Dilemma: When Your Ideal Self Conflicts Your Inner Wimp

When creating a goal, its important to realize that you are eventually going to get to the point when you are faced with the dilemma of following through with it or not.   You will wake up some morning and the bed will feel more satisfying in that moment than getting out of bed to heading to the gym.  Or that bag of candy will seem more appealing than the mere goal of reducing the amount of sugar intake you allow yourself.  The Dilemma.

If you are anything like me, that little voice in your head telling you to sleep in or eat the candy tends to be more loud and annoying than your will power can handle from time to time. I like to call that voice my inner wimp.  When in a dilemma, caving in is a simple way to stop the anxiety your inner wimp provokes.  So what is one to do?

History books are full of people who have been able to overcome difficulties in their own minds and live out their lives in a way that doesn't yield to the inner wimp. So how do we overcome?  Psychology will tell you that people change for many reasons but for the sake of achieving a goal such as getting to the gym or eating properly, the change has to be seen as an extremely positive thing.  In fact, it must be so overwhelmingly positive that it is seen and felt as the truth.  You must believe beyond a doubt that going to the gym isn't just going to help you shed a few pounds, but it is actually going to save your life.  You must be compelled that, this "going to the gym business" is the only way of life.  The old is gone, the new has come.

Expect some "set backs."  These are normal.  At least I hope so because I have them all the time.  I haven't run in two weeks, but have a marathon this month! That is, a great example of the inner wimp getting the best of me.  But during these times, beating yourself up about it isn't going to help.  Just know that the real you, the best version of yourself is out there waiting, you just have to get back up and start where you left off.  Set backs don't equal you not reaching your goal.  They only appear in the moment more catastrophic than they really are.  It's another example of the inner wimp blowing things out of proportion.

Your Goals Await! 

Outlandish Goals

Without a big goal, I get lazy. (Even with a big goal, I get lazy... more on that later) But I need big goals, ones that kind of freak me out to get me motivated.  This is especially true for running or general exercise.  I like the idea of being the type of person who can show up any given weekend for a marathon and do it no problem, but that takes a lot of work.  So last year I came up with an idea for myself.

I was training for a 50k and as I was putting together my training plan, I noticed my 26 mile run was going to fall right around my 26th birthday.  So I thought, "Hey, would ya look at that, a mile for every year."  I did it, and I liked it, so I thought this would be a good goal to help me maintain the lifestyle of a runner.  The older I get, the more sure I have to be to stay in shape.

A week ago today was my birthday which means a day of celebration and a day of running.  This isn't a new idea, people have done this before me but it's very compelling to me.  They say a male is at his peak athletic ability at age 27, I don't want to miss this year of my life by sitting on a couch somewhere wishing I was the person who could go out and run a good distance, no problem.  So I did 27 miles this year, not nearly as good of shape as I was in last year, but it was still fun and rewarding.  You can check out my run by clicking HERE

Dream big, make outlandish goals, then do them.  It's much more exciting for me to do that, than to making sure I have watched the season premiere of Breaking Bad and its my guess that it's much more exciting for you too.

What are your outlandish goals?

Excuses

There are a million reasons why you can't.  

Focus on the few reasons that you can.

- Kara Goucher

Feeling the weight of this quotable fact today.  It's raining, kind of cold, "I need to enjoy my day off," my mind tells me, yet this sort of thinking gets me no closer to my goals as a runner.

Reasons why I should run today:

- I won't melt if I get wet.

- I have cold weather gear.

- Running is enjoyable, so I should do what I enjoy on my day off.

- It's not snowing, get outside!

- I will be more energized afterward.

- I will be making progress on my goals as a runner.

What are your excuses holding you back from exercise today?  Answer that, then forget them.  Give yourself an excuse to exercise today!

Enemy Within

Beware of noman more than yourself;

we carryour worst enemies within us.

- CharlesH. Spurgeon

The enemy within knows everything about us.  Our failures, fears and faults.  We have shared the deepest mostintimate parts of our soul with him. He stands at the edge of our sub-consciousness and declares what choiceswe should make.  We can make nomove with his consultation.  Mostof us walk through life, not realizing the grasp of his power, which enslavesus.  His voice is so ingrained, sofamiliar and so comforting, that we seldom think about another way.

This is a mysterious force yet when I talk aboutit with people, they understand it, because we have all experienced it.  It’s the part of us that seems to minimalizeour success and magnify our failures. It drives us to be better then tells us that we should stop because ourefforts will never add up.  “Whoare you to question me?” it demands, and our obedience is almostimmediate. 

“You want to get into shape? Go to church? Makenew friends? Change for the better?” it questions.  Then reminds us of all the times we have tried and failed inthe past.  Quite simply the enemywithin explains how there is comfort found in much simpler pursuits.  “Put it off, watch some more TV, thereis no harm in that.” “Sleep in, you can go to the gym tomorrow morning, you hada rough day yesterday, you deserve the extra sleep.”  He hides his deception in words that sound like he has yourback.

This is not the voice of a friend, yet we listenwillingly. 

There is another voice, calling ever sofaintly. 

It says, “You can change! Go for your dreams! Youare strong!”

Feed that voice.

Starve your doubt.

Start living your life!

Getting Through Winter

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer.

- Albert Camus

Change is among us.  The long bleak winter has fought its last battle and the remnants of that occurrence are too scarce to even prove it happened.  The birds are coming back; little sparrows and red bellied Robins.  The squirrels playfully run through the trees, chasing one another.  The days are getting longer, the air is getting warmer and we know that spring will be here soon. 

As we all know, different periods in our lives are often referred as seasons.  Read through the descriptions and try to identify where you are.  Being able to see what season you are in is a good way to identify ways to move to a better season or reinforce attributes to keep you in there.

Summer:

Feeling very content and satisfied in your life. Each passing day is more or less carefree. Working out and eating healthy are done without a second thought.

Autumn:

Perhaps things are going well but the signs of change are obvious; a child getting ready to go off to school, a loved one coming to the end of their life or perhaps a marriage is starting to become more strenuous by each passing day.  Our discipline to fitness is slipping and we start to remember how much we love chocolate chip cookies for breakfast.

Winter:

A very difficult time in life.  Nothing seems to be going right; you feel lonely, depressed, anxious and/or scared.  The gym is being passed up for more sleep and the daily consumption of food is a good reminder why heart disease is the biggest killer in America.  During those times, its good to remember this: you don't have to say in winter forever, start making changes now!

Spring:

The day-to-day difficulties are starting to feel more manageable.  Decision-making comes with less anxiety.  The desire for healthy food and a good workout stir deep (for some its very very very deep, but it's there) within you.  Take full advantage of those quiet desires to make healthy choices because they can do much more for our overall well-being than we can really give credit to.

No matter the season you find yourself in right now, you have the ability to make improvements.  If you are in a summer season, set lofty goals, dream big.  You can achieve much in summer seasons!  If you are in a winter season, set small goals that can easily be obtained.  Reaching small goals in the winter of life is a great way to get that feeling of spring.

Don't let winter make decisions for you, take action.

The Key: Identify attributes of your "summer," then do those things! Continuing to do autumn things will eventually lead to winter, but continually doing winter things doesn't always lead to spring.

Mr. Snowman, defies winter by

 moving to the warmer climate.