AN UNBREAKABLE DECISION
In my last article, I talked about how we should use the motivation that we have for training wisely. Like money, it is not an abundant source and so we have to watch it carefully and not spend past what we have. Realistically, each person has a certain amount of motivation to use each day, week, and month. If we ‘spend’ more motivation than what we earn, we’re likely to run out and give up training, or we may carry on, but we would do so without enjoying it. Every so often, you may experience a surge in motivation – which is great – but you decided to go to too many classes in January or have too many workouts, leaving you motivationally empty. And so generally, you should try to keep within the threshold of your emotional training capacity. This threshold can then increase from there onwards, by working your motivation and discipline in tandem to keep you going for the rest of your life.
An Unbreakable Decision
Emotions often dictate our actions, though they are not always the strongest platform to support our decisions. Most people strongly believe that we should take care of our bodies, but nobody lives according to their beliefs 100%, and that often happens when we turn to our emotions.
Train Regardless Of How You Feel
‘I’m just not in the mood’ is one of the biggest reasons many
Years ago, when I first started training, part of my decision acknowledged that life may go up, down, left, right. And so regardless of the circumstances, I was taking a stand and committing to this. Built into that decision was the acknowledgement that the wind blows in all directions, so difficult circumstances would not stop me from training or taking care of my body. I did not make this decision with a requirement of the right circumstances or with certain terms rather I made the decision regardless of the circumstances. Your decision needs to be comprehensive.
Are You Ready For It?
Such a stand requires you to be at a certain point – where you’re ready to dedicate time to training regardless of the circumstances. If you are not ready to make that decision yet then this article may even be slightly off-putting. I can’t tell you that your time is now when maybe you’re just not ready. You may need time to make this decision, maybe some events of your life may need to happen.
The real journey is getting to the point of making the decision. The journey from the moment you decide it, to the moment you achieve it is a great and amazing journey. But, the most important journey is coming to the point where you make the decision, which is an unbreakable decision. I read a quote recently that said ‘sometimes it takes 10 years to get to that 1 year that will change your life, keep going’. This resonated with me because this is more or less how it was for me, many years of procrastination before something clicked, and then I fully committed.
The way in which you ‘access’ your desire to be in shape is important too. The way you access your desire to get in good shape or stay in good shape needs to be right for you. And maybe you need to search for it, the gym is just one option.
You might have desires in which you’re ok with never happening. You might have a desire to go to space, but you may also be fairly comfortable with them never happening. Is there enough desire in you to make the decision on this?
A Decision For Life
If you no longer find yourself excited about exercising, does this mean that you should stop? Well if you get married and eventually realise that marriage is not ‘exciting’ anymore, does this mean you should get divorced? Absolutely not, because the idea is that you fall in love with the same person over and over again for the rest of your life, and it is similar to training.
When making a decision to commit to taking care of your body, you need to acknowledge that it can be bumpy and not all days are good days. You need to nod at certain circumstances and be realistic. Along the road of training and healthy diets, you may lose your job, you may get a promotion, someone might pass away, you might have a child, you might have financial issues. The weather will not always be what you want it to be, or it might just be great. In the decision-making process, these things need to be considered and acknowledged. Regardless, you need to be able to look over those circumstances and value your decision. Life circumstances need not stop you anymore from taking care of your body. Are you at the point where your decision can be unbreakable?