Win the Day, Achieve the Dream
Piggybacking off of yesterday’s blog on taking action, today’s post will dive a little deeper into a simple secret to success. First, a little analogy to kick things off…
Walking the path to success is a lot like a car stuck in the snow – jam the pedal to the floor and you wind up spinning your wheels and going nowhere. Give it just a little bit of gas, however, just enough to get started, perhaps even a couple gentle rocks back and forth, and you will find yourself suddenly with enough momentum to move forward.
Let’s face it, a lot of us are hardwired for “all-or-nothing.” The sad truth, however, is that for the majority of people, this mentality dumps us into the nothing pot real quick. This is a lesson I have slowly come to terms with over time.
In the past two years or so, I have made some of the best progress ever in my nearly two decades of training. Working to let go of my stubbornness has been a battle to say the least, but it has not gone unrewarded. Through efforts to not lose sight of the bigger picture and see value in every kilo added to my lifts, I have been able to make sustained progress the last several months.
In the past, I’ve all too often wanted to make those big five-kilogram jumps on personal-record (PR) attempts (or even more). After all, who wants to settle for a measly 2.2-pound improvement over your previous best when you can take a shot at five times that? Well, unfortunately, that mentality would usually leave me as the car stuck in the snow.
By keeping the long-term in mind and earning those little day-to-day “one-kilo” victories, you suddenly start to realize how quickly those small wins can add up. Add a kilo every couple of months to your snatch and your clean & jerk, and that can turn into 8-12 kilos on your total every year. String a couple of years like that together, and you’ve made some serious progress out of the snow.
One of my favorite professionals in the industry, the witty and insightful Dan John, will often speak on his magical weight loss tip that he shares with all his fitness clients…Are you ready for it? He challenges them to lose one pound per year!
One pound per year?!? You must be thinking, “that’s ludicrous…what a waste of time…why not go all-out and shoot for 20 pounds over the next eight weeks??”
The harsh reality is that most people can’t even achieve the one pound loss. Sure, there are some gung-ho individuals who may be able to pull off 20 pounds in eight weeks, but how many can sustain it? The answer is not many, and believe me, the shoot-for-the-stars optimist in me hates admitting that.
The takeaway I want to leave you with is an understanding that you don’t need to reinvent yourself overnight. Whatever your goals may be – cleaning up your diet, qualifying for a big competition, building a business, or getting into the college of your dreams – focusing on the process, and earning those little day-to-day victories one step at a time, will get you to that epic outcome you’ve been chasing.
So, go out now and put together a list of those little things you need to do on a daily basis to get you where you want to be. Start to check them off each day, feel your momentum build as you accumulate those little victories over time, and soon enough you are well on your way to achieving the goals that once seemed like a distant dream.
