I have a love hate relationship with the Gym, for almost 10 years now. Must say, it’s more hate than love. Truth be told, I don’t have much of a physique. At the risk of sounding disgusting – I’m all flab.
Every once in a while, when I feel fat, I start working out. Tell myself this time its going to be forever. Buy those expensive shoes. Register at a gym – pay a 6 month membership at least, to tie me down to the cause. And then, on receiving a few compliments on losing weight [mostly from my mother who always thinks I’m losing weight], I stop working out. Tell myself I don’t have the time. That work is more important. The excuses are countless. Then I start putting on weight again. And the cycle that’s been going on for the last 10 years, continues. Without any real improvement in my physical appearance.
Actually, we do the same in all aspects of our life. At work – we start a certain project and abandon it half way through when the going gets tough OR the initial euphoria dies down. Start on a fresh note with our colleagues and subordinates but after a while, go back to our original behavior. In terms of personal development – we get into the habit of reading and learning but then go back to our regular routine.
The key to any kind of improvement is Consistency. Anyone can do a certain thing for a couple of days or weeks. But working out through the year consistently – that’s what brings you results. The most successful professionals across the board share that one thing in common. Consistency in action towards the pursuit of goals.
But again, that’s so damn hard to do.
In life, we usually concentrate on the bigger decisions in life. Blame them for making or breaking our careers. Honestly, what’s more important are the small decisions you take every day. Those decisions, without us really realizing, become the ‘make or break’ decisions. At 7 pm in the evening – when it is my designated time to work out – when I choose TV – that’s a part of me broken, without me realizing the impact.
So what will it take to do stuff consistently? Basically, to go against the tide. To not succumb to the easier thing to do. Our mind will play games with us. Make up a thousand excuses for not doing the things that we have decided to do. And we listen to that voice. Not because we really believe what that voice is saying. But it’s just the easier thing to do at that point.
I don’t have a text book solution but here are a few things that have helped:
- Be very conscious of your small decisions. Concentrate on a few big decisions and then follow them up rigorously with the smaller right decisions every day.
- Power through the weaker moments. Every time your mind starts playing devil, don’t give yourself too much time to reason. Quickly get into action. Wear those shoes and start Jogging.
- Keep the right & relevant company. The kind of people who manage to motivate you. Who peg you on when you’re down and out. Who have a track record of success in the area you desire to improve.
And most importantly, don’t give up on yourself. You may have gone back and forth in the past. But trust me; another shot at improving yourself never goes waste. Irrespective of past failures, pull up your socks, and get started. Today.