Recently I took part in a four-week challenge put on by the gym I go to. For four weeks I had (with recommendations and guidelines from the trainers) determined what I would do for four weeks to challenge myself for the purpose of being fitter/healthier at the end of the 4-week intensive. I could make the rules as tight or as loose as I liked, with the awareness that the decisions I made would influence my results. I don’t like a lot of rules… and so I let myself believe that I didn’t have to give up coffee and wine (which I don’t intend to in the long run) but that I would avoid them… I decided that I would give up sugar and grains. Now.. I know myself well enough to know that ruling something out totally means 100% commitment but ‘avoiding’ gives me loopholes through with to slide and make excuses. It’s the difference between DOING SOMETHING and TRYING to DO SOMETHING. It’s the difference between GETTING RESULTS and TRYING TO GET RESULTS.
Have you said to yourself: “I will try and work on my business 3 times a week for one hour at a time.”? versus committing 100% and saying:
“I will work ON my business plan 3 times a week for one hour at a time.”?
I have! You can, as a result, get to the end of the week and have accomplished either! “Well, I tried… but other things came up..” OR
“I worked on my business for three hours this week.”
We have enough pressure on us as business people without needing to punish ourselves for not doing what we set out to, but I know from my own example that I did what I said I’d do….
- I avoided drinking
- I avoided going to bed too late
- I didn’t eat sugar
- I didn’t eat grains
and so I can honestly say I did these things. I kept my word to myself, both ways. I just know that not committing to something 100% could be a clue as to why I may not be performing to my peak in other areas of my life or business. So, I’m now reflecting on ….
- What am I 100% committed to doing?
- What am I only willing to half-commit to?
It doesn’t matter to me which one I’m choosing as long as I’m doing it consciously and not fooling myself. Suzi PS In case you’re interested… here is what I did do on the 4-week Intensive: I chose to:
- Cut alcohol down to four glasses of wine a week
- Reduce my milky coffee intake from 2 x soy flat white coffees a day to 1 x ‘milky’ coffee and if I had a 2nd it would be a macchiato
- No sugar (including honey) except from fruit
- No grains (except oats)
- Only fruit allowed was pear, apple, blueberries, strawberries and kiwi (but only 2 pieces max per day
- Eating 5 small meals a day (and managing my portions each time)
- Working out 5 times a week
- Limit dairy to cottage cheese and yoghurt
- Avoid red meat and eating more fish
- Get to bed by 10pm and try and get at least 7 hours of sleep
- Take my vitamins/supplements daily
My Goals were to:
- reduce body fat %
- lose 2kg
- get stronger
- ween myself off the daily sugar treats (usually a piece or two of chocolate at dinner)
- drink less alcohol
My results were:
- The first week I suffered. I felt very tired from the lack of sugar. By week three I was more energetic than usual (and those of you who know me know that I already have lots of energy).
- My jeans started to feel loose around the waistline by week 3.
- My running speed seemed to improve by week four – to the tune of running on average 0.5km an hour faster.
I had my measurements on Monday and the results were better than I’d hoped… much better. What I don’t know is how much better they would have been had I totally cut out alcohol and the milky soy coffees. Truth is, I don’t intend to cut them out forever… so I didn’t want to set myself up for a regime that I’d not be willing to stick to for 70-80% of the time.
