I don’t know if it’s an American thing, or a human thing, but we enjoy the ends of the spectrum. For some reason we enjoy choosing left or right, up or down. For some reason, we feel a need to go all in, or give up.
This is especially true in health, fitness, and nutrition. We go all the way in and give it our all, and as soon as we feel we haven’t done everything perfectly, we say f*** it and give it all up.
And this is the exact reason why most people fail when it comes to reaching their health and fitness goals. This is also the reason why people yo-yo. They lose 50 pounds and gain it all back, because they’re either dieting like a mad-man, or eating the whole tray of Girl Scout cookies.
It needs to stop. We need to stop living on one end of the spectrum. But how?
APPRECIATE THE LONG GAME
The first part of improving the way you think about your health and fitness is to first understand that your health and fitness is so much more than the goal you want to achieve in the next three months. Your health and fitness is about your quality of life now, tomorrow, next month, next year, and 20 years from now. Constantly striving for perfection is going to hurt you because perfection can’t be reached, you will always fall short. And perfection certainly doesn’t exist 20 years in a row.
Similar to almost anything in life, change starts by making small changes. Small changes compound to make big results. No one sits there and says “investing is pointless. Why would I invest $100 now? It’s better to invest 1 million dollars now.” That’s absurd. Anyone that understands and appreciates investing understands that it’s a long game and the sooner you start, the better, no matter how small the start is.
The same applies with your health, fitness, and nutrition. You need to have your eyes set on the long term, knowing that the decisions you make today, no matter how big or small, will contribute to a much better you down the road.
CHANGE YOUR MINDSET
Having said that, it’s absolutely crucial to change your mindset. You must stop living at one end of the spectrum, thinking you need to be perfect in every workout and every meal. You need to make a mindset shift. You need to make the shift towards simply being a little bit better.
That’s it.
Seriously.
All you need to do to completely transform the way you look, feel, and perform is focus on being a little bit better.
Let’s go back to the finances. I love the story of Ben and Arthur. Ben starts investing $2,000 per year at age 19, and stops at age 26. His brother, Arthur, starts investing at 27 years old, and stops at age 65. In total, Ben saved $16,000 and Arthur saved $76,000. At age 65, with a 12% return, Ben ends up with $2,288,996 and Arthur ends up with $1,532,166. That is a massive difference.
There are tons of variables that go into investments and returns like this. But the point is that Ben simply started making a dent, even if it was small, earlier than Arthur.
The same thing happens with health and fitness. The same exact thing. Those that choose to make a change now, even if it’s the smallest change, are completely different people down the road. Those that decided to go all in for a few months, and all out for another few months, are the same exact person as when they started.
Change your mindset. Don’t focus on being perfect. You won’t get there. Focus on being better. Focus on the ERs.
The ERs are the two magic letters at the end of words that make you a better person down the road. Don’t worry about being healthy today. Focus on being healthiER today than you were yesterday. Don’t worry about being the strongest today. Focus on being strongER today than you were yesterday. Don’t worry about being a super fit person today. Focus on being fittER today than you were yesterday.
You get the point. Make the mindset shift.
Let’s go through some ways you can apply this to your life right now.
MAKING THE SHIFT: REAL LIFE APPLICATIONS
There are a few different areas I like to have my clients focus on when they are moving toward any sort of goal.
The first is their performance in the gym. Most of look at our workouts as a means to an end, but that’s not the way to go about it. We need to be intentional and fully immersed in our workouts to see the results we want to see. We need to enjoy them for what they are.
In order to do this, I have my clients focus on setting at least two personal bests every time they workout. The app their program is uploaded on helps them keep track of personal bests and progress. Their job is to focus on adding more weight to the bar. My job is to change sets, reps, rest, etc., and their job is to focus on getting stronger.
You can and should do the same. Rather than focusing on a workout as a way to help you burn calories, focus on getting stronger in the workout. Remember, your workouts are not a means to an end. Challenge yourself to lift more than you did during last week’s workout. Do that week after week and you can completely change the way you look and feel.
The next thing I have my clients focus on is their activity during the day. I want them to be able to reach their goals and learn how to maintain them while maintaining a balanced lifestyle. Although burning tons of extra calories can help in some cases, I don’t want them adding more and more formal workouts to their days and weeks. That comes to be unsustainable very quick.
Rather than more and more workouts, I have them focus on increasing their steps. Adding steps in the day is a great way to make our lives more active and less sedentary.
Find out what your average step count was last week, and make a goal of increasing your average by 1k this week. Once that becomes a habit, increase it by another 1k. Before you know it, you’ll be living a more active life and that change will be far more sustainable than an extra hour of cardio each day.
Lastly, I have my clients apply this mindset shift to their nutrition. So many people want to be on a diet or meal plan, and quickly come to the realization that they can’t enjoy life at the same time. So, instead of doing that B.S., just focus on improving one thing about your nutrition. If you hardly ever eat any greens, try to get one serving of greens in per day. If you struggle eating enough protein, add an extra palm-sized serving of protein to your day. Maybe you just forget to eat and you don’t eat enough. Set an alarm on your phone reminding you to eat the snack you brought to work with you. Focus on one small thing, and make it better and better as each week goes by.
Don’t make things perfect. Make things better than they were, no matter how small.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Appreciate the long game. This is a long race, and it’s not going to end three months from now. Make changes that last.
Make the mindset shift to stop living on one end of the spectrum. Just be a little bit better than you were last week.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Adam is a fitness professional, baseball fan, and cookie fanatic based in Fort Collins, Colorado. After hanging up the cleats, he found a strong interest in the human body and how it performs. Since then, Adam has been transforming lives through fitness in a fun and encouraging atmosphere. As an ACE CPT and Fitness Nutrition Specialist, he is constantly moved to help people improve in all walks of life.
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