What Losing 50 Pounds Taught me About Business

Generating Momentum & building your ideal identity

When it comes to evolving into the person you want to become, you have a relatively blank canvas to work with. Genetics play a part of it, but for the most part we all have the ability to make a decision on who we want to become, and constantly work on building this ideal identity.

A part of my ideal identity, is the fact that I am a man who is improving his health

When I started my first internet business, I really went all in. In addition to working at my job, I also worked on my business for hours each day. I made an effort to see my girlfriend at the time, and my friends on weekends, but other than that… all I did was work. In addition to working all the time, I also had poor dietary habits which eventually caught up with me. By October 2011, I was 260 pounds. I finally reached the point where I realized that I was not a man who simply had a few extra pounds to lose. In reality, I was a man of deteriorating health, and something had to change.

I immediately knew I wasn’t the kind of person who would do well on a diet, but I did realize that there were many opportunities to improve my dietary habits, and that I could gradually implement changes to my eating habits over time. I slowly started to implement these changes. Some examples of the changes I made include:

1)      Instead of eating 2 large/high calorie meals each day… I cut my first meal in half, and I added a 3^rd meal (lunch) that was all vegetables.

2)      I dropped dessert as a daily ritual, and instead made it an occasional treat.

3)      If I eat fast food, I try to opt for healthier options, such as a sub.

4)      I added more vegetables to every meal I ate.

5)      I incorporated fruit into my diet.

There are many out there who will tell you that the key to success is in setting specific attainable goals… however, I often wonder if the better way is to just to focus on the marathon, and not the race. In my case, I started incorporating the previously mentioned changes gradually over time. Instead of telling myself that I needed to lose 50 pounds within a specific period of time that might set me up for failure, I told myself I would take a little bit of action each day, and would constantly make improvements to my dietary habits that would resemble the habits a person in good health would have. If I had a bad week, I didn’t beat myself up and give up… I just recognized the positive changes I had made, and continued to build a positive momentum of improving my overall health.

I was creating an identity for myself of a person who is constantly making small improvements to their health.

Approximately 15 months after I decided to improve my health, I weighed in at 210 pounds. I lost 50 pounds, and felt better than I had in years.

What losing 50 pounds taught me about becoming a successful entrepreneur

Achieving success in weight loss has really made me realize something about starting and growing a business. As I did when losing weight, we can take small steps every day, to achieve goals we want to achieve. We can create an ideal identity of a successful entrepreneur by making progress every day, and building a positive momentum that will help us become the successful entrepreneurs we want to become.

This momentum is built by taking action. As you continue to take more and more action, you will start to see yourself begin to make serious progress. As things start to come together and you notice results from the action you are taking, this is what will encourage you to take even more action. When you take a higher level of action, you will be more likely to achieve a higher level of results.

Essentially, you can use the power of momentum and the ideal identity you imagined for yourself to significantly increase your chances of successfully achieving results you want to achieve.

What are your thoughts on this approach to becoming the person you want to become? Do you have any other thoughts or suggestions for fellow entrepreneurs who are on this journey?