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No Pain No Gain: Fitness Myth or Ultimate Fitness Truth?

By Tom Venuto

www.BurnTheFat.com

No Pain, No Gain. Is this aphorism just a fitness myth and downright bad advice? A lot of people seem to think so. As a bodybuilder with 25 years of training experience and more than two dozen trophies on my shelf, I have another perspective to offer you. Success with your body and in every area of your life is all about stepping outside of your comfort zone and that means embracing pain.

To reach high levels of physical and personal success you must approach your training, and your entire life, as an endeavor in constant growth. The ultimate truth is, you are either moving forward or moving backward; growing or dying. There’s no such thing as comfortably maintaining.

To grow, you must step above past achievements; beyond your perceived boundaries and limits. That means stepping out of the known, into the unknown; out of the familiar and into the unfamiliar; out of the comfortable into the uncomfortable. You must get out of your comfort zone.

The Late Cavett Robert, who was founder of the National Speakers Association, said something I’ll never forget: “Most people are running around their whole lives with their umbilical cords in their hands and they’re looking for some place to plug it back in.”

Most people are scared of the unknown. They prefer to stay in that womb of comfort. When the going gets tough; when the effort gets painful, when the work gets hard, they always pull back into safety. But the extraordinary people do the opposite. They know they have to get out of the comfort zone, and into new territory or they’ll stagnate and die.

Walt Disney once said that he never wanted to repeat a past success. He was always creating something new. They called it “Imagineering.” Disney’s mission was to continuously dream up and create things they had never done before, and look at what Disney has become today.

Here’s a little quote that you should post on your bulletin board, your computer desktop or somewhere you will always see it:

“Do what you always did, get what you always got.”

You can’t grow or change by doing what you’ve already done. You’ve got to train just to prevent yourself from going backwards. Maintenance doesn’t occur when you do nothing, maintenance is working to fight entropy, the tendency for things to naturally deteriorate.

Still, most people won’t leave their comfort zones. They won’t do it in business, they won’t do it in their personal lives. They won’t do it in their sport. They won’t do it for personal health and fitness. Why? The answer is simple… It hurts.

By definition, what’s it like outside the comfort zone? It’s UN-COMFORTABLE, right? Change is uncomfortable. Sometimes it’s physically painful, but it’s always mentally and emotionally painful, in the form of discipline, sacrifice, uncertainty and fear.

The maxim, “no pain no gain” gets knocked all the time as if it were bad advice. The fact of life is that you don’t grow unless you’ are constantly stepping outside the comfort zone, and outside the comfort zone is discomfort and pain.

I find that it’s mostly the non-achievers who make out “no pain, no gain” to be a bad thing. But the winners get it. The champions understand stepping outside the comfort zone in a healthy context, so they embrace it.

When you’re talking about the Olympics, or pro bodybuilding or the Super Bowl or a world championship, you’d better believe it’s physical pain, it’s discipline, it’s sacrifice, it’s blood, sweat, and tears – literally. But for most people who simply want to go from unfit to fit, from overweight to ideal weight, it’s not so much about physical “pain”; it’s more like stretching yourself.

How do you develop flexibility? What does your trainer tell you? You stretch to the point of discomfort, but not to the point of pain, right? You get into a position of slight discomfort and you hold it just long enough, then what happens? The discomfort goes away, because the muscle becomes more pliable, and the range of motion is increased.

Each time, you stretch a little further, just barely into the range you’ve never been in before, and eventually, you’re doing the splits. And why do you approach it like that? Because you don’t want to injure yourself. Stretch too far, too fast and your muscle tears.

The elite athletes and high achievers really have to push themselves; they’re going to push their boundaries and test their limits. But if you’re not an elite athlete or seasoned bodybuilder, and you take the advice, “no pain, no gain” too literally, you’re going to end up getting injured.

I always say to my training partner when I watch him cringing during a set and he finishes up with that pained look on his face, “Are you injured, or just hurt?” He knows what I’m talking about. If he says he’s hurt, I say, “OK, good. As long as you’re not injured. Let’s get on with it. Next set.”

