Professionals do what’s necessary to accomplish their tasks. Amateurs are hobbyists. They haven’t taken that next step to becoming pros. And, while being a fitness pro might conjure visions of baby oil and bikinis, you need to be a pro at taking care of you, or at least you should be. Really, that’s your most important job in the world.

Build a strong and fit body by working out. Feed it healthy food so it can repair itself. Have a solid recovery plan so you can work out even better the next day. Sounds like a pretty meaningful and important job to me. So be professional about it.

Being professional means you take care of business every day. You seek out the resources you need — healthy food, a coach, a nighttime ritual — and you follow through. Even on those days when you don’t feel like working out or eating kale or going to bed before 10 pm, you do it because that’s what a professional does.

That doesn’t mean you have to be uber-serious about it all. It just means you have to follow through on the things you said you were going to do because they support your great, big, grown-up, no-messing-around why. Skipping your workout, eating that double helping of mac and cheese, staying up until 2:00 am watching Sister Wives does not support a healthy-life-oriented why.

Once you’ve committed to being a professional, you’ll find the power of the Resistance fading. By consistently deciding to do the things that move you forward, you’re building the habit of good choices and killing the habit of giving in. Doesn’t that feel great?