Darren Hardy’s Guide to Losing Weight (What?) And Achieving ANY Other Goal

See that good looking guy to your left?

That’s me.  🙂

The guy standing next to me in the suit is Darren Hardy… Founder of SUCCESS Magazine.

What comes to your mind when you think of Darren?

… entrepreneurship, wealth, speaking, success, productivity.

All of those are true.

But today I want to talk to you about what we can learn from Author/Speaker/Entrepreneur, Darren Hardy, in the area of weight loss.

Lesson #1 – Massive Action is a Recipe for MASSIVE FAILURE

Have you ever gone on a diet where you practically starve yourself to try to lose weight?

I’ve personally done 2 diets where I felt terrible and couldn’t wait to quit:  Medifast and Isagenix

With Medifast, pretty much all you eat is Medifast’s food.  It tastes grainy, and the meals are 100 calories.  What’s crazier is they allow zero fruit on the diet.  After a week with no (or very little) sugar, you start to feel like a zombie.  It’s like you know you’re putting food in your mouth, and your stomach feels full, but your body is just screaming at you that something is missing.

Isagenix is even worse.  I did their detox and followed that with their 30 day diet.  I was starving and felt horrible.

Perhaps you’ve tried a “crash diet” and failed as well.

Was the problem that the diet doesn’t work?

Probably not.

The problem is it only works if you stay on it… and the dang system is too hard to stay on.

The Compound Effect of Dieting and Weight Loss

When I read Darren Hardy’s book, “The Compound Effect“, I realized that not only is Massive Action a recipe for Failure in dieting…

It’s also a recipe for failure in any other area you want to improve – such as your relationships or personal finances.

If you don’t currently put away money for retirement and want to guarantee yourself failure in doing so, go from putting away 0% to 10% of your paycheck in one month.  See how long that lasts.

Instead of taking such a drastic action, Darren Hardy would say to follow lessons 2 and 3.

Lesson #2 – Want to Lose 100 lbs?  Walk Around the Block 2x Per Week

Ok, so we learned Darren wouldn’t approve of massive action.  Surely, instead, he would suggest to make moderate life changes in your diet and/or exercise routines to fuel your weight loss goals, right?

Nope!

Darren would say to pick the smallest, simplest and most achievable task for yourself that would help you get to your goal… something you can start doing today… and do it consistently over a long period of time.

Here’s the thing…

You have to keep doing it, over and over, every day (for months even) before you see a change.  But you will see a change.

WAIT!

“I Admit it.  What I just said was BS!”

The whole “do it everyday” for a long, long time thing until you see a change is not really how we humans operate.

The small, simple task you’ll assign yourself is really nothing more than a mind hack to get you started toward your goal.

In actuality, your results will come when you succumb to the Compound Effect.

Once you’ve successfully begun your small task… once you’ve gained momentum… once you’ve proven to yourself you CAN take positive steps towards losing weight or paying off debt, or whatever… you likely won’t stop there.

From “Out of Breath” and Overweight to a Marathon Runner

Darren tells a story in his book about how a woman he knew was so overweight and out of shape that she could barely climb a flight of stairs, and would be winded when reaching the top.

She told Darren after seeing a friend of her run a half marathon that she would love to do that someday, but she would never be able to.

Darren promised her he could help, and she accepted.

What was his first recommendation?  “I want you to drive around and find a 1 mile route around your house.  Then I want you to walk that route 2 times per week.”

That’s all he said.

He didn’t mention anything about her sugar intake.

… He didn’t tell her to stay away from carbs, or try this or that diet.

… He didn’t ask her to jog as much of it as she could.

… He just asked her to do the simplest thing he could think of.

… and guess what.  The Compound Effect took over.

All on her own, she started jogging some of the route.  All on her own, she starting minding what she ate a little more.  All on her own, she upped her schedule to 3 days per week instead of 2.

Soon she was running her entire mile.

Darren’s next assignments were also easy, adding only 1/8 of a mile to her distance each time she ran, an almost imperceivable distance.

Soon she was running 8-10 miles a day, and then over 13 miles per day.

Eventually she ran her half marathon and then starting training for a full marathon, and ran that too.

In the process, she lost 40 lbs.

Here’s Darren talking about his book.  I can’t recommend it highly enough:

A Paradoxical Commandment

We actually teach the same principle in our 10 Paradoxical Commandments to Losing Weight article.  Commandment #9 is to do 5 push-ups and 5 squats per day.  We argued the same point here.  Guess how many people do 5 of each and then stop?  Once you start, you’ll keep going and get yourself 15 or 20 every time!

Lesson #3 – Write Down Everything!

This lesson is so simple, but the most important of the 3.

Darren says if you want to achieve ANY goal… weight loss, saving up for a house, landing your dream job… anything… write down EVERYTHING you do during the day pertaining to that goal.

So if you want to lose weight, write down every single thing you put in your mouth during the day.

After a few days, take a close look at your list.  Count up the sugar and calories.

Your eyes will likely be opened to all the “hidden calories” you’re taking in eating things like dressing, nuts, cheese, coffee creamer, condiments… it all adds up.

Do You Agree?  Tell Me In the Comments

Ok it’s your turn…

Tell me below if you think Darren Hardy could help you lose weight.  Why or why not?

In conclusion… Do you want to lose an enormous amount of weight?  Just walk around the block.

Wink wink.