No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline (29 page)
Read No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline Online
Authors: Brian Tracy
Tags: #Self Help, #Business, #Non-Fiction, #Psychology, #Inspirational
—VINCE LOMBARDI
F
or you to achieve and maintain high levels of physical fitness requires a lifetime of self-discipline and willpower. The good news is that physical fitness is its own reward. Not only do you feel good while you are exercising, but you feel wonderful about yourself the rest of the time.
or you to achieve and maintain high levels of physical fitness requires a lifetime of self-discipline and willpower. The good news is that physical fitness is its own reward. Not only do you feel good while you are exercising, but you feel wonderful about yourself the rest of the time.
If your goal is to live a long, healthy, happy life and be fit and trim physically, there is no substitute for regular exercise. Fortunately, you do not have to train for the Olympics or a triathlon to enjoy superb levels of physical well-being. By building exercise and physical training into your daily routine you can achieve physical fitness just by making a few small modifications to your lifestyle.
Physical fitness specialists generally agree that you need to exercise 200-300 minutes per week to enjoy the maximum levels of physical well-being that are possible for you. This means that you need to exercise between thirty and sixty minutes, five to seven times each week.
At the low end, if you simply went for a thirty-minute walk each morning before you started off for work or each evening when you got home from work as well as each weekend day, you would be one of the healthiest people in our society.
If you increase your exercise level to sixty minutes each time, five times per week, you will be in the top 1 or 2 percent of physically fit people in the world today.
The best time to exercise is first thing in the morning. People who get up each morning and exercise for thirty to sixty minutes are much more likely to make exercise a permanent part of their daily routine.
On the other hand, people who put off exercising until later in the day, until after work, almost invariably find that they are too tired or have too many other things to do.
They procrastinate on exercising until another day, which often never comes.
It takes tremendous discipline to get into and follow a regular exercise routine. But it is easier if you can discipline yourself to get up in the morning and start exercising immediately.
Many people, including myself, trick themselves into exercising in the morning by putting their exercise clothes right next to the bed so that they trip over them when they get up. Before they are even awake, they find themselves pulling on their exercise clothes and running shoes and starting off around the block. Before they even know what has happened, they are halfway into their exercise routine, their heart rate is up, their lungs are puffing away, and they are feeling good about themselves.
Whenever people come back from a morning run or any other form of morning exercise, they are always happy and smiling. This is because of the “exercise effect” that kicks in after twenty-five or thirty minutes. Their brains release endorphins and they feel exhilarated.
People who engage in aerobic exercise first thing in the morning have been shown to be brighter, more creative, and more intelligent throughout the day. They actually score
higher
on intelligence tests, and they seem to come up with more ideas to help them do their work better during the course of the day.
higher
on intelligence tests, and they seem to come up with more ideas to help them do their work better during the course of the day.
The reason for this is obvious. When you engage in aerobic exercise first thing in the morning, you drive hyper-oxygenated blood into your cerebral cortex, the part of your brain that you use for thinking, analyzing, and decision making. This makes you wide-awake and alert from first thing in the morning and then for several hours afterward.
When you exercise as soon as you get up, you kick your metabolic rate into a higher gear. As a result, your body continues to burn calories all day long. You continue to lose weight for several hours after exercising.
When you exercise first thing in the morning or anytime during the day, you become hungry. However, because you are working out your body in such a healthy way, you will have a natural appetite for healthy foods. You will have little or no desire for sweet foods or desserts.
One of the best things you can do to achieve and maintain high levels of physical fitness is to join a gym or a health club and attend regular exercise classes. You can even pay a little more and get yourself a personal trainer who puts you through an exercise regimen three or more times each week.
You are much more likely to discipline yourself to start and maintain a fitness routine if you have someone who is expecting you to be at a class or monitoring you on a regular basis to make sure that you follow the exercise program to which you committed.
Many people today are hiring personal trainers. Either a personal trainer can come to your home or place of work or you can go to a gym that has personal trainers on staff who will work with you on the specific equipment you want to use.
People who use personal trainers are almost universally delighted with the results. They find that being accountable to a trainer exerts a positive influence on them, causing them to eat less so they have less weight to burn off and to work harder when they exercise so that they can earn the approval of the trainer.
Organized sports are a wonderful way to achieve and maintain high levels of physical fitness. They are far more demanding in terms of time and schedule, but the payoff is often extraordinary.
