Successful weight loss or productivity is a lot like what the Green Bay Packers just did

One day at a time

I have lost 18 pounds in the last six weeks. How have I done this? The same way the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl this year.

I don’t like the word ‘diet;’ I think you are setting yourself up for failure when you use that word. But whatever you want to call it ‘diet,’ ‘lifestyle change,’ ‘eating healthier’ -there is one key to success. One day at a time.

You can use this same philosophy in anything you do. Daily productivity, exercise, eating better and losing weight or winning the biggest sporting event of the year. One day at a time, one game at a time.

When I made the decision to implement my new healthy eating style I knew if said to myself, “I am going to eat this way and lose 30 pounds over the next six months,” I was setting myself up for long term failure. Instead I needed to decided that I wanted to live longer and be healthy and do what I needed to do today to make that happen.

That is the key. When I wake up six days a week I tell myself all I need to do is eat the way I want to eat to be healthy today. Not for the rest of the month or week or for the rest of my life, but just today. If I said I need to eat healthy for the next 30 years, well come on just the sound of that is unrealistic. Even if I say I just need to eat healthy for a year, it still sounds like a lot. But today, I can do it.

Anyone can eat healthy for a day. Anyone can be productive for a day. Anyone can not spend extra money for a day and work on debt. Anyone can make their 10 calls to sales leads today. Anyone can accomplish just about anything they want for a day. It is when the focus becomes long term that we get in trouble.

If just about anyone but the most die-hard Packer fan was asked in December if they thought the injury riddled Packers could win the last two games of the regular season against the New York Giants and Chicago Bears, then go on the road in the playoffs to play the Philadelphia Eagles, top seed Atlanta Falcons, then beat the Bears again on the road and then still have to go to Dallas and beat the Steelers just about anyone would have bet heavy against the Packers.

Even if the Packers were asked, they would have thought it was a long shot. But if you asked them on any given Sunday could you win today, the answer would be ‘yes.’ The Packers only shot of winning was to take one game at a time. Just win this week, that is all they needed to worry about. And that is the same philosophy I take with my eating habits.

So I mentioned I do this six days a week. Why only six? Because we are human. One day a week I am going to eat anything I want, when I want and not worry about it. Knowing this cheat day is coming once a week makes it much easier to make it through today. If I see a Hershey bar and want one I don’t say no, I say in a couple days. If I crave a pizza, I write it down and plan on eating it on my cheat day. This helps me so much because again, I don’t need to say no, I just say in a couple days.

I will be talking a lot more about my diet and exercise program in coming weeks. But everything I do with my eating and weight loss is based on the idea that all I need to do is make it through today and long term I will meet my results.

Until next time, be productive.