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You know the deal: December can be tough. And I know you can find a ton of these kinds of articles on the web. So I’m going to cut out all the fluff and just get to the point. Here are seven very straightforward strategies you can try out to get that calendar page turned over to January 1.

My buddy Mike and I rode some steep hill intervals in Sedalia, Colorado this past Sunday. While we happen to love riding mountain bikes, it takes a little work to love riding up steep hills. You kind of need to convince yourself that pushing hard is fun.

But the truth is, this type of intensity is important for guys as they get older. Most of us rarely do anything that’s physically intense anymore. But letting that red-line stuff go is what starts the drop in testosterone that a lot of guys experience as they move into their 40s.

You might not realize it, but stress in your gut can cause cause fatigue and weight gain. It can even lead to lost sex drive. How is that possible?

Easy. Stress in the gut can cause cortisol to rise. Cortisol is basically a stress hormone. When cortisol is up, and when stress is up, testosterone can drop, especially over the long term. So guys with chronic stomach problems tend to experience the symptoms of lower testosterone in men- fatigue, weight gain and loss of sex drive.

I’m reading this book called “How Bad Do You Want It?” by Matt Fitzgerald right now. While the author is writing about endurance sports, the premise applies to anything: The perception of your effort during a task determines how you perform. So if you think something will be difficult, it will be. If you think getting stronger will be hard, it will be. If you think losing fat will be hard, it will be. If you think getting back to feeling like the old you is impossible, it will be. But what about the flip side? Believing you can get shit done is the first step.