If you are a member of a sports league—whether that be baseball, tennis, football, soccer, racquetball, or anything else—and you have a coach or trainer that you work with on a regular basis, you tend to be more focused and disciplined. You will exercise more often and more vigorously, and you will be fitter and trimmer than most other people.
Unfortunately, physical fitness and sports training require such high levels of
discipline
, and few people are capable of starting and continuing this kind of exercise regimen. For better or worse, whatever you do repeatedly becomes a habit, and many people get out of the habit of regular exercise and never go back.
discipline
, and few people are capable of starting and continuing this kind of exercise regimen. For better or worse, whatever you do repeatedly becomes a habit, and many people get out of the habit of regular exercise and never go back.
Fortunately, it is never too late. At any time, you can decide that you are going to enjoy high levels of physical fitness. You can make a decision,
right now,
to start a physical fitness routine of some kind and then set it as a personal test or challenge to see if you have the willpower and
discipline
to follow through on your resolution.
right now,
to start a physical fitness routine of some kind and then set it as a personal test or challenge to see if you have the willpower and
discipline
to follow through on your resolution.
YOU CAN START TODAYSome years ago, there was a sixty-eight-year-old woman living in a senior citizens’ home who had never given much thought to physical exercise. She had worked hard, raised her family, become a grandmother, and was now living comfortably in a senior citizens’ residence.One day, she saw a television special on jogging. During this special, they interviewed a couple of people in their fifties and sixties who were running marathons. Some of them had started running later in life.This sixty-eight-year-old woman decided that she wanted to run a marathon as well. She drove down to a nearby store and bought the proper shoes for walking and running. That day, she began her exercise regimen by walking around the neighborhood where she lived. Over the next few weeks, she walked ever-greater distances. She bought books and sought advice on how to exercise and train her legs for running.BUILD UP GRADUALLYAfter two months, she began jogging a little as part of her walking routine. After six months, she began running as part of her walking and jogging routine. By the end of the first year, she had run in a mini-marathon in her local community.By the time she was seventy-five, she had completed ten 26.4-mile marathons and two fifty-mile cross-country marathons. And the most remarkable thing was that she had never run before the age of sixty-eight.
So what’s
your
excuse? If this sixty-eight-year-old woman could start exercising so late in life, why can’t
you
?
your
excuse? If this sixty-eight-year-old woman could start exercising so late in life, why can’t
you
?
One of the greatest guarantors that you will live a long, happy life, being bright, alert, and full of energy, is that you begin a regular physical training program, four or five days per week, and continue it for the rest of your life.
When you exert your self-discipline and willpower to achieve a high level of physical fitness and then maintain it year after year, you will feel terrific about yourself.
In the next chapter, you learn how self-discipline in
marriage
can have a wonderful effect in assuring a long life of happiness and fulfillment with another person.
marriage
can have a wonderful effect in assuring a long life of happiness and fulfillment with another person.
Action Exercises:1. Today is the day! Make a decision that you are going to achieve the best physical condition of your life in the months ahead, and then take action immediately.2. Get a complete medical examination so that you know your condition and limits before you begin.3. Start walking thirty minutes each day, preferably first thing in the morning or, if not in the morning, right after work.4. Join a gym or health club, pay for a
year
, and make an appointment with yourself to work out five times a week, sixty minutes each time.5. Hire a personal trainer and have him/her guide you through an exercise program that includes aerobics, strength, and flexibility exercises each week.6. Invest in a treadmill, a LifeCycle, or an elliptical machine and put it in front of your television so you can exercise as part of your home and family life.7. Start gradually and work up slowly, resolving to exercise for several weeks before you notice a major difference. Be patient, persistent, and determined.
Chapter 18
Self-Discipline and Marriage
“It is better to control yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or demons, heaven or hell.”
—BUDDHA
Y
our ability to enter into a long-term, loving relationship is an important measure of your character and personality.
our ability to enter into a long-term, loving relationship is an important measure of your character and personality.
Men and women are born to be two halves that make up one whole. They have different qualities and characteristics that, when properly combined, achieve completion and the balance and harmony that nature demands.
The foundational qualities for marriage and loving relationships are trust and respect. Men and women can have many disagreements over the course of their married life together, but as long as the trust and respect between them endure, the marriage can go on indefinitely. If ever one or the other party can no longer trust the other or no longer respects the other, the relationship is finished.
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