What does it take to stick to your plan? I hear it all the time, what is your motivation? How do you keep going?
I think we all gain inspiration and motivation from many places, just look at Tumblr or Twitter for legions of people posting and forwarding inspiration to each other. It’s not difficult to find pictures of what you want, either what you want to be like or what you want to run from, but whatever you need to inspire you can be found with ease. The question is, what happens when that effect runs out? What happens when looking at another person’s six pack makes you angry or disappointed instead of motivated and driven? In that case you fall back on your character. It’s times like that when you find out what you are made of. We all get disappointed with ourselves sometimes. We eat something we shouldn’t, we take an extra day off when we should have stuck to our schedule. Sometimes it’s a choice, other times it’s just circumstance. What you do at that point will speak directly to your character.
I wrote a while back about the “getting knocked down” analogy that is used by many as a crutch to cover their own weakness but in the end, no matter if it is a bump in the road, a moment of weakness or a bona fide blindside your reaction will depend on who you are at your core and from where I stand loving yourself isn’t going to be enough. A lot of, let’s say, younger people seem to think that “acceptance” or “self-love” will see them through. They seem to imagine that accepting their weaknesses somehow makes them OK. I agree that some things you can’t change very easily, I don’t particularly like my nose, but I accept it. I don’t particularly like the fact I don’t seem to have a butt, but I accept it. Being fat and out of shape however is not something anyone should accept. It’s not a socially based acceptance thing either, it’s a health thing. Claiming that you love your body despite your obvious health risks is not the right thing to do. Rather than accepting yourself, work on committing to respecting yourself. By the way, the same goes for the other end of the weight scale. There are many out there who struggle at the light end of the scale, some with actual sickness, some with addiction and obsession but the same rules apply.
Loving something that is so obviously wrong but within your power to change is ridiculous.
Love is a double edged sword, ask anyone from a broken home or abusive family how they feel about love.
If you want to increase the quality of your life, then learn to respect yourself.
You can love yourself but it makes no demands.
You can love yourself but it implies no standards.
You can love yourself but it doesn’t drive change.
Respect.
Respect expects performance.
Respect demands self-evaluation.
Respect requires constant improvement.
Respect allows you to be a role model for yourself and others.
Respect yourself and you will lead yourself to the place you want to be.
This week for me has been another forced rest. I have not been able to work out for 3 days, coaching, anniversary and sickness all contributing to my first 3 day break in months. But it’s OK. I’m not going to obsess over the time off, just enjoy the break and get back to work tonight.