One of the things that make us so passionate about the natural bodybuilding lifestyle, and participating as a national competitor in the sport of figure, is the way both celebrate the human body’s ability to evolve in and out of change.
In our lifestyle, there is never a day we aren’t living on a made-for-us plan, there is a never a day we aren’t focused on attaining a set goal in the future, there is never a day we aren’t assessing & reassessing our own progress, in a consistent, committed march forward to the mountain top. We use our bodies as tools to live our lives each day from a foundation of evolution & progress.
I could never envision living our days out being stagnant or as a ‘lifer’. Nothing would drive my wife more insane or me. We live and die by a plan, and when we finish the current plan & achieve our goal, we create a new plan and move onto the next phase of progress & growth. When I first met my wife, I found this pattern of how he lived on plans with human body goals quite interesting, but easily fell into following his lead after seeing how this path of physical success led directly to mental & spiritual success as well.
Just like it is unhealthy for the body to sit physically stagnant, as less oxygen, blood and nutrients transport throughout, less of our key internal systems are utilized, less energy is used, etc. it is also highly unhealthy for the mind & spirit to sit stagnantly. Bodybuilding forces you to evolve continually physically, and so it is for our mind & spirit, constantly pushing past barriers, outside our comfort zones, evolving & refreshing into an improved version of yourself year round.
This is often why when you meet someone professionally in and around fitness they are generally all very positive, happy people. When you live in a constant state of successful progressive CHANGE, it breeds joy. When you live in a constant state of desiring, but failing to acquire any change, it breeds discontent.
The physical… begets the mental… begets the spiritual, as they all work together in a human body symphony which generates our life experience, positive or negative.
So which are you? Are you most of the people we see doing a lot of talking or wasting a lot of energy dwelling on what they desire, yet taking very little if any action towards welcoming that change into their lives? Or will you step past fear with courage diving head first into consistent action every single day to live a life of progress and attain your goals?
Here are 3 Key Athletic Mindset Skills to Step Into Change NOW….
Get over it – people often stagnate due to unnecessary fear, and so they hide docked in their comfort zone. One way to avoid this is to ask yourself — if I do X, what is the worst thing that will happen? Usually the answer is not as a scary big-haired monster as your mind is making it out to be.
Lose the perfectionist syndrome – we have a saying, imperfect action vs. perfect inaction. Perfectionism keeps items on your to-do list that NEVER EVER get done, amI right? And usually, we are the guilty ones of over-doing expectations of ourselves. If you have a workout in your mind you prefer today, but something comes up that day & you’re not going to be able to get your “perfect” hot yoga class for 2 hours in, why do you choose failure in the form of doing nothing, when you could easily walk the dogs outside for 20 mins & have chosen to do at least something? So what if it’s not perfect? It’s imperfectly DONE. (Check!)
Start by believing in yourself – if you don’t believe in yourself, how can you expect anyone else to? It starts with You. As athletes, we use tools such as affirmations, visualization, meditation to focus our minds on what we want to become & achieve. But you don’t have to be a competitive athlete to access the same tools of success. Use your mind to envision yourself as the change you desire – see your Potential, whether it’s successfully healing a disruptive health condition you’ve been battling with, up’ing your athletic performance or physical condition, or getting back into those jeans you wore 10 years ago that have been hiding away.
Up your mental game to breed a mentality that is the foundation for building the habit of taking actions every day that lead to change, which is the key to results & success!