Want to Earn More Money? Lose Weight!

It's long been held that being thin equates to being more beautiful, more popular, more desirable, etc. But did you know that it may also mean a larger paycheck?

It's true. Recently, Timothy A. Judge of the University of Florida conducted two separate studies, one on 11,253 Germans and the other on 12,686 Americans. He concluded that thin women, i.e. those weighing a full 25 pounds less than the average for their height, earned a whopping $15,572 more than their normal-weight counterparts.

And it goes further than that.  A woman who gained 25 pounds above the average weight earned an average $13,847 less than an average-weight female. That means that if you weigh approximately 50 pounds more than the woman in the next cubicle, chances are she can afford designer duds a tad better than you can.

You may have also seen on the news recently a story about another study that found that being overweight is more costly than being thin, most notably in women. Economists at George Washington University, who conducted the study, found that costs for things such as medical expenses, coupled with lost wages and reduced work productivity cost a man $2,646 annually and a woman $4,879 annually.

While I find studies for the most part to be about as reliable as ten cent batteries, I have to admit that in my working lifetime of about 37 years, the women at the top of the heap, both power-wise and salary-wise, were always on the thinish side. Maybe not a full 25 pounds below the norm (that seems really thin to me), but thin enough to be shapely and wear fitted suits and other trendy garments.

The thing is, they were all women who were hard workers and cared deeply about their looks. And frankly, if these women are the ones at the top of the corporate ladder, then they deserve to be there. Whether an employer realizes it or not, a person's outward appearance speaks volumes on who they are and how much self-esteem they have. That's not to say that they didn't make the climb to the top a little faster, or even easier due to their curves, but you can't hold that against them, can you?

What it boils down to is that if you are overweight, chances are you are not happy with yourself. And if you're not happy with yourself, why would someone want to hire you and pay you top dollar to do your job?

If you are above-average weight and perfectly happy with yourself, more power to you. But if you are of above-average weight and are suffering from low self-esteem, and even worse, out of work and job hunting, why not seriously consider losing weight? It will not only go a long way to make you look and feel better, it just may fatten your wallet too.

Success: It's All Up to You

In most aspects of your life, success is an elusive creature. Slippery to catch hold of and often fleeting once you have it. And to experience success, you must risk failure. Not for the weak of heart, for fear of failure can be paralyzing.

The wonderful thing about success, however, is that it is subjective. Your success may not be your co-worker's success and vice-versa. But regardless, it is all yours and you mustn't forget that. This is especially true when it comes to things like losing weight or getting fit. Are you trying to lose weight and lost a pound since last week? Cha Ching! Success!

Are you determined to add muscle definition to your twiggy body and have only been able to add a smidge of weight to your bench press for the last two months? Face it. A smidge is better than nothing at all. You've got a success story.

You may be snickering and thinking I'm nuts. Why? Because you, like the rest of humankind set goals for ourselves and if we do not meet or exceed them then we do not consider them as a success. More likely, we feel like we failed.

"I want to lose 20 pounds but I have only lost 10 in four months. I can't seem to succeed."

This is where you need to readjust your views. Think of it this way: four months ago you weighed 10 pounds more than you do today. You have managed to lose ten whole pounds! Instead of berating yourself for not reaching your goal, you should pat yourself on the back and say "Wow, I did good. Now I KNOW I can lose the next 10 because I've already succeeded at the first 10!"

Just because something takes you longer to achieve than you would like does not mean you should chalk it up to failure. Likewise, if you don't succeed at all it doesn't point to failure.

I know, you're thinking "What the heck is she talking about?"

Let me put it simply: if you have a plan, execute the plan and nothing happens, perhaps you need to tweak what you are doing. By readjusting your plan, you have taken your first step toward success. You may even need to do this several times. IT DOES NOT MEAN FAILURE. It means you need to reevaluate, or reroute yourself on the road to success.

When it comes to losing weight, or getting fit, even the tiniest of improvements is a success.

Whenever I have a client tell me that they failed, or are about to fail, I remind them of an old Japanese proverb that says "Fall Down Seven Times, Get Up Eight."

Why?

Because the eighth time may be the time. Success may be standing there with its hand out, ready to help you get up. You wouldn't want to miss that, would you?

So the next time you set out to do something--anything--and you feel you are not accomplishing your goals, don't despair. Like the old saying goes, "Get yourself up, brush yourself off and start all over again."

Doing that, in itself is a huge measure of success. It's all up to you!