Failing Fitness? Here’s the Secret Sauce.

6 min read

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So you’re 22 days into this “New Year, New You” and you’re already starting to feel it…The gradual slip back into what you’ve always done. And who you’ve always been. This isn’t a bad thing if you LIKE the way you’ve been living, but for those of you who are desperate to make a change- this can be a real problem.

If you started off this year, or any year for that matter- with the goal to get fit, lose the weight, wear those jeans, run the marathon, or anything health related… listen up. And for resolutions that don’t fall under the “health and fitness category” these tips can be applied generally for success in pretty much any area.

Here are the 3 MOST important things you need to know so that this year is ACTUALLY your year.

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FIRST: Dude, you gotta Commit.

No matter WHAT YOU TACKLE- You can’t make progress if you are half in and half out. If you are going into this only kind of interested, it will be 10x harder to see progress. You have to need it.

So if you don’t need to “lose weight”, find out what you do need.
Do you need to be healthy enough to play with your kids?
Do you need to be strong because you’re a caretaker?
Do you need to be mentally tough because life is throwing curve balls and you staying knocked down is not an option?
Are you tired of being tired? Bored? Sad?
Do you need to trust yourself to do something when you say you will?

Find what you need your health for, and then look yourself in the mirror and commit to doing what it takes to get there.

*This means right now you need to actually go find a mirror, look at yourself in the eyes- and make a promise. Come on, it sounds silly but if you can’t take 6 seconds to do this how are you gonna
wake up early to get to the gym?
Go. Do. it.

SECOND: Set a minimum.

Ok, so you’ve committed.
You’re doing the thing,
You’re pumped up and ready to go.
GREAT!!
That’s what we want. And when you are in this head space, you are 90% more likely to actually go to the gym, or to meal prep, or to snack on fruit instead of gummy worms. #Winning

But what about the REST of the time?

This right here is where people get discouraged and give up. They set awesome goals and decide they are going to sweat for 45 minutes everyday and then stretch for 20 and then finish in the sauna and then meditate.

And um, yas queen. Do that for sure.

But what about the day when your toddler colors on the wall with sharpie and your husband works late, or your boss decides to give you another big project due by Friday.

What about the days when you are hanging on by a thread?

I’ll let you in on a little secret.

Success happens and habits solidify on the days when you are pretty sure you are failing.

Ugh, damn. That was good. Here, read it again.

Success happens and habits solidify on the days when you are pretty sure you are failing.

Why? Because every time you actually do the thing- you earn back the integrity that you’ve lost and you gain some momentum moving forward. The shitty days are the ones that connect all the days where you’re totally rocking it and TOGETHER they make for a long string of consistent effort. Without them, there’s just a giant pile of starts… and then stops.

So set a placeholder…a minimum requirement.
What can you do everyday- no matter HOW out of control it gets?
Set the minimum. Make the promise and then don’t let a SINGLE day pass where you miss it.

THIRD: Rate your effort, everyday…
every damn day.

Have you ever been washing the dishes and you’re scrubbing and you can’t get that one spot clean? And then you actually use a little muscle and scrub and it comes clean in like two seconds…And you realize the first 100 times you went over it you kinda weren’t even trying that hard?

Ya.

It’s easy to do that in pretty much everything- but ESPECIALLY in fitness. We go on the elliptical and push all the buttons and before you know it 15 minutes have passed and we aren’t breathing hard, barely sweating, and we’ve watched 8 different YouTube videos on how to reuse Christmas wrapping paper.

No judgment guys…YouTube is a sneaky Mother Effer.

But no wonder you haven’t seen any progress! So, rate your effort. When you are at the gym (or doing anything important, for that matter) and you start lifting or running or cycling, ask your self on a scale of 1-5, how hard am I ACTUALLY working right now? You’d be surprised how often we slip into auto-pilot and don’t even realize it.

This is important for anything you’re trying to be successful at. The best real estate agent, the smartest student, the best athlete- it all comes down to one thing…

Are you actually trying or are you talking and thinking about trying?

Take a good, honest, no bullshit look in the mirror and ask yourself. If you are trying hard- GOOD, keep going. If not, now you know what to focus on so you can see results.

P.S There is nothing wrong with working at a 2 out of 5. Sometimes, that’s all you’ve got. BUT there is something wrong with working at a 2 and pretending you’re at a 5. It gets your brain all kinds of confused.

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It’s that simple.
Freakin Commit.
Set the minimum.
And then check yo self again and again and again!

It is so easy to get overwhelmed with all the information and opinions available.

So know this…

On a long enough timeline, you WILL BE SUCCESSFUL if you Just. Keep. Trying. It’s ok to adjust 800 times, it’s only a problem if you stop altogether.

Ok….so that was the pep talk. Now here is the tough love part.

Your dreams and goals are your responsibility. Your mom, your honey, your boss, even your doctor- they can support you, but it is not their job to make sure that you eat healthy. Or get to the gym. Or place the boundaries for your mental health. Or get enough to sleep. Or get the promotion.

It’s yours.

And here’s the REAL kicker- even if every single one of those people makes it their mission to throw you off your game- it’s STILL your responsibility.

The sooner you claim it, the sooner you can stop looking for reasons why it won’t work- and start getting creative to make sure that you figure it out.

Because you CAN figure it out. You are a fully capable, intelligent, wonderfully talented human. And if you do the work, you’d be surprised what you can accomplish.

Now get out there- do some freakin work. And make 2020 the year that you ACTUALLY did it! Be sure to comment below and let me know what you’re committed to! I’d LOVE to cheer you on.