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My mother told me a little story the other night. When she first started working in sales, she said, her goal was to 'write a string of pearls' - in her parlance, five weeks in a row of 100 sales or more. Her first two weeks would be great - but that third week was always a killer. Four times in a row she got those two weeks, only to fail on the third week. Every morning she woke up and told herself, "I can write a hundred sales this week." And in the back of her mind, she'd add, "I can never get that third week."

On Thursday of that third week, she was struggling and determined, even though she'd only made 22 sales so far that week. She woke up and told herself, "I can write a hundred this week" - and for the first time, she actually HEARD what she was saying to herself in the back of her mind. "BUT I CAN NEVER GET THAT THIRD WEEK". Realizing how she'd been undermining her own attempts at positive mental attitude, she resolved to overcome it. She went out that day and made over 50 sales - and the rest of the week fell into place. Not only that, she went on to write a string of pearls that set a record in her company that has yet to be broken.

What was her secret? And what does it have to do with losing weight? Simply put, your biggest enemy in your quest to lose weight is your own self-doubt and negative thinking. Positive affirmations are a powerful psychological tool that can help you lose weight - but it's just as important to catch your negative thinking and turn it around.

How many times have you caught yourself thinking, "I can never lose those last five pounds."? No matter how positive you believe you're being, no matter how often you congratulate yourself for the great job you're doing, those lingering doubts are sabotaging you.

Overcoming them isn't a magic bullet that will make it all happen -- but at least you won't be fighting your own inner voices when you face those last five pounds - or that piece of cheesecake.

How did my mother do it? She used a sneaky little trick that might be just what you need to get you past those last five pounds. She decided that since she could never get that third week, she'd stop thinking of this as 'that third week'. Instead, she'd just focus on selling what she could today. Setting a new goal for herself relieved her of the pressure and negativity that had been holding her back.

Setting yourself a new goal can freshen your perspective and wipe away all the 'failures' that seem to be holding you back. Forget the 'last five pounds'. From this morning on, think of it as 'only five pounds'. When you only have to lose five pounds, how can you miss?