Dream it, believe it, achieve it (micromanagement not required)

The goal is weight loss, something you’ve wanted for so long. You’ve tried everything, and in your frustration. you start to wonder if it’s ever going to happen.

The more desperately you desire it, the more intense the longing becomes, and paradoxically, it feels increasingly out of reach. This relentless pursuit can narrow our focus to the end result, leading to micromanagement of every step of the process. Obsessed with immediate changes, we struggle to embrace the flexibility crucial for success.

Achieving any dream, including weight loss, requires letting go of control over the outcome. This can be such a daunting prospect, as control offers a sense of security and predictability, yet it can also blind us to new possibilities and reinforce self-limiting beliefs.

When a dream feels so far out of reach, we can fall into the trap of holding on to those beliefs, especially those that have held us back from achieving our goals in the past. These self-imposed restrictions can manifest as the perception that our desires are inherently out of reach (as though life has strict limits on what you’re allowed to achieve), or life happens and women are supposed to put on weight (especially at a certain age or changes in life), or any number of other beliefs we’ve taken on as absolute truths. 

The journey of believing in your dreams isn’t about knowing the exact outcome; it’s about trusting that the best result will find its way to you. It’s about letting go of expectations around time frames, weight targets, body changes, and other people’s validations. In the end, the outcome may be better than you could even imagine, so why would you impose a limitation on yourself for what you can achieve?

This applies whether you’re trying to lose weight through intermittent fasting, or pursuing any other goal to improve your life. The idea is not to control every step of the process but to move forward with the sole belief that what you seek is not only possible, but inevitable. When you let go of the rigid expectation of a specific outcome, you open yourself up to a range of possibilities, some of which may exceed your expectations.

There was a time when I was thinking of giving up, not just on a goal but on believing in the possibility of something better. I was ready for the next step in my career. Once I figured out exactly what that job would be (and that my value was a lot higher than I was currently being paid), it was just a matter of going for it – only to be met with rejection after rejection for six long months. It could have been soul destroying but at the point when it crossed my mind that maybe I should stop trying, it was immediately followed by “it’s just when you’re giving up that everything happens.” I returned to my job search with renewed energy and the following week I had requests for three interviews, and within a month I had accepted a new position.

This experience taught me that when I believe in myself and release control over the outcome, success will come. The same principle applies to intermittent fasting. There were countless times I could have dismissed it (when the scale went up, or during the long months of a plateau), particularly after my many failed attempts at weight loss over the years. But something about it resonated with me, and my intuition believed it would work, even when the results weren’t immediate. By trusting the process, believing I would get there eventually and continuing despite the hurdles, I achieved the dream I used to think was impossible (I had never previously put a number on what I wanted to achieve because I never believed I would attain it).

Life’s journey isn’t set in stone, and the paths we choose are influenced by our mindset and actions. We are responsible for our own lives, and this responsibility gives us the power to make choices to shape our future, without having to micromanage it. When you allow yourself to believe in something better, without being tied to a specific outcome, you create room for extraordinary things to happen.

Imagine if you let go of the doubts and embraced the possibility that intermittent fasting, or any other goal you’re pursuing, could work for you. What if it led not only to weight loss but to a level of self-love and confidence you’ve never known? What if the very thing you feared would fail turned out to be the catalyst for a transformation beyond your wildest dreams? These possibilities are within your reach, but only if you work on the belief instead of the outcome.