I’m working on getting shredded, aiming to reach single-digit levels of body fat. And I am making progress; down 12lbs and at least 2-3% of body fat from my ~15% starting point. And for perspective, at a starting weight of 168lbs, that’s a 7%+ drop in overall body weight.
No warmup, no workout
I’ve been having all sorts epiphanial moments of late, especially about my physical state and general approach to working out.
Epiphanial? Oh, I made that word up in a recent post; it’s a new adjective to describe those gut-wrenching pangs that accompany moments of sudden insight. (Hey, if Muggle and Blamestorming can make it in to the Oxford dictionary, so can epiphanial!)
That’s how winning is done!
This scene from Rocky Balboa gets me every time. Every. Single. Time.
Heck, I even have a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes as I proof-read this post!
Yes, I know it’s a movie, and sure, the words are explicitly intended to create a sense of drama and elicit an emotional response from the audience. But there are quite literally thousands (millions?) of movies, books and theatrical works that try to achieve the same result and fail. Of course, one’s reaction to any given dialog or scene is a deeply personal experience. But why is it then, that this speech from Balboa to his son stirs so much emotion in me?
Goals + Motivation ≠ Success
When individuals fail to meet their goals, they often attribute it to not being sufficiently motivated enough to see things through. However, in my experience goals plus motivation seldom equate to success.
Consider this common scenario:
- A goal or desired outcome is conceived, usually as a result of some external influence, and motivation to move toward that goal is high.
- For a few weeks, concrete progress is made toward the goal and you start to see results.
- Then, just as everything appears to be going well, life gets in the way: Work gets busy. Events come-up. You travel. Friends and family vie for your attention. Chores need to be done. You get injured. You’re not sleeping well. The list goes on…
- Slowly but surely, motivation wanes and progress slows to a crawl or even stops completely.
So why is it then that, despite having concrete goals and good amount of motivation, you don’t accomplish your aim?