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Do you know I never thought I’d say this… it’s blasphemy to my big-buff-gorgeous-gym-dude-days but honest to goodness the thing I’m really attracted to right now is a strong MIND. In others… and In Myself.

Yes, of course a strong muscly bod is nice to look at. However, real strength, this possibly slow learner is now convinced has nothing to do with how much you can bench or (as always impressed me more!) how much you can Squat or even (guaranteed to turn my head in the gym!) how much you can Walking Lunge.

I know it’s obvious right? My close friends always joked I’d end up with the really little guy. That dude that’s just not a fan of the gym… and maybe I will, however to move away from me before we get too personal (!) and make this applicable to your body gain goal, today’s show shares: How To Strengthen Your MINDSET.

It’s a skill we all need. That perhaps some of us need to work harder at than others. That absolutely can be learned.

And that you can never get too competent at.

For many years the huge impact a strong mindset has on body gain and on life in general was just one of those things that came into my “You don’t know what you don’t know” category.

I was ignorant and it wasn’t blissful.

Now that of course does not mean I’m all knowing now… I just have a better idea of how much I don’t know and a commitment to constantly investing time, energy and money in being less ignorant so far as my own mindset.

Specifically in relation to body gain here are: 4 Ways To Strengthen Your MINDSET:

One: Squash Your ANTS. (Automatic Negative Thoughts).

When it comes to Automatic Negative Thoughts it’s not about having to eliminate them from your life completely… humans have a natural negativity bias. From an evolutionary perspective I’m sure this has saved us from many a dangerous situation however it’s a tendency that needs conscious reframing.

You know… You jump on the scale. That numbers gone up and your first thought is: “I knew this eating plan was a waste of time and money. I’m just going to go back to eating food I love and stay fat… at least I’ll be happy!”

Except that you won’t be happy. You’ll be frustrated and uncomfortable and disappointed in YOU.

Not because of an eating plan that doesn’t work, is too hard or you don’t have time for… ONLY because you listened to the first voice in your head. The negative unsupportive lying self talk… the automatic-negative-thoughts-talk that deserves to be squashed!

The solution?

Consciously REFRAME any ANT’s that try to crawl their way into your your thinking. It’ll seem manufactured at first. However you’ll still see results for manufactured positive/supportive thoughts as they will make you more inclined to choose better actions. With time your automatic thoughts will start to become more positive unconsciously.

Two: Model Both The MENTOR and The Anti-Mentor.

When something doesn’t come naturally – yet – the best approach is to find and model the person for whom it does come naturally. Or maybe the person for whom it also didn’t come naturally, however they’ve worked at it and they’re doing pretty well.

I love to learn about the way that successful people think. I’ll get glimpses of it within Personal Training sessions.

=> Perhaps the way they always assume the best and yet prepare for the worst.

=> Certainly their ability to accept responsibility.

=> Absolutely their willingness to pay their dues and really put in the effort.

However there’s an often overlooked mentor too… and that’s the Anti-Mentor! Now there’s a fair chance you have an Anti-Mentor or 2 in your life right now. They can be pretty draining and UN-fun to be around, however…

The solution?

While I don’t recommend actively seeking out Anti-Mentors (!) when interacting with them is unavoidable then there are lessons they can teach you. The beliefs they choose to entertain… the way they think and as a consequence the way they act is often the perfect example of how you don’t want to be.

When you’re facing a little self negotiation. That moment we all encounter when you’re conscious before you make the good or not-so-flash decision think of your Anti-Mentor. Ask yourself what would the Anti-Mentor do?

And of course, choose the other option.

Three: Choose Your IDENTITY BELIEFS.

I cover Identity Beliefs in show #216 and Belief in show #006. The really powerful thing about Identity Beliefs and indeed any beliefs is that they are not real or right and they don’t need to be. A belief is something you make up and then cling to and make decisions – life changing decisions based on.

So what if you didn’t make up your belief? What if you decide to take on someone else’s belief? What if you decide to believe something about YOU based on someone else’s misguided NON-real, NON-right, NON-supportive false opinion???

Perhaps… “We’re just a family of chunky hips and thighs and scrawny upper bodies” or even “Money doesn’t come easily to our family – we’re toilers – however there’s always Lotto!” 

It means you’re going to be hunting down evidence to support this NON-supportive belief about you.

Adding fuel to a weak mindset… strengthening negative identity beliefs.

It’s sounds absurd however your unconscious mind will hunt for evidence to support and strengthen whatever you choose to believe about yourself.

The solution?

Choose the identity beliefs that make it easier for you to succeed. Choose to believe you are the type of person who will do whatever it takes to achieve your body gain. Choose to believe you are the type of person who can create the career, the life, the whatever you would most love in life.

Choose to believe you are the type of person who has a strong MINDSET.

Four: Redefine FAILURE.

Do what’s really hard, possibly impossible? Strengthening Your MINDSET through the best of times.

I’m sure you know the person who has it all. The money, the looks, the luxury house… holidays… hotties on the side! 

Hey, I needed another ‘h’ and generally this person does not really have at all because they don’t have the genuinely loving, supportive family relationships and they DON’T have the strong mindset.

If you’ve never had to deal with failure you’ve never gotten the chance to grow that strong mindset through the worse of times. Through the most dire… stressful… hugely UN-fun times that force you to step up and get yourself through.

To grow. To redefine FAILURE.

It’s easy to be a good winner. It’s a whole different ball game to be a good loser.

The solution?

It’s simple not easy. Decide that something is important enough to keep trying when it gets super-crazy-tough-and-uncomfortable. Commit to never give up. Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and always: Back yourself 100%.

To get actionable today, what is ONE aspect of achieving your body gain goal in which you’d benefit from Strengthening Your MINDSET?

Perhaps the ANTS you entertain first thing in the morning – when your alarm blasts you awake and it’s time to exercise?

Or maybe your reaction the last time you endured something that could previously have been defined as Failure?

Whatever it is for you I’d love you to work on it this week.

That’s it for this week in Healthification. Thanks so very much for spending this time with me, I genuinely appreciate it.

If you enjoyed this show the best way to let me know is to leave me an iTunes review. That’d rock.

Simply head to iTunes and search for Healthification to leave that review. Huge thanks.

This week an especially huge THANK YOU to Aoife from the United Kingdom who left me this lovely review:

Best fitness and health motivation!

I love Kate’s podcast – she is the soundtrack to my workouts and THE most effective podcast when it comes to health motivation! I look forward to each episode and listen to old ones again and again 🙂 thanks kate for all your inspiring words x

Aoife you are so very welcome. It’s my absolute pleasure.

If you liked this you’ll also like: Getting Over Overwhelm… to fast-forward fat loss.

If you’re yet to share the Healthification love – just click here to zip over to iTunes and leave an honest rating and review. It’d help me out big time. With gratitude, Kate.