There is no magic pill, do or do not
There is no magic pill to make the changes you want in your life or is it?
In this article we explore why people don’t succeed when following a magical recipe to achieve their goals and how we can change that.
We can’t change anything if we believe that coaching programs, diets or any kind of training are like a magic pill that will transform who we are without being accountable and persistant.
Expectations vs Reality
For any kind of transformation that you are purposely working for, you will require time. How much? It will depend on your level of commitment, your own capacity to adapt and change, many external factors that act in a direct way in your life and your own mental attitude.
We should always look into expectations with skepticism and avoid magical thinking. It is better to be as realistic as possible to have an idea of how challenging it will be so we can bring up all the energy required to go through. Because our brain is lazy and doesn’t like to make big efforts or spend too much energy, we need to trick him.
Once we have corrected any sort of magical thinking and approach the tasks to complete our goals, we need to keep us vigilant from day dreaming into magical thinking again, specially those moments where we feel lazy or unable to commit. The best way to do this is to take a slight step backward and see how much you have improved so far and look into the whole process with the same skepticism, seeing all the good and the bad too. Where are we feeling successful and well driven and where we need to make corrections.
To do or not to do?
Now the best course of action is to set ourselves into motion. Doing is always better than not doing, unless not doing is the doing.
How can we see the difference? One person told me once that if I was doubtful about something it was better not do and wait. But then are you going to keep waiting all your life to be certain about something in order to start doing? It can be tricky because under certain circumstances, is better to do and some others is better not to.
The big question is: How much am I ready to risk? Are you ready to risk your professional position, your financial situation, your relationship status, your physique, your on going lifestyle, your thoughts and the stories you tell to yourself at night before sleep, your values, your honor? Where is your limit, and how much are you willing to risk in order to achieve your goals? In other words, how much value do you give to that objetive, dream or vision in comparisson to your present life?
The 80/20 rule of life
Sometimes we are going to be 100% sure about something, but even with that level of determiantion, we will never know exactly what are going to be our results, unless we put ourselves into action, so I say there is never 100% certainty about nothing…
Thats why I like the idea of the 80/20 rule. If I am 80% certain and determinated about something then is worth to take the risks and set into action. Life is constantly moving and so are we, so we can’t expect the same level of anything all the time forever. But if the 80% persists within a certain range (70% to 100%), then its a go. If it goes below my underlimit and I am certain this is what I wanted but many things have made my energy, focus, etc to become so low, then I should to take a small pause. A “not doing” kind of doing and see what happens. Taking distance gives us perspective and let us renew our energy and convictions.
We do the same thing with strength, flexibility and almost any kind of training. We have very high volume weeks and then we have low level weeks where we deload and release the stress produced by the high training so our body can adapt to all the new adaptations it has gone through.
Weight lose diets includes cheat meals from time to time, to do the same kind of effect in our psychology and hormonal levels. We need to decompress and make a safe pause to release the tension produced.
The right program
We have talked so much in other articles in this blog about the importance of mindset and how to keep it up and the fundamental necessity to turn into action our dreams to transform them into achievable goals and long term objectives. Yes but one thing that will surely help us to stay on that 80% level and get the results we want is the right program or guide.
It is true that at the beginning doing anything is better than nothing, but as we advance we need a program that help us specifically to get where we want to be. Thats why there are so many coaches like me out there trying to teach you with their systems how to do something. How to get those results. Again, without an action driven attitude and the right mindset is impossible to persevere and succeed.
What we need is to follow the plan with commitment and staying accountable. When this two things are clear, 80% of the job is done. That is why a coach can be so helpful, because you will get a specific program and an accountability partner to go throughout the process succesfully. In the end you are doing the hard job, nobody is going to take it off from you, but as soon as you start getting results you will understand how much of importance is to have a great coach with you.
