By Brian White | Fitness

The number-one reason you don’t look or feel your best may be what’s happening in the short term.

You know what you need to do to reach your goals. But you still aren’t doing it. You are still hitting that snooze button two to three times each morning. You are still cutting your workouts short because you have racked your brain (subconsciously) to find something you need to do that was (not) more important than exercise.

In a matter of seconds, you justified ordering the eggs benedict with breakfast potatoes instead of the egg-white omelet and grapefruit.

Every single one of these decisions boils down to one thing: lacking the ability to sacrifice in the short term for long-term gain.

It is really all about instant gratification and taking the easy way out. You do this at too many decision points and it becomes an ingrained habit. It becomes much too easy to succumb to temptation.

The worst aspect of this type of decision-making is it becomes so easy and effortless that you may not even be aware that you are doing it.

The first step in overcoming this habit is to become aware. Analyze your decisions throughout the day and ask yourself if each one is hindering your long-term goals. You can easily become so habituated to instant gratification that you can forget it is a conscious choice.

If this sounds like you, the good news is you can change. Recognizing a weakness is the first step to eliminating it. Understanding that every time you are tempted by a short-term view – oh look, a cupcake – you are really hurting yourself in the long term. Suddenly, the temptation will not be as strong as it was before.

This is not easy, because you could be stuck in bad habits that you don’t even realize. You need to think about what you really want. Are you willing to sacrifice your biggest dreams for temporary satisfaction? I hope not.

Remember, you cannot get something you want without giving up something in return. So next time you see ads making claims like “get ripped in five minutes a day” or “lose weight without giving up your favorite foods,” think twice.

At the end of the day, the most important thing to ask yourself is, “Did I make the necessary sacrifices to move towards my long-term goals?” I hope more often than not the answer to that question is yes, and then you fall asleep soundly.

—Brian White owns BWF, San Diego’s Premier Training Service located in Hillcrest. He runs boot camps in Balboa Park and trains clients in Diverge Gym. Go to youshouldbedoingit.com to read his blog, or take his seven-day video challenge to get back into healthy habits. Contact Brian at [email protected] or on his website.