It’s not about injury. That is bad pain. That is stupidity. But do stretch yourself. You can’t improve unless you stretch yourself. If that’s what some people want – if they just want to “stay fit” – OK fine. It actually doesn’t take that much to stay fit, once you’ve already achieved it.

But what if you want to improve? What if you want a new body? What if you want to change? If that’s what you want, you’ve got to push yourself a little. You’ve got to break comfort zones. And if your body is not changing, then I don’t care how hard you think you’re working, whatever you’re doing right now is inside your comfort zone.

The statement “no pain, no gain” has been misinterpreted, criticized and labeled a fallacy by many. However, the people doing the criticizing are almost always comfort zoners who haven’t achieved much. Don’t listen to them. Instead, follow the small percentage of people who step out and achieve great things. If you don’t like the sound of it, then say, “No effort, no gain.” We’re still talking about the same thing.

Embrace the discomfort like the champions do. Soon it subsides, you enjoy the benefits of the change and the pain is forgotten. You’ve reached a new, higher plateau of achievement. Enjoy the view for a short while. But be on guard because it’s not long before that higher level becomes your new comfort zone and then its time to press on again.

About the author

Tom Venuto is a lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, freelance writer and best selling author of Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat Burning Secrets of the World’s Best Bodybuilders and Fitness Models. Tom has been featured in IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN, Italian IRONMAN (Olympian’s News), Natural Bodybuilding and Fitness, Muscular Development, Men’s Exercise, and Men’s Fitness Magazines. Tom’s hard work, no-quick fixes approach has won him multiple titles in drug tested bodybuilding including Mr. Natural Pennsylvania, Natural New Jersey, Natural New York State, Natural Mid Atlantic States and NPC Natural Eastern Classic championships. More important, tens of thousands of people in 141 countries have used Tom’s Burn The Fat program to lose as much as 253 pounds or just the last stubborn 5-10 pounds and achieve that coveted 6-pack of abs. To learn more about Tom’s all-natural approach to fat burning, visit his site at http://www.BurnTheFat.com

The New Visualization Breakthrough: Mental Training Tactics For Health And Fitness Success
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
www.BurnTheFat.com

Understanding the mind’s role in motivation and behavior is one of the most critical elements in fitness success. If you struggle with changing habits and behaviors or if you can’t get motivated, then even the best training and nutrition program is not much help.

A fascinating fact about your subconscious mind is that it’s completely deductive in nature. In other words, it’s fully capable of working backwards from the end to the means. You don’t need to know how to reach a goal at the time you set the goal. If you “program” only the desired outcome successfully into your “mental computer,” then your subconscious will take over and help you find the information and means and carry out the actions necessary to reach it.

Many people are familiar with affirmations and goal-setting as ways to give instructions to your subconscious mind. But perhaps the ultimate mental training” technique is visualization. In one respect, affirmation and visualization are the same, because when you speak or think an affirmation first, that triggers a mental image, being as the human brain “thinks” in pictures.

You can use visualization to plant goals into your subconscious mind. You simply close your eyes, use your imagination and mentally create pictures and run movies of your desired results. For example, in your mind’s eye, you can see the “body of your dreams”. If repeated consistently with emotion, mental images are accepted by your subconscious as commands and this helps with changing habits, behavior and performance.

Although there are some new and creative ways to use visualization, (which you are about to learn), this is not a new technique. Visualization has been used formally in the fields of sports psychology and personal development for decades and philosophers have discussed it for centuries:

“If you want to reach your goal, you must ’see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal.”

- Zig Ziglar

“The use of mental imagery is one of the strongest and most effective strategies for making something happen for you.”

- Dr. Wayne Dyer

“Creative visualization is the technique of using your imagination to create what you want in your life.”

- Shakti Gawain

“Perhaps the most effective method of bringing the subconscious into practical action is through the process of making mental pictures – using the imagination.”

