Progress the real prize

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/12/2021 (1390 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Another year nearly in the rear-view mirror. I love what this time represents — a fresh start with a clean slate.

It forces us to sit down and reflect on our lives and paint a picture of the future we desire. Anything that sparks that reflection is worthy of our attention.

It’s also worth looking at New Year’s differently than in years past, because many set the same goal every year and never accomplish it. The statistics are grim.

I want “New Year, New You” to be the spark that lights your fire, sure. But I also want you to understand why we so often miss the mark with resolutions.

The truth is, you will wake up on Jan. 1 with the dopamine hit of new. But new has a short life span. New eventually gives way to the same realities you’ve dealt with in the previous year. The same struggles, the same obstacles. Those don’t go away.

So don’t expect to ride the momentum of “new” all the way to your goals. We need to see that big goal off in the horizon, but break it down into micro bite-sized processes of change.

There’s nothing more discouraging than being so fixated on the prize that you don’t notice progress being made along the journey.

“I only lost 12 pounds and I was hoping for 20 by now!”

After all, it’s more about who you become on the climb than the eventual view from the mountaintop, pardon the inspirational metaphors here (‘tis the season for motivation!).

That “never good enough” mentality takes your progress and disguises it as a failure. In fact, it makes it easy, when your comfort zone comes calling, to revert back to old habits.

To truly change, you can’t solely focus on the outcome, but rather the little steps that make the outcome possible.

Your New Year’s resolution is not to look like a fitness cover model in six weeks.

It’s to say yes to getting three workouts in a week.

It’s to say yes to tracking your calories 90 per cent of the time.

It’s to say yes to walking every day.

It’s saying yes to those things whether you feel like it or not that day.

Resolutions fail because we resolve to be the hero, but forget the hero’s journey necessary to get there.

In 2021, let’s remember those who accomplish their goals understand the ladder to success is climbed one day and step at a time. So no, I don’t believe in the “New Year, New You” resolution mentality.

But I do believe if you’re serious about change, the current version of you needs to get specific about your goals and boil them down to the simple actions you can take today.

When you’re always focused on the finish line, you lose sight of your progress yesterday, today and tomorrow.

What we should celebrate is the process, which makes all the difference.

It’s the little things that cause the big things, so start there. Of course, you must first believe it will work. If you’ve failed a lot at this stuff in the past, you’re going to have some mindset barriers to overcome. I’ve written at length about how to get your mind right in previous columns.

But after that legwork, it comes down to working at the stuff I preach about often in this space. Manage calories. Eat more protein and vegetables. Move more. Strength train relative to your abilities. Have patience and dust yourself off when you fall off or have a tough day or rough week.

 

How To Set Goals You Can Stick To

I’ve got a great exercise that’ll help you…

1. Set amazing new goals for 2022, and even more importantly,

2. Give you the power to reach them.

Fact: almost all of us have had New Year’s resolutions at one point or another that we gave up on just a few short weeks later.

Want to know one of the main things that separate those who quit and those who don’t?

It’s engaging in regular reflection along the way. And a lot of people do it the wrong way.

Tue reflection is a process that helps you recognize what’s working — and what isn’t — by asking yourself specific questions, questions that can help take your life to the next level.

Reflection is not beating yourself up for what didn’t work.

Reflection is taking time to think about why certain habits or actions “click” for you and others are more of a struggle.

It’s stepping back to look at the big picture to see what is really required to set yourself up for success.

Here are five reflection questions to ask yourself over the next few days as we head toward 2022.

1. How have you contributed to your happiness and health in 2021?

2. Where do you want to be a year from now? What is most important to you in 2022 (top 3 goals)?

For each of your top three things, answer:

1. What specific things do you already do in your life that are moving you closer to what’s most important to you? Do you want to continue doing them in 2022? Take them to the next level?

2. What specific things do you currently do that stall your progress or hold you back? Why do you believe you take these actions?

3. What are one or two simple steps you can start taking now to make your vision a reality?

Another great question to ask yourself: “What would this look like if it were easy?”

Most people assume that dieting should always be hard, but in reality, when you create less friction you get better results. As humans we tend to be able to do things for longer and more consistently when they’re easier.

Because, the truth is, fat loss is a gradual process. Quick water loss on detoxes and fad diets gives off false perceptions about what’s possible. When you lose six pounds in a week, the majority of that is water and stored carbs, not stubborn body fat.

So the solution is to find a plan you can stick to so you actual lose body fat and keep it off.

If you can nail the basics for a long while, you’re going to change your identity, change your relationship with food and understand how it works at the most basic level, and get results that last.

For those who never make any permanent progress, it’s usually because they hit “Go” too hard out of the gates, hit a snag, see an ad for some magic pill and start over.

You probably just need to stick to something long enough for a change. When you commit, you’ll see progress because you’ll have no choice but to be patient. You’ll quit self-sabotaging. You won’t overreact after a holiday where you’re up a few pounds of water because you get how the body works.

You can’t leave things to chance and hope it works out. Your challenge is to set a fitness goal you will accomplish in 2021 and tell the world about it. And in so doing, you will demonstrate to yourself and to those around you that you are in it for real this time.

What does that goal look like? Well, that’s up to you. What do you most need to change? Losing 30 pounds? Adding 100 pounds to your squats? Getting your blood pressure or blood sugar down to the healthy range?

Any kind of fitness or health goal will do. But whatever it is, just make sure it is something specific — and something you are slightly skeptical about achieving.

If you get stuck or are unsure how you might accomplish it, it helps to get an outside perspective.

Heck, it’s why I’ll never go long without a mentor in the areas of my life I’m prioritizing. It prevents settling and decision fatigue.

You don’t need someone to count your reps; you need someone to provide support when you need it most, navigating food challenges and helping you stick to a program when it gets hard. That’s the secret.

Mitch Calvert is a Winnipeg-based fitness coach. Apart from his column in the Winnipeg Free Press, he’s been featured in Men’s Health and his members just eclipsed 2,500 pounds collectively lost in 2021. Visit mitchcalvert.com to grab a free copy of his metabolism jumpstart or contact him directly at mitch@mitchcalvert.com for coaching opportunities or questions.