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The following is an excerpt of an interview I did for The Elite Body, with Shawn Phillips, author of Strength for Life.
Jim: Let me ask you this. What are some of the biggest misconceptions people have when it comes to burning fat and losing weight?
Shawn: I think one of them and I mentioned part of it, but I’ll take it a little deeper which is that it’s kind of like we have this conditioned time and effort response. It’s the same thing we get in our working. We think sometimes that I need to put in more hours and work harder and more time and effort. We live in a results economy today. If you want to make more money; create more wealth; be in a more abundant life, it’s more focused results you need, not more time and effort.
Same thing stands true for your fitness. You don’t need to be in the time and effort all the time. You need to be more focused results which means being clear about what you want; being intentional about it; bringing your mind integrating it and doing the specific steps A, B, C with purpose and clarity and effectiveness. That means (a) having a plan; (b) bringing your mind to the party.
Jim: And you see that pretty regularly that people aren’t . . . it becomes just a physical thing where they kind of separate it.
Shawn: I think they separate it. I think that a lot of people take up fitness out of at least a subconscious resistance. It’s an obligation and their obligation manifests them into doing it with reluctance not with passion.
Jim: Great point. I always make that point about dieting. Most of the time when you hear someone talk about dieting and weight loss; they’ll talk about it like someone has a gun to their head. They’ll be like “Oh I have to go on a diet. I have to go to the gym.” It’s true. It’s funny because willpower has been so attached to weightloss and exercise. But, willpower is too hard to maintain.
Shawn: I always say that willpower and discipline are failing strategies.
Jim: They really are and I think for a lot of people this is new. So many people say “Well how come I can start off in the first week and I’m great but then I lose it?” Well it’s because you’re relying solely on willpower to make the weight loss happen. But willpower isn’t going to work once you get tired; once you get bored; once you get sick or depressed or whatever. It falls away.
Shawn: That’s the power of something else I want to bring which is a problem which is that people use a negative motivation to get rolling. There’s nothing wrong with fear and negative motivation. I’ll take any kind of catalyst that gets action. But “I hate my before picture” or “I hate myself forward” has a short lived energy. It will carry you so far, but it’s not going to carry you the distance.
Jim: Great point. Everyone listen and take that one to heart. So much in this culture is unconscious. We don’t recognize a lot of the things that motivate us and drive us forward with our behaviors. The hating ourselves – that’s usually what happens is that people look in the mirror; their clothes don’t fit; they step on a scale and then they get really depressed and sad. That’s where they get their motivation from.
So what would you suggest? How do you develop that kind of drive that pulls you forward in a better way without hating yourself? How do you do it?
Shawn: I break it down in Chapter 14 of my book where I take you through the path which I call “Path to Mastery.” Most people start from an obligation or an “I should” conversation; the gun to the head.
Motivation – I take people through this and I say “Okay, look. Whatever it takes to get moving; but if the hating yourself forward is your primary driver, take that” and I give you this practice of really creating a powerful vision. I think vision is long term. Vision is inspiring. Vision is mountaintop. Then a goal – goals are real and measurable right?
So you have to have both of those because I think we can set great big visions and they’re like Jupiter. They’re huge, but they’re too far away to have any gravitational pull on us here. You have to have something that may not have as big a mass, but has a good distance where it creates tension to pull you forward in life.
If you can go from “I should” and “I have to” into the conversation to “I want to” and start bringing some joy into it; that’s where the presence and mindfulness practice and doing something that gives you feedback. I start to feel better. I do yoga when I’m carrying my tray. There are specific steps to take you from “I should,” “I have to” to “I want to.” “I want to” is your first step one step away from the ultimate freedom which is “It’s who I am.” I now am not doing fitness. I’m expressing who I am.
People don’t look at me or know me or talk to my wife and go “Are you on or off a diet? Are you going to go and train?” They know I train. They know I eat well. That’s who I am.
Jim: I love that. One of the metaphors I use sometime to describe the type of motivation I think you’re talking about – and you understand this as a parent, is beyond willpower, like if your kid when they’re a baby is crying and it’s 3:00 in the morning and you’re sleeping. It’s not willpower. There’s something way deeper there. It’s who you are. You are a parent and you’re going to get up and you’re going to do it. It sounds like when you’re training; when you eat the way you are; I love that. That’s who you are. That’s who you’ve become.
Shawn: I tell this story in the book. Just like that it’s people stand there and they look at what I’m eating and they think there’s willpower. How do you do that and how do I do what? How do you brush your teeth every day? Is it because you willpower yourself to brush your teeth every day? No, it’s just what you do.”
