Show Up

Hard work is… well, hard work. Many times we would much rather take a nap or work on anything but what we need to accomplish. Psychologically, procrastination makes certain tasks that you don’t need to do feel much easier than the tasks that you do need to do. It’s an odd sensation and many things have been organized or completed around the house before I get around to doing a few things I know I need to do, but won’t be as interesting.

The same goes for working out - it is so easy to let each day go by telling yourself you’ll “get in a better habit tomorrow” or “I’ll try that place sometime” or “next week I’ll start eating better. It’s difficult to do things that are good for us like changing our nutrition, working out regularly, or visiting friends. It can seem daunting to try to change a 10 year, or even lifelong year habit of poor health!

I read a comment this last week from another gym owner who, similar to 925, takes a “small bite” approach to helping their clients succeed. They work to find tiny positive things that each client can easily do to slowly, but surely change the direction of their health. It could be getting one less refill of sweet tea, going for 1 walk or 1 workout at the gym a week, or eating one serving of vegetables once a week. Things that at first glance may seem somewhat meaningless, but are really the start of tiny cracks in the walls of poor health.

Every week or month, add something else you know you can easily accomplish. When you reach your small goal successfully, celebrate, share your success and make another tiny goal. Over time, these will compound into a big change in your health and overall attitude, too.

For us, there are many clients we simply tell to “show up” - for some, we don’t really care how hard they push in the workout or how much weight they move etc, we’re just happy they made it in the door. The habit of getting to the gym consistently is the foundation of further progress. Once that’s accomplished regularly, the coaching, culture and workouts themselves will take care of the rest.

If you’re stuck thinking you have to make a giant decision to get healthy or accomplish a difficult goal, stop, take a step back and find the smallest step forward you can make. Make it a goal, and do it consistently and well. You’ll be surprised what happens!

Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might