Get off Your Butt!

Get of your butt! Not just physically, but mentally.

• To accomplish any goal, we must take physical action.
• There is mental action we must also take to accomplish our goals.

So how do we take mental action?

• Study Those Who Came Before You
• Mentally Prepare Yourself
• Make a Plan
• Track Yourself and Your Progress
• Make it Fun
• Connect your long-term goals to your core values
• Schedule your goals to remove the decision to work towards them every day
• Create if/then statements to avoid distraction of ‘urgent’ tasks
• Skip the ‘messy middle’ by starting at the finish line
• Avoid perfectionism by getting comfortable with uncertainty
• Share with others
• Celebrate

Use the “WHOOP your butt” strategy to turn ‘dreams’ into concrete steps.

1. Wish: What exactly do you want?
2. Heart: Why is this important to you?
3. Outcome: What would be the outcome of achieving this wish?
4. Obstacles: What will get in the way of achieving this outcome?
5. Plan: How will you work through these obstacles and steps to achieve your dream?

[ The following is the full transcript from this week's post. This is a health blog with a focus on weight loss. Please consider that all episodes are unscripted, direct to camera, with focused talking points. ]

Hello. Today, I want to talk to you about your dreams and your goals, and some of the things we can do to be successful in obtaining those.

The concept of today is really you need to get off your butt.

Often, we hear that terminology, and often it means basically you need to take action through kind of a physical movement.

But there is another “butt” I want to talk about, and that is the mental butt, what I mean by that is when you have goals or dreams, often when we are not achieving those, we have a butt in there, and what I mean by that is “I want to lose weight, but, or I want to make more money, but I'm going to write a book, but.” These are the butts that I want to talk about.

I want to talk about those mental roadblocks that are holding you back from obtaining what it is you want.

Today, we are going to focus on the mental actions required, not necessarily the physical actions required.

So, we all tell ourselves a story and when we are not being successful in obtaining or doing what we want that but creeps in. And that kind of gives us permission to not be successful.

One of the things is, we must acknowledge that, and take ownership of that, and then decide we are going to move beyond that.

And basically, kick that butt.

So, what are some things you can do to help do that? So that you can take action mentally?

Well, the first thing you can do is be a student of others. And what I mean by that is, everyone has struggles. And you can learn a lot by watching how other people have approached those struggles.

Whether it's reading books, or watching YouTube videos or whatever kind of vehicle you want to do, or use, watching and learning from others is essential.

I am not saying that you cannot do it without doing that, but the reality of it is, it is just easier.

Wouldn't it make sense that if you could do something that allows you to accomplish your goals quicker and easier, to actually apply that.

Being a student of others is going to help you learn and apply different strategies.

Find the people that you strive to be like, and then find out what they did to overcome obstacles.

You are going to find that it is very similar obstacles for all of us.

Next is, you must mentally prepare.

Like I said that butt in your mind, is giving you permission. It is saying “Hey, it is okay to do this. There are all these reasons why you're not being successful, and it's okay.”

And this is kind of that primitive brain telling me, Hey, let us stay in my comfort zone. It is safe here. Let us do not do anything that has risk, and we are going to be okay.

The reality is, is, is that creates stagnation and a loss of kind of purpose.

And it really does not necessarily lead us to a happier life. It may be a comfortable life, but not necessarily the most fulfilling life.

At this point you must mentally prepare and tell yourself; it is not okay.

Next, you've gotta have a plan. What I mean by that is a true plan.

Not “Hey, I am going to lose weight. My plan is to eat better and exercise.” But literally a plan that spells out what actions are you going to take to achieve that goal, to get you to that dream?

So, very specific plan, written out, in front of you, and able to utilize.

Next thing is, you gotta track your progress. So, if you want to manage it, you got to measure it.

What you are trying to do is, instill habits in your daily life, that are the correct habits, that are going to bring you to where you want to go.

In order to do that, you have to consciously identify what habits you want and then track, are you doing these habits.

So, let us say you want to be healthier. And so, you want to drink more water. Well then, you need to track how much water you are drinking.

There are apps and things like that that can help you track these things. But the important thing is, is you must track your progress, but you also need to track it in the correct light.

Often people say, I want to lose weight. And when you do a deeper dive with them. It is not necessarily weight they want to lose. Instead, it is fat they want to lose, and they simply want to be healthier.

