BY JESSICA BARBER, OWNER, CROSSFIT POLYDAMUS
How many times have you set a goal to lose weight? Go to the gym? Eat healthy? Be on time? Stay organized? Yet you continually fail! Those big “to-do’s” are inevitably always on the bottom of your list and never get accomplished. Your goals are sabotaging you for failure before you even get started.
Sometimes those goals, whatever they may be, require an overwhelming amount of energy and upkeep to get started, keep going and conquer. Creating daily habits like committing to yourself that you CAN lose the weight, making the time for the gym, buying healthy balanced options instead of choosing the ‘Hot Now’ option, and even taking the time to hang your clothes up versus throw them on the floor can seem like a daunting task.
The truth is, our lives are hectic. Between work, family, pets, social life, health, money, housework and everything in else, we are struggling to keep our head above water. And if you are like me, the more I HAVE to do, the less I WANT to do. I get overwhelmed, bombarded and shut down, which leads to stress, anxiety and a constant loop of doom. Sound familiar?
Well, the sad truth is that your sudden inspiration to make these changes will not come out of the sky with a lights, camera, and action here sign. Action creates action. If you are searching for the sign, the Instagram post or Facebook inspiration, you are wasting your time. Action creates action. You sitting on your rump thinking about your goals and all the glory that comes with said new life will get you nowhere unless you start taking action of any caliber. Action creates motivation.
Take it back to Newton’s Law of Motion: An object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion tends to stay in motion. So the loop of doom can come to a screeching halt simply by taking action. Action of any sort. Make the bed, put away the dishes, send an email to a friend you haven’t heard from in a while, walk the dog – anything that gets you moving. The more action you do, the more motivation you find to reach your goals. Those little wins set you up for a wave of momentum that will lead to another successful goal conquered.
I get asked how I stay motivated to show up at the gym. As of now, that daily practice has become a habit that I can’t break. It is a part of me. No fancy answer other than at one point in my life, I had to commit to getting up and making it happen one day at a time, until it became a natural process. And for nutrition, I find foods that fuel me on a daily basis and sprinkle in little indulgences here and there, because life is made to be lived!
Motivation can fade over time, but by that point, you will have created your healthy habits and found control in your goals! Don’t let your goals sabotage you for failure. Set your goals up as action steps and ask yourself, “Is this goal a priority for me?” Break free from the comfort of thinking these goals will just happen and start prioritizing them to make them happen.
