THE LAW OF DOMINANT THOUGHT

You ever hold an idea in your head FOREVER and wonder if you’re crazy for thinking it, only to eventually discover that it’s been around forever, a bunch of really smart people already knew about it, and you were, in fact, way behind the times?  But how validating when that happens!  I remember this happening when I first discovered Jon Andersen’s Deep Water, and realized there was already a lunatic out there training stupidly hard and not eating carbs and making it work, and suddenly I didn’t feel so alone.  Well this happened again when I discovered the “law of dominant thought”, which states that “the most frequently and intensely held thoughts are the ones that exert the greatest influence on your life and actions”, which is something I have been writing about since the very start of this blog and, in doing so, I felt like I was rallying AGAINST the majority thought process.  It’s so delightful to discover that this was already out there, and, in turn, it gives me even MORE room to maneuver in discussing this principle.  See folks: I’m not as crazy as I seem!

But that's still pretty crazy

 

The way this principle is frequently applied is in the avenue of pursuing behavioral changes.  Specifically, the principle speaks to the idea that, if all we focus on is NOT doing something, we, instead, work against our interest and direct our actions TOWARD the very thing we are wanting to avoid.  Why?  Because the law of dominant thought proports that it is the frequency and intensity of the thoughts that influence our actions, NOT the vector of said thoughts.  That is to say, if I were a smoker, and I wanted to quit smoking, and all I thought about all day was “don’t smoke don’t smoke don’t smoke”, ALL I am thinking about is smoking…which means, I am going to inevitably end up smoking.  If, instead, I were to reframe my thought process and not even think about smoking, and instead think “save $8 (average cost for a pack of cigarettes in the US…holy cow)”, I will achieve my goal of not smoking because my dominant thought is one that supports the goal through a POSITIVE reframe rather than a negative one.  Instead of thinking about how to NOT fail, I am thinking about how to SUCCEED!

 

And herein we see what I’ve been beating the wardrum about for over a decade now: success is NOT about not failing: it’s about succeeding.  And now we find out validate the reality that focusing ON succeeding is, in turn, a necessarily element OF success, and that attempting to focus on mitigation of failure is, in turn, a recipe FOR failure.  Where do we observe this in the realm of physical transformation?  In SO many places.  In the sphere of training, I frequently observe trainees wanting to know HOW to fail.  In the most literal sense, they’ll want to know how, mechanically, to fail the squat, for example.  They’ll want detailed instructions, a video demonstration, and even some honest to goodness practice on failing a squat.  ALL this is doing is creating a dominant thought of FAILURE and, in turn, failure becomes the self-fulfilling prophecy, and these young trainees, in turn, get stuck at a certain weight on their squats and never manage to make any progress…and quite typically this is a PLATRY weight.  Have I ever failed a squat?  Absolutely.  Did I have a PLAN for those failures?  Absolute not!  And each time, my body SOMEHOW managed to find a way to fail the squat WITHOUT any manner of rehearsal.  Meanwhile, I’ve had MANY successful squat sessions that most likely should NOT have happened, to include when I did box squats the week that I ruptured my ACL, tore my meniscus and fractured my patella on a yoke walk in a strongman competition, but with success as my dominant thought, success is what I achieved.

2 days post op I wasn't QUITE as ambitious, but still there was SOMETHING

 

But we also observe this as it relates to training itself.  I have written so much in the past regarding how one must be “all in” as it relates to a training program, and the instant doubt creeps in the program needs to be abandoned.  How significant the “power of belief” is, as it relates to training programs success, and how specifically this relates to programs like Super Squats, Deep Water, Mass Made Simple, etc.  And herein, once again, we see just how the law of dominant thought applies.  If ALL we are thinking about is “I hope I’m not wasting my time with this program”…we’re going to waste our time with this program.  We’re not going to put in the requisite amount of effort, we’re not going to fully comply, we’re going to skirt the hard work, stupidly adjust things that should not be tweaked with, and ultimately squander the time invested in the program by not succeeding on it.  I see this with all the doubting questions that come across.  “Do I REALLY need to drink a gallon of milk a day for Super Squats?”  “Do I REALLY need to cut out carbs when I follow Deep Water?”  And know what the real comedy of all this is?  If these folks would just stop ASKING for permission and write their own destiny, they WOULD succeed!  If the thought process was just “I’m going to grow because I’m running Super Squats”, they’d grow.  But by thinking “Can I grow WITHOUT drinking the gallon of milk a day?”, their fate is sealed.

 

Hey, while I’m talking about a gallon of milk, let’s talk about nutrition, because boy oh boy do we see this happen there.  I have frequently addressed the notion that, when the goal is gaining: the goal is GAINING.  The goal of gaining is NOT minimizing fat.  But, reference my recent post of “I had it easier”, because of stupid social media influence and unrealistic standards, trainees have it in their heads that they HAVE to have razor sharp abs 365 days a year and that putting on an ounce of fat during a gaining phase is some sort of unredeemable sin.  And so, during their gaining phase, their most dominant thought it “don’t get fat”…and, funny enough, that’s exactly what happens.  Instead of thinking “get muscular”, making THAT the dominant thought, and achieving that, they are SO hyperfixated on not getting fat that they end up jacking up their cortisol levels by training stupidly hard with an inadequate amount of recovery via nutrition, and the body “rewards” them by breaking down muscle tissue and upping bodyfat, resulting in a wonderfully underwhelming skinnyfat physique.

Notice how the bully doesn't have a six pack...and how it doesn't matter

 

And in the realm of fat loss, these trainees living in a state of frequent denial thinking “don’t cheat don’t cheat”…they cheat.  “Don’t binge don’t binge”…they binge.  These folks are so hyperfixated on what they are DENYING themselves that, in turn, their dominant thoughts set them up for a pattern of restrict, binge, restrict HARDER, binge HARDER, repeat, and ultimately achieve nothing.  I’ve written about my experiences with Vince Gironda’s Maximum Definition Diet, and the entire time I’ve undertaken it, never once did I lament all the foods I “couldn’t eat”: instead, I was absolutely overjoyed thinking about what I GOT to eat: all the meat and eggs I want.  And without counting calories or macros, my dominant thought was “I’m going to get lean”…and that’s exactly what happened.  Whereas, if I obsessed and thought “I can’t get lean without counting calories”…I’d be right about that too.

 

Honestly, this is too easy to write about, and this post could get stupidly long, so I’m going to cut it at this point just because we’ve already covered training and nutrition and how this law applies.  But seriously, dear reader, consider how simple this principle is and how to apply it to your own path of physical transformation.  When all we focus on is how to not fail, all we achieve IS failure.  When we flip the vector toward how can we succeed, that is what we accomplish.  Approach all avenues of physical transformation with a mindset of “how will I succeed at this”, and you will guide yourself exactly where you need to be.