How to begin

I have never set out to do something without completing that thing. I never start something and not finish it. Never.

But many people at the end of January will find that they haven't taken any steps towards the goals they set between Christmas and New Year's Eve.

✅ WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

If you set out to do something, why are you waiting around?

Why are you procrastinating? Who do you want to take care of your dream instead of you?

If you haven't prioritized actions, it means you don't really want it, or something doesn't yet hurt enough. Am I right?

Just like you always do about going to the dentist as well. You put it off until you can't sleep because of the pain.

That's what I used to do in the past myself. That is, until I found a specialist who taught me why it's important to take care of my teeth.

It's all about education.

✅ IN DECEMBER

In December you said you were going to start on January 1st. January 1st came and went. You postponed until the 7th because you're on vacation.

Then on the 8th you’ll start work and won’t have a chance to even breathe.

Today you'll half-heartedly tell yourself that you'll start – it is Monday after all.

But you know very well that you'll be back at work soon and you’ll have to catch up. Most likely, January will pass, and you won't change anything.

✅ GIVE UP

Then you know what you’ll do? You’ll give up on your dream and feel that feeling of helplessness and regret again.

You've long lost your self-confidence and any new endeavor that you don't complete makes you sink deeper into the fog of helplessness.

The solution? Food, sweets, alcohol, tobacco.

By February, you’ll likely wake up to the fact that you weigh more than in November.

You've failed again. Just like every year.

✅ FOOD AS A SOOTHING MECHANISM

In search of relief, you will again turn to food, sweets or alcohol.

And so, you will remain in the same vicious circle and life will basically pass you by.

You're in a train carriage and you don't know where the train is going. You have no control.

If that's the case, just know that I'm not here to give you a shoulder to cry on. I'm here to give you solutions.

✅ TRAUMA

Psychologists will whisper to you that you have "unresolved" traumas and that's why you tend to find refuge in food or alcohol.

Are you saying that people who achieve their goals had the perfect childhood? Were they deprived of hardship? Don't they have deep psychological wounds themselves?

I believe it is exactly those people who benefited from hardship that are better off today.

Go see a therapist: they will make you feel better that you did "something for yourself".

Do you think that if you successfully addressed some childhood trauma, then you suddenly become immune to a jar of Nutella or a bottle of Prosseco? Let's get real.

Do you know how many people I know who were tens of kilos overweight who went to a psychologist and then miraculously lost weight? ZERO.

But I know someone who was treated well by a psychologist, came to us, lost 80 kg and has been maintaining their figure for 3 years.

Unfortunately, you also know that exceptions do not become the rule.

✅ GYM SUBSCRIPTION

It's just like a gym membership. When the month ends, don't forget to call and ask them why you still haven't lost weight.

Most people who sign up for a gym membership only go a few times in January.

20% of people who pay for a gym membership never even go.

A good part of them will renew their membership and repeat the same cycle year after year.

✅ THE SOLUTION

I think that a small win would help you feel better. It will give you a little self-confidence.

When you feel better, there are chances that you will stop looking for comfort in food or drink.

Then another small win = another boost of confidence.

And so on until, you will have regained your confidence in your own strengths.

And the more in control you feel, the less often you will turn to comfort food or alcohol.

✍️ Only after reading the article "The Secret Weapon" here (CLICK) you should return to this article and continue.

✅ SOPHISTICATION

For example, when I set out to do pull-ups, I set up my pull-up bar on my balcony at home.

I did everything I could to make it as easy as possible for me to stick to the schedule of doing as many reps as I could.

If I had to sit in traffic, get to the gym, change, and then do some pull-ups, I would probably not stick to my goal.

So, instead, what I do is the following: I wake up, drink my coffee on the balcony. After coffee, I do pull-ups and then I start writing.

✅ READING MAKES YOU LOSE WEIGHT

I once read this in a good book:

"The difference between the you of today and the you in 10 years is the books you've read and the people you've met."

You read a book and it’s maybe just that one sentence that makes you think.

That's why I never read book summaries. The gold nuggets are between the lines. You read 100,000 words for those 10 that matter.

As you probably already know…You will read 100 books and maybe just 1 will actually change your trajectory in life.

There are a lot of people who wrote me:

"I read your articles on Facebook, I didn't sign up for any of your programs, yet I lost 40 kg. Thank you very much."

