Follow through: This time, it's for real - Part 3

In part 1 of this article I broached the subject of “follow-through” and ended with this statement by my colleague Alwyn Cosgrove: “everyone knows what to do to lose weight---but getting them to do that is the difficult part.”

In part 2, I surmised that the reason it is so difficult was largely three-fold:
1. Misinformation
2. Ignorance
3. Lack of discipline or laziness (some call these “bad habits”)

I covered the topic of misinformation and will now continue with the topic “Ignorance.”

When discussing the area of follow-through, I understand that a great deal of the reason many people do not succeed in their fat loss or fitness goals is many times deep rooted in psychological issues far beyond the scope of my training and technical expertise.

However…I also believe, as stated previously, that we each have the power to choose. This is a divine gift of God, one that we often either take too lightly, or fail to comprehend.

It is said that there are four kinds of knowledge:
1: The things you know that you know
2: The things you know that you don’t know
3: The things you don’t know that you know
4: The things you don’t know that you don’t know

The latter of the two, and more specifically the last element, are what I want to focus on today.

In Mr. Cosgrove’s statement above, he used an element of speech that many of us partake in on almost a daily basis: a global generalization. You see, his analogy that “everyone knows what to do to lose weight” assumes that “everyone” actually does know. (And everyone knows what happens when we assume…oops, there’s another global generalization) I, on the other hand, do not believe this.

In my almost 30 years in this business I have come to believe that many people just flat out don’t have a clue what sound nutrition really is. I once interviewed a woman to be the babysitter for my children and she told me that, “For lunch we serve either hotdogs, corndogs, chips, Kool-Aid, French Fries or tater-tots. So you can see that I’m nutrition conscious.” I guess the look I returned her saved me from actually having to verbalize my utter disbelief.

And, no, she did not get the job.

Ignorance and stupidity are not the same thing and do not, necessarily, go hand-in-hand. I have been to parts of Arkansas where some of the married couples were also first cousins, but that is another story.

While I do not know how to fly a jet, it is not because I am stupid. I am simply ignorant educationally and experientially of the technical aspects of the operational procedures of flying. If I were to apply myself to that purpose (and if I weren’t deathly afraid of heights) I could undoubtedly learn to do so and achieve that result.

In this age of information overload, and as the law states, “Ignorance is no excuse.” The answers to most every question imaginable are but a few clicks away, provided you are disciplined enough or aren't too lazy to search for them.

In the next issue, I will tackle what I believe to be the most notorious of the three culprits to success: laziness.

God bless,
SP