Perfection v Consistency
Perfection or consistency......which do you think will get you the best results? This is a bit of a hot topic for me with my clients at the moment. When they check in with me I often here things such as 'My week was going well until I had a cake on Friday.' or 'I missed a gym session so it threw me off with my diet and I just ate crap for two days.' and 'I've not felt as motivated this week and had to work a bit harder at it......I'm loosing my mojo.' People......this is all very normal and until you accept this you'll constantly be searching for the illusion that is perfection. Perfection doesn't exist in reality. Perfection will not help you reach your goals. Perfection is bollocks!!!
Lets look at a little common scenario that many of you will be able to relate to. You're in a really. good place and everything is going according to plan. Sticking to your macros is a piece of cake (sorry), and training is on point. You've got loads of energy and motivation is free flowing. It's easy this is. Everything is perfect. Then, all of a sudden, without any obvious reason, it all goes wrong. You want chocolate, a takeaway and wine. You're too tired to hit all your sessions. You can't be arsed sticking to the plan but deep down you still want too. Now at this point you have 3 choices:
1. Dig deep and realise that you're in control of your actions. This is the point where hard work, focus and determination come into play. It's easy to stick to the plan when there's nothing working against you and you want to stick to it. It's not about motivation, it's about commitment. It's easy to ignore a distraction that you aren't aware of! When it becomes visible, strength of character and commitment to your goals are of the essence.
2. Eat the chocolate, takeaway and drink the wine and skip the training session.....then get back on track the following day. Sometimes it's actually okay to do this. One bad day will not sabotage your goals.
3. Eat the chocolate, takeaway, and drink the wine and skip the training session......every day for a week! Thats what happens right? If you ruin one day you'd be as well kicking the arse out of it and going for gold by making the most of this window of opportunity. The 'fuck it' approach!!!
Choices 1 and 2 will get you to your destination. They will become a regular part of your journey and you'll eventually learn how best to deal with them. They are very normal responses which you'll soon realise don't hinder your progress. Choice 3 will drive you insane and destroy your self believe. As I always say, 'Whether you believe you can or you can't you are right'! Choice 3 will reinforce your belief that you can't. It will become a habit that you find difficult to break and will turn your mind into your biggest enemy. The main message here is that reaching the point where your little plain sailing journey becomes turbulent WILL happen MANY times. Embrace it. Look at it as a way of getting stronger mentally and learn to understand how your mind works.
The most successful people are those who play the long game. Those who make mistakes, some more mistakes, and eventually learn from them. Just as visible physical progress doesn't happen overnight, neither does psychological progress. You most definitely need the latter to achieve the former so be kind to yourself. Put the big stick down and look for the positives from your week. As long as something is better than the week before then you're heading in the right direction. Is my diet ever on point? Yes sometimes it is. Is it always on point? Hell no! That's ok though as I'm a human being who values living a happy and healthy life while working towards my goals. There will always be obstacles in life as the good things are rarely handed to us on a plate. Obstacles can always be overcome. Don't allow your mind to turn them into barriers.
