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Advice is overrated. And often unwelcome.

Wisdom gained from personal experience, in my opinion, is much more valuable. That’s why I love the following excerpt — it reveals a pragmatic approach to how a woman puts out the raging dumpster fires that life hurls in her path:

“Change doesn’t happen in my life by listening to the shit in my head. Change in my life is led by my ass. If my ass goes to the gym and gets it done, my life gets just a teeny bit better. Maybe I won’t even notice. But if my ass keeps going, one day I turn around, and my body is strong, and I’m just a little happier. This is also how I got out of the dumpster fire phase in my life. I put my ass in new places, and avoided the people, places and things that were terrible for me.” (This insight comes courtesy of Dr. Mary — a strong, wise, witty woman who has crushed both Beautiful Badass Courses.)

Lead with your ass.

It’s a simple message, but it’s a powerful message. A message that can be applied to health and fitness, but also life itself, and the many challenges that come with being a human living on this planet.

I particularly love the focus it puts on action and not always giving in to the nonsense that can pulse through our brains. Action triumphs over mental resistance.

Every single one of us has moments when our brains seem to be working against us instead of helping us achieve our goals, or at the very least fails to prod us to do the things that are good for us. I’m no exception, and I’d like to share a couple conversations between my brain, and ass.

My brain: “Nia, I don’t feel like working out today. Let’s try to do the least amount of activity possible, sit on the couch with a gigantic tub of ice cream, and dig in with a jumbo-sized serving spoon for maximum ice cream to mouth efficiency.”

My ass: “Hey, Nia. Don’t listen to your brain today — she’s a bit cranky. Let me take the lead. Let’s just get a workout started, and once you get going, you know you’ll crush it. At the very least, you’ll feel better afterward.”

Leading with my ass, in this case, will be the productive option.

Here’s another delightful scenario.

My brain: “Nia, you can’t do this. It’s too challenging. What if you fail? What will people think of you? You really shouldn’t do this because you can’t know for sure how it’ll turn out.”

My ass: “Shut up, brain. If this is important, then all you can do is put in your best effort. Let’s get to work. Let’s take action. Let’s get the first few steps behind us and build momentum, and then the brain will get on board, too.”

Ass — 2. Brain — 0.

Sometimes my brain leads me in the right direction. Sometimes, she’s an uncooperative tyrant who would rather dive face first in a kiddie pool of fire ants than do something productive.

Moral of the story: if your brain isn’t cooperating with your objectives, put your ass in charge and do something.