Thursday, July 18, 2013

Will Power and Dieting

by Kris Pitcher

Having spent the week in Washington DC, the national headquarters of my organization, with many of my colleagues from across the country...I heard one comment several times. Following two back to back conversations about it yesterday at dinner - one to my left, and one to my right - I feel compelled to remind us of something.

Now, today I'll fly to the other Washington where I will compete this weekend in a contest. Regardless of competing THIS weekend, I always travel with my food. You know that. I show up for all my sessions with my little cooler and every two hours I'm having my meals.

"You have a lot of will power!" I hear. Well I'm going to let you in on a secret. There is no such thing as will power. I don't have any "thing" different from any one else. It doesn't exist.

I'm simply driven by my goals, connected to them by my personal values, and accountable to myself to show up on stage without a fat ass. Period. I'm the one who controls that whether there are pastries at the break in sessions or not.

So, at dinner last night when I asked the waiter for an organic kale salad with nothing on it, I got a blank stare. Dressing? No. Dried cranberries? No thank you. Pear slices? No. Nothing. And they brought me what I asked for. It's not will power to take out the goodies that would have come on the salad. It's simply meeting my needs. Pine nuts? Not on my plan, Goat cheese? I wish. Just the greens.

But the reality is anyone could do it. You just have to want to. There is no will power. Don't be fooled by the myth.

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