I’ve been listening to an excellent book on CD by Jack Canfield (of Chicken Soup for the Soul fame) where he describes his fundamental principles for success.  One thing he mentioned really struck me today as I notice this with people in my life and myself.  He made the analogy of acting like a baby circus elephant.  The elephant is tethered by a rope at an early age and, despite trying to break free and do his own thing at the beginning, learns over time that it’s too strong and he stops trying.  He learns to accept his comfort zone close to the stake because he’s been trained to do so.  By the time he’s a giant animal, he can still have a small rope tied to his foot, which he can easily break, but will stay put because he has accepted his confinement…his comfort zone.

Have you accepted your confinement?

Let’s say you have a goal of losing 20 pounds in three months.  Let’s also say that you have struggled with keeping a healthy weight for many years.  Often times you have followed a program successfully because you’ve been able to master the will-power and determination to just “be a success.”  Then after you achieve your goal, things slip away, you gain back the weight OR you might have found it too difficult to muster the will-power to continue on the path of success and never reached your desired result.

How frustrating!

What was the real problem? Not your willingness to be successful but that you’ve been conditioned by your negative images and pre-programmed comfort zones to hold yourself back from your success.  This is just like the circus elephant who learned at an early age that he could not break free from the rope and learned to accept his leash even though as an adult colossus, he could easily snap off the tether.

The point is really this: the next time  you set a goal for yourself (weight loss, family activity, eating healthier despite temptations, etc.), do what successful people do and take off the brakes.  Remove those limiting images and comfort zone parameters so that you will be a success and find your fullest potential.

How do you do this?  Jack Canfield and many other motivational speakers and authors suggest using the power of positive affirmations and mental imagery to imagine your success and work backwards from there.  Getting more into detail is beyond the scope of this post, but I hope this brings light to some of your struggles.

And if you’re a busy mom who struggles with fitness, then be sure to sign up on the waiting list for the best Cleveland fitness boot camp at TrainingbyLiz.com.  If you’re ready to get out of your comfort zone, give us a holler!