The Basic Principles of a Solid Mindset

While stereotyping really isn’t our thing, something that we’re going to assume is that anyone who has started to read this guide has already tried diets. You’ve probably gone through the whole New Year’s Resolution phase – and suffice to say, failed after a month (or maybe two).

The main reason that people fail is because of their mindset. Sure, nutrition and fitness regimes are crucial, but without a solid mindset you’re asking for trouble. It’s the stuff that can drive you through the bad times, and fuel your progress when you’re on a high.

For the purposes of simplicity and breaking this topic down into manageable chunks, we’re now going to talk about the four basic principles. Some sources might suggest there are 10, 20 or more – but to keep things easy, we’ve grouped the main things into four areas so that you will digest them completely.

Your goal is to be happy, healthy and looking great. To do this, your mindset needs to be spot-on – or to be specific, you need to be on top of the following four principles.

Never forget the fun-factor

This is a results-based business, make no mistake about it.

However, as we’ve already talked about, you can have the best fitness and nutrition plan in the world but it all falls when you’re just not “feeling” right. Or, in the case of this first principle, feeling happy.

In short, you need to have fun with your regime.

Again, with the goal of staying away from stereotyping, we’re going to assume that you were bored out of your mind at any previous regime you worked at. In other words, if you were running on a treadmill for hours and hours and being utterly miserable, it’s the sure-fire way to stunt your progress. You’ll give up – and that’s the exact thing we don’t want to happen.

Instead, this principle is all about identifying what makes you happy, and opting for that approach. If it’s a sport, build this into your regime. If it’s swimming, the same applies.

Sure, different requirements will be needed, but the principle always needs to be there – you need to have fun.

Therefore, if at any point through your training you feel as though the fun-factor has evaporated, you need to identify this feeling and act accordingly. There’s no harm in changing your plan if you don’t like it anymore – but if you wait too long after the enjoyment has disappeared then you are just asking for your mindset to sink, and asking for an easy excuse to quit training.

Take each day as it comes

We may as well give up with our stereotyping as here we have another. A lot of people who have tried and failed with fitness regimes have done so because they have opted for too much, too soon.

They want the magazine-esque body in three weeks, or just before that beach break and in short, this is completely unreasonable.

Instead, a long term approach is needed, but this approach needs to come into play on a day-to-day basis. A solid mindset will result in you tackling each day’s challenges – and stray away from the typical mindset which wants you to skip to the end of your training, and win all of your goals.

Think of it as like a video game; you need to progress through each level (there’s no cheat codes here), before you complete.

The point of this is simple; you need to concentrate on small wins to reach the end of the game. Even if it means performing one more rep in the weights section, or running for an extra minute – it all adds up.

As you have accepted that this is a long game, over time these daily differences will make the world of difference.

So to summarize – you need to accept that this is a long game, but also work on a day-to-day basis to progress to your end goal.

Always focus on strength

This is perhaps one of the most important mindset factors that you can take into account – and it doesn’t matter what your end fitness goals are.

Some people might be looking for the typical beach body with bulging muscles and the rippling six-pack. Others might be looking to run a marathon. Some of you might just want to improve the quality of your life so you can spend time with the family more easily.

Well, there’s something that correlates with all of the above – a strong body.

If you have a stronger body, it will inevitably look better. If you have a stronger body, or legs in this case, running will become easier and the risk of injury diminishes. If you have a stronger body, you will find it easier to complete day-to-day tasks.

To gain this strength, a lot of you will have to shift your focus. Instead of going to the gym and “working out”, it’s all about going to the gym to “get stronger”. This is an immediate shift in mindset and if you can simply focus on the hard and fast way of getting stronger, all of the other goals that you have penned in will gradually drop into place.

You only have a one-day absent pass

Missing a day of training, or straying away from your nutritional plan is fine. In fact, it’s more than fine. It’s days like this which will keep us sane.

We all want to go to that party, or perhaps just have an extra hour in bed on one training day.

However, you should understand that this is your limit. In other words, that one day can’t mess the rest of your plan up. If you’re looking for a simple rule; one off day is fine, two isn’t.

In some ways, this is all about having immense mental strength. Firstly, you’ve got to accept that you will have days in which you don’t want to train or fancy that cheesecake. On the flip side, you’ve got to show strength to not repeat this.

Far too many people will slip up once and let it happen again. Before long, their training plan is in tatters and they’ve given up.

If you allow yourself to have off-days too often, you will give up. Build this into your mindset.