Half Hearted...

Imagine you have to have open heart surgery, perhaps a heart transplant. After all the preparations have been made, the day of the surgery your doctor shows up, opens you and proceeds to put in only half of a heart. How would you feel? Quite frankly you may not even feel anything after a poor procedure like this... You may be dead.

What if you had some other type of heart disease and you only receive half of the treatment required to battle your condition? Not much hope for the long run either, am I right?

Being half hearted literally won't serve you of much. However speaking figuratively, being half hearted in the things that you do, can have the same damaging effect: it won't serve you of much.

Many folks believe that just wishing, hoping and dreaming about something, even maybe starting a new project, a relationship or whatever it may be; equals them putting their heart into it.If that were the case there wouldn't be so many broken relationships and problems around the world. Certainly being half-hearted applies to many aspects of our lives, but let's focus on fitness.

It's very admirable to take on the challenge to better yourself. Some join a gym, others start exercising at home, while others commence a dieting program. All too often what we see is the same people quitting or losing their edge after several weeks. At the first sign of an obstacle they quit, at the first sign a workout or eating healthier becomes difficult, or when friends (even with the best intentions) start questioning your sudden desire to exercise and eat better instead of drinking, going out, partying or just living a more laid back lifestyle; they drop the ball, they feel ashamed and they quit.

What happened? Where did the initial desire, the goals, the idea of looking and feeling better went down the drain?

I attribute it most of the time to being half hearted... and C'mon be honest - you are not in it entirely, completely, devoted to the task. You may not have started for the right reasons either. If you did things would different right now.

That's why you find yourself conflicted with what you think you wish 'you could wake up the next day and feel, look and be different'... against the person you truly are and you are not actually willing to make significant changes to you or your surroundings in order to not only reach your goals but exceed them. 

Let me share with you something I learned this weekend: "You can not be the person you want to be by being the person you are today"... It requires change, and change requires you to put your whole heart in it.

You can not say you want it bad and then appear all disengage, bored, making up excuses for lack of consistency or for actually showing up for your workouts but with a quitting attitude. I hear people say how bad they need to lose weight because they hate the way they look and feel or for medical reasons, because a wedding, summer, or vacations are approaching, among many other reasons; yet their entire lifestyle and actions tells a different story. It's not that it's difficult... it's that you don't want it bad enough.

When you want something bad enough you put everything you've got, everything you are on the line for that single cause. For example, think about a mother who is holding her baby in her arms who is very sick, her only thought is to get that baby into the care of a physician no matter the hour of the day, traffic, circumstances, etc. At that very moment nothing else matters, she will do WHATEVER is necessary to provide the care her baby needs.

Do you get it now? When you want something more than anything else in the world... the rest is insignificant. It's not a "I kind of want it"... It's a "I'm doing this no matter what".

When you put everything into it, you then realize you want this more than a drink, than a night out with friends, than doing others things which especially won't help reach the goal; then you're on to something and you are setting yourself up for greatness. But if what you want is to be partying, entertain everyone and every idea that is thrown at you... you will find yourself always in the same place wondering why is that others can do it and you can't. What do others have that you don't or just overly criticizing those who do work their ass off, dedicate themselves and thus have achieve great results. Fact: that type of mentality won't get you nowhere, except to the same place you are right now.

When you are whole hearted you will find a renew person in you, you will be more energized, you will become stronger both mentally and physically; you will develop courage, confidence, not to mention a new body. Even those around you who perhaps doubted you in the beginning will notice this change, will now respect you, they might even follow in your footsteps.

Putting the effort to improve your performance will not only make you stronger and leaner it will make you a better person. One of my previous post from last year I ended with this sentence:

"If you "kind of want it"... stay home and realize there's no time for half assing your workouts and the things in your life. Take the time to rethink everything and the direction your headed. Now if your goal is to improve life, performance, fat loss; and you "really want it" then make no mistake... every rep, every set, every second, every inch of sweat counts. Think about this next time your considering to skip or half ass your workout and nutrition habits".... 

These words still stand strong.

"Half hearted efforts will only produce half hearted results"...

It takes heart to do everything you want in life. The question is are you giving 100% of it or just half... Only you hold the answer to that question.