Care to venture a guess as to the most common piece of advice I give at the gym?
Lift heavier weights?
Less pizza, more salad?
Don’t forget to stretch?
All good tips, but no. There’s one piece of advice I’ve shared more times than all of those – and others – combined: GIVE YOURSELF SOME GRACE.
Trust the process. Stay the course. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Various forms of “be patient” are often the conversation starter but in our instant-gratification society, no one wants to be reminded that it took 10 years to gain that 50 pounds, so it’s not going to take 10 days to lose it.
Here's What "Trust the Process" Looks Like.
Recently, one of our gym members switched jobs, forcing her to change her workout schedule. She had always attended the 5:30pm class but her new schedule meant that the 5:15am class would now be her only viable option.
On day one of her new schedule, here’s how it went: Signed up for class, hit the snooze, missed class.
Day two: Repeat day one.
Day three: Samesies.
Day four: Didn’t bother to sign up. Will try again Monday.
This situation is actually all about mindset and expectation. What happened during week one was the result of a “perfection” mindset and an unrealistic expectation.
When she committed to the new schedule, she pictured herself popping out of bed when the alarm went off and prancing happily off to class.
Ok, that’s a little far-fetched. No one prances anymore.
But she did imagine herself waking up on time, getting dressed and (perhaps somewhat groggily) driving to the gym.
You know what she didn’t anticipate? How amazing a warm bed feels at 5:00am, especially when it’s cold outside. And how easy it is to sleep instead of work out. And how hard it is to start a new routine (especially when the alternative is a warm bed and sleep).
But the biggest thing she didn’t anticipate was the idea of perfect. Perfect says, “If I start this today, I have to do this EVERY SINGLE day."
Which is not only false, it’s overwhelming.
So, what if we reframe the mindset and realize that now is not the time to be perfect?
Change Your Mindset.
If to you, “perfect” is five workouts a week, what if you do your best and start with a goal of two? Two workouts a week is a heckuva lot better than zero. Just like eating clean two days a week will make you feel a lot better than zero days of decent nutrition.
If you set a goal of five workouts per week and you "only" do two, you feel like you’ve failed. On the other hand, if you set a goal of two workouts per week and you do two, you’ve accomplished your goal. Then if you do three, BOOM SAUCE. Extra credit.
Here’s the bottom line: Getting started – or starting again – is not easy. So give yourself some grace. Your journey is different from everyone else’s, so don’t use your neighbor, your co-worker or even your significant other as your success barometer.
If your best friend works out six days a week, awesome. If your mom’s sister’s dog walker loves that class where you strap on boots and jump around, cool. Perhaps your co-worker follows a strict Paleo diet. Fine. That’s not your jam… yet. Or ever.
When you can start with small, sustainable changes that are achievable for you in week one, celebrate those successes and build on them for subsequent weeks. That’s how two workouts become three… then four…
That’s also when your body starts craving the healthy foods to fuel your active lifestyle. And the cycle continues.
But for right now, for this moment, you have one goal: Forget perfect. Just start.
