​And so it’s the time of year where the weather starts to turn, life gets busy with return to routine from holidays and the enthusiasm of New Year fitness goals becomes a distant memory.

From my vantage point, I have watched these patterns over the last 5 years and can confirm that the pattern does exist!

I think about this a lot.  Why is it that people so often express desire for change in their lifestyles, fitness and bodies, but can so easily put their personal desires on the back burner time and time again for anything from the routine expected daily task of having dinner prepared, to the “unexpected” call to stay back at work…week after week.

I know a lot about what my clients want to achieve because I listen to them quite a bit.

But just a week or so ago I could see the day to day starting to take over again for so many of them.  Most of them know what to do, it’s just quite easy to put it off until next week, next month, “when things settle down”.

Do they ever settle down?

I got busy at work.

Kids sport.

wrong bra.

Headache.

Forgot about another appointment.  etc etc.

It’s my job to help my clients achieve their goals and by continually allowing them to put off their goals for various different reasons, I was no longer doing my job and I was now enabling them to put themselves last.

So I created the “Gun to Your Head” 2 weeks – drawing on a quote from Tim Ferriss’ Tools of the Titans book.  (which, by the way took me all of 2018 to get through – there are some amazing insights and I worked my way slowly through chapter by chapter).

Ferriss talks about how easy it is to procrastinate on doing the actions that will help us achieve a goal in the distant future, because the end result seems so far away.  What’s another day, week, month?   He then uses the best analogy to get your butt moving…. “Think of your 10 year plan… if someone put a gun to your head and told you to achieve it in 6 months – what would you do?”

I put that idea to my clients.  If someone had a proverbial gun to your head re: your fitness goals for the next 2 weeks, and you had to prioritise them above all else – what would you do each day?

I’m pretty sure most people would strap on their big girl and boy boots, get their arse to class and they wouldn’t keep making excuses about their nutrition either.

And I was right!

97% of bookings attended last week.  10% increase on the previous week total attendance.

It’s not so hard when you change your perspective and put yourself first.  There is nothing wrong with that!  I can’t wait to see the flow on effects into other areas of my clients’ lives.

It’s not easy to set healthy boundaries in life, but this has been a major theme with myself already in 2019 and in many discussions with others.  It’s interesting!

Put your health first, finish what you started, honour your commitment to yourself that you made when you started – and you will be unstoppable.

Even if it gets tough to balance, the by-product is you’ll be fitter and healthier so there is absolutely nothing to lose!

I applied this concept to some course work I’d been procrastinating on, and got a lot further ahead than if I kept wishing I “had time”.

What can you think of that you will apply it to this week?

Comments