- Claude Bristol

“There is a law in psychology that if you form a picture in your mind of what you would like to be, and you keep and hold that picture there long enough, you will soon become exactly as you have been thinking.”

- William James, 1842-1910, Psychologist and Author

Despite these glowing endorsements and a long track record, some people can’t get past feeling that this is just a “hokey” self-help technique. Rest assured, however, that visualization is an effective and time-tested method for increasing personal success that has been used by some of the highest achievers the world.

The Soviets started to popularize visualization in sports psychology back in the 1970’s, as detailed in Charles Garfield’s landmark book, “Peak Performance.” They dominated in many sports during that period, which validated visualization anecdotally.

In the last 10-15 years, there has been some groundbreaking new brain research which has validated visualization scientifically. Here’s something that was written recently by Dr. Richard Restak, a neuroscientist and author of 12 books about the human brain:

“The process of imagining yourself going through the motions of a complex musical or athletic performance activates brain areas that improve your performance. Brain scans have placed such intuitions on a firm neurological basis. Positron emission tomography (PET) scans reveal that the mental rehearsal of an action activates the prefontal areas of the brain responsible for the formulation of the appropriate motor programs. In practical terms, this means you can benefit from the use of mental imagery.”

So much for visualization being a “cheesy” self-help technique.

Although visualization is widely used today, even people who are familiar with it often don’t realize its many applications. Arguably the most common use of visualization is by athletes, musicians and other performers as a form of “mental rehearsal.” Research shows that “practicing in your mind” is almost as effective as practicing physically, and that doing both is more effective than either one alone.

A common use of visualization in the fitness context is “goal visualization.” In your mind’s eye, you can see yourself having already achieved your physique goal or your ideal goal weight. You can also visualize a specific performance goal such as completing a difficult workout or a heavy lift like a squat or bench press.

One creative way you can use mental imagery is called “process visualization.” Once you’ve set your goals, it’s easy to come up with a list of the daily habits, behaviors and action steps necessary to reach your goal. So write down the action steps and visualize them – the entire process, not just the end result. See yourself food shopping and grabbing fruits, vegetables and lean proteins, ordering healthy foods from restaurant menus, saying no to sodas and drinking water instead, and going to the gym consistently and having killer workouts. Some people visualize their entire “perfect day” as they would want it to unfold. When you do this as vividly, emotionally and in as much detail as you can, you will be neurologically priming your brain to carry out those behaviors.

The least known of all mental imagery techniques is called “physiology visualization.” An example would be picturing the fat burning process in your body or seeing the muscle fibers growing larger and larger. Using this technique, could it be possible that you might be giving subconscious instructions to your body’s cells, organs and tissues?

Well, consider the work of Dr. Carl Simonton, a physician and cancer researcher who taught his patients (as one part of a comprehensive program), how to visualize powerful immune cells devouring the cancer cells. I’m not suggesting that you can cure cancer or materialize a lean and muscular body just by visualizing, (there’s a step in between thought and manifestation – it’s called action – a step that many self help ‘experts’ forget to mention). However, thoughts and mental images are the precursors to action and the fact that a mind-body connection definitely exists makes this an exciting prospect.

Scientists have established the mind-body link in many contexts, and not just by the existence of a placebo effect. There’s also direct evidence as in the way emotional stress can contribute to physical disease. The mind does influence the body! The mere fact that a branch of science has been devoted to this area is proof that it deserves critical investigation and is not just the domain of infomercial self help gurus. The science is called psychoneuroimmunology.

Using “physiology visualization,” you could, even in the middle of a workout, imagine the fat burning process taking place, and visualize fat being released from adipose tissue storage in your abdominal region or elsewhere. You could see the free fatty acids entering your bloodstream, being carried to the working muscles and being burned for energy in the muscle cells. You could also visualize the physiology of muscle growth.

To make your imagery as accurate and detailed as possible, my best suggestion is to refer to an anatomy & physiology textbook that shows pictures of fat cells, blood vessels, myofibrils, motor units, sarcomeres, and cell organelles like the mitochondria, so you know what the structures look like. You could also get more details about the processes by looking up lipolysis, hypertrophy or beta oxidation.

