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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about how to stay motivated in long

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Speaker 1: term projects when progress is slow. This episode is first

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Speaker 1: running in mid February. We're several weeks into the new year.

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Speaker 1: Many people resolved to get in shape around January one,

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Speaker 1: but as life intervenes, many people fall off the wagon.

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Speaker 1: One gym chain went so far as to analyze their

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Speaker 1: customer data and declare a fitness cliff, which is right

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Speaker 1: around February ninth or so. We've talked in past episodes

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Speaker 1: about the challenges with New Year's resolutions. One of these

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Speaker 1: is that people fail to account for the realities of

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Speaker 1: their lives. I think another major one is that progress

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Speaker 1: on any project can be slow. I am not a

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Speaker 1: big fan of the common resolution to lose weight. In

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Speaker 1: my mind, better to focus on healthy habits and let

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Speaker 1: the scale go where it goes. However, if you have

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Speaker 1: chosen this as a resolution, even if you do everything right,

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Speaker 1: it's hard to sustain healthy weight loss of more than

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Speaker 1: about half a pound a week. People naturally cycle up

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Speaker 1: and down through the day. Women often cycle up and

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Speaker 1: down through the month, and these swings can easily be

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Speaker 1: four to five pounds in normal healthy people. So if

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Speaker 1: you do the math, this seems that responsible weight loss

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Speaker 1: can look like nothing for at least the first month

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Speaker 1: or two. No wonder people's motivation flags. But there are

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Speaker 1: ways to avoid falling off the motivation cliff. The first

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Speaker 1: is to celebrate other winds, whether you're losing weight or not.

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Speaker 1: A good workout feels well good, so celebrate that endorphin

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Speaker 1: rush as an extra moment of healthy happiness added to

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Speaker 1: your life. Maybe you made a new friend at the gym.

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Speaker 1: Celebrate that there's now someone else in your life whose

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Speaker 1: name you know and who you care about. If you

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Speaker 1: can lift a little heavier or run a little faster,

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Speaker 1: make a note of this. You may be able to

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Speaker 1: see progress here a lot faster than other sorts of progress,

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Speaker 1: So keep a detailed blog that you can study anytime

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Speaker 1: you're feeling like not much is changing. You can also

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Speaker 1: think more in terms of identity than results. I maintain

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Speaker 1: that anything you do three times a week is a habit,

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Speaker 1: so celebrate any steps towards your goal that you managed

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Speaker 1: to do three times a week. If you're trying to

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Speaker 1: write a book. Three hour long writing sessions during the

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Speaker 1: week is an accomplishment, so treated as such. Now you're

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Speaker 1: a writer, talk about this, refer to yourself this way,

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Speaker 1: and finally, it might help to do some mental time travel. Yes,

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Speaker 1: progress is slow and seems negligible now, but soon what

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Speaker 1: you're seeing now will disappear in the rear view mirror.

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Speaker 1: Losing half a pound a week seems like nothing at first,

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Speaker 1: but a few months the future, even at that pace,

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Speaker 1: you'll be outside the regular swings. You may only have

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Speaker 1: a few thousand words in your novel now, but those

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Speaker 1: words do accumulate, and someday you'll have tens of thousands

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Speaker 1: of words. So picture your future self celebrating these winds.

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Speaker 1: You could even write a letter to your future self

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Speaker 1: talking about what you're doing now to achieve these winds,

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Speaker 1: and as soon as you do start to see real progress,

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Speaker 1: thank your past self for making these choices. Even if

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Speaker 1: this all feels a little silly, acknowledgement goes a long way,

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Speaker 1: and hopefully that will keep you going to the gym

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Speaker 1: past mid February. How do you stay motivated for long

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Speaker 1: term projects? I'd love to hear about it. You can

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Speaker 1: email me at Before Breakfast podcast at iHeart media dot com.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. M Hey everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

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Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com. That Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.