Hey ,
Today I want to discuss goals, and maybe even challenge you a bit.
But first, a reminder that the
Total Training Experience (TTE)--my 52-week Exercise, Nutrition and Mindset solution--is now open for its annual enrollment, and I am only taking on a limited number of women so to be sure to grab your spot by Wednesday, as we start this Thursday Sept 1
st!
You can register right
here.
Okay next, let’s talk goals.
Wanted to send you this email today for one single reason: to encourage you and give you the tools to up-level your accountability. To embrace the ultimate in accountability, by being accountable to yourself.
Truth is, I have a love/hate relationship with goals.
The reason being I hear many women say that they need a goal in order
to be motivated to exercise regularly and eat right.
Without something up ahead they think, meh, why bother? Or they are so focused on the "start" of a new program that that pesky #scarcitymindset creeps up and they end up stuffing their faces in preparation for the impending and inevitable deprivation that is going to occur.
Then some might prep for a competition or vow to lose inches for a vacation or have a specific amount of weight they
need to lose by a class reunion or wedding.
Totally understandable. In fact, I remember clearly eating everything in sight until it was time to "start my diet" again, during my competition prep years. I always needed a contest up ahead to aim for.
For years, I thought the only way to "get back in shape" was to do another competition, putting myself on the hook only if there was some kind of external motivation. I'd tell my
friends and family which show I was prepping for, I'd put it on my calendar and I'd map out the plan. And even then, the only reason I stuck to my diet was out of sheer fear of embarrassing myself on stage. I remember thinking, "I just have to look like I belong up there!" It was all based on fear and scarcity and deprivation.
And of course, I did follow through on my goals, but at what price?
What about when you want to feel
motivated 24/7? What about when you want to feel excited and inspired by your process—not a few months a year—but all the time?
Over the last 5 years practicing #moderation365, I've come to find that a completely physique-focused goal mentality can be a trap. Because it perpetuates an on-or-off way of doing things.
Can goals be useful at times? Sure, in fact I loved the #20x20Challenge, but the purpose of the
challenge is nothing if the habit that it creates remains sustainable beyond it. At some point, we have to find a way to be motivated without them, no?
This is simply an extreme version of the all-or-nothing dieting mindset. How much does it suck to only feel motivated to eat healthy when there's something up ahead?
How about this for a deadline: forever.
Ugh ... we hate this! It feels
depressing! How can we possibly harness the motivation to “eat healthy forever?!” It doesn't incentivize us, and it's unsexy and seems frankly impossible.
Unless ... you start off by adopting an approach that you can actually do forever.
It doesn't seem so impossible when things aren’t super strict. This approach, a more moderate 365 days a year approach, a self-compassionate approach, takes courage to try!
The
way you get motivated to eat healthy forever is to take the moderate route. No crazy deprivation and no crazy binges.
The way you get motivated to exercise forever is by finding things you enjoy regardless of what expert tells you it's "not the most effective way to exercise." Doesn't matter.
Movement you love is movement you'll do.
This is the difference between external,
endpoint-focused motivation versus internal, inherent and forever inspiration.
The former is easy, just sign up for a race or show or get inspired by fear of seeing your high school classmates in 1 month.
But the latter? It takes a lot more introspection work, patience and perspective. You have to have the courage to take the long-view. You have to give up the urgency. You have to wrap your head around the fact that you actually don't
need ALL THE RESULTS RIGHT THIS SECOND.
You don't.
What you need is a sustainable approach that feeds itself. Where the motivation remains consistent because you are showing yourself compassion, you are staying flexible, you are adjusting as needed and you are allowing "your best" to be good enough.
When you realize that every little bit actually does count and you've given up the "go hard or go home mentality,"
it gets a lot easier to stay consistent, because it's not full-steam or bust. You are able to feel accomplished more easily, which feeds into the desire to KEEP GOING (aka motivation) ;)
And furthermore, opening yourself up to embrace OTHER kinds of goals, like those around strength, endurance, maintenance (gasp!), adding muscle, eating healthy, sleeping better, improving energy, loving your body in all it's perfect imperfection, shows you that there is so much more to
be achieved, than to be the leanest person on earth. Your weight is only one metric of health, and not even the best one.
In summary, external goals are easy. But they are also transient. And you will do much better to have a plan of attack for the long term, and by necessity, that needs to come from within.
My take? Be a little less perfect to be a little more consistent.
How about this for a goal:
getting up every day loving how you eat and how you move. Work to find that formula. Because that's your forever-healthy formula ;)
I am so excited to work with the women who have already enrolled in the (courageous) 52-week Total Training Experience program! The registrations are coming in and I cannot wait to get started on September 1st and spend a full year together.
Remember, the deadline to sign-up is Wednesday at midnight because we get started right away on Thursday!
Let me know if you have any questions.
Xo,
Jill​​​​​​​