Even if you had no idea what the internal structure and workings of the body were like, you could still use this method. Your body responds to mental imagery even if it isn’t anatomically correct. We know from the field of hypnosis that the subconscious mind responds well to metaphor – maybe even better than literal suggestions. Facts and logic are the domain of the conscious mind, while emotion and metaphor can slip right past the conscious and into the subconscious. Dr. Simonton often wrote about his young patients who created (metaphorical) mental images of immune system cells as “knights in shining armor”, slaying “the dragon” of cancer cells.

One of your greatest mental powers is imagination. You can visualize anything you want and you can embellish and exaggerate your imagery as much as you want. For example, you could imagine the free fatty acids being burned for energy in the “cellular powerhouse” – the mitochondria – and you could imagine the mitochondria as a fiery furnace… “incinerating” the fat! I think it’s a pretty cool idea to “see” your fat cells shrinking and visualize your body as a “fat burning furnace.”

Should you not believe that there’s anything to the physiology visualization technique, that’s ok, because we know that the subconscious is deductive. Just give it a goal, tell it what you want and it will get you there automatically by altering your attention and behavior. Therefore, we can be confident that physiology visualization will be effective even if only as a subconscious directive about your desired goal. If science someday provides us with conclusive evidence that visualization actually does cause cellular – physiological changes in the body, well, that’s just all the better.

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified strength and conditioning specialist (CSCS) and a certified personal trainer (CPT). Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using methods of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: www.burnthefat.com

Stop Cravings and Stop Binge Eating: Advice from a Pizza Man

By Tom Venuto
http://burnthefat.lifetosuccess.com/

In a surprising comment made during a popular UK radio show, the founder of one of the largest Pizza chains in the United States and United Kingdom told listeners not to eat too much pizza!

In an interview with host Adam Shaw on BBC’s Radio Four program, John Schnatter, the founder of Papa John’s pizza, was asked whether he was concerned about the British government’s recent actions in the fast food restaurant business to help put the brakes on obesity.

Schnatter said, “Pizza is actually healthy for you if you don’t eat too much of it. You can’t eat five or six slices but if you eat one or two slices it’s very nutritious.”

Laughing, Shaw replied, “I’m not sure your investors would want to hear you tell people, ‘don’t eat too much of our pizzas!”’

Across the web, bloggers and tweeters have been putting in their two cents. Some say he was a little TOO honest. Others say this was either the worst PR screw up ever… or the best PR move ever (you know what they say about “bad” publicity).

Although I wouldn’t call pizza health food, I think his advice to eat pizza, but only in moderation was the responsible thing for a fast food owner to do at a time where obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, not just in the United States but in the U.K. and other countries as well.

Moreover, it was just plain good diet advice! One reason people are failing to control their weight is because of all-or-none thinking, i.e, “I can’t eat ANY pizza EVER again!” or, “I have to follow my diet 100% or not at all.”

In my experience, all or none thinking is one of the biggest causes of diet failure. It’s far better from a psychological perspective to eat your pizza; simply enjoy it infrequently and in small quantities.

Think of you on a diet like a pressure cooker on a burner. The longer you keep that pot on the heat, the more the steam pressure builds up inside. If there’s no outlet or release valve on that thing, eventually the pressure builds up so much that even if it’s made of steel and the lid is bolted down, she’s gonna blow, sooner or later.

Well, in the beginning, you might think your willpower is made of steel and that you’re bolted tigher than a submarine hatch, but the longer you’re on a diet with no relief, the greater the pressure builds up until YOU blow your top… and that means massive binge eating.

But if you let off a little steam in the form of a “free meal” (or two) and enjoy that slice of pizza (or whatever is your favorite ‘poison’) on occasion, that relieves the pressure. Alas, you never even feel the urge to binge… because you HAD your pizza and the urge was satisfied. Since the meal was planned and you kept the calories under control, it had little or no effect on your fat loss results.

