The Discipline Of Falling Forwards
Remember: The pursuit of a goal is not always a straight line.
It is easy to become lost amongst the forest, particularly when we feel demotivated, emotionally exhausted and mentally distracted.
We all have moments of intense stress and momentary bouts of depression.
In these times, a whole hour of rigorous training can be daunting and overwhelming, as if a towering mountain were in front of us.
In these moments, our focus should be on developing our discipline and not directly the pursuit of our long term goal.
Key Point: “I would rather you do 5 minutes than 0 minutes.”
You MUST NOT allow a workout to pass you by.
Understand that I don’t expect us to perpetually make progress and push ourselves to workout for an hour, relentlessly, day in and day out.
It’s not a realistic expectation for most of us.
However, doing a little bit, when we don’t feel like it, is better than doing nothing at all.
This attitude builds resilience.
We must not allow ourselves to fall victim to “analysis paralysis”.
This is where we spend too long deciding whether or not to workout; trying to convince ourselves that we “should” train.
Discipline plays a key role in seeing us through to the chapters of our fitness journey.
Remember: “The discipline of honouring yourself through exercise is fundamental to healthy living.”
Photo by: Victor Freitas
How do we fall forwards, strategically lower our expectations, and maintain our integrity?
First, we must make our standards explicit.
What is the minimum we will accept from ourselves, each day?
Examples:
5 Push Ups.
20 minutes of walking outdoors.
10 minutes of circuit training.
Secondly, we must identify the common feelings we associate with not wanting to exercise.
What feelings stop us from wanting to exercise?
Examples:
Social Anxiety.
Stress.
Lethargy.
Thirdly, we must learn to recognise the triggers that project us towards complacency.
What behaviours and situations cause our discipline to crumble?
Examples:
Sitting on social media for too long.
Checking work emails on the toilet, first thing in the morning.
Eating too soon before our scheduled workout.
Understanding the interactions between these feelings, behaviours and situations, and their collective influence on our desire to move is important.
We need to build self-awareness so we can learn to “kill the monster when it is small”.
Once we have identified these patterns, we can practise the discipline of falling forwards.
When we catch ourselves in these moments, we must muster the courage to “think less and just do”, and fulfil our minimum standards.
You may even get into the workout and decide to do more!
Here are some practical tips to cultivate more discipline on days you don’t feel up to training:
Give yourself more time to workout, but don’t add more exercises. This will lower the intensity.
Do half the sets or reps. This will lower the total volume of work.
Play music that is counter to your mood. Let the music pull you into a different emotional state.
Shorten your workout time. This reduces the time spent, but increases the intensity.
Cover the basics, simplify your workout.
As always, I am here to help. If you are struggling to consistently keep yourself moving and are struggling with motivation, book in a free chat with me.
We will spend 30-45 minutes putting strategies in place to manage difficult emotions and build more resiliency.
Keep moving,
Monty