You never get it done?

The feeling of winning or being at the top in any competition or challenge could be a pioneering point in many ways for an individual, it helps you push through your limits and gives a realization check of your true potential. When we see an amazing transformation, we do get jaw dropped to see the aesthetics and the fitness levels, without much thought on the level of commitment and dedication being shown in that process. Well, the Relative Comparison is channelized out in different ways. “ I want to get those abs like xyz”, I want to have a transformation just like “abc”, and why not? Maybe even better.

When we pick up any task or activity or an art, the first question that we all need to ask ourselves is the purpose behind. One of the most highly overrated terms I believe these days is Motivation, which perhaps is a temporary feeling. The stronger the desire behind the goal, the more disciplined and mindful you are towards your choices and actions.

The second big question which I feel that one could ask to himself/ herself is- what after reaching there? Food for thought. Here comes the essence of doing an overall analysis of your strengths and weaknesses from time to time.

• Journal the goals and challenges - Each time you set a goal/ milestone for yourself, try jotting them down without judging your competencies, be honest to yourself. Make a list of your inadequacies and weaknesses.

• Specificity - Going into the specifics of those hindrances could make you really uncomfortable at once, but that’s how you conquer them. Let’s say - you are too lazy to start your day early. Now, there is a huge possibility that the feeling of laziness could be an outcome of not having enough sleep and rest that your body demands or it could be even because of lack of some essential nutrients in your diet. Bingo! Now, you reevaluate your calories and macros and stop blaming yourself for being a snail every morning, hence the importance of going into specifics.

• Planning in advance- An action without a plan might definitely lead you somewhere on a brighter day, but to be able to cater the day to day challenges, you need to have an implementation plan ready. Fix time slots for all the tasks and activities and pat yourself for every accomplishment throughout the day.

• Identify your strengths- Once you have learnt a way to overcome the weak areas, it’s equally important to acknowledge your own strengths which could help rebuilding the things and improvise.

• Finding the pattern - Often or not, we all have a tendency to repeat on the habits and behaviors towards anything. Once you are aware of them, you do find a way out to fix them. Ex- Joe has a tendency to eat sugar after every meal and hence ends up messing his diet every time. So, once Joe is aware of it, he very smartly keeps a window of 100 calorie for not losing the track of his diet. Let’s take another example where Joe ends up breaking the rhythm during the weekends. On introspecting, he realizes it is his “weekend mindset” that ruins everything. So, Joe decides to keep a stock of all the food items ready by the time weekend arrives and he doesn't have to order food from outside out of sheer laziness.

Finding the pattern is really helpful as it helps you understand how you have been able to accomplish and co-create those outcomes.

• Finding the comparison model - We are so much influenced by what we see in social media channels these days that we tend to fall for that relative comparison. Actions taken in such circumstances are more impulsive than inspired ones. This leads to unrealistic expectations from ourselves and the process too, which further results in self doubt and lack of discipline hence unwanted results. What one needs to do is educate and get aware about the process involved, understand that we all have a different body coming from varied dynamics and genetics with a completely subjective lifestyle, and hence set the goals. That makes it a more realistic and practical approach.

If you see the things from a broader perspective, you will understand why it is important to live this journey as a lifestyle, keep improving as you never get it done, it keeps building up.