Today I want to share some thoughts on mindset. It's a term that's thrown around a lot, but what does it really mean?

When it comes to sticking with your fitness program and achieving your goals, it means everything.

Your mindset is made up of a series of beliefs. Those beliefs trigger certain feelings, which determine your actions, which ultimately produce a certain result.

I communicate with hundreds of people every week ... people who are considering starting a fitness program. Here is the most common mindset flaw I encounter:

"I've joined gyms in the past, maybe lost a few pounds, but never stuck with it. I've always quit before I got to my goal and gained all the weight back ... and then some."

This is a negative mindset, and it produces certain feelings and emotions. Feelings of inadequacy. Feelings of failure. Feelings of not being able to see anything through.

If you’ve experienced this, you shouldn’t feel bad about it … because you’re not alone. If you’ve had a bad experience with fitness in the past, of course you’re going to be hesitant to try it again!

The problem with this limiting belief, though, is that when it comes time to take action -- go to the gym or stay home and relax on the coach, plan and prep healthy meals for the week or wing it at the local takeout spot -- guess what happens? The feelings triggered by your beliefs compel you to take actions that do not support your goals.

The loop is finally closed when the result you expected -- that you'd give up before achieving your goal -- actually happens. And you say to yourself, "See, I told you so."

The only way to end this vicious cycle is to change your beliefs. But how the heck can you do that?

To a certain degree, you can't. But what you can do is trick your brain by transforming beliefs into decisions.

"I've decided to have protein and veggies with at least 2 meals a day for the next 30 days."

"I've decided to attend at least 3 workouts at the gym every week for the next 30 days."

"I've decided to pack healthy snacks that I can have at work instead of reaching for the junk food."

You see, once you have convinced your brain that beliefs are actually decisions, it flips the entire dynamic upside-down.

Since intellectually and emotionally, you're focused on actions instead of failure, your behavior improves. You begin making constructive choices and taking actions that affirm the decisions you've made. (We humans like to be right.) And guess what ... 30 days later, you're still going strong and making progress. The dreaded fear of failure is a thing of the past.

So if you want to change your mindset, you have to change your beliefs. And the way you do that is to treat beliefs like decisions. Trust me, you'll be glad you decided to do that.

Coach Aaron