A Big Secret for Success in Weight Loss (and Life)
One hundred pounds gone. Now that it’s been nearly five years since my weight loss journey began, it’s easier to look back with new perspective. With some distance and personal growth, pieces of the puzzle have clicked into place and it’s easier to see why I reached my goal.
For instance, at the time it didn’t occur to me how important thoughts and mindset were. But instinctively sensing that discouragement or overwhelm could creep in, I surrounded myself with success stories and support, then stuck to mostly shorter workouts.
You’ve heard me say that consistency was one of the most important aspects of shrinking from size 22W to size 6, and that’s true. But there’s something a bit deeper going on with that. It’s a secret that applied to every individual workout and every bite of food.
In fact, this secret affects everything you want to do well—whether it’s losing weight, homeschooling, mothering, marriage or business. This one principle can determine whether you will succeed or fail.
It’s a simple change in perspective, a truthful way of thinking that can change your life, and it is this:
The little things you do every day matter. Even when it doesn’t look like they matter.
A choice to exercise, even for five minutes. A choice to skip exercise. A choice to eat three cookies….or not.
The trick is that even when you make the right choice, you don’t see the results right away, today. Maybe not even in two weeks. But you’ll see the results in two years.
We are so used to instant results in our modern world. Email rather than snail mail, microwave rather than campfire, car rather than covered wagon.
All those daily choices have subtle, tiny effects. By the time you see the results, the choices are ancient history. At the time you made the choices, nobody noticed but you. But everybody will notice the eventual results.
We want to tell ourselves that the little things don’t matter. But before we know it, the days pass and the months fly by and we’re left wondering how we got here.
If you plant tomato seeds, you’ll get a tomato plant. All the rationalizing and excuses in the world won’t change it to a watermelon plant. The law of sowing and reaping is absolutely unchangeable. You can’t escape its consequences, no matter how much you might wish to do so.
The good news is that sowing and reaping works with the good stuff, too. Seeds are tiny little things. Starting small and working up is okay. Fifteen minutes of exercise daily has different results eventually than fifteen minutes of sitting in front of the computer daily. That’s true even if you didn’t notice a single difference today.
More good news is that you do have a choice. You can choose wisely in the little things that matter every single day. Like a snowball rolling downhill, those little choices will eventually gain some momentum and you’ll start to see the difference.
Remember today that the little things matter. This should be encouraging, because you can do little things. Your success is not dependent on a huge, overwhelming undertaking. It’s actually the crop you’ll harvest after planting many, many little seeds.
I’d love to hear what you think. Please leave a comment below!
This is the most inspirational concept I’ve ever run across. I’ve heard the metaphor of sowing and reaping my entire life, but it’s never been presented with this clarity. I actually felt it click, and it feels life-changing.
I so appreciate your posts, which I get through email. Your words are the encouragement I often need. I printed this post so I can re-read it when I feel that discouragement try to set in. Thank you!!!
Thanks, Charlotte! Another good piece of advice. Blessings to you in the new year!
I weighed myself this morning only to find out that I have not lost one pound… and I’ve been dieting for an entire week! Are you kidding me?!! What gives!!! I’ve eaten clean and done T-Tapp every day for 7 whole days and nothing to show for it! Then I read this post by our wise Charlotte. I’m going to continue to make healthy choices and know that with time(more than a week!) the right choices add up.
Very true! Thanks for the reminder, I decided a few months ago, that I would do like you, Charlotte, and be consistent. I just saw some people at the holiday who haven’t seen me in a few months and they can see the changes I can’t. Changing my perspective is helping me, I’m not just looking for quick results, but permanent, and life-changing results
So encouraging! Thank you. I have found that I feel better when I t-tapp, even though I haven’t measured results yet, and I look forward to doing it. I pray I can be consistent in the small things!
I really needed this today! Thanks so much! I’m actually going to make a little sign and keep this before me so I can renew this thought everyday!
Thank you so much for this post! This is exactly what I needed to hear today!!! Bless you!
This is seriously exactly what I needed to hear. It’s the little things that has gotten me where I’m at right now… I can see this is a slippery slope and it’s so very easy to justify a little decision, then again and again… and in the end, I’m the big tomato! Thanks for your encouragement 🙂
I needed this now. Thank you for sharing these thoughts.
WOW – this was EXACTLY what I needed today – Jan 7th. I know that you posted it 5 days ago but I am just getting to it. Today I made numerous poor choices and I was starting to feel like I should just keep going on poor choices today. Start fresh tomorrow with good choices. Like somehow tomorrow it will be easier? – what’s with that mindset???? Thank you, thank you thank you. I’m putting my computer away and moving this body for a few minutes before I get some rest. I’m making a small choice to start now…
I can’t believe how much I needed to read this today! My battles with my thoughts has been very long and increasingly negative. I came here so discouraged and sad today, but after hearing just what I needed to hear, I’m feeling re-invigorated to just go do my workout. You have been such a blessing to me
Thank you so much for the reminder that “faithfulness” in the small, right things produces the fruit we all want.
I love this and God is using it SO much today to teach me! I am going through a book called Truly Fed by Gari Meachum (
https://trulyfed.com/ )and in chapter 2 she talks about this and about principles in God’s Word that work every time without fail, and Galatians 6:7-9 is one of them. She uses the analogy of our little choices each day as a blow dryer going up against a big glacier. It will melt little pieces at a time and the whole thing can melt if you chip away at it with your little hair dryer a little bit at a time. I love it!!! So needed to hear this today!!
Many years ago I did a training course and the trainer introduced us to the idea of, “A Blinding Glimpse of the Obvious”. This is when someone states something that when you hear it, it’s obvious only you had never thought of it quite that way before.
Reading what you’ve said here, I had a bit of a light bulb moment. I’m going to print it out and pin up on my wall because it’s so very true.
Thank you.
Wow, Charlotte, I really needed that reminder today. Thank you.
This is great! I totally agree! I really try to push myself to do the small things and not let my pessimistic side take over. It’s really hard, but rewarding. And although I don’t call myself skinny, everyone says i am, and I try hard to keep it up. Maybe not hard enough but at least it’s an effort. Thank you so much for sharing such a positive story. This will keep me a little more on track 😀
thanks again
Lydia
This article makes me want to lace up my shoes and keep.T-Tapping!
beautiful and true words. thanks for the encouragement!
Happy to encourage you, Ruth! 🙂