At the gym there is a sign on the wall in the trainer’s office.
Top Three Reasons for Not Achieving Your Goals
Lack of Motivation
Lack of Dedication
Lack of Accountability
I think the first two are pretty easy. Motivation-if I really want something I’m motivated to work for it. Dedication-if I really want something, I will dedicate time to work for it. Accountability is what separates the dreamers from the doers.
I define accountability as follow through. Accountability is taking responsibility for your words and making them actions. Accountability is actually doing what you say you are going to do, not just talking about it. Most importantly accountability is sticking with the plan you set forth when you were motivated and dedicated, even if the original plan doesn’t go as expected.
Needless to say most people lack accountability: they talk up their idealistic plans to anyone who will listen… but as soon as they hit the first bump in the road they give up and say “Well, it just didn’t work”
Really, did it just not work? Or did you not make it work?
Last night I danced for both the bachelor party and the divorce party. The bachelor said, “Yeah….I hope it works.” The divorcee said “It just didn’t work.” Being a married woman, I had to ask, “What is it?” Neither of them could really answer me, they just looked at me with a blank face and said, “Uh, the marriage.” Must have been the booze. Or maybe neither of them had an ounce of accountability for it. I hope it was just the booze, because if people think that “fate” or some other divine force makes it work or not work for them….nothing will ever work for them. Realistically, American divorce rate is 50% for first marriages and 67% for second marriages…so we’ve got a whole bunch of people relying on fate and/or divine intervention to make it work.
Diets are another thing that people hope will work. I’d say 75% of the people I know would like to lose weight. Usually January 1st they are really motivated. So they dedicate a few hours a week to working out and maybe they substitute a few healthy meals for their usual take out.
Most of the time, they lack accountability for their plan and give up by March because it doesn’t work. Or maybe “their body just doesn’t want to loose the weight.” I had a student in my Spin class tell me this today. No matter what she did, it didn’t work. I asked her what it was. She looked puzzled. So I asked her how many calories she eats a day. “Um I dunno, maybe 1500.” Then I asked her how many calories she burns in a day. She didn’t know. Seems to me that her lack of accountability is sabotaging her weight loss a lot more than it is.
Here is the bottom line: if you burn more calories than you consume, you will lose weight. To be accountable for this you must have a food journal, know the calorie content of the foods you eat, and know your basal metabolic rate.
Your basal metabolic rate is how many calories your body burns just being alive. Roughly, add a zero to your weight. A 150 lb woman only needs 1500 calories per day to maintain her weight. If she eats more than that, her body will store the excess calories as fat. I eat 1200 calories per day when I am leaning out, 1500 a day when I am just maintaining. One slice of pizza has roughly 900 calories. One glass of champagne has 250 calories. One cup of romaine lettuce has 10 calories. 4 oz of chicken breast has 120 calories. Water has zero calories. Catch my drift?
Now, I LOVE to eat. I LOVE to go out to dinner and have drinks, appetizers, a main course, dessert, and coffee. I can easily consume 3000 calories in one restaurant meal. Luckily, I’m aware of my passion for big meals and only do it on special occasions. In fact, Vinnie and I are doing this on Friday before the Van Halen Concert. However, many people aren’t aware of the obnoxiously high calorie content of restaurant food. Therefore, they blame it for their mysterious inability to lose weight, rather than be accountable for their food consumption.
Strippers notoriously lack accountability. I have a friend at work who is motivated to make money. She is dedicated to working 4 nights a week. However, she grossly lacks accountability for closing a sale. She spends 2 hours in the dressing room having the makeup artist and the hairstylist work their magic on her. When she gets on the floor, she hopes someone likes her. She hopes someone takes her to VIP. When this doesn’t happen she talks about changing clubs and get bigger boobs. (Note, she’s been talking about this for over a year, yet done nothing) She always asks me for advice, and I’ve told her about Naked Assets Again she’s done nothing. I know she’s reading this and I’m totally calling her out! Last night I watched her aimlessly wander the floor, slump shouldered, looking like a girl who got stood up for the prom. Unlike high school, you can literally have hundreds of prom dates in one night at the strip club! You just have to take accountability, go out there, and ask.
On a final note, Christie’s train wreck came back to work this week. From here on, I will just refer to her as Crash. If you recall from last week’s blog, Crash crashed her car through the cement block wall in the parking lot. Now, at the time of the crash, Crash said “I was getting onto the freeway and hit something.” Last night, I overheard Crash telling someone “The heel of my boot got stuck underneath the gas pedal and I couldn’t lift my foot off the pedal! It wasn’t my fault! My heel was stuck!”
Oh well, let’s look on the bright side: no one was injured, Crash didn’t get a DUI, and I probably don’t have to worry about ever losing my job at Christie’s Cabaret.
Tags: accountability, motivation, strip club, stripper, superstripper
