Fit For Life: Your Decision

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Matt Espeut, GoLocalProv Health +Lifestyle Contributor

 

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There is one major act that dictates the outcome of everything we do or all that happens to us.

This one action we take will determine if we get fat, fit, become rich or poor, and sometimes live or die. It's not God, some politician, the weather, the economy, or luck. We have no control over those. It's the decisions we make that will dictate the outcome of our lives. Something that we CAN control. I truly believe that everything that happens to us is based on the decisions we make, or the actions we take. But the decision comes first. It starts when we open our eyes in the morning. 

We are faced with a decision immediately. Hit the snooze button, or get up out of bed? You have to decide if you are going to be productive and start your day, or are you going to try and get 10 more minutes of sleep. Nobody is forcing you. You can get up, hit the gym, start packing your food for the day; you can read, write, answer an email, or waste another 10-20 minutes trying to get more sleep. Your decision could be the difference between getting in better shape, making more money, and bring productive or accomplishing nothing, and possibly being late for work.

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Are you going to pack some food to bring with you for the day, or just wing it? If you choose to make a few meals, you need to decide whether these meals are going to be healthy or not. Again, your decision will dictate you losing or gaining a pound by the end of the week.

Are you going to get to work on time? You know there is traffic. You know how long it’s going to take to get there, but are you going to leave on time, or are you going to watch the last segment on the news, and arrive at work late with a bag of excuses? If you make the right decision in the morning, you will be punctual.

Now you are at work, and there are more decisions to make. Are you just going through the motions, putting in the hours, and doing just enough to get by so you can keep your job? Or are you going to try and excel, and go above and beyond your expectations and attempt to get a promotion to increase your income? Are you going to storm out the door at quitting time, or are you going to stick around and try to get ahead? It’s up to you. Your decision will either keep you in an entry level position, or accelerate you to management.

Now, it’s the end of your work day, are you going to hit the gym, go for drinks, or hit the stores for something you don’t really need anyway. Again, it’s up to you. If you hit the gym, you are bettering yourself. If you hit the bar, you could very easily have a few too many, and not only derail your fitness routine, but get pulled over and get arrested, fined, or even worse, cause an accident. If you hit a store and go shopping, and get enticed to spend money you don’t have for products you don’t need, you may be low on funds by months’ end. The outcome of everything that happens to us stems from the decisions we make, and the actions we take.

To be healthy and fit, you have to be consistently making good decisions about what you eat, and the amount of activity you do on a daily basis. If you are an adult, nobody can make these decisions for you. It has to come from within. You have to decide that is what you want, then act on your decisions. Just acting is also making a decision. You can come up with great ideas and visions, write them down, but if you don’t decide to act, nothing happens. When you see someone that’s fit, it didn’t happen because of luck, it’s because they decided to live a healthy lifestyle and invest the time in themselves to get that way.

If you want to be rich and successful you need to decide the right action to take. If you decide to rob a bank, the probability of going to jail increases. If you are looking to make a legitimate living, you need to decide what you are best at, and go for it. Are you going big with your idea, or are you just going to scrape by? Figure out what it takes to get what you want, then decide the best approach to get there. When you see someone more successful than you, don’t be a hater. They are not that way by accident or luck. It’s because they decided to push the limits, and not let anything get in their way.

In conclusion, if you are fit and healthy, you decided this was the way you wanted to live. You make the right decisions when it comes to eating and exercising. You decide to go to bed on time, drink the right amount of water and not give in to temptations, or instant gratification. You have made the choice, and decided this was the lifestyle for you. If you are overweight and sick all the time, it’s because you made, and continue to make the wrong decisions. The information is out there, but you choose to ignore it. You still eat junk, drink soda, smoke cigarettes, and don’t exercise. It’s no one else’s fault but yours. You made the decision not to make positive changes in your life, and the outcome is based on numerous bad decisions.

If you are poor, and unsuccessful, hate your job, and can’t get ahead in life, it’s because you made some bad decisions. You decided not to further your education and training. You decide not to put in extra hours, or go above and beyond your expectations. You feel better blaming the economy, or someone else, like your boss (the one that worked his ass off to be the boss) for your shortcomings.

Whatever happens to us, we need to take a step back and assess why it happened. We need to retrace our steps and look at the actions we took that got us in a particular situation. You will always find that the outcome, whether it’s positive or negative was based on a decision, or multiple decisions we made somewhere along the line. So before you blame someone else for the things that happen in your life, take some accountability, and realize that if you made the right decisions, your outcome will almost always be positive. Yes sometimes making decisions is tough, but life is tough, and nothing good comes easy.

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Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one!"

 

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