Here’s why you need to be your own biggest fan to really see it through to your goals. And you’ll learn how to make it happen.

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It’s been a minute since I’ve gone on an actual job interview.

You know, since I’ve been doing the stay at home dad thing plus running my own business.

But one of my favorite ways to nail the interview (back in my job hunting days) was to flip a common question on its head.

“What would you say is your biggest negative character trait?”

My answer was always a way to manipulate the question. Flip it back to my control so I could dictate the narrative.

“I would say that my biggest drawback can be expecting perfection. Being a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to my work and the projects I’m a part of.”

From there, I’d go on to talk about high-quality work and blah blah blah.

Worked like a charm, every time. But …

Here’s the thing about perfectionism: it really can be a negative trait.

You expect and strive for things to be so perfect … so right … that you end up beating yourself up when it doesn’t happen.

It leads down a negative pathway where you feel like you are settling for anything that is not up to par.

If you’re not careful, this can ruin your relationship with the most important person in your life … YOU.

In this article, you’re going to learn how to be your own biggest fan. How to start appreciating yourself a little bit more.

While this won’t directly lead to fat loss, it will indirectly reap the benefits to help you see it through to your fat loss goals by accepting the many bumps along the rocky path to weight loss victory.

Let’s get into it.

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We’ll start with a quick role-playing story.

Let’s say a friend comes to you and says they’ve lost 10 pounds.

What would your response be?

I’m sure it would be something along the lines of “Congrats!” Or “How did you do it?” Maybe even “You look great, nice job!”

And yet, if the role was reversed and you had a goal of losing 20 pounds and lost those first 10, you feel defeated.

“It’s not dropping fast enough.”

“I have so much more to go.”

“Why can’t I just lose the rest of this weight? I suck.”

Sound familiar?

Why beat yourself up like this? A loss of 10 pounds is enough to see some results in the mirror and in how your clothes fit and feel.

Yet you’re over here downgrading yourself because it wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t enough. You want more.

Let’s put an end to this cycle of negativity by starting to repair your relationship with yourself.

Learning to be your own biggest fan starts by asking yourself this simple question …

What actually matters to you?

This sounds easy to decipher on the surface. But it can actually be a bit tricky since most of us are inundated with nonstop sensory overloads and overwhelming social, family and professional obligations.

You’ll need to sit down with a clear mind and really do some deep work here.

So … what actually matters to you?

Seriously.

What are your values and priorities and goals?

List them out. Get acquainted with them.

If something doesn’t actually matter to you or your life, find the grace to remove it from your life.

This includes high maintenance friends and loved ones, too.

But going back to our fat loss example, maybe you want to lose the weight, but finally realize that the six pack set of abs is not a priority.

Good.

Now you can adjust your goals and expectations accordingly.

This will provide more grace throughout the process and a bit more vision on how to achieve the ultimate goal you’ve set for yourself.

Without overloading yourself with unattainable objectives that will only lead to disappointment when you don’t hit them.

Accept responsibility for your life

Gaining a bunch of weight might not be your fault. Perhaps you were never provided access to proper tools and knowledge about nutrition and health.

But it’s your responsibility to take care of yourself and lose the excess weight.

Sounds harsh, I know.

However, if you are reading this article and all of the other nuggets of info that I drop on the regular here, you are doing the work required.

Of course, reading about the right course of action and actually taking action are two different things.

And perhaps this is the right opportunity for you to finally find the accountability you need through my Lean4Life Academy and online coaching program. Shameless plug … don’t hate.

In all seriousness, there’s a point in your life where you’ll need to understand that you have much more control and agency over your actions and goals and you’ll need to accept responsibility.

Once you do that, you’ll be much more equipped to finally take decisive action.

Refuse the urge to compare your Chapter 1 to someone else’s Chapter 12

This is your journey and yours alone.

While it may appear that the influencer, celeb, family member or friend is living their best life, you have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes.

You have no idea what it took to get to that moment.

Going back to your friend that you congratulated for losing the 10 pounds. What you didn’t hear from your friend is how often she doubted herself along the way. How many times she messed up, or even gave up.

Maybe she’d been trying to lose the weight for years and finally figured out the sustainable path to victory.

Or maybe she did it in an unhealthy way and embraced an unsustainable plan like fucking Keto.

Who knows.

What you do know is that you are in control of your book. And you must take action on your approach to see it through.

When you stop setting expectations based on others results, it’ll make it far easier to accept yourself to become your own biggest fan.

Aim for the small wins

You need confidence. Confidence in yourself and in your actions.

And to gain that confidence, we need to build some small wins. Stack those wins. And start building momentum.

Build momentum every single day towards your goal.

This can be as simple as aiming to go for a 10-20 minute walk after each meal. Or by committing to adding a palm-sized portion of protein at every meal.

Build momentum with those small wins. That leads to results, which leads to the motivation to keep going.

Celebrate those small wins

Once you start really building that momentum, congratulate yourself for doing so.

It’s no small feat to start creating a healthy lifestyle change. So understand that and accept that and be fucking happy with yourself.

Celebrate when you finally commit to writing in your journal every day for a week.

Get super proud of yourself not for losing a pound this week, but for the behavior changes you made to lose that pound.

Be your own biggest fan for doing the small things. Just like your best friend would want of you.

Accept and appreciate praise for your achievements

When the time comes that a friend of yours congratulates you on your accomplishments, don’t shy away from it.

Accept it. Appreciate it. Acknowledge it.

You don’t have to be an asshole and rub their faces in it, “Haha I lost weight and you still look fat.”

But you should really hit the pause button to understand that your achievement has been recognized, which is a major part of the process.

So if you’re typically one to shy away and throw up the humble card when someone praises you … maybe shift gears a bit.

Puff your chest out. And acknowledge that you did that shit and deserve those kinds words.

Humble brag about your victories

There’s certainly a fine line between being a pompous asshole and a humble human just honored to see results.

Walk that line.

Brag a bit to your loved ones about how proud you are … of yourself.

Too often we end up always praising others.

And let’s be clear: that’s important. You should be cheering others on. Lifting them up. Celebrating their accomplishments.

But you also need to do the same for yourself.

How often do you brag about some little thing your kid did the other day?

“Little Katie finally learned how to write the letter ‘A,’ I’m so proud of her!”

Not many people care about this. But you do it anyway.

Meanwhile, when was the last time you bragged about yourself?

Go to your fave social media drug of choice today and brag about one little thing, one small win, that you are proud of accomplishing.

Let this be the first step in helping you be your own biggest fan.

Let me help you learn to be your own biggest fan
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I’m here to help you out. 

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Be your own biggest fan” and I’ll answer any questions you have to make this work for you.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

If you enjoyed this post, maybe you’d like more knowledge bombs from me. I’d be honored if you join my mailing list to get regular updates every time I post something pretty dope.