The following is a chapter-by-chapter review of Chris Hardwick’s The Nerdist Way: How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) [Amazon] [The Nerdist]

So far, Chris has helped us to set a course, evaluate our personalities and skills, working with the inner voice of quick happiness, quiet the voice of self-doubt, and give panic a shot to the sack. Now that there is a semblance of control over the mind, it’s time to exercise it a bit.

It’s easy to think that once mental stability is achieved that everything will be honky-donkey. Why not? You now have a direction, clear picture of the pluses and minuses, and an active spokes-voice in your head. Shouldn’t everything else just fall into place? I’m sure you can guess the answer.

See, it’s easy to make peace with yourself, but peace is a static state that is easily disrupted. As soon as something is thrown into your happy bellybutton staring world, all that peace of mind becomes a torrent. While things feel good, it’s time explore the things that don’t feel good. In particular the tasks or settings that make you uncomfortable and are necessary to move our plans forward.

First, a little exposure therapy. I think that most people have something that they are unwilling to face, but have no rational reason not to face it. Let’s face it – It feels really silly when one can’t come up with a good excuse for not being able to look at bare feet. (A roommates girlfriend insisted we always wore socks around her). I like Chris’ top for this – Hold in your mind a still image of the object of objection. Get use to it. Study it. Analyze it with your nerdy inner-vision.

From here, Chris mentions that just over-coming a fear or setting a goal isn’t always enough to motivate us toward the ends. Sometimes (often times), there needs to be a reward at the end. The reward needs to be something more than just self-satisfaction. Anyone that works a nine-to-five job knows that a job well-done for it’s own sake doesn’t always pay the bills.

What Chris doesn’t mention is that it is very important not only to set these rewards, but to maintain the image of the rewards in your head. In 2008, I weighed myself. 55lbs over ideal. That means that I was 225lbs at 5’11″. Not a picture of virility. Just another pudgy bastard. At the time, I had my eye on this woman and I knew that a trimmer physique would not only be healthier for me, but help to draw her interest. I dieted and exercise and within a year lost 35lbs of that weight. Yay, me!

I never did get that girl and to this day, I am still 20lbs overweight. I have successfully kept 35lbs off for over two years, but I stopped pursuing that goal. I stopped pursuing because the reward I was after went away. The lesson is be prepared for the rewards to change. Until I read this chapter, I hadn’t thought much about why I stopped trying to lose weight. I hadn’t realized how I was gaming myself toward that goal to begin with. Now I have a crucial piece to begin again with.

By my 42nd birthday in May of next year, I will be back to 170lbs. This time it’s to show that an aging bastard that avoids exercise can still look fit and trim. Suck on that!