Today I wanted to share with you a concept I'll call ....
~EMBRACE THE GRAY~
When we set our mind on a goal, especially if it is a weight loss or health focused goal, we try to go from zero to sixty in seven seconds. And what I mean by that is, so often in our enthusiasm to change we try to too many big changes at once.
The truth is, no one can make multiple sustainable changes that are that drastic all at once.
So I want to remind you that especially because life is busy and crazy for all of us, focus on finding one place that you can improve and really focus on small shifts, keeping the blinders on and resisting that temptation to go bigger. Yes, you are going to want to change your workouts AND your water intake AND your daily steps AND you're nutrition AND your bedtime .... but resist. Pick ONE thing and get laser focused on that.
Maybe you've got foot pain you need to really get serious about doing daily actions to rehab (I've been there), maybe it's back pain you need to get serious about (I've been there oh so recently) ... maybe it's starting to really address improving your nutrition (I've been there), maybe it's working to increase your daily movement (yep, I've been there too). Energy goes where energy flows - and if you're scattered the results will be scattered too; but if you can pick one thing and work on that thing for a few weeks, you'll gain forward traction, make progress towards sustainable change and build skills in the process. Pretty cool.
It's going to be super tempting to have that black and white mentality of the diet world where you're either following the plan PERFECTLY or you're totally "off the wagon" so to speak. So what I'm really encouraging you to do today and this month, is to embrace the gray and to be okay with making slow, but achievable, progress. Focus on one action not two, not five, not ten ... and implement that until you feel confident with that change. and then add something else (just one small thing layered on top of the thing you just worked on). It doesn't matter if it has to do with nutrition or movement or water or sleep or stress management. It needs to be something that's important to you; something you want to shift the dial on.
For me - I've made a tracking list in my own training app of all of my PT exercises plus my small easing back into strength training workout. Having a checklist helps keep me accountable to self and I've always felt a weird sense of delight checking off a box! 😆I know my progress would have been MUCH slower if I hadn't been as consistent with my focus on my rehab. What's one small thing you'd like to shift? And if it's a BIG thing - that's awesome too.
Break that big wish into a few layered steps and start with the smallest, very first step.
xoxo,
Coach Ginger