It was the peak of “hot summer season” and I was gonna stay another night at my cabin, but the downpour we got turned the place into a mud bog.

Since I can’t run my dog, Hazel, effectively in a mud bog, I knew we had to head back early.

“Why don’t you just skip a day, Cristy?”

Because Hazel is neurotic even on the days when I run her for 3+ miles a pop.

Without that physical activity, she’s even crazier!

It’s not her fault. It’s just how she’s wired.

The good news is, dogs can be trained. With the right incentive, they can learn and stick with new behaviors.

And so can humans. We can retrain ourselves into new behaviors.

How do I know?

Because we’ve already trained ourselves into the ones we do now!

It may have been an accident, or influenced by other people, but the fact remains, we did it.

See, our brains are wired to form habits. It’s primal survival wiring that’s meant to make survival easier, by making it easier to do repetitive tasks and free up energy to do other things.

That’s why it doesn’t make you “bad” if you struggle to break bad habits.

It just means you don’t yet have enough incentive to break them…or you haven’t replaced them with good habits…or you haven’t stuck with good new habits long enough for them to take effect.

The right incentive makes a huge difference in whether you get a result you’re going for.

That incentive might be to get away from pain, but it might also be to move toward something enjoyable.

Only you can say for sure what’s most motivating for you.

For dogs, food is super motivating…but obviously that’s not gonna work for a human trying to lose weight!

So instead of food, think about what is motivating for YOU.

Is it cash?

Is it winning your office weight loss contest?

Is it being able to fit into your skinny jeans again?

Is it escaping a type 2 diabetes diagnosis?

Is it getting rid of that roaring heartburn?

Is it feeling comfortable during intimacy with your partner again?

Whatever it is, make a list of stuff you’d like to be free from, AND stuff you’d like to have as a result of losing weight.

Then make a list of incentives that are SO enticing, they’d motivate you to break the bad behaviors keeping you from hitting your goals.

Even if those incentives seem out of reach, write ’em down, because you never know.

Finally, pick an incentive that feels doable, and go for it.

Seriously, what have you got to lose besides weight?