This topic of conversation was prompted on the BBC radio show during a discussion about how the Pizza business was doing during the recession and about efforts to stem the growing obesity crisis in the UK.

Earlier last month, The Food Standards Agency in the UK started negotiating with UK food, pub and sandwich chains to display calories on their menus to try to provide education about healthier options for consumers who eat out frequently.

The move is similar to one made in New York City last year, where restaurant chains that have more than 15 locations must print calories on the menus. According to an article in the British Medical Journal, this has resulted in an average reduction of 50-100 calories for each food order. Not much, but at least it’s something.

In the case of pizza, a 2.2 ounce thin-crusted slice of cheese pizza could have as little as 190 calories. One slice of “meat lover’s” pizza, on the other hand, could set you back almost 500 calories! If you knew the difference, would it change what kind and how much you ate?

I’m totally in favor of posting calories on menus, despite the critics who say it won’t make a difference. I think anything that raises calorie awareness is going to affect behavior in a positive way and help make for better food decisions. Whether it should be mandatory by law is debatable. I say, let the restaurants decide and then let the marketplace sort itself out.

I would be more likely to recommend or support the restaurants who opted to post calories, increase their range of healthy choices… and on that rare occasion, have a CEO who actually says, “Eat my food, but not too much!!”

Now, if we can only get those Mcdonalds’s execs to say the same thing!

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
http://burnthefat.lifetosuccess.com/

P.S. No relation to Venuto’s Pizza, hahaha

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a fat loss expert, lifetime natural (steroid-free) bodybuilder, independent nutrition researcher, freelance writer, and author of the #1 best selling diet e-book, Burn The Fat, Feed The Muscle: Fat-Burning Secrets of The World’s Best Bodybuilders & Fitness Models (e-book) which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: http://burnthefat.lifetosuccess.com/

Speed Eating and Fat Loss: Diet Advice Your Mom Was Right About All Along

By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
http://burnthefat.lifetosuccess.com

A new study just published in a recent issue of the journal Obesity has revealed that thin people eat very differently than heavy people at all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants.
Researcher Brian Wansink and his team from the Cornell University Food and Brand Laboratory observed diners at 11 different Chinese buffet restaurants across the United States.

Their goal was to find out whether the eating behaviors of people at all-you-can-eat buffets varied based on their body mass.

Trained observers recorded the height, weight, gender, age, and behavior of 213 patrons. The various seating, serving and eating behaviors were then compared across BMI levels.

The heavier (higher BMI) patrons:

• ate more quickly
• chewed more food per bite
• used forks
• sat facing the food buffet

The thin (lower BMI) patrons:

• ate more slowly
• chewed less food per bite
• used chopsticks
• sat facing away from the food buffet

This study confirms earlier research from the University of Rhode Island published in the journal of the American Dietetic Association which found that eating slowly leads to decreases in energy intake.

Scientists even have a name for this now:

“TIME-ENERGY DISPLACEMENT”

Time-Energy Displacement means that the more time you take to eat, the less energy (calories) you are likely to consume. The faster you eat, the more energy (calories) you’re likely to consume.

But wait, there’s even more! A study from the University of Alabama looked at satiety (how full a food makes you feel), energy density (calories per unit of volume) and eating time of various foods. To maximize the effects of Time-Energy Displacement, it was found even more advantageous to choose foods that FORCE you to ingest calories more slowly.

This includes choosing more:

Foods that have a high satiety factor such as high fiber and high water foods (so you feel fuller more quickly):

• Peas
• Red beans
• Raspberries
• Broccoli
• Green beans
• Chick Peas

Foods with a high “chew factor” (so you can’t eat them fast if you tried; you have to chew them thoroughly):

• Lean meats such as top round, lean sirloin
• Celery
• Apples
• Pears
• Peaches

Foods with a low energy density such as salad vegetables and greens (so you’d get tired of eating before you took in a lot of calories):

• Tomatoes
• Artichoke
• Cucumber
• Salad Greens
• Cabbage
• Okra

These results also confirm all the studies that have been advising us not to drink our calories. Liquid calories, especially soft drinks and dessert coffees are two of the biggest sources of excess calories in the typical American’s diet.

