Chris Powell's Choose More, Lose More for Life Read Online Free PDF Page A

make a promise to themselves, they keep it
.
    How do they do it? Our clients’ promises have something in common: They become so strong that they’re
virtually unbreakable
. When they stand tall at the end of their year-long journey, chest out and chin high, our clients celebrate the self-love that they’ve discovered and nurtured month after month. They couldn’t care less about the fat-loss benefits of thirty minutes on the treadmill.
    What they
do
care about is that they
promised
themselves thirty minutes, and completed the full thirty… maybe even an extra minute or two! They
never
stop at twenty-nine minutes. I repeat, NEVER. If they did, their self-esteem and self-belief would take huge body blows that could be devastating—and even spin them into a downward spiral.
    But these fierce guys and gals weren’t always so tough. Like you, they had to start somewhere…. That somewhere was
integrity
. Integrity—honoring your word—is an ideal in every society. Throughout history “a man of his word” has earned respect and admiration. Because of this, most of us are terrific at keeping promises to others. If we give someone our word, gosh darn it, we’re going to keep our promise! But what about keeping your promises to the most valuable and important person in the world? What about
keeping your promises to you
?!
    Listen up, because THIS IS THE KEY to transformation:
The more you honor your integrity, the more dignity you have
. Your promises to yourself must be so important and easily kept that you’ll reach out and grab them every single day—because
you
want what you’ve promised yourself!Keeping each promise to yourself has to be your focus, because it shows you that you are
your own top priority
. Each promise made is another step toward valuing and loving yourself, and a brick in the foundation of your transformation. Each promise kept—your integrity—is the mortar that holds the bricks together, and the more promises you honor, the stronger the foundation gets.
    Every time you make a promise to yourself, your self-esteem is on the line, so make only first-class promises you know you can keep. Give yourself the respect you deserve by making honest and authentic ones. How many times have you made wishy-washy, halfhearted promises like “The diet starts Monday,” or “I’ll work out when I have the time”? And how many times have you shelved these pledges? Yeah, over and over and over again. You’ve got to get serious about your integrity. Transformation happens when you honor your promises over your reasons. So look yourself in the mirror; make a solid, real promise; and then fulfill that promise. The outcome will be powerful beyond measure.
THE PAIN OF BROKEN PROMISES
    But the outcome of breaking a promise to yourself is devastating. When you promise yourself that you’ll lose weight, and then break that promise, you might think at first, “Oh, well, no harm done—I’ll try again.” Well, guess what?
A lot
of harm was done!
    Your diet’s out the window. Another chance at transformation evaporates. But that’s not the crux of the issue. If you break a promise—any promise—to yourself, you’re
worse off
than if you’d never made that promise in the first place. When the day is over, the lights go out, and you’re all alone, you’re left with the shame of another failure. Either the negative self-talk begins or your bruised ego comes up with a million and one reasons why the diet didn’t work this time: “I don’t have time for breakfast!” “I broke a nail chopping vegetables!”
    But the fact of the matter is that you broke a promise. It hurts, doesn’t it? It undermines your self-esteem, your self-love, and your self-will. You nosedive right back to where you started, except this time you crash a little bit farther from your goals! Once again you think, “I knew I couldn’t stickwith it. I don’t have what it takes.” So guess what happens to that first transformation