Retrain Yourself to Think Positive

A key element of changing your attitude is changing your self-talk, or internal monologue. Your self-talk is that chattering conversation you have with yourself all day long, whether you are aware of it or not. It's the voice in your head that says, "I'm too fat" or "I'm not good enough." I don't need to go on, do I? You know what I'm talking about!

It's this kind of useless negativity that keeps you from being the best that you can be. Well, it's time to turn it around once and for all. You need to retrain yourself to think positive!

Imagine what would happen if you changed the dialogue so that it sounded more like this: "I can lose weight and be healthy, exercise to the best of my ability, and get stronger and better at it every time I do it." Your self-talk can make the difference between happiness and despair, success and failure. I can promise you that if you start making your self-talk more positive and affirming — and less defeatist and self-depreciating — your whole life will change for the better.

Tip: Rewrite Your Thoughts

Now that you know how important it is to have the right attitude in order to reach your goals, pull out your journal again. Review what you wrote last week. Doesn't it feel good to read the positive thoughts? Don't you just cringe when you read the negative ones? Start retraining yourself. Change all the negative thoughts to positive ones. For example, take "I feel so gross when I eat the whole bag of chips" and turn it into "When I eat healthy, I feel great. And when I feel great, I look great." Hang in there — before you know it, you'll be able to "rewrite" negative thoughts in your mind.

- Jillian Michaels