People sometimes stop me on the street and say:

"Bro, I lost 20 kg since I've been following you, my girlfriend and mother and 2 colleagues from the office have lost weight too. You're really great, keep up the good work!"

The news even got out that when it comes to Body Engineering, reading makes you lose weight.

If something helps, what do you do? You press like, follow, see first, subscribe to the newsletter, subscribe to the YouTube channel.

✅ READING

It's not a question of whether I like to read or if I have to…

…but a question of “how can I read as much as possible in the shortest possible amount of time”.

If I can't read books, then I listen to audiobooks. But I also have the book on my Kindle. I have access to my account on both my phone and my laptop.

Most of the time I also buy the paperback book and I keep it on my desk.

I keep my books close by, I fall asleep reading on my Kindle, when I walk, I listen to audiobooks.

✅ ICE BATHS

I did the same thing with ice baths.

When I decided to take daily ice baths, I bought a chest freezer for the balcony in my office.

So I could have it next to me, have it at hand.

✅ “ON A DIET”

This strategy applies to anything. If I want to keep my daily “diet routine”, I'll just have proper food around me.

I'm not going to sit around with Nutella in my cupboard and ice cream in my freezer.

I may be mediocre, but I'm definitely not stupid or naive.

✅ BETTER DECISIONS

If I want to make better decisions in life, of course I'll only surround myself with people who are smarter than me.

I'm not going to sit around human trash gossiping and talking about football and politics.

I do the same with my children. I'm very careful to only expose them to "premium" surroundings and people.

You know how they say: "You are the sum of the 5 people you spend the most time with."

🏆 PRO Tip: if you need to lose weight, but your surroundings are full of obese people, what do you think you should do?

✅ PUSHUP DIPS

2 years ago, I decided to do 3 sets of push-up dips once a week.

Although I only walk 5 minutes to a park where they have special bars for this type of exercise, I keep thinking about installing 2 similar bars at home.

I have days when I can't leave the house. Maybe there is heavy rain, maybe there’s a blizzard.

I will go to the gym or to the park anyway (because that's how obsessed I am with sticking to my schedule) - but I don't like having to put in even an ounce of extra effort.

✅ KEEP CLOSE

I believe that success in any endeavor comes from daily / weekly repetition.

The easier it is for you to practice repetition, the better it will be.

For this reason, my recommendation is to keep what helps you in the endeavor as close to you as possible.

• If you want to stick to a "diet", then you should only keep "diet" food around your house.

• In order to make it easy on yourself to stick to your "diet", you should only keep people who support you in this endeavor around you.

• If you want to become more active, keep people who go to the gym or walk around you.

• If you want to do some exercise, follow me on Instagram, buy some dumbbells (so you can have them close by) and do what the priest does: CLICK.

I could go on forever, but I'm sure you get the idea.

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🏆 THE PROCESS IS THE FOLLOWING: you make the decision > make it as easy as possible for yourself > repeat a little every day for as long as necessary > achieve your goal > look for another goal > repeat the process.

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✅ START ON SUNDAY!

For a very long time, I think for more than a decade now, I realized that there was something wrong with "starting on Monday."

I didn't really like this thing about “starting on Monday”.

The reason is simple: Monday is a work day. You also have to take the kids to school in the morning.

If I want to start anything, I start on Sunday. I usually am free and relaxed that day. I have 24 hours at my disposal to begin.

For example, if I want to "start a diet on Monday", then on Sunday I have enough time to throw away any and all temptations around the house. I have enough time to do the shopping. I have enough time to cook the first healthy meal on Sunday evening.

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One of them is called "The Big Clean-Up" and it shows you why it's very important to throw away the garbage in the house.

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✅ START ON SUNDAY!

🏆PRO Tip: Sunday evening is also the best time to prepare the lunchbox with your "healthy" Monday lunch.

(Otherwise, you'll wind up eating pretzels again or some other junk at the office.)

For more than 10 years, my gym schedule used to start on Sunday, not Monday.

Even now, my exercise schedule starts on Sunday, not Monday.

I know exactly what I have to do today. A few sets of pull-ups with elastic bands and some gymnastics exercises for the glutes and lumbar muscles.

You have time today to make the decision, clean the house, do the shopping, adjust the "environment" around you in order to make it easy for yourself and START the process.

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