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Fitness Failure

Posted On : Nov-08-2011 | seen (1602) times | Article Word Count : 1125 |

It may make more sense to ask what to do about failure than what causes it. We all should strive to do that.
Edison failed 10,000 times before he made the first electric light bulb. Don't be afraid if you fail a few times as well. Napoleon Hill

None of us want to feel like a failure. More to the point, none of us want to be a failure. That is someone who commits to doing something but then does not follow through. For most of us this is the height of immaturity and the biggest reason to be down on ourselves when we evaluate our whole human worth.

Some may say that those words are all too strong. By this they mean that there are things far worse, such as the committing of a serious crime, or the continual repetition of some obnoxious behavior. But really those things can be thought of as a failure to live up to to the commitment to simply be a good person. In other words, they suggest a violation of a contract with oneself and society to be all that we can be for ourselves and our significant others.

The point of all of this is that being a failure is serious. It is not just a minor human inadequacy. Rather, it is a major one--one that we cannot forgive it in ourselves or in others. Even with the somewhat permissive wisdom of the past decade, none of us can really let ourselves off the hook for not following through on something which is important.

For law-abiding, hard-working people, one of the biggest arenas for failure is in weight loss or fitness. We all know of the too common phenomenon of starting out on January first only to quit again by March fifteenth. We have all done it before, and we hate ourselves because of it.

Today's quote is Napoleon Hill's of Thomas Edison, a man who made more than just a few attempts to build an electric light bulb. Apparently, there were even more than a few thousand, or so Hill would like us to believe. He wants us to see Edison as the epitome of the person who kept trying in spite of the fact that nothing ever seemed to work. How fortunate we all are that he kept on doing just that. How much we should strive on to be like him.

However, weight loss and fitness are a little different. That is because we all know that quitting is always our fault. This is different than with Edison who probably did not blame himself as much after each of his ten thousand failures. When we start out in January (as many of us will again do in not too many days) we will have a plan that we desperately hope will keep us at it this time, no matter what. We feel that we cannot have one more failure, or we will start to wonder what is fundamentally wrong with us. What is the one not so little flaw which might effect every other aspect of our lives?

If this is true of us, and if Edison really did not feel anything similar when trying to make the first light bulb work, we can see that there is actually a greater difficulty with us than there is with him. That he would have thought of himself as a bad person for not having made a successful invention is highly unlikely. That we might think we are significantly defective for quitting again is very much likely.

When it comes to our appearance and our health (as some of us may have been told that we must lose the weight to avoid diabetes) it truly is different. Other people seem to have succeeded, but, for some reason, we have not. That alone is different than Edison. There was no one else back then for his competition, at least no one who ever made it into the history books. If there were, Edison might have felt less intelligent or resourceful than another scientist who was getting closer to success. That could have held him back.

Nevertheless, the point of the Edison story is to say that we should not give up for any reason. That is largely because the next attempt might just be the one which works. This is true when it comes to fitness. Therefore, we should simply hang in there until our fitness lifestyle of dieting, supplementing and exercising become as much a part of us as the brushing of our teeth. But is this possible for everyone?

In a day and age of genetic theory we can be seduced into thinking that fitness success may not be possible for some of us. It could be that we are flawed from birth by reason of bad genes. Thus, all effort is futile.That type of thinking may make us give up after one what may seem to be one too many failures,but which are really not enough for us as distinct individuals.

Gene theory came about long after Edison's time. If it were around when he was, he might have wondered about himself after the five thousandth failure. Perhaps he was not cut out to be an inventor? But, Edison did not know any better. Therefore, he just never gave up. As a result, he finally found the way to create the first electric light bulb.

We have got to be like this when it comes to fitness. We have got to try again even if we are going on the tenth first of the year failure. Perhaps the best way to make that easier is to simply refuse wondering what it is that might make us quit. That is counter to the often times helpful activity of soul searching in an attempt to find our one tragic flaw with the intent of correcting it. The truth is that even if we paid for good help we may be searching for years before finding the answer and cure.

The better option, perhaps, is to simply say Yes, I may not make it again this year, but I am going to try regardless of what one more failure says about me. Doing that can give us a profound sense of pride for getting back on our feet after yet another bad attempt has knocked us down. That sense of pride just might be enough to make for another go around right now in stead of waiting until the first of next year. If nothing else, it is in keeping with the spirit of the great Thomas Edison.

For further thought on staying at it in spite of fitness failure order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."



Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Fitness Failure_101640.aspx

Author Resource :
Obese 49 years ago; state champion power lifter 1978; in better shape today at 63 than when on swim team in high school

http://blog.foreverfitness.info (subscribe for weekly fitness updates)

Author of "Think and Grow Fit" the no hype guide to getting fit and staying that way forever

http://www.foreverfitness.info (6.00 ebook or 15.95 softcover from publisher I_Universe, Amazon or Barnes and Noble)

YouTube - mcfitnessguru19

Keywords : fitness, exercsie, diet, markclemens,

Category : Health and Fitness : Exercise

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