‘Winners never quit and quitters never Win’ – Vince Lombardi….. Or do they?
To be great at something takes huge effort, determination, sacrifice but most importantly a strategy. Learning to play an instrument for the first time is a good example. Take two piano novices. The first has regular lessons, practices at home and in total spends around 3 hours a week in front of the piano.
The second sits in front of the piano for an hour a day and self teaches. This person has the same level of determination, puts in more effort (7 hours per week) but is not getting the results. The reason for this is obvious, they weren’t being instructed by an expert. Their strategy to achieve their goals was not a good one. It required twice as much effort for little / no result.
So what should the second person do? Blindly continue with this strategy and hopefully one day they will be able to play the piano? Or quit, reassess and take another run at it using a different approach.
The answer in this example seems obvious but a similar pattern can be seen in all aspects of life from health and fitness to business and relationships. The mantra of ‘Winners Never Quit’ is outdated and not conducive with achieving your results.
I am not an expert on business or relationships so I’ll stick to health and fitness.
3 things to quit to achieve great health:
You’re not going to read a list of thing to cut out of your diet or specific exercises you must do to be healthy but instead 3 guidelines to follow which are translatable to whatever your health and fitness goals are.
Quit being reactive
Only addressing your health because when you’re not happy with your weight or how you feel is a reactive model. This in the long term is detrimental. Have a strategy you can follow everyday irrespective of how you’re feeling or looking is key.
This is why yo-yo dieting rarely produces long term results whilst changing long term eating habits does. This is why a 6 week intensive gym routine may shed the pounds initially but often results on them being put back on when the 6 weeks is up. Compare that to an achievable exercise program that you can do week in week out and the results are long-term.
Quit beating yourself up
Have room for life. Don’t change too much too quickly because inevitably there will be times where you don’t stick to your routine and end up being annoyed with yourself. Have room for deviations in your routine but always get back on track within a couple of days. Dr Damian Kristoff, Chiropractor, Nutritionist and international health speaker talks of the 80/20 rule with regards to nutrition. Eat clean for 80% of the time and allow 20% for cheat meals. That equates to 3 meals per week.
Quit being unorganised
This is the main reason people fail with fitness and healthy eating goals – “I didn’t have time to get to the gym” or “there was nothing in the fridge for dinner so I ordered a takeaway”.
Have things in place to make it easy for you to achieve your goals. For example If you want to do exercise during your lunch break at work then purchase a second pair of trainers and gym kit specifically for work and leave them there.
If you want to eat healthy then have a meal plan and stick to it. Numerous times I’ve gone to the supermarket hoping to find inspiration for dinner and ended walking up and down the isles aimlessly only to leave with an unhealthy option. Reduce decision fatigue, have a list, get in, get out. Less faff!
As the famous quote from Albert Einstein goes “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results”
Be willing to quit the things that prevent you from achieving your goals.
Start small and be consistent.
