"Obstacles are those frightful things that you see when you take your eyes off your goals"
Henry Ford
Its that time of the year when you start to see things unravel. The new year's resolutions of getting into shape, or getting fit or healthy start to fall apart; the notion of "dieting" becomes more of a chore than an experiment, you're tired of the same classes at your gym, etc. At the same time, this is when I see endurance athletes start to compete for the "I train the most hours" award among friends or teammates. You know who you are - you're first race isn't until June, but you are doing 25 hours a week of training because, "gotta lay that base down bro!". So how do we address both sides? Well, it all starts with remembering what it was that got you going in the first place.
If you live in the Midwest like me, I get it. The weather sucks, its been gray for what seems like an eternity, and you know at some point, we will get more snow. Yes, the days are getting longer, but the sun isn't the star attraction. So getting in a funk is easy. Forgetting why you wanted to get healthy gets lost among the bills from the holidays; the idea of making it to the same 5:45 am spin class seems less exciting, especially when you know exactly what's going to happen at each minute, and the Superbowl and Valentine's day provide plenty of excuses to eat poorly, and consume too much booze. The question is, why does this happen? What changed in 6 weeks? Its usually 1 of 2 things - a. You took your eye off the ball and forgot what the motivating factor was to create lasting change in your life, b. You never had a plan for you, and spent time following someone else's plan, or got caught up trying to "compete" with others. Both are recipes for disaster.
Truth is, any change you want to make, is a result of creating a habit. Good or bad, the consistency of your actions creates a pattern; physically we create muscle memory, chemically, we crave things like sugary carbohydrates if we are constantly consuming them. But these things only happen because of what you do, not what the class instructor, nor your teammate, nor your coach are doing or not doing. Because last I checked, we don't share the same DNA. So what works for your friend, most likely won't work for you. And that's why people come undone. How many people do you know sign up for gym memberships as a couple at the start of the New year, only to see one of them stop coming entirely after 6 weeks? Its not because they don't want to get healthy, they just don't see the light because they are looking at someone else's paper. They didn't dial in their goals. There wasn't enough specificity tied to them, so it provided them an opportunity to quit.Without a plan, without knowing exactly what you want, you are setting yourself up to fail. You stopped believing in you. You can't convince or expect others to believe in you if you don't believe in yourself. And you can't expect people to want the same goals as you, because they are yours and yours alone. It doesn't mean people won't be supportive, but you can't wait around for the support to pursue your goals. You've got to be your biggest supporter. Others will jump on in time. But you've got to be prepared to go it alone for a bit to prove to yourself that you are worth it.
This ties directly into athletes who are so consumed with capacity or volume that they have lost sight of fixing the issues that stemmed from years past. You can't out-run, out-swim, out-bike bad form. It will rear its ugly head and put you on the shelf. But all I see from social media are selfies of kickrs burning, long trail runs ending in pain, and ridiculous swim sets that are leaving people broken. Why? Social media is a good scapegoat; pro athletes or age groupers posting about their "epic" days of training get age groupers or other pros freaked out and get them thinking "I'm not doing enough!!! Shit! I need to log more time! I am going to ditch the skill work, the strength work- the IMPORTANT stuff, the stuff that prevents INJURY and I'm going straight to my bike to crush watts!" You know them. By May, they are dealing with a nagging injury that will prevent them from realizing their potential. They have a built in excuse to fail. They couldn't keep their eyes on their own paper, and just like that, the wheels come off.
I'll give you an example of how paying too much attention to your competition, or your friends, teammates, etc, can prevent you from discovering how amazing they can be. 2 years ago, Jason Khalipa started a campaign called "What is Froning doing?" He had finished 2nd in 2013 at the Crossfit Games to Rich Froning, and was determined to win in 2014. However, the minute he started to care so much about what his competition was doing, he lost sight of what he needed to be doing, his own holes in his fitness, and the elements he needed to assure his own success. Result - he finished 3rd in 2014, behind who? Rich Froning. Why did Rich win? Well, he focused on what he needed to do. He honed his talents, worked his weaknesses, and took the top spot for the 4th year in a row.
Bottom line - you have to focus on you. Getting distracted in our twitter/Instagram/Facebook/SnapChat era, staying focused is easy. Too easy. Staying true to your goals, to your passion, that's hard. But its worth it. If you are on that edge, and wondering why you are where you are - remember why you started in the first place. This doesn't mean you won't fail. It doesn't mean that the road won't be difficult at times. But looking for others to lead the way isn't going to do it for you. Stop worrying about the "other guy/girl". Anyone can look like a badass on social media. I'm happy being the guy working in the dark while others are checking to see who "friended" them on Facebook. I don't need people to see me do work to know I'm getting it done; doing what I need to do. So, who do you want to be? The answer is going to help you determine how you will handle the doldrums of winter.
Stay strong,
Guy
