There are two key ingredients you must incorporate into any recipe for living a fit life. The first is mindset, and the belief that you deserve more must permeate your mind. Whatever “more” means for you is up to you, but you have to expect more out of life than mediocrity.

Of course, simply believing that you deserve more is not enough. Mindset needs to be paired with movement, which is the second key ingredient. The recipe could not be any simpler: if you’re convinced that you deserve to get more out of life, then movement is how you go and get it. Movement is essential to achieving any fitness goals you have, and it’s also a principle that applies to the achievement of all your aspirations.

Each day, you should be aspiring, just as plants aspire to obtain sunlight. That’s the mindset, so to speak, of a plant. And each day when the sun comes out, it will bend towards the sunlight and grow a little taller. That movement is called phototropism, and it’s powerful enough to overcome the force of gravity and produce the plant growth we see in nature. In the same way, moving will generate momentum for you to defy the gravitational pull towards mediocrity and grow in the direction of your aspirations.

Your exercise routine is the training ground for living a fit life. People who think it’s only about having big muscles, being able to run fast, or being more attractive are mistaken. The constructive mindset and habits you build are preparation and practice for other areas of your life. Many of the concepts and skills are transferable to matters unrelated to working out.

The last point about mindset and movement is that they require one extra ingredient to complete the recipe: decisiveness. It’s the only thing standing between mindset and movement. There’s no point in endlessly pondering or doubting whether you can do something. Decide to move now. Train your mind to resist the idea of Can’t and its close cousin, Too. Can’t make time. Can’t afford it. Too uncomfortable. Too complicated. Those are messages of mediocrity. Banish them from your mind.

So decide on a path and get moving. Even when you make mistakes, you’ll gain insights and learn lessons along the way. That’s just part of the learning curve. But learning is never a loss, so choose to move and improve.

Sayonara until next time.