Inspiration has to come from somewhere, and this time I find it coming from our favorite wizened, little, green Jedi Master: Yoda. I suppose it is not surprising that of all the Jedi characters, I'd find inspiration from the teachings and knowledge of Yoda. After all, he is the wisest of the Jedi in Star Wars.

What did surprise me is how I was inspired. Here is the situation: I'm in my early to mid-thirties. Like most of us, I'm not grossly overweight, but I could stand to lose a few pounds. I'd mainly like to lose weight for the long term health benefits, but it'd be nice to look a little slimmer too (oops--vanity, not exactly a Jedi trait there, but I digress).

So, two weeks ago, I started working towards achieving my goal. To that end, I purchased an exercise bike. I chose to do this as it is increasingly difficult to find time to get out of the house to get any exercise in as I have a young family. Not to mention, with a bike in the house, I can ride while watching TV, and I can't use that as an excuse.

Here is where the inspiration comes in. I was setting my weight loss goals two weeks ago. I kept saying, "I'm going to try and bike X amount of minutes per day, and I'm going to try to lose X amount of weight." Then I realized I was already setting myself up for failure. I remembered Yoda's line from the Empire Strikes Back and could almost imagine him admonishing me: "No! Do or do not! There is no try!"

By saying "I'm going to try," I gave myself an out. An excuse. I wasn't holding myself accountable. So, I started saying, "I AM going to ride for x amount of time, and I will lose x amount of weight." There is no try. I was going to do it, or I was going to fail to achieve my goal. No excuses. You know what? The simple change has made a world of difference. I get up and tell myself, "I will exercise." It sounds corny, but this philosophy and outlook works. I haven't broken my exercise habit yet. Better yet, I'm already seeing results.

Looks like I owe Yoda one.