We have been jaded!! As Americans, we have been sold a dream. We have been extremely catered to. We are told that if we want something, we can get it and it won’t require much effort. We thrive off of instant gratification. It’s what we have grown to love.
We have a desire, we go after it. But it better happen quick! And we better not have to work hard for it. If it takes too much effort…. NEXT! We move on to an alternative way of getting it or change the goal altogether.
With any goal it requires some dedication. Determination. Consistency. Diligence. Planning. Milestones. Celebrations! You have to celebrate the micro wins as well as the ultimate win. Because progress is progress, regardless how small. I think its important to celebrate all the wins.
Let’s discuss some goals that require diligence and consistency. Let’s say you set out to have 4.0 GPA. You have to study consistently. You have to pay attention. Take notes. Ask questions. Gain clarity. And pass that test. But you can’t just pass one test and think you are good the rest of the semester.
You have to KEEP following those same behaviors that allowed you to ace that test and implement it for the remainder of the semester. You may even need to adjust what worked at the beginning as the content you learn changes. But you have to be consistent. Keep the end goal in mind and press on.
Let’s say you want a promotion at work. You begin to do what needs to be done to stand out. You begin to network to find out more about that new position. Maybe you get a mentor to help you learn the ropes. You consistently show up and show out and…get noticed. You get the job! But you can’t take that job and start doing the opposite of everything you did to get that promotion.
You have to remain diligent and consistent if you want to remain in that role. You have to now learn new information. Retain it and use it for the new role. You need training to learn the correct methods to succeed in the job. You may need assistance along the way for awhile. You eventually begin to excel.
But once you get to a place where you feel comfortable you still have to remain abreast in the field. Things change. Industry standards change. Approaches change. The way customers want to engage changes. Company trajectory changes. You have to be aware of those things and continue learning! You don’t get the job and become complacent.
And as you guessed, the approach is the same in becoming a healthier version of ourselves. You have to set your goal. Have a plan. Be diligent. Seek help if needed. Have someone hold you accountable. Check-in on your progress and make sure to track your progress! Be real with yourself and accountability partner. Change your goal if necessary and if its unrealistic. But remain consistent!
With anything that we want to be successful at, there requires a bit of effort from us. The one thing that remains constant in those goals mentioned above is consistency. We give up too easily. Because its easier to give up than it is to give our all. We want instant results for everything. And real results don’t come that easily with anything in life!
I host 4 week challenges where the person who loses the most body weight percentage wins a pool of money. One of my challengers consistently lost 2 pounds a week. She was irritated that she wasn’t losing more. That others were losing what seemed like significantly more than her.
What I knew from her weekly weight loss is that she was putting in the work, THE RIGHT WAY. Her efforts would be sustainable. She could make it a lifestyle because she remained persistent. She wasn’t doing drastic things like some of the others.
Even though she was frustrated, I had to remind her that what she was doing was working for her. Had to remind her that as long as she remained consistent and continued to eat right, join the virtual workouts, and do her cardio that those 2lbs a week would eventually turn into 20lbs. And they did!! She is 4 pant sizes down now! She is now a personal training client and we are working to lose another 20lbs. And she will lose another 20lbs because she understands its a process. It will take effort and time.
We have to trust the process. We have all heard it before. It’s a phrase we hear often, especially with weight loss. And as someone who had to learn to trust it myself, it works! The fitness industry will sell you a dream and have you thinking you can work a miracle in ten days. “Lose 1 Thousand pounds” in a week type of nonsense. But that “process” is usually met with temporary weight loss of water weight, toxins, and waste.
I will never forget when I started taking my weight loss seriously. A few months in, my body composition started changing as I put on lean muscle mass from resistance training. My weight wasn’t dropping as quickly as I would have hoped for. Again, being told by the fitness industry that I could lose 20lbs in a week had me thinking I should be further along. But at this point I had probably lost “only” 10lbs and dropped a size in pants. I was winning, and took it for granted.
I took a family vacation and ate whatever I wanted and the only form of exercise I did was walking around the mall. ??♀️ I thought I was good. I had been working out. A few days of eating what I want won’t hurt me, right? I gained 7 pounds in 4 days and was pissed! I was so disappointed in myself. All the hard work I had put in was gone in 4 days! After that, I was sold to the process and have never and will NEVER do that to myself again.
I took those 10 pounds for granted. I didn’t consider all the time I put into to my workouts. I didn’t consider all those meals I had prepped. I didn’t consider the willpower I put into losing those 10 pounds until I gained most of them back. It was no longer “only” 5 pounds or 10 pounds, etc. It was the pounds plus everything else that came with getting that weight off. Getting those inches off. It was the preparation. It was the sacrifice. It was my time. It was the consistency that I was jeopardizing by not being mindful of what I did after that point. I was no longer willing to give all that up for a week of eating whatever looked good to me. I was disappointed with myself and it just wasn’t worth it to me anymore.
Here is the best way to sum up setting fitness goals and remaining consistent. Its also a little financial advice as I have been in the financial industry for over 15 years and know a thing or two. It’s so comparable and relatable for people I couldn’t leave this out.
Our fitness goals and aspirations are equivalent to building credit and maintain well established credit. When you set out to build stellar credit you know you have to pay your bills on time. One late payment may not negatively effect your credit score immediately but continue paying late 3 or more times and it will. Then you have to go back to the basics and begin paying on time again for 6 to 7 months to get the score back where you want it.
Let’s say you are trying to establish credit. You have a credit card and you are making payments, but they aren’t the full payment. You do this faithfully for months. Guess what? Those partial payments mean nothing. Those partial payments are all accepted by the company, but because you didn’t pay the full payment, this is negatively effecting you credit. Its almost as if you didn’t pay anything at all. You will also notice late fees because you haven’t paid the full amount.
Its similar to becoming healthier. Lets say you workout every single day and right after you go to McDonald’s for dinner. You are making partial payments to your health. You are putting in all that work and not receiving credit for it. You have to fuel your body with nutritious foods along with exercise routine to reap the benefits of your hard work. A full payment would be working out 3 to 5 days a week and eating healthy meals 5 to 7 days of the week.
Let’s say you have built your credit. You are in a great position. Creditors begin to notice that you have well established credit history. They want to offer you a home with a interest rate you can’t pass. Or you get a great offer for a brand new vehicle and your monthly payments would be low and beyond affordable. And if you have been saving, which really is a whole other topic, you could put down a really nice down payment or buy these assets outright.
Its the same with your fitness journey. You do all the things you need to. You are eating healthy majority of the time and consistently working out. You begin to have lasting results. You notice the hard work you put in and weight begins to drop. Clothes begin to fit differently. Others begin to notice. They want to know your secrets. They want to know what you did to become a healthier version of yourself. Your full payments into your health has paid off.
Let’s say you met your credit score goal. You feel great. All your hard work, dedication and consistency has paid off! You feel like you can own anything you want now. You slack off on a few payments and it turns into a few months of slacking off. Guess what? All that hard work, down the drain. You have to go back to the basics to get your credit score back up. And as you have guessed, its the same with your fitness journey. You slack off for a few months and its back to square one. You have to rebuild your strength. You have to rebuild your endurance. You have to relearn good eating habits.
Just like that 4.0 GPA you want to keep, that promotion you received, the credit score you reached, it all takes diligence, focus, planning and preparation, mistakes, lessons, and the main thing is consistency! This journey isn’t easy, but being a healthier version of yourself is so worth it.
Work for it. You will appreciate the results so much more!
