Practice Makes Progress
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.”
I have many things on the back burner, blog posts being one of them. It has been a while since I’ve shared personal experiences on the blog, in hopes that I can give people some understanding of the path I’m on and the reasoning behind many of the changes I’m pursuing. The delays come from me wanting to instill change in others but feeling the guilt of not being able to execute with a perfect plan. So, rather than thinking on it, I’m taking action.
Just Start
Do you ever put things off because you feel like you’ve got lots of time and you’re just not ready to commit yet? You want to read that book but are waiting until a rainy day or for the next sunny day on the beach. You want to start that diet but there’s a birthday coming up next weekend so it’d all be ruined anyways. You want to start stretching regularly but you’re not feeling so bad and you’ve managed to get through most of your life just fine without it.
Every time we think about doing something we play out a scenario in our head where we envision ourselves doing that activity, we feel like we’ve accomplished something without actually having done anything. The best way to start a new habit is just to start but you have to expect that it will take a little bit of effort for a very long time before it becomes easier to do. The key word here is “easier” as you may soon discover that just because a habit is a part of your daily routine, that doesn’t mean sticking to it will always be easy. Manage expectations, focus on what you’ve been able to do to progress, try to see that you’re trying to establish a new pattern and not change the past. You can’t go back in time to tell yourself not to eat four donuts with your coffee every morning for five years, but you can start working towards changing that routine to better suit your goals. Can you have three donuts and a piece of fruit for the next couple of weeks? There will be days where you may have four donuts, but keep that piece of fruit in there and see what happens. Each time you make a positive change you are starting to tell yourself that those changes are shaping your identity into who you want to be. That one small change will one day be viewed as the first step in reaching your goals.
“I long to accomplish a great and noble task; but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.”
No Shaming
Feeling guilty about not sticking to your plan or routine is part of the reason why we’re so ready to give up and run away from who we want to be. Frustrated with why we haven’t lost weight from eating one less donut and having that piece of fruit, we head in the opposite direction and eat four donuts and two fruit muffins with our coffees now. We have to break the chain of shaming ourselves for failure when in fact we have now learned what not to do. Without shame, we can move forward and accept that failure is just a part of the process and the more often that we fail, the better we get at continuing on.
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
Be Present
Time is fleeting. Focus on the task at hand and you might find some joy in what you’re doing. Think about any habits you routinely engage in and ask yourself if there was a time when you dreaded doing it. Early morning risers might find they enjoy the stillness of a dark, quiet home. Exercisers may have hated how those first few months made them feel like they weren’t strong enough, conditioned enough, or just enough, but after months of putting in the work in training their bodies, they can be proud of what they’re capable of.
“Mastery demands all of a person.”
Stop multi-tasking and perform each task as though it’s the only thing in the world. Mastery of the basics instills pride and if you are already doing the work, it only takes being present to realize your potential. Imagine a life where you found joy in the mundane, like organizing a drawer, folding and putting away your laundry, stepping back and taking in a freshly manicured lawn, or feeling the pride after completing a praise-worthy paper you’re about to submit for school or work. By allocating the time and energy into each task at hand you can give your best effort each time. If it only took 10,000 hours of performing a skill to master it, we all would eventually be experts at the things we do to survive such as eating and sleeping.
“The time that leads to mastery is dependent on the intensity of our focus.”
Leading From The Front
You’re probably wondering how this has any direct relevance to the gym. Part of the reason why I have had trouble pulling the trigger on blog posts is because I don’t feel like the content is good enough, I’m in fear of being judged, and probably the biggest reason, I don’t live it. The past few months I’ve really dug my heels into what I’ve learned from others, from books, and from leaders within my community. I’ve found confidence in practicing the skills within the gym so that I have no problem asking someone to do something that I have done, or have no problem doing on my own (think workouts, movement standards, etc.). I have not, however, had the same confidence in other areas of health and wellness which a leader within the gym setting should be able to communicate because I don’t “live it.” Self-care has taken a back seat and it’s time for me to bring it to the forefront, hoping others will want to follow suit. In a time when we are limited in how we can lean on others for support, we need to build ourselves up to be more resilient, to flow with the things we can’t control, and to be happy with the things within our control.
My journey in taking care of myself has, almost surprisingly, crept up on me. One day the things I had continued to read about, hear from mentors, and see in leaders just started nudging me in a direction where I was ready to take small, actionable steps. I had started by habit-stacking my haircut routine with shaving, something I talked about in a previous post, and I have maintained my streak of shaving within a seven day window. I downloaded an app to track my meals, unaware that I would then track everything I ate for the next three months without fail. Learning about breathing has led me to daily meditation practices which has led me to stretching and activation exercises up to three times daily. I recently purchased a sous vide cooker which has helped me re-instill a passion for cooking, thus providing me with more opportunities for family suppers and in making better food choices. In the past several months I’ve worked on gaining insight into other peoples’ perspectives which are vastly different from my own, which has helped me better communicate with everyone around me. By forcing myself to have the tough or awkward conversation, I am now addressing any conflicts immediately so that I can learn and build skills to help the people closest to me.
As I type this out, it seems too good to be true. I told Sarah the other day that a sign that I’ve truly changed is if I can respond to a stubbed toe (or a similar situation) by not swearing and saying “oh darn” and I can proudly say, it happened once. I spilled half a bag of chia seeds in the corner of our pantry and the words that left my mouth were “oh, shoot” and then I calmly began cleaning up. I’ve definitely reacted to “stubbed toes” since then but the fact that I was able to do it once means I’ll be able to do it again, and eventually it will be done with little to no extra effort and thought.
I am not saying my life is perfect and that I’ve got everything figured out. What I am saying is that I am finding fewer things in my life that cause disruptions to my emotional, mental, and physical well-being.
If this blog post seems disjointed, it likely is, and I’m okay with this because I know I’ll get better in time.
Sincerely,
Coach Tron