Don't wait for 2022 to work on your health and fitness

Why perfection is the enemy of achieving your health and fitness goals, and how you can take action today

Photo by Maarten Duineveld on Unsplash

One of the common misconceptions that comes with improving our health and fitness is that we must wait for the perfect time to start.

This belief is pervasive, and the result of many variables. We tend to avoid uncomfortable or unfamiliar situations. We compare ourselves to where others are at on their journey. We’re afraid of making mistakes and failing. We want the perfect program so we know that we are doing the best thing for ourselves. The list goes on.

But waiting to start has rarely, if ever, resulted in success being achieved.

Rather, it’s held us back and resulted in:

• Never making a choice that actually moves us forward today

• Feeling stuck and lost in our current reality

• Emphasizing excuses while simultaneously talking poorly of ourselves

Waiting for the perfect time to start is an ideal which can never be achieved

The reason being is that we are living this thing called life. Shit happens. Things get in our way. We need to expect the unexpected. It’s all apart of the condition of being alive.

That perfect time, it doesn’t exist. The only time that does exist is the present moment. And it’s here in this clear, tangible moment that we have the ability to make a choice and take action.

When I first started working out, I would just rotate through random exercises haphazardly, not knowing what I was doing. I would simply follow my friend’s workout with some level of appreciation of the work ethic, but not fully understanding the process.

But that was okay because I was taking a vote in favour of the person I wanted to become.

Every work out I would show up, slightly more curious and engaged than the previous workout. I started to read Men’s Health magazines and flip through their workouts. Eventually I found some writers I enjoyed who had blogs, so I started to follow their work online. Reading articles turned into buying books. And books into courses. Courses into seminars. And this journey has never stopped.

If I set out from the beginning, waiting until I had that perfect workout program in my hand or the perfect diet, I wouldn’t be where I am today, 12 years later, because I wouldn’t have started.

You need to abandon tomorrow and act today

Stop putting so much emphasis on the future, and instead do what’s within your power and grasp now. It might feel like shaky ground, but it’s here that you will find what it takes to move forward. Take a step forward no matter how small it seems.

See ya later perfection - hello progress

Progress, not perfection is the attitude you must adopt.

By doing so, you’re going to actively start becoming the person who is an action taker, not a dreamer. It’s through action that we learn and grow. You’re going to begin moving closer to your goals, while also learning how to adapt to obstacles as they arise on your journey.

Please don’t wait for 2022 to overhaul your entire lifestyle.

Start now.

Start small.

Start again tomorrow.

Start to embrace the true value of your health.

Start to embody this as a priority in your life, one that should never be delayed.

Start because this is actually the best time to.

What to do next

1. Shrink the change. If you’re overwhelmed by the thought of getting started and how far you must go, don’t overwhelm yourself with too many options. Or worse, doing to many big things at once. Start small. Maybe it’s a couple 10 minute walks each day. Or adding once serving of vegetables to your daily diet.

2. Act quickly and consistently. Move to action quickly, because the longer you delay the harder it gets to start back up. Don’t give yourself the time to come up with a convincing reason to not take action. That comes too easy for most of us. No need to give that voice more power.
   
   Remember that you can optimize and tweak later. Right now, your goal is to become a master of showing up. James Clear said it well: “Standardize before you optimize.”

3. Adapt wisely. Learn from your experience, and figure out what’s working well for you. Be sure to analyze things that aren’t going well either. Everything you do is an oppurtunity to gather feedback, and how you leverage this information can make or break your results.
   
   Walking on a treadmill sucks? Get outside. 10 minutes doesn’t feel long enough? Add 5. Struggling to get motivated each morning to walk? Find a walking buddy.
   
   You should never feel cemented to one way of doing things. You’re on a journey of continual improvement - you’re a work in progress 😎

So tell me, how are you starting today? And if you’re already well on your journey, how are you continuing down that path?