Running a business in the fitness industry means that you become quite familiar with patterns of behaviour when it comes to exercise and healthy living.
When we start something new it’s exciting, we have a surge of adrenaline and throw ourselves into whatever the new venture is. It’s when the excitement wears off that often we start to lose interest. I remember every year at christmas or birthdays I’d ask for something I had seen on an advert, a gadget one of my friends had or a musical instrument that I’d seen my favourite popstar playing on Top of the pops and to me looking really flipping cool. I’ll use the year my mum got me a violin as an example…..
For whatever reason I had decided that I wanted to play the violin, or more to the point, I wanted to be really good at playing the violin. At no point had it ever entered my mind that there would be hard work and commitment involved in my new venture, I just had this image of me being amazing at it. So I begged and begged for what has to be one of the most expensive instruments that a 10 year old could demand, and for my birthday my mum finally gave in and presented me with my own violin and music lessons to go with it. Little did she realise the torture that this expense was going to put her through.
You see, the violin is bloody hard to play, I had no idea, I thought it would be like mastering hot cross buns on the recorder, but no. The sound of a 10 year old novice playing the violin has got be up there with one of the worst sounds EVER!! Seriously my poor mother. And guess what, as soon as I realise that mastering this skill is going to involve some hard work and determination on my part, I lost interest.
The time between each practise became longer and longer, my mum and I would battle against each other, her point being that she had paid a lot of money for my new found hobbie and mine being that quite simply, I didn’t want to do it anymore. I had managed to convince myself at some point throughout this period that I no longer wanted to play the violin, because it was easier than sticking with it.
So lets bring this back to health and fitness and the point that I am trying to make.
The decision to start a fitness programme usually stems from the want to transform your body in some way, whether it be health improvements, or more commonly to see a physical change. Many women want to look like someone they have seen in a magazine or to fit into a pair of jeans that have been banished to the back of the wardrobe. Men often have similar goals, they can feel the pressure to look a certain way too and will often want to broaden their shoulders, trim down the beer belly and replace it with a ripped “6 pack”.
You focus on the end result and know that you want to get there, and we know that this is the right way to achieve a goal, eyes on the prize and all that.
But it’s also really important to think about the bit inbetween, the grafting, thats the bit that requires strength and commitment and it also what will make you grow as a person.
So we sign up and we have the excitment and adrenaline surge, we have our violin!! Then at somepoint over the next few weeks or months the realisation dawns on us that this is going to require some will power, some practise and some hard work. This is the point that people can go one of two ways, throw themselves into their programme or start to back away from it and find excuses for not staying committed. The truth is it seems like the easier option at the time, so we convince ourselves that we should give up, but where does that get us? You are no closer to reaching the goals that you so wanted just a few weeks before, so deep down does this decision make you happy?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t still have the burning desire to play the violin, but what I do regret is that it took me until I was a lot older, and had failed so many times to finally stick to something and get good at it. Always giving up is not great for your self esteem, it won’t make you grow as a person and you won’t learn anything. It only makes the next time around even harder, there WILL be a next time around because deep down you will still have the desire to achieve.
So my advise to you this week is to stop and think next time you try to convince yourself with an excuse as to why you shouldn’t workout or stick to your nutrition plan. Pick up your violin, and no matter how horrific the sound that comes out is, focus on what the sound will be like if you keep picking it up. We only ever see results by consistently sticking with it, and if it helps just picture me as an overweight 10 year old wanting to throw my stupid violin out of the window.
