There are no secrets to success

When I started my journey to lose weight in February of this year I was always looking for an easy way to do it or making excuses.

New diet pill - tried it.
Exercise - who needs it, I'll just eat less.
Moderation - Isn't that for people who are addicted to Internet forums
Sore muscles - Jeez, I better take a 10 days before I try that again
Portion Control - yeah right

In late September I had that moment that we all have and decided I am the problem, it is not the food, the gym or anyone else. I talked with my Dr. and started a plan that would help me lose the weight I wanted.

But what about me, how would I make myself handle the changes I needed to make. I thought about what makes me excel in my field of work:

I read trade magazines, I work with a network of fellow IT professionals to keep a pulse on what works and what doesn't, I work with equipment to know what it is capable of and how it can help me, I am not afraid to try something new to make a business process work better, if it doesn't I fix it and try it again.

So at the end of September I started looking for that in my journey and found it here at MFP. It took a couple of weeks to get in the flow of things and build up a group of friends, but has been great every step of the way!

One other thing I did was remember back to what helped mold me in my field of work and I pulled out a book that had been untouched for more than a year. Every Sunday morning since I started my journey, I have read a chapter from "The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell"

From that chapter I took a quote that he applies to leadership and have applied it to the tasks I am trying to accomplish to achieve my goals. That quote is:

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."

So on Sundays I review my food and exercise diary for the week and see what worked and what didn't. I build my meal plan for the week ahead and do what shopping I may need to do.

I then dedicate time to do the little things that may stop me from following the path I have laid out.

I prepare my fruits/veggies and put them in ready to go packs, prepare ingredients for meals and put them in the freezer, create meeting reminders for exercise/gym time in my calendar, package up snacks in portions and research ways to keep exercise/meal planning fun.

This has helped me eliminate, or in some cases minimize, the road blocks I was so used to imposing on myself for so long.

When you get to a point that you think you have stalled on your journey or need an extra little boost, just remember:

"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure."