Some time ago, I jokingly mentioned to my fiancé that when I finished my book, I wanted to make a crystal clear statement that those people who followed the guidance in my book are 100% guaranteed to see short-term results, with long-term results pending. I say “pending” because you have to continue to do the work to maintain what you’ve earned.

I also wanted to make another guarantee in the book:

If you act on not a single word on any of the pages within the cover of this book, you’re 100% guaranteed no results whatsoever.

Too harsh?

Or is that pure honesty? Some of us don’t need more sympathy. As I mentioned in a recent post, we have become too sensitive. We crumble when our feathers get ruffled. I am as sensitive as anyone, so I know what it’s like.

Lets stop and ask ourselves, do we really need more people to rub our backs every time we fail to take any significant action toward something that we say that we want? Is that helping us, or hurting us? Is all of that sympathy love making us delusional?

I personally think that it is making us extremely delusional as a society!

I wanted to take down the Christmas tree for nearly 2 weeks now and all I did was walk by it, get riled up that it was still standing there taking up valuable space in our living room. I stewed about it. Almost like I was going to come bouncing downstairs one morning and it was going to magically be gone and cleaned up.

Then, I snapped one day and took some action. It was time consuming removing all of the ornaments and unstringing the lights, throwing hip checks into my 7th month old golden retriever to prevent him from eating candy canes, but I did it. I got the job done and it felt fricking awesome. I took action, and my negative feelings disappeared.

You see, in life, a lot people wake up 10, 15, 20 years down the road in the same exact spot that they were when they started thinking that they wanted some kind of change, some kind of advancement.

I think this post is very easy for me to compose because I am a person that was having my back rubbed. I was that guy, making up stories about how I really wanted to write a book, create an online community, build a legacy, take my life portable via a laptop. I received a lot of support, and also a lot of back rubbing.

While there is no doubt that failing to make any of this come to fruition is certainly a “me problem” first and foremost, I can also say that I should have been mixing it up with people who were willing to call me out. Yes, I needed a heavy dose of “you’re all talk”. I needed more, “what are you going to to about it?”. “What have you done about it?” “Stop talking and start doing!”

Here is a quick synopsis of how it usually went:

Me, “I am going to write a book, sell it, create a membership site that crushes other membership sites on the web, and enjoy the satisfaction that I am getting what I want by helping others get what they want”.

Person I needed to be hanging around, “Ok, do it. Less talk more work Kyle. What steps have you taken thus far? What are your deadlines? Do you have deadlines? Who is holding you to those deadlines? So far, it seems like you’re full of shit, are you really serious about accomplishing all of this?”

The butterflies and then the sudden stomach drop is your inner self getting a splash of cold water and finally waking up. That’s when you finally realize that you’ve been sabotaging your potential. You’ve been dogging it. You’ve gotten comfortable, complacent and lost desire. You’re effectively going through the motions, treading water and doing just enough to get by.

Those are horrible feelings to have, but that can have the potential to initiate the wake up call in all of us.

You may think I am crazy for creating dialogue between myself and an imaginary friend, but I really think that we could all use a heavier dose of reality. I use myself as an example because you can learn from me. Don’t let constructive criticism break your back. Have a spine, develop a posture and an attitude that wants to compete and win. I don’t care if you’re competing against the inner demons that have held you back for years or against real world competition in the marketplace, just compete.

It doesn’t take talent to hustle.

The hardest part about receiving that much needed kick in the ass, is realizing that the only person that you are fooling (or were fooling) is yourself. Everyone else can see your bluff.

Boiling it all down…

If you’ve been trying to lose fat or lose weight for years without any results… you’re doing something wrong.

If you’ve been trying to gain strength for years and are still pushing the same weight… you’re doing something wrong.

If you’ve been trying to make more money at that sales job with no increase in income… you’re doing something wrong.

If I’ve been trying to write a book for years without anything to show for it… I have been doing something wrong.

Don’t be afraid to be honest with someone if you feel they need it. It might be uncomfortable for you to say and for them to hear, but many times it can provide the spark that is needed to create some forward motion. Getting your feathers ruffled can be a good thing.

As it pertains to restoring health, if you find yourself spinning your tires in the same spot for the last few years, you definitely need to make some adjustments. There is something that you are either doing, or not doing, that is keeping you in the same spot. End of story.

Maybe it’s a nibble of junk food here and there. Maybe it’s skipping that workout just every so often. Maybe you are actually making it to the gym or engaging in a home workout but it isn’t what your body is calling for to see change. Whatever it is, it is adding up and it is costing you results.

Check out The Training Effect Facebook Page for a recent post about how easy it is to gain weight without noticing.

The problem isn’t the workout program that you purchased, it’s you. But the author can’t tell you that because they have a business to run which probably feeds their family and keeps the heat on in the Winter months.

But I will tell you that, because we are on the same level right now, you and I. You’re reading and I am writing, and we are here together for the time being. For every 1 finger that you point to redirect blame on someone or something else, there are 10 more fingers pointing back at you.

Whoa, it got kind of heavy there for a second!

Finally, on to fitness related stuff…

The best part about building fitness and leaning out (at least I think), is that we can keep making tweaks to our approach for life. You don’t need to keep the same regimen for the rest of your life. In fact, you shouldn’t because you’ll burn yourself out.

Crank up the intensity of your training sessions for a few weeks. Then, dial it back after a while and create some separation anxiety between you and your workouts. Once you start seeing results, you’re going to want to keep training. However, removing yourself from the workout program can fuel you even harder when you do finally get back into the gym. It’s hard to take time off, but doing so will give your body some much needed rest while motivating your mind.

Starting crawling and handwalking, planking, squatting and then pressing, rowing instead of biking, engage in some yoga, some long duration stretching, foam rolling, quality sleep, hill sprints, some fat loss complexes, etc. Mix it up. Keep it fresh.

Take a small amount of time and make the $$$ investment in learning about nutrition. I HIGHLY recommend investing in the Lean Eating Program that Precision Nutrition has established because they are at the top of their game. They really are. They cover everything, and push for a perfect blend of evidence based eating while considering the real world. They’ve created a system for eating just as a personal trainer creates a system for burning fat off of someones body.

That is powerful. After you make the smart decision to buy into Precision Nutrition Lean Eating system, follow it! I GUARANTEE that you will get results. You will lean out, see worrisome health markers correct themselves, and most of all you will feel confident. You can’t put a price on self-confidence. Self-confidence sets the stage to make even bigger waves in the future.

So, in the end…

… results are guaranteed, but you have to be willing to do something about it first, and then actually do something about it.

Cheers to guaranteeing your results!

KG