One of the key themes of the film as it comes to change…is that we often will try to anticipate how we are going to change, but the truth is, we really can’t.

Each new experience we have, each new obstacle we overcome, changes the way we think, and it isn’t something we can see coming.  The best we can do is have faith in the process of change, and the idea that our brains adapt to new paradigms rapidly…often in just a couple of weeks we find we think totally differently about a topic like food or exercise.

We see this happen all the time when people are willing to monitor their caloric intake for a week or two.  They first think it’s going to be a big pain…and sometimes it is, but after a couple of weeks, we realize that we don’t eat all that many different things, and having a general concept of how many calories are in an order of fries, a soda, or a burger…are very valuable things to know…and they change our thinking from a big picture…because these bits of knowledge we do not forget…and so our behavior can be profoundly changed with just a little extra knowledge.

The same thing is so common for people who claim they are “not runners” or they “cannot run” — most people who are out of shape cannot run!  So the process of changing someone’s way of thinking has to do with gradually running just a little bit each day or each week, until suddenly in just a few weeks, we find that running isn’t so bad, because over time if we’ve stayed consistent, our body adapts to running…so the shift in thinking actually sneaks up on us…but often it’s our anticipation of how it will work that prevents us from doing anything!  Running is just an example of course, as this applies to so many things in our lives…cooking our food, working out in the morning…we can actually do anything if we just push through a period of discomfort.  The more we do this, we more we begin to be more confident in our own capabilities.  We have seen this so clearly with people who have transformed their bodies…they’ve overcome so many very personal obstacles, that they really do believe they can do anything…and it is true if they believe it!

So…stop anticipating and start pushing your limits.  You will be sure to surprise yourself every time!