last year relating to the similar theme of role-modelling that you may like to dig out.

In my case some of the conditions from my past that helped set me on the path to building my current health and fitness business (if not body!) success was the fact that my brother worked out himself. He started with a bullworker (yep that old fitness aid – and it did work to some degree!) and progressed to a simple weight set in his bedroom and I played around with it as a kid. I also remember watching the "Conan The Barbarian movies" and seeing Arnold in his prime with a big muscular physique. My parents moved our family to a beautiful location near canals and so enrolled my brother and I into the local swimming club. All these things helped plant the seeds of a healthy lifestyle in my mind.

Then when I was 17 years old I joined my first gym and started associating with other local bodybuilders. My girlfriend worked there too. This created a huge burning desire for me to improve my physique just so I could "fit in". Then I went to University and joined the City Swimming Club which competed on a National (as opposed to local) level. This required strength training which was available through links with both the University and Polytechnic. Success breeds success and I was hooked. Health and Fitness became my life. 

During this time I also had a very supportive environment at home. My mum and dad would hang on to my every word about the success I achieved in various competitions and cheer me on. They would proudly display all of my trophies and medals in our home. This made for great conversation starters when company visited and they were always there as constant visual reminders.

All these things helped set the conditions for success in my life. Not only did I have internal drive and dream of building a decent physique in my mind, but I also had the external driving factors of regularly competing in swimming, badminton and tri-athlon competitions in front of hundreds of spectators. There was the "peer pressure" to keep up with the others. And I had the support of my family and a good home environment that was conducive to sporting success.

Inevitability thinking is a habit used by successful people in all fields. Be it in business, academics, or health and fitness. Consciously setting your life conditions will take the process of goal setting to a higher level. When you keep stacking the odds in your favour then success is inevitable. It is just a matter of time.

So with that being said:

What are the conditions that you need to put in place in your life so that the goals you want to achieve become inevitable and will happen automatically?

Yours in Health and Fitness

Adrian Lowther