Why “Slow and Steady” always wins the race

By: Ben S. Fogel

There are so many internet businesses out there that are spending millions and millions of dollars to buy your eyes and attention to purchase that next “quick fix” – the next “Magic Pill.”  

The more money they spend on advertising the next pill, potion, supplement, or challenge, the more money they make – AND the more people they lead down a path that is not sustainable.  

After spending over 16 years in the health and fitness industry, and working with thousands of clients, I can confidently say there is NO magic pill.  There is no quick fix that will target that “stubborn belly fat” or that will “melt away” body fat like never before.  

What all of these amazing marketers are not telling you is that the real magic pill is consistency over time and having the discipline to stay the course.  

(Are you the Tortoise, or the Hair?)

Actually, I have an equation for being able to create sustainable healthy change over the long term:

CONSISTENCY (HABITS) + DISCIPLINE + DESIRE = SUSTAINABLE RESULTS

My advice is this: stop throwing money away at the “next big thing” or some crazy supplement that your co-worker started to take and is telling you about.  Start investing in daily health habits that will build consistency over time. 

If all you did was drink plenty of water, ate adequate protein (At least .75 grams/pound of BW – see link HERE for more info.), and had vegetables at most meals you would be well on your way for just about any health, wellness, performance goal.  

Now, I will admit this equation above is simple, but not easy.  How do you start to build consistency?  By building small habits (Check out my article here all about how to make an “implementation intention” and to start to build consistency).  

Small habits then start to lead to “routine” and this is really the secret sauce.  The more unconscious we can make our habits lead into a daily routine, the more success we will have.  The more habits we can “stack” upon the others, the more likely we will start to “run downhill” as I like to say (Check out the easiest way to “habit stack” here!).

Next in the equation is discipline.  Can you remember a time in your life when you had a specific goal that you were working towards, and you had to get a little uncomfortable to achieve said goal?  

Maybe you had a goal to run a marathon and getting up every other morning to run a new distance got you a little uncomfortable, but you built the “discipline muscle” and did it every day because it was going to get you closer to your goal of running a marathon.  

Or maybe you were studying for an important final exam in school, and you knew you had to hit a certain grade to make the grade you wanted in that class.  So, what did you do?  You probably scheduled out time in your day (time you thought previously you didn’t even have) to study and work on the problems you knew were going to be on the test.  And then you succeeded.  

Discipline is a valuable character, and when combined with consistency, it can help you become unstoppable in accomplishing any goal you set in front of you.  

Lastly, but definitely not least is desire.  Desire is probably the strongest part of this equation.  If you don’t have a strong “Why” as we call it in the gym – a strong reason for WHY you are actually doing what you are doing, then it will be difficult to follow through with the consistency and discipline to get you there.  

Here are some questions you can ask yourself that will help lead you to your “Why”:  

• Why is achieving this goal so important to you?
• Why now?
• What would happen in your life if you made this change, and achieved your goal?
• What would be the consequence in your life if you did nothing, and made no change?

Build up your “desire” muscle strong enough that even when you do fall off the wagon, you can quickly jump back on.  

So next time you pull out your phone and see some fancy ad for a new fat loss strategy, or a new pill that is guaranteed to melt fat off your body, think back to all of the things that you have control over.   

You have control over your consistency (your daily habits), your discipline, and your desire.  Nobody can take those characteristics away from you!

Ready to start your journey of consistency over time?  We have a few spots left for our 14 Day Experience. Check it out below!

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