The problem: calories in liquid form can have a very high caloric density and can be consumed very quickly. Liquid calories also do not activate the satiety mechanism in your brain and gastrointestinal tract the way solid food does.

“Don’t inhale your food” used to be an admonishment about proper eating etiquette you heard from your mom. It is now scientifically-proven fat loss advice.

To learn more research-proven tips for burning fat, visit the “Burn The Fat” website at www.BurnTheFat.com

Train hard and expect success,

Tom Venuto
Fat Loss Coach
http://burnthefat.lifetosuccess.com

About the Author:

Tom Venuto is a natural bodybuilder, certified personal trainer and freelance fitness writer. Tom is the author of “Burn the Fat, Feed The Muscle,” which teaches you how to get lean without drugs or supplements using secrets of the world’s best bodybuilders and fitness models. Learn how to get rid of stubborn fat and increase your metabolism by visiting: http://burnthefat.lifetosuccess.com

Quote of the Day:

“A ship in port is safe,
but that’s not what ships are built for.”

-Grace Murray Hopper

================================

Turning Fear into Power: How to Transform Fear from Negative
to Positive Energy

Today I would like to talk about a topic I think every one
of us can relate to.

Fear.

The dictionary defines fear as: noun 1. an anxiety caused
by real or possible danger 2. pain, apprehension, concern

At one time or another we have all experienced the emotion
of fear.

There are so many variations of fear. Fear of the unknown,
fear of events outside of our control, fear of failure,
fear of success, fear of intimacy, fear of people who are
different from us, fear of ______(fill in the blank)_______.

I have found that at it’s very core, fear is simply a signal
or a call to action.  The ultimate purpose of fear is to
serve you.

There are two kinds of fear, what I call Stage 1 Fear and
Stage 2 Fear.

Stage 1 Fear is very real. It’s the fear that calls for
immediate action, for example, when your life or safety is
in immediate danger.  This is an all-consuming fear that
intuitively grips your gut, without thinking.  For example
when you’re walking down a dark street and you sense
danger. I mean it’s very serious and should not be ignored.
This fear most definitely serves you.

Stage 2 Fear, on the other hand is a little more
mysterious.  It surfaces whenever you move outside of your
comfort zone or  try something you’ve never done before.
For some it is a fear of flying, fear of heights, fear of
roller coasters, fear of being married, fear of being
divorced, fear of starting a business, fear of starting a
new career, fear of learning a new skill, etc.

Becoming aware of the two different kinds of fear allows
you to take a step back anytime you feel afraid so that you
can evaluate how it can serve you.  You can ask yourself, is
this stage 1 fear where I need to take immediate action,
disengage or change course -or- is this stage 2 fear, where
I am simply being faced with the opportunity of moving
beyond my comfort zone.

Stage 1 is usually a warning that requires immediate
attention, while Stage 2 Fear can actually be an invitation
towards something that is ultimately good for you.

Yes, it’s true, you can actually feel afraid of something
that is GOOD for you. 

You can be afraid of falling in love, speaking in front of
an audience, meeting new people, trying something you have
never tried before, starting a business, and so on.

Here is an example.

When I was 13 years old, in the 7th grade, myself and my
entire peer group spent our summer days at the park
district swimming pool.  There were actually 2 pools.  A
shallow pool for the little ones and a pool that had a
graduated depth from 3 feet to 15 feet where the diving
boards where.

Swimming pools are fantastic.  And being a kid, sun and fun
all summer long, what more could you ask for, right?

One tiny little problem… at 13 years old, I did not know
how to swim.

As all of my friends were swimming away into the deep end,
I was left clinging to the side of the pool in the shallow
end, terrified to let go.

Now let me be clear.  As my friends swam away, I was
without a doubt feeling Stage 1 Fear. I had every reason to
be afraid.  It would not have been wise to follow them into
the deep end at that time.

