Published on February 15, 2024
Rationalization is a defense mechanism that allows you to justify bad behavior or feelings. It’s a way to distort facts to make things look better than they are – to convince others and yourself that your motives and actions are good, not bad.
Basically, it’s the ability to lie to ourselves.
Making excuses for one’s actions (or 𝒊𝒏actions).
In my business, this is something that I come face to face with regularly with clients.
I call it rational-lying.
Have you started many a day resolved to eat healthy for the rest of your life but, by evening, a piece of chocolate cake has somehow found its way into your stomach?
Being in the weight loss business for over 25 years, I have a healthy respect for people’s extraordinary ability to rationalize almost any behavior. We can persuade ourselves to do almost anything we want to do — especially when the behaviors are ones our brains are used to doing. But trying to persuade ourselves to do things we don’t really want to do is not easy. We’re very adept at making wonderful and plausible excuses as to why we can’t do what we don’t want to do.
Losing weight through changing what and how much you eat doesn’t happen because you rationally decide to lose weight. You must focus on a change of heart, not a change of mind. You must get in touch with your deepest, heartfelt desires and, in fact, your motivation may not be positive. It may stem from a fear of getting sick; of being ostracized; of losing the spark with your partner.
If you find yourself repeatedly making excuses about something—and that can be anything— then there is a problem. And if you don’t deal with that problem, you will spend forever, perhaps the rest of your life, rationalizing it and suffering because of it.
To get in touch with your motivation, think about the negative consequences of not changing as well as the positive ones. Getting slim and fit must become a priority and your life must be organized accordingly.