And I bring this up because let us say someone says, I want to lose 20 pounds, I will say let us cut your arm and your leg off and see how much weight you lose. That is not what they are wanting.

Really, it is defining what that dream is, and your goal is, and then making sure your plan supports that, but you must have clarified on what it is you're trying to accomplish.

The next thing is you have gotta make it fun. It is not sustainable to do something you hate every day. There is lots of people that are successful in doing things they dislike for the long term. But the reality of it is, it is not sustainable over a long term.

Somehow, you must tie this to fun.

I am not saying everything is going to be fun, but in the end, you must find enjoyment in what you are doing. So, tie it back to something that results in fun, it must be a component of it.

Next, is you got to understand what your core values are, and does your long-term plans align with those?

So, if you are, if you are saying, I want to do X, Y, or Z, but that does not align with your core values. You are, you are not going to be happy. You are going to probably not doing a very good job of getting there, and you are going to struggle along the way and not get any enjoyment out of it.

So, a good example is, let us say you want to be a doctor, because your parents always told you, they want you to be a doctor. So, you strive to be a doctor.

However, that is not something you would want to do. You kind of told yourself, that is what you want to do this, because it is what your parents wanted you to do. The reality is it does not align with your core values.

So, the first thing you must do is identify what it is you value, and this can be difficult, because this is really kind of doing a deep dive into your psyche to understand what it is you value. do not mean, value and materialistic things, I mean, values, like trust, honesty, love, happiness, those types of things.

You need to understand that what you are trying to accomplish as your long-term goals, must fall in line with your core values.

The next thing, and one area that I see frequently as a cause of people not being successful, is you have got to schedule your time.

We are trying to create these daily habits, so let us say you want to lose weight, so one of your goals is to exercise 30 minutes a day. If that is your goal, to exercise 30 minutes a day, but it is not on your calendar, and not actually blocked out when to perform that goal. The odds of successful long-term practices are very low.

So, one of the things you do to improve that is schedule it. At the beginning your week, schedule out your week. Planning when you are going to exercise.

The nice thing about that is now you have committed that time, that kind of that placeholder, if you will, and you remove some of that kind of mental fatigue, your decision making, because now you do not have to make your decisions. You know when that is going to happen.

You know how it ties into your long-term values, or your long-term goals, and how it supports your values.

You have got to schedule your goals. And what I mean by that is literally schedule, this is when I am going to exercise. This is when I am going to write on my book. This is what I am going to do, X, Y, or Z, and it is on your calendar, because if you do not manage your time than, someone else is going to manage your time.

It is essential that your time is utilized, in working on the right things. The things that you want. The challenges are, often our long-term goals are just that, they are long term.

So, they are important to us. But they are not urgent, and those items that fall, into the bucket of important, but not urgent. We always are going to do those someday.

Well, if you look at a calendar, there is not some day on a calendar, so the important thing is, those important things to us that are not urgent, you have got to schedule time to make sure those happen.

The next thing is to create if or then statements.

What I mean is, you are going to have obstacles, do not be naïve. If you have a goal that is a stretch goal, there is going to be downtime, and there is going to be obstacles.

So, in your mind, create a tool that is preparing you for those obstacles.

So, if this happens, then this is what I am going to do.

So, let us go back to the analogy of scheduling time to exercise. On your calendar, you have already blocked the time. Well, someone now says, “Hey, Kelly, I need you to do this, okay?

So that is, if someone encroaches on this time, then what am I going to do?

And then so for example, you would say if someone wanted to encroach on at that time, then I will thank them for considering me for whatever it was. But I do not have time currently for that.

Or, if they ask you for time, then you need to find a different time to schedule whatever it is they are asking you to do, if that is something that lies with your values.

So, if then, statements are very helpful.

The next thing is do not get caught up in the messy middle.

Now, often when people set out to obtain a goal, they start from where they are at, and then try to build a plan to that goal.

I want you to reverse engineer this. I want you to start from where you want to be.

I want you to think about, “Hey, this is what the weight I want. This is the help I want.”

And then I want you to think about that for a minute. And visualize, what does that look like? What does that feel like? What does it produce for you?

And then reverse engineer and work backwards from that.

You clearly have in your mind's eye of what it is you are working towards.

And if you work backwards towards that, you always have that vision of where you are going right in the forefront of your eye or your mind. And that is going to help you continue to drive to that goal specifically during those difficult times.

