We all reach dips and spikes when it comes to achieving our health goals.
The truth is no one's health journey is easy. We all go through patches where life gets in the way, and 'oh man, I didn't get to the gym enough this week' or 'I didn't need to eat that donut after having all that pizza for dinner....'
The importance of achieving your goals OVERTIME is IT. TAKES. TIME.
Let's use this story as an example...
Say your goal is to go to the gym 3x per week and do at least a 20-minute walk twice a week.
The first week goes great, you're motivated, and you feel great to have set a goal and can see a clear future becoming stronger and fitter as you continue. Your motivation is your end goal.
The second week, you start great but, by Sunday you haven't gone for your 3rd trip to the gym and your motivation is starting to fade already as you realise your end goal is so far in the future. You contemplate not going, but manage to eventually slug your way to the gym for the last class of the day. Although this Sunday gym session was the hardest to go to, the fact that you showed up against every cell in your body and worked up a sweat, you achieved your weekly goal and have now started to take it seriously.
The third week, your so grateful to be on a roll and have achieved your goal two weeks in a row. You achieve your goal again; Gym 3x. Tick. Walk x2. Tick
In the fourth week, you're running on the treadmill and you roll your ankle... Its really painful and swells up quickly, so you stop your workout early and hobble back to your car to drive home. You feel ashamed and it's as if you've failed. For the rest of the week, your ankle hurts when walking and you were advised to keep weight off it until the swelling goes down. You didn't achieve your goal for the week and now feel defeated...
However, this is the point where what you do now makes all the difference!
Do you:
A. Stop?
B. Keep Going?
Its when we are at our lowest of lows that we struggle to stay positive and constantly find ourselves looking back at what it was like when we didn't have the problems we may have now (i.e. the rolled ankle).
It's at this point that we consider giving up on our goals because of all the barriers and excuses we make up for ourselves. i.e. injury, too busy, tired, can't be bothered...
BUT,
It's at THIS POINT, we can knock these excuses, work around the barriers, and enable ourselves to get back on our feet. It's at THIS POINT where we can recognise that achieving goals is difficult and it's not a straight road to the finish - no, that would be too easy! (and if you are achieving your weekly goals consistently from the start. You need to challenge yourself more!)
When life gets in the way of our goals we must recognise the why, accept it, deal with it and continue to show up no matter how many strings you must pull to do so.
It's THIS MOMENT when achieving your goals is developing into a strong habit.
You've changed your mindset to be more positive, you deal with any crap life puts in front of you and carry on the way you want to.
This is the key to achieving your goals successfully.
The longer you keep it up, the more ingrained it will become in your lifestyle.
The first goals you set will develop into strong habits that enable you to achieve bigger goals - goals you thought weren't possible in that space of time.
... But it was possible and why?
Because YOU showed up when no one else did, YOU put in the hard work when most people would have given up, and YOU worked your butt off to get where you are now and NO ONE is going to stop you.
You're prepared and ready for the challenge - that is your motivation now. Your end goal is no longer your motivation, its just a reward for showing up and overcoming all the challenges.
Your motivation is the journey.
Enjoy it!
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