I have realised it is one of the most difficult things to do – stay focused. Even if you are strong willed, there is always some external factor that is forcing you to take the easy way out.

When I started taking my weight seriously, I decided to go to the gym regularly. That meant skipping the late nights and having a fixed hour of sleep so I could wake up on time. I wake up at 5:30am to be at the gym by 6am. Why wake up half hour early? I spend a good 20 minutes on the pot in the morning thinking about the world and life in general. I know, TMI right? My bad. 🙂

I have heard it all when it comes to persuasion from friends who want you to spend a late night with them. Just last week, a friend, rolled her eyes when I told her I will go to the gym on Sunday at 6am – I can’t help it, my weekly off is on Monday. It takes a lot for me to put my head down, shuffle my feet, look up at the person and decline the offer. People also look at you strangely when you drink alcohol in water. Ofcourse it tastes terrible!! This ensures I stick to just a glass of it and have the glass with the least calories on the table!

Here are some things that are working for me when I want to stay focused:

Just do it – I tend to overthink situations and circumstances. I make a mountain out of a mole hill. I find that the best way to do anything is to just do it. Without overthinking it, without wondering what others will think of your actions. Frankly, no one cares.

Measure it – I had this problem of going to the gym everyday. You know what worked? Putting X marks on the days on my calendar. Since my calendars are synced across my phone, computer, Outlook and Google Calendar, I was always reminded of the days I went to the gym and had fun and measured it.

Don’t over do it – Personally, I cannot over do anything. I always reach a point where I get saturated with what I am doing and then want to stop. That happened to me with Twitter. I am on a break right now, and it feels good to not post a 100 tweets a day. I burnt out and I think this frequency of usage is just fine.

Visualise end result – When making a marketing strategy for a client, I want my boss to see it and praise me. Then, I go ahead and make a presentation I am satisfied with – going through 3-4 iterations in the process. Visualising the praise always helps me stay focused on the task at hand.

Unleash the fawesomeness – Fawesomeness is the ultimate level of being awesome. No, its actually being FUCKING AWESOME!!! Its not hard to get here. All you have to do is think of how fawesome you are and behave the part. That’s it. Fawesome people are focused, end of story.

Also, while we are on the topic of fawesome, why don’t you be it right now and send out a tweet about this blog post?

I don’t think of these as rules. Just framework guidelines and tools that are there to utilise when I am in a spot every so often. I have used these to lose 6kgs this month – and the month is still not over. True story. All of this after eating a bowl of strawberries in cream last night. Life is good!

I found this really awesome post on the Eater’s Agreement. I liked it so much that I am reposting it here with proper accreditation. Here is the part I really liked:

I hereby agree, from this day forward, to fully participate in life on earth.  I agree to inhabit the appropriate vehicle for such participation – a body.  As a requisite for the sustaining of that body, and of the life that dwells therein, I agree to be an eater.  This agreement fully binds me for the duration of my stay on earth.

As an eater, I agree to hunger.  I agree to have a body that needs food.  I agree to eat food.  I recognize that as the biological need to eat is fulfilled with greater awareness and efficiency, the benefits of my well-being will increase.  I further acknowledge that ignorance of the eating process may cause undesirable consequences.

Because the essence of my participation in life is one of learning and exploration, I agree to experience uncertainty as an eater.  I recognize there are a great variety of foods to choose from, and I may not know which to eat.  I may have a choice of different nutritional approaches, and not know which to follow.  I may have an assortment of habits, and not know how to manage them.  I recognize that my relationship to food is a learning process, and I will inevitably make mistakes.  Therefore, as an eater, I agree to accept my humanness and learn as I go along.

I acknowledge that as the body changes from infancy to old age, so will the eating process change.  I recognize that my body may call for different foods as the days, seasons, and years progress.  My dietary needs will also shift in accord with changes in my life-style and environment.  I understand that there is no one perfect diet.

I further agree that eating is an activity that joins me with all humanity.  I recognize that to be an eater is to be accountable for the care of the earth and its resources.  I acknowledge that despite our differences, we are all ultimately nourished by the same source.  As such, I agree to share.

I recognize that at its deepest level, eating is an affirmation of life.  Each time I eat, I agree somewhere inside to continue life on earth. I acknowledge that this choice to eat is a fundamental act of love and nourishment, a true celebration of my existence.  As a human being on earth, I agree to be an eater.  I choose life again and again…

– From Nourishing Wisdom by Marc David (1991)