Allow me to share a story about a client-athlete of mine. We’ll call him Achilles (not his real name).

Achilles is a corporate executive at a big tech firm. He's super-successful in his finances.

I'd describe him as competitive and driven.

When I met him, he was trying hard to shed the unhealthy weight he had put on over the years.

His approach was to push himself harder in the gym. Near-death workouts were his style.

But he just wasn’t getting the results we wanted. In fact, his training sessions only made him more fatigued throughout the day.

He started to experience mental fog in the office and drank more coffee because of it.

And after coffee, a big can of some hyper-caffeinated energy drink.

He complained about back and neck pain.

When we first met, I asked Achilles how his sleep was.

He told me that he generally worked on weekdays right up to 1:00AM nearly every night and woke up at 6:30AM.

Doing a little probing, I learned that Achilles fell asleep in front of the TV almost every night.

Achilles came to me expecting a better exercise program, but instead we focused on correcting his sleeping habits and reducing his stress.

In about a month, he had improved his sleep cycle and dumped all his bad late-night habits.

He also ditched the late-afternoon energy drink (still has coffee in the morning).

And not long after that, he was finally able to shed those unwanted pounds of bodyfat.

What's the point of this story? Well, maybe your habits are holding you back from living the life you want.

Achilles was unable to recover because of poor sleep habits. By choosing to get poor sleep each night, he was hurting his body’s natural ability to produce growth hormone and other restorative hormones that actually help burn fat.

As a coach, I identified his problem and provided an actionable solution.

I also helped Achilles stay accountable to his decision to get high-quality sleep each night.

And when you combine a good night’s sleep with smart training, portion-controlled nutrition, and stress management… well, that’s a formula for success.

Now stop and think for a minute: Are you doing the basics?

If yes, keep it up. Good job. If no, why not?

Respectfully speaking, I think I know why.

• You’re scared (fear)
• Maybe you are over analyzing (fear)
• Perhaps you are procrastinating (fear)

To dig a little deeper, ask yourself what is so scary.

You likely have an irrational fear, like the fear of spiders.

For example, tarantulas do not pose a major health risk. Their venom has very low toxicity to humans.

So, despite their unsettling appearance, there’s very little reason to freak out when one of these sharp-fanged creatures skitters across the floor and into a dark corner.

Well, except for the fact that they move very fast and they're always trying to creep up on you with their eight sticky hands.

My suggestion is to stop worrying so much. Nobody is judging you.

If you fail, that’s okay. Just get up and move forward.

If you aren't making improvements with your current program, it’s completely crazy to add more treadmill running, more juice cleanses, or do some other unnecessary thing.

More isn't always better; instead, master the basics.

My goal is to help you reach your priority-one goal. Because nothing else matters.

So please, please stop worrying. Stop being so fearful because losing bodyfat isn’t scary.

Fear can hurt your health and cost you everything in life.

If you’re reading this, at some point you’ve likely considered buying something from somebody to improve your health.

Maybe it’s organic groceries, a sports massage, a "diet" book, a gym membership, etc.

When it comes to getting lean and strong, there are two common objections:

1. I'll invest when I have more time.

2. I'll invest when I have more money.

If you are over 40 years, this way of thinking right here is going to cost you more than you can possibly imagine.

Here's what you’re actions are basically saying:

"Let me attempt to solve the frustrating problem, that I could pay you to help me figure out, in less time, so I can eventually pay you to help me solve the problem that I still have?"

Allow me to explain.

How Fear Is Hurting Your Health

Let’s say you want to build a house.

One of the first things you will do is pay an architect to design the house and create blueprints. Then you get building permits.

After that, you hire a general contractor to come in and build with the architect's detailed plans.

If you skip the architect part, and you just have a general contractor show up and start randomly nailing studs together, the house is going to fall apart.

Furthermore, there are laws against building a house without plans and permits.

Why are there laws against it? Because it’s foolish to think you can build something without a proper blueprint.