The next item is avoiding perfectionism.

Often, people will develop their plan and say, “Yeah, it can be a little bit better. I will start it tomorrow because there is a few more things I want to do.”

Now, that is the time to get off your butt.

So, when you develop your plans, do not worry, “Are they perfect?”

They absolutely are not.

Are there going to be changes? There certainly will. Have that built into your plan. The flexibility of the plan is one of those great things of the plan.

So, it is essential that perfectionism can bog you down and stop you, or at least hinder you. Do not let that be one of those things that make it so you are not obtaining your goals.

Next thing is, share with others.

Create that supportive environment, and then share with that environment what your goals and objectives are.

The nice thing is, by voicing what it is and let the world know, it creates kind of this internal accountability that's more likely to drive you to be successful.

Secondarily, it is creating a support system for you to help you along the way when you encounter those obstacles.

Remember, if it is a supportive environment that you have created. When you are having a down day, they are going to come to you and say, “hey, you got this, today's a bad day, but learn from the day, and let's move forward.”

So, really share with others what it is you are trying to accomplish.

Then the next thing is to celebrate, you have got to celebrate the wins.

And what I mean by that is, maybe you decide, you are going to exercise for 30 minutes a day. You get up at five in the morning, you go to the gym, you exercise, but you kind of feel like, today, I just did not fill it, I kind of went through the motions more than really working out hard.

It is okay, you are going to have those days, celebrate the fact that, “Hey, you know what, I got out, I made it to the gym.” Find the reasons to be appreciative and celebrate the small wins that are in your daily actions, because they are there, but often, we kind of get blended them by our negativity.

So, remember, look for the small wins and celebrate them and celebrate them often.

So, kind of putting this all together, I have a mnemonic that I use that basically, I say, I am going to whoop your butt. And what I mean by that is I say W H O O P is the mnemonic to help me remember, how do I get past these mental blocks, are these mental obstacles that I'm going to encounter?

So, the first part of the WHOOP is W or wish.

What is it that I am wishing for? Do I want to be healthy, or do I want to be more financially independent? Do I want to write a book?

Whatever that wish is. First, identify that wish to articulate that.

Then, H of whoop is heart. How does this connect to my heart? How does it connect to my why? Why do I want that?

This is essential step, because this why component is what is going to give you the energy you are going to need to be sustainable. The days that you feel down and just too tired, or there is too much going on. I know I got this on my calendar, but I just, I gotta do these other things are originally energy to do it.

Remember your why. So, in your heart, why did you start this in the first place? Was it to get healthy to play with your grandkids? Was it to get healthy so you can enjoy more time with your spouse? Whatever your why is, it is in your heart. It is an emotional component, and it is essential that you identify that, and relate to that.

The next part of the whoop is, O, outcome.

What is the outcome? What does a specific goal that you are trying to achieve here that supports this wish? So, I want to be healthier, and I want to lose body fat, So I want to eat healthy.

What does that mean?

So now you gotta start, remember, and you are going to go, “Okay, I gotta track what I eat.” Things like that.

That can be kind of burdensome, and so you must remember why you are doing this.

How it connects back to that wish, how it connects to your heart? And then, what does that outcome, and then how do you support that outcome?

The next O of whoop is obstacles.

What obstacles are you thinking that you are going to encounter? You are not going to be able to identify every obstacle. But you will be able to identify a bunch of them. And so, you will already have a game plan on how you are going to attack that obstacle.

Identify those are obstacles.

The P Whoop is your plan.

How are you going to work through those obstacles? And what are the steps you need to take to achieve your dream.

That is the mnemonic I use is to WHOOP my butt’s.

What I am trying to say is those mental butts. How do I prevent those for, from controlling my life and getting me off track?

So, when I say I'm going to WHOOP that butt. I said mentally, and what I mean is what is the wish? How is the effect to my heart? What is the outcome I want with obstacles and what is the plan?

So, remember that kind of that little mnemonic. It helps quite a bit for me in trying to be successful and moving past the daily grind and finding that enjoyment striving for along the way. So, I'm enjoying the journey on the way to success.

So again, get off your butt, both physically and mentally, get out there and accomplish those things you want to do.

And if there is anything, we can do to help this, let us know.

Thanks.

Kelly Cox MD, FACEP

Member, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine