You’re doing it right, but measuring wrong.
You already know the fastest path to disappointment. Set unrealistic expectations.
But I know the chronic path of disappointment. Measure the wrong thing.
And trust me, I’ve seen people measure all kinds of the wrong thing, me included. There’s even a Big Mac Index for measuring the value of currencies. Which is surprisingly as accurate as it is gas-producing. (Little inflation joke for you there.)
I ask three questions to tell if you’re lifting yourself up or holding yourself back with your fitness.
1. What does success look like for you?
Starting without some form of defined vision can lead to cool places, but you may end up in a place you don’t want to be if you don’t put some thought into it first. Plenty of people lose their social circle by developing a scarcity-athlete mindset.
2. Why are these goal(s) uniquely important to YOU?
No one goes to a gym to work out. We go to feel responsible for ourselves. We join to be around others who value feeling good when our co-workers don’t. We may go to wear that tank top and feel proud when we look in the mirror compared to who we used to see in the mirror. We want to walk out of the gym with confidence against our family history of heart disease.
The workout is a path. Where does it take you?
3. Why x3?
Finally, why is the answer to #2 so strong in you? Here’s a professional secret. Almost nobody has 3 levels of meaning to back up why they chase something. But, almost everyone will have 3 levels of why they caught what they were chasing or WILL catch what they’re chasing.
People acquire a whole new gear to earn income, quit drugs, or build a routine when they have a child. People who have lost something they loved will be impossible to remove that thing from if they get it again.
Example:
“I want to fill up a large t-shirt without space in the sleeves.
That’s uniquely important to me because I hate feeling like I have small arms. I’m a vain man, what can I say?”
1. That’s important to me because I don’t feel as good as I did back when I had big arms and was more fit. I want to feel better.
2. That’s important to me because my self-confidence will improve. I won’t feel so much like a nobody.
3. I think I feel like a nobody because when I think of the best memories I have, I saw this guy in the mirror who worked out often and took care of himself. That guy woke up feeling good He had energy, he was confident, probably because of all the stuff he did that made him look that way, not because he looked that way.”
New Measure
“I don’t need the big arms, but I need to work out and treat myself like I did when I had big arms. That would make a difference in my life. That would make me feel confident and a bit happier.”
Now, who is got the advantage? Large-shirt-dude? or How Stella Got Her Groove Back-Guy?
Want to be “How {Your Name Here} Got Their Groove Back-Person?”
Send it.