Being in any body of water, not knowing how to swim is
dangerous and potentially life threatening. Anything that
can end in serious injury or death should not be taken
lightly.  But there are risks involved in anything worth
doing in life.  I could have abstained from the activity
all together forever, but spending the rest of my life in
the kiddie pool was not appealing to me.  Forget about the
peer pressure, or the other kids making fun of me, I can
handle that.  But I could not handle missing out on all of
the fun they were having.  I did not want to go on one more
day, not to mention the rest of my life not knowing how to
swim.

I was staring in the face of the “Terror Barrier”

More on that later.

But at that moment, I made a decision.  I set a Goal and
decided I would learn how to swim.

Here is what I did:

Step 1. I asked my friends to swim past me in the shallow
end, while I held my nose and went underwater to see what
their arms and legs were doing as they swam by.  I observed
that the arms were doing one thing and the legs were doing
another thing and I thought hmmm, maybe I could do this.

Step 2. I went to the lifeguards and asked them to watch me
while I held onto the wall, where I proceeded to kick my
legs like my friends had done.  Interestingly, when I did
this I became somewhat buoyant.

Step 3.  I let go of the wall and swam a few feet out.
Then I swam back to the wall.  Imagine my surprise, I was
actually doing it, I was SWIMMING!

I don’t know if you know how to swim or how you learned,
but sometimes the longer you wait, the harder it becomes.
Seriously, that imaginary barrier can play tricks with your
mind if you don’t keep it in check.  I went from feeling
terrified, wishing I could swim, to deciding I would learn,
then taking immediate action to make it reality, all within
a few hours.

And by the end of the day, I was swimming in the deep end
and about a month later, I was jumping off the diving
boards in the deepest part of the pool. In fact, it was not
pretty or efficient, but I was swimming good enough to get
where I wanted to go.

The purpose of fear is to serve you.

The “Terror Barrier” is an imaginary line.

On one side is you and where you are now.

On the other side is your dream, your Goal.

Most people turn back when they reach the Terror Barrier.
They say, “no, I am too afraid, I am frozen, I’m turning
back and staying in my comfort zone where I feel safe.” And
they never step over the line to find out what they are
truly capable of.  They can’t see beyond the current
fright, when what is on the other side is so good.

But…

You cannot live your entire life holding on to the edge of
the pool.

Some of you are in an illusion that you are in Stage 1
Fear, you are terrified, but you actually in Stage 2 Fear,
with the perception of Stage 1.  You’re at the Terror
Barrier.

It’s just a matter of going beyond where you are now.

Put your safeguards in place whenever you can, find
yourself a mentor or coach and create a plan of action for
your Goal and start going after what you want. Whenever
possible, model those who went before you.

Now that I understand it, I have run ins with the
Terror Barrier on a daily basis. There are constantly new
things I want to learn or do that are waaaay outside of my
comfort zone.  I acknowledge the fear, evaluate the
situation and break through it.

Just like when I learned how to swim, it’s not always
pretty, but it’s good enough to get me where I want to go.

Most of the fear and worry people give their energy to is a
figment of their imagination.  99% of the worries and
anxiety of the world never happen.

Stop wasting energy being paralyzed by fear.

“A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built
for.”   -Grace Murray Hopper

Allow your fear to serve you.

Think of what dreams of yours have led you to the brink of
the Terror Barrier where you turned away?  Was this truly a
Stage 1 fear or was it Stage 2 (an illusion) ?

Write it down and email it to me if you’re ready to
break through it and make the dream a reality.

Live Your Dreams,

Jill Koenig

http://www.GoalGuru.com
Jill Koenig, the “Goal Guru” is America’s Top Goal Strategist.
A best selling Author, Coach and Motivational Speaker, she is
an expert on the subjects of Goal Setting, Time Management and
Business Success. Her Goal in life is to help you UNLEASH your
untapped potential. Learn cutting edge Goal Strategies at
http://www.GoalGuru.com