Nope, not the Chesney Hawkes cheese-a-thon.
Although, I saw him at the re:wind festival last summer and, I must admit, I thought he was brilliant!
Imagine that you were the only person you knew who had extra body fat.
Everyone else ate healthily all the time……..
Exercised regularly and effectively………
And had bodies that they were happy with the look and feel of.
You were the ‘one and only’ person who had weight to lose.
How hard do you think you’d find it to lose?
Easier than it is now I should imagine, no?
That most other people are in the same boat makes it easier to justify, doesn’t it?
Despite better intentions, it’s human nature to drag each other down a lot of the time.
After all ‘Failure is best endured shared’.
If you fail to lose weight, get fitter, etc than it validates others’ justifications.
It is too expensive to eat healthily.
It does take too much time.
It is impossible for people like us.
With our age / gender / jobs / families / stresses / injuries / illnesses / busy lives.
If you lose weight, get healthier and keep it off………
Then it blows those justifications out of the water for others.
Holds a mirror up.
Makes them feel bad.
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They say you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.
It’s one of the reasons why what we do works so well.
That group dynamic means people get ‘dragged along’.
Members motivate and encourage each other.
Picking people up as they stumble.
Rather than dragging them down (check myrise.co.uk/briefing-meeting if you like the sound of that).
People don’t want to be the only one who isn’t succeeding.
At a gym or slimming club, the overwhelming majority aren’t succeeding.
So it’s very easy to slip into that group.
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In general it’s always advisable not to be concerned with what others do.
In a world that is getting fatter and sicker by the day, doing what most do probably isn’t the best approach.
Mark Twain said “Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect”.
So, ignore the others and how they do things.
Imagine you were ‘The one and only person’ who was trying to lose weight, get fit, etc”.
What would you do?
And go do it!!!!!
Much love,
Jon ‘Buddy’ Hall and Matt ‘What’s Wrong With This Picture?’ Nicholson
