The most important aspect of your ripped abs program has nothing to do with calories, crunches, cardio or even weight training. Yet, if you don't nail this part, it doesn't matter about how intense or even how regular you are with the other aspects - you will fail. In fact, my guess is that you've already failed - possibly many times - in your six pack quest because you have not been able to master this single ingredient. What is it?

MIND POWER

Now, if you're eyes just started to glaze over, don't worry. I'm not talking about the mumbo jumbo, feel on top of the world sort of positive thinking that you may be used to. What we're focusing on here is finding the key to unlocking the most powerful tool on earth - the human subconscious - to allow you to achieve your goals - no matter how remote they may seem right now. So, let's go . . .

There's a huge difference between knowing what to do and doing what you know. The bridge between the two is goal setting. Yet the majority of people give only cursory attention to their goals. According to a recent study, only 3% of Americans actually write down their goals. Goals, though, are the things that provide us with direction, stimulation and drive. When transferred to the subconscious they become the internal fire that gets us out of bed on a cold frosty morning, the impetus to keep on walking when we smell that delicious aroma wafting from that fast food joint and the reason that we are able to keep going when we feel like throwing in the towel. That is why the most important element to losing bodyfat is not your nutritional program, your cardio workout schedule or even your resistance training scheme - it is the programming of your mind.

Our minds are like very sophisticated computers with two operating systems - the conscious and the subconscious. The conscious mind is the logical, thinking, rational system with which we are able to go about our daily functioning. The subconscious mind, however, does not have the ability to think or reason. It is responsible for memory, habitual behaviors and reflexes. When data enters the subconscious system it is acted upon without question and transferred into behavior that reflects that data. That is why what we feed our conscious mind on is so important. Some of the information that it receives will filter through to the subconscious to be translated into habitual behaviors. If we can control that flow from the conscious to the subconscious system then we will be able to unleash the amazing potential of our minds to direct our destiny.

Thoughts that are generated in the conscious mind that are repeated with powerful emotional content and passion will make the passage to the subconscious. So frequent repetition of thought is a key to penetrating the subconscious. This can work positively and negatively. A constant repetition of the thought "I'll always be fat," will be transferred to the subconscious and enacted in actions that counter mine your body transformation efforts. On the other hand, repeating the thought "I'm becoming leaner each day," will be processed subconsciously and come through in actions that reinforce your efforts.In order to put the power of the subconscious to work, then, we need to focus our mind on what we want to achieve from our body transformation program. We must banish negative thoughts from our mind as soon as they rear their head. This means that we need to take control of the internal conversation that is going on in our heads all the time. Whenever we catch ourselves indulging in negative thinking, we need to slam on the brakes and override the thought immediately. We simply cannot allow the negative idea to take root. At the start this will be challenging. Over time, though, positive thinking will become habitual and negative thoughts will simply not be a part of your brain's environment.

Once you have managed to achieve a positive environment in the conscious mind, you will be ready to feed your subconscious with the most powerful formula known to man to allow you to reach your true potential. Then you can start zeroing in on your specific goals.