No sensible person believes that they can skip paying for detailed building plans and move right to the contractor.

It’s equally ridiculous to think that you can solve your own health problems, if you continue to try and fail.

Fear is clouding your judgment. Plain and simple.

You need to invest in your health. And you need to do it before you get a preventable issue like diabetes or heart disease.

You must invest in your health before it's too late.

That’s literally the most important part, just like the blueprints for a house.

Skimp on that, you will likely fail.

I get it. It’s hard to invest in the best online age-management personal trainer when you are so busy and feeling average.

But that’s the most important time to hire a fitness-and-nutrition coach.

Because that’s how you create healthy habits, so you lead by example and create generational health.

You wouldn’t operate on somebody without going to medical school, right?

You wouldn’t fly an airplane without flying lessons either, correct?

For thousands of years, in almost every skilled trade, you become an expert by taking lessons from someone else who is already good at it.

Look, if what you are doing is working. Keep it up.

But if you're feeling frustrated from trying and failing, why continue to go down that road?

If you’re thinking in your head, "Why am I spinning in place? Why am I stuck? Why can’t I just get to the next phase or even get started?"

It’s likely because you are in a constant state of waiting. In reality you're wasting time.

Perhaps you don’t want to invest in yourself until you have more time, money, marbles, or whatever. Just remember that fear is hurting your health.

Fear is keeping you fat, sick, and out-of-shape.

One trait my most successful over-40 clients have in common is taking imperfect action.

You can screw up a meal or two, stay up too late, occasionally drink too much... but if you take imperfect action, every day, you will get healthy.

You will lose weight. You will have more energy and more self confidence.

My clients often say, "I just wish I learned this before I spent five years trying to figure it out on my own."

What is time worth to you?

Every day is a blessing. You wake up and go through the entire day and once that day is over, it’s gone forever.

Eventually you’ll wake up in a nursing home and be on your last breath.

Don’t waste the days. Do whatever you can to figure it out now.

Don’t have the money to invest in your health? Go find the money.

If you value and prioritize your health, you can find the money.

Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it to you right now.

Let’s say you were interested in working with the best online personal trainer.

You know that a world-class coach can help you, they’ve helped others, they have results themselves; but the investment is $99 per week.

You might think, “Oh I can't come up with $99 each week. That’s too much!”

But is it? Really?

Let’s say I was going to give you a brand-new $500,000 Rolls Royce for $99 a week.

And you had one week to find the money. Could you do it?

Of course you could! But why?

“Well Coach Joe, a fancy luxury car is worth so much more than $99 a week, that’s why!”

So what you’re saying is, you’re willing and able to find $99 each week to buy a Rolls-Royce just because it’s worth more, but you’re not willing to invest in yourself to learn how to get leaner, stronger, and happier?

Your good health is what allows you to take care of your family, provide good doctors for your kids/grandkids, provide vacations so you and your spouse can create memories, and so much more.

Your health is everything and without it you have nothing.

If you're saying that your health is not a priority, ask yourself, what does that say about you?

Do you need to get unstuck? Stop letting fear keep you from getting into the best shape of your life.

I promise you'll be happier once you lose the junk weight.

By "junk" I mean the excess bodyfat that's predisposes you to diabetes, cancer, heart problems, and other preventable diseases.

This may not be what you want to hear, but it’s the truth.

So ditch your negative, worried attitude for a happier approach to getting healthy.

And it all starts with the basics:

• Positive mindset
• Quality sleep
• Stress management
• Portion-controlled and unprocessed nutrition
• Smart training
• Accountability and coaching

Hope this helps motivate someone who is struggling.

To your success,

Coach Joe

Joseph Arangio helps 40+ men and women get leaner, stronger, and happier. He's delivered over 100,000 transformation programs to satisfied clients around the globe. If you want to lose weight from home, with the best online personal trainer, or you want to visit the best personal trainer in the Lehigh Valley, you can take a free 14-day trial.