You work hard all week long.

Long hours at a crazy pace.

You use lots of brain power on emails, texts, voicemails and messages.

Maybe it's time to relax.

Summertime is for warm breezes at the pool.

Cool nights sharing stories around the campfire.

Beach time and barbecues.

If you ever feel that there's not enough time to prioritize your mental health, ask yourself:

How many summers do you have remaining?

In the grand scheme of things, those few extra hours at the office won't mean anything.

But summertime memories last forever.

So if someone gets in a few extra innings, a few more rays of sunshine, a few more ice cream cones, that's okay.

Everything in moderation, including moderation.

If you want to finally lose weight and get healthy so you have more energy to spend quality time with loved ones, you need to build a powerful mind.

This is something I talk about a lot actually, as many of my clients can certify.

What I've learned is people who “win” and find consistent success tend to have a strong sense of mental toughness.

They also have a solid sense self-confidence in whatever they do as well.

They just believe.

But I’m pretty certain that most the people with a “strong mind” and hefty amount of confidence didn’t start out that way.

I’m sure, just like you and me, they had their doubts.

They had their fair share of failures and they had the common fears.

I mean no disrespect for what I'm about to say,  but whenever I come across someone who has a weak mind it's typically the same.

Their self-confidence levels are low.

Whether they've tried to do something and failed or were told they couldn’t do something, it transfers into how they pursue things in life.

I’ve learned much from my challenges with mental toughness and strength.

Here’s a true story which illustrates how I personally “turn off” a weak mind.

It's a typical Monday and I'm completing my first weekly workout.

(I do my best to lead by example.)

The training plan calls for me to do three different exercises (box squats, pullups, and sprints), performed one after another, without much of a break.

It's called a triset and HERE's a real-time example... no edits.

Before I start, I have an unnatural fear.

Why?

Because I know I will have to give 100% focused effort and it will be physically and mentally taxing.

But the post-workout feeling of accomplishment is awesome.

Better still, the training intensity will boost my metabolism for several hours after I am finished.

This means I'll be more efficient at burning calories, which is how you need to be if you want to achieve and maintain an athletic bodyfat for decades.

So I address my fear, and even embrace it.

My internal dialogue goes something like this:

“I don’t like this and I am afraid. What EXACTLY are you afraid of? The breathlessness from the total-body moves? The feeling of lactic acid in your legs from the squats and sprints? That’s nothing to be afraid of. You are strong and conditioned. Stop thinking so much. Hurry up and get started. Attack it.”

There is a way to build a stronger mind, just like you build a muscle.

But it takes consistent practice.

This is an incredibly important point.

I want you to think about it for a second.

What if you could have a stronger mind, that would transfer over to having more confidence, that would, in turn, allow you to win the long game instead of “just get by”?

What if there was no way to fall short of your goals or ultimately fail?

Imagine the possibilities.

When you believe failure is impossible, the sky becomes the limit for you.

So, you want to know how to forge a stronger mind?

Here’s the first concept:

4 Ways to Win Big By Thinking Small

You’ll never succeed big, unless you win little-by-little at first.

In other words, it takes time.

Let’s say you want to hit 10 strict pull ups, but right now you’re stuck at only 5 or, worse yet, you can’t even do a single one.

Instead of beating yourself up and quitting, you stay at it.

You do what needs to be done every day.

You COMMIT to the process and get just a bit better over time.

Sooner or later you complete your first rep!

Then you're at 5 reps, after a while, you’re hitting 6, 7, 8… 10 perfect pullups in a row.

I know it's always hard to imagine what you might feel is impossible, but just stop and think.

If you’re not able to do just one rep yet, visualize just how awesome it’s going to feel once you hit that first rep?

Small Victory on your way to that BIG VICTORY.

Make sense?

Training, nutrition, life… It all works the same.

Both you and me win small day-by-day to win big overall.

But if you quit, you lose.

So take some of these with you…

1. Ramp up your intensity by a small bit over time.

Remember you’re not going to hit 5 pull ups today then 10 tomorrow - go up a little at a time for a SMALL victory

2. Find support via a coach or group of like-minded folks.

You need people to keep you on track and accountable (I can help you with this)

3. Track your victories.

It's important to experience satisfaction and gratitude looking back at where you came from, instead of always looking ahead and never enjoying that winning feeling.

4. Stop having 55 goals to accomplish.

Choose only one PRIORITY-ONE goal (only one thing can be priority #1) otherwise you’ll be spread out too thin to make any progress

Take note that you’re NOT going to set a PR in every training session.

Success will come in bursts.

There will be some failure in there, but again, that’s where you LEARN and you FORGE yourself into a stronger person all around.

So keep winning SMALL to WIN BIG.

And do this quick little exercise.

Look back on the past 3-4 weeks and list out ALL of the “tiny successes” you enjoyed.

That will give you a nice boost in confidence and the motivation required to push ahead.

To your success,

Coach Joe

Joseph Arangio helps 40+ men and women get leaner, stronger, and happier. He's delivered over 100,000 transformation programs to satisfied clients around the globe. If you want to lose weight from home, with the best online age-management personal trainer, or you want to visit the best longevity personal trainer in the Lehigh Valley, you can take a free 14-day trial.