The last 12 months have been one of the best ever from a personal fitness perspective. How so? I hear you ask. Well, how long have you got?
Reflecting on December 2023, I recall my initial commitment to hit a personal fitness goal. Not an easy feat during a festive season that included social invites, carb filled dinners with the trimmings, calorie rich desserts, late sunrises and early sunsets.
12 months later, here are my top tips for anyone considering health & fitness a priority:
Find Your Tribe: A problem shared is a problem solved. Connecting and collaborating with like minds who share similar values, aspirations and goals helps to make the journey all the more purposeful and keeps us accountable for doing what we said we would do. Entering new groups (and leaving those that no longer support our goals) can be daunting and uncomfortable but will be worth it! Connecting with others who share similar fitness aspirations is the most significant factor in my personal progress.
Start Where You Are: As quoted by Arthur Ashe, a former tennis player who won singles titles at Wimbledon, the US Open, and the Australian Open. For example, if you don’t have a local gym, or haven’t budgeted for the monthly fee’s, consider a home workout. Personally, I think home workouts are well underestimated. They can get the day off to a very good start when we are short of time and are absolutely free! Perhaps you prefer Salsa dancing over traditional sports and that’s ok too! “Start Where You Are, Do What You Can.”
Keep It Simple Stupid: KISS is a design principle that encourages the idea that the simpler things are the more likely they are to be useful to others. Ive borrowed a simple idea from online fitness personality, Mike Rashid who says, “Move More, Eat Less” it’s simple and it works! Keeping things simple helps me to combat the feeling of demotivation and stress as fitness plans and workout schedules can become over complicated.
BHAGs & Marginal Gains: Big Hairy Audacious Goals, as coined by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in their 1994 book Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies, help to get things going. BHAGs stimulate progress and basically put us out of our comfort zones. My fitness BHAG is to complete 7 more marathons by my next significant birthday…….TBC. BHAGs are scary so having marginal gains helps to give us something to celebrate as we accomplish smaller wins. For me a marginal gain would be to reduce my minutes per mile personal best by at least 1 second on my regular route. Check out James Clear’s article on The Aggregation of Marginal Gains here https://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains.
While these ideas help me with my fitness goals, they can be applied to any area of personal growth. What’s your top tip for someone looking to make lifestyle/professional or personal improvements over the next rolling 12 months?
1 comment
Amazing blog. I learnt alot from it too. Had never heard of Arthur Ashe and I like the BHAG mentality.
Well I hope you achieve all your goals before your “big bday”😃😃 and I, myself love health and fitness, so I will be sure to support and motivate you. Like minded folk are genuinly the best, because at the end of the day – birds of a feather… flock together. Eagles don’t hang out with pigeons although they are both birds. Associate yourself with people who share similar goals as you and are as dedicated driven and determined as you.
Best of luck on this journey Bro💕💕