How to use performance feedback to help you achieve your goals

First off, here's 2 quotes which summarize this topic very accurately:

"If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. If what you
are doing is not working, do something else.”

"Realize that there is no such thing as failure. Keep this in mind and you will achieve
all that you conceive in your mind. You never fail, you simply produce results.”

And a little example about performance feedback:
We could imagine a plane, starting to make it's way to it's destination on rough and windy
conditions. The liftoff is always the hardest; there's a lot of controlling and stabilization to be done
to the plane by the pilots. Despite of the problems in the beginning, they get above the clouds,
and after that it seems like smooth sailing.

But the thing is, plane still doesn't go perfectly straight. After just a little while the winds up high
affect the plane's course, diverting it off of it's trajectory. But, using a variety of different
feedback systems such as radar, radio beacons, geographical landmarks and  such, the
navigation equipment picks up the slight change in course. That's when the pilots step in.
They make small adjustments so that the plane is again going to the right direction. And that is
what happens on every flight, all the way from the beginning to the destination.


How to use performance feedback to lose body fat


I told you that analogy because it fits perfectly for fat loss. The process of losing
body fat is a lot like the takeoff and flight of an airplane. For some people it takes a long time
to “get off the ground.” Instead of being patient and waiting out the storm, they quit before they even
get to takeoff speed. Others get off the ground, but as soon as they hit any turbulence, they quit
and “land the plane.” Some people even manage to start coasting comfortably towards their
destination, making substantial progress. But the minute they find themselves off course, they
too join the quitters instead of simply adjusting their direction.

Each of these people made the mistake of considering their results as failure.
Because they believed they had failed, they gave up. How would it be if a pilot “quit” every
time there was a delay, turbulence, or a slight deviation in the plane’s course? No one would
ever get anywhere! The key to your success in losing body fat starts with a mental imaging:
There is no such thing as failure - only feedback; only results.

“Everything looks like a failure in the middle. You can’t bake a cake without
getting the kitchen messy. Halfway through surgery it looks like there’s been a murder in
the operating room. If you send a rocket toward the moon, about ninety percent of the
time it’s off course – it “fails” its way to the moon by continually making mistakes and
correcting them.” - quote

If you measure your body fat and there’s no change (or it has even increased), you shouldn't
consider it a failure – you have simply produced a result. As long as you’re taking action, whatever
result you produce is “performance feedback..” It may not be the result you aimed for, but it’s still
valuable feedback. You’ve learned something: You’ve learned one way that doesn’t
work. Mistakes are said to be the best teachers!

If you want to produce a different result, you simply need to try a different approach.
One definition of madness is continuing to do the same thing while expecting a different result.
Thomas Edison tried thousands of experiments to find a filament that would burn in the electric
light bulb. When asked what it felt like to fail so many times, Edison said he didn’t fail:
“If I find 10,000 ways something won't work, I haven't failed. I am not discouraged,
because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. Just because something doesn't
do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.”

You’re always going to get some kind of results. It’s how you interpret your
results that will determine whether you’ll reach your final destination or not.
Like the pilot, or Thomas Edison, you need to gather feedback and change your 
course the instant you notice you’re not heading in the right direction (while learning in the process).

At the most simple level, the changes you’ll make to your training program consist of eating less
or exercising more. However, from what you have learned about the body’s defenses against
starvation, you know that eating less only works to a point.

That’s why increasing the volume or intensity of your activity is almost always the best option when
you’re not getting the fat loss results you're after. Even increasing activity only works to a point,
because over-training and adaptation can set in, so you need other options – and the more options
you have, the better. And I'll be telling you about all these options later in this weeks posts.
All things being equal, the person with the most options is the one most likely to succeed.


The fat loss success system that's failproof


In 1976, John Grinder, a linguistics professor, and Richard Bandler, a
mathematician, developed a new field called Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).
Initially designed as a tool for psychotherapy, NLP blossomed into a much broader
science focused on communication and personal excellence. NLP teaches you a process
for discovering patterns of human excellence and then duplicating those results through a
procedure called modeling.

NLP also teaches you how to “run your brain” and think effectively so you can achieve any
result you want. It teaches you how to communicate with yourself. Perhaps most important,
NLP teaches you how to use feedback to unfailingly guide you to your goals.

Based on the principles of NLP, I have learned a seven-step fat loss formula that is
100% guaranteed to help you reach the goals you have set yourself. The system cannot fail
– you can only fail to use the system. Think of this system as your own personal “missile guidance system.”

And those 7 steps are the agenda of tomorrow's post, so be sure to check back then!
Keep the fit going!