Nine Things You Simply Must Do to Succeed in Love and Life by Dr. Henry Cloud, is a book I highly recommend.

One of those 9 things you should do is “Play the Movie.”

This has to do with thinking about the consequences of your choices and how they will play out in the near or distant future.

Think about what this would mean for making healthy eating choices and staying committed to exercise…

Do you have certain “triggers” that lead you down unhealthy paths?  (This applies to many areas of life, but I’m focusing on food-related triggers).

Maybe you come home late at night, you’re tired, you had a stressful day, and the last thing you feel like doing is cooking.  You think, “I deserve a treat” or “I’ll do better tomorrow.”

So, you grab a not-so-healthy snack, which then leads you to eat more unhealthy foods, which feeds your emotions but not really your spirit – you begin to feel guilty, or frustrated, or angry at yourself for making a bad food choice, especially since you know better…. and you know you’ll never reach your goals this way.

And so the story goes….

What if, as you walked through the door, you “played the movie?”  What if you played out this scenario in your mind so that you were armed and ready to make a different choice – because you already know how the plot will play out if you don’t?

I find this a very effective principle:  Play the Movie.  Identify the triggers that lead you down roads you want to avoid – whether they’re food-related or something else.

Empower yourself to change the storyline!  You CAN change when you become more aware.  :)