How Your Business Can Help You Lose Weight and Vice Versa

Each morning you rush through breakfast to get the kids ready for school. You send them off with organic lunches and a kiss.As they walk away, you feel that familiar heart squeeze, and you make your daily deal with God that you'll do better next time, if He would just bring them home SAFE.Then you head right into work because you’ve only got 5 hours (that seem like 2) before it is time to pick them up and start on homework, dinner, and baths.Somewhere in the hustle and bustle of the last few years, the baby weight never went away.“But it’s ok because I’m focusing on my business, right?”WRONG.

Stop Blaming Willpower

Willpower is like a muscle. It gets fatigued over the course of a long day running your own business and being a mom.e deplete our willpower throughout the day with business calls and homework help. It’s no wonder we run out of energy to make a healthy dinner. On top of that, we beat ourselves up when we hit the drive through.My friend, willpower is not the problem.

If Not Willpower, Then What?

WHY do you want your business to succeed? WHY do you want to lose weight? And what do these two have to do with each other?Wanting to look good in your clothes is great. But it is not deep enough.As motivators go, it is fragile, and it will crumble in the face of a stressful day.What you need is a better WHY.

A Better Why – What REALLY Motivates Us

Daniel Pink, author of the book Drive, explains that humans are temporarily motivated by the carrot or the stick. In our case, the carrot is looking good in your swimsuit. The stick is an uncomfortably tight waste band.Unfortunately, carrot and stick motivators are shallow and temporary.True motivation comes from three things: Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose.Let’s focus on Purpose.

The Surprising Motivator to Lose Weight

Everyone wants to make more money, right?Well, getting fit gets you paid.Let me be clear: This is NOT about how you look.It is about HOW YOU SHOW UP every day.Think about it. When you eat better, you feel better. You have more energy, more confidence, more POWER.Tackling complex projects is easier when you have more energy. Client meetings are less scary when you already feel confident.Ideas flow better when you feel good.In his book Spark, Dr. John Ratey explains how exercise improves neural connectivity in the brain. Exercise is like fertilizer for the brain.You can draw a direct line between your health habits and your income.The better you eat, the better you show up at work, the more money you make.

Getting Warmer….

Money is a better motivator that just looking good. But it is still not enough.Money is a means to an end. It is not the end itself.So what is REALLY motivating you to make your business great? What are you really after?• You want to provide for your family so that you can move to a safer neighborhood.• The kids are not so small anymore and it is time to start saving for college.• Your business is your PASSION. And you KNOW deep in your gut that you can make a difference in people’s lives, if you could just reach them with your message.Safety, security, freedom, PURPOSE….these are the deeper feelings hidden beneath the desire for more money. These are real motivators.How will it be different this time?This time is different because you are anchoring a deeper purpose to your weight loss goal (actually, let’s call it your “Be Incredibly Productive” goal.)Get a piece of paper and write out: “What; Why; How; When” on separate lines with space between them.1. WHAT: what is your goal? I recommend describing how you want to FEEL rather than a number on the scale or how much money you want to make. For example: “I want to feel energetic and purposeful. I want to make a difference in the world..”2. WHY: why is this goal is important to you?For example: “I want to feel energetic each day so that I can craft my real life business into the one I already see in my dreams. Having a great business enables me to provide for my kids’ college funds.”3. HOW: how will you implement your goal?What kinds of things do you want to eat to feel your best?What will you do if ….when….you “fall off the wagon”? How will you bounce back? It is important to have a plan for when you can’t help being an imperfect human.4. WHEN: when will you practice these habits during the day?When will you fit exercise into your schedule?When will you eat breakfast?Will you cook any extra at dinner for tomorrow’s lunch?Flushing out your WHY can be a bit of a process. It takes some digging and being honest about what really is important to you.Personally, my weakness is an extra glass of wine at night. But I find that the desire to be fresh in the morning and ready to build my business is a stronger motivator than the desire for “just one more”.

What motivates you? I would love to read your thoughts in the comments below.