Intentions vs Actions
As a coach, I’ve helped hundreds, if not thousands, of clients throughout my career. Although we all like to feel like we’re a special snowflake, unfortunately, humans are much more the same than we are different. A common theme that I hear repeated over and over {almost like it’s a broken record} is desire: wanting, wishing, hoping, longing, dreaming of fill in the blank with your individual goal—getting lean, adding muscle, seeing visible muscle definition, becoming stronger, performing better or something else.
“I wish I could still get into my wedding dress.” {I always want to know WHY on this one! I guarantee it’s hellaciously FUGLY and out of style!!!}
“I want to be the same weight as in my high school football senior year.”
“I hope I can find the time to shop for food and complete my food prep.”
“I long for the day I can stop taking my blood pressure meds.”
“I dream of being comfortable enough to wear skimpy clothes on the beach.”
“I aim to go to sleep at 10:30 pm.”
I hear very little of acting with intention: planning, taking steps to implement the plan, and executing the plan consistently/relentlessly. You can point yourself in the right direction by joining a gym, creating a buddy walking group, or partaking in a weight loss challenge. But if you’re not consistently applying scientific principles, unfortunately, you’re doing a lot of wishing and not a lot of acting.
To get something you’ve never gotten, you’re going to have to do something you’ve never done! Something (and quite possibly A LOT of individual things) in your fitness and wellness plan isn’t clicking, otherwise you would already have the body you desire, wouldn’t you? If you were perfectly satisfied with your muscle mass, body composition, and performance, you wouldn’t be constantly rowing the boat of “if only I could look like/perform like…”
I want you to stop what you’re doing and analyze your approach to fitness and wellness. Get a little specific—maybe make a list. Here’s what your list could contain:
*I get _____hours of sleep every night
*I eat _____grams of protein every day
*I resistance train _____x per week
*I partake of a metabolic style training session _____x per week
*I drink _____oz of water every day
*I will eat no more than _____x sweet/treat per week
*I eat _____servings of vegetables with every meal
The list could go on and on. What I want you to see is that there is no “try” or “strive” or “I mean to.” There is only DO.
“But AZ, what if <insert catastrophic event of choice> happens? I ‘meant’ to drink my water, but <insert catastrophic event of choice> happened!!!”
I intended to eat my 140 oz of protein, but we were out of chicken at home, and I forgot my protein shake after the gym. That sounds an awful lot like you didn’t set yourself up for success.
This is a victim mentality, and it’s not helpful. It doesn’t matter what series of excuses you string together in your brain; you simply did not “DO” your behavior. And whether you didn’t do your behavior because you didn’t set yourself up for success or a rogue gremlin cat sabotaged you, in the end, your behavior simply didn’t get done.
Here is your challenge for the week. Sit down and make your list of behaviors that you WILL partake in. Pick ONE behavior you will focus on and save all the rest for later. Besides your behavior, write a sentence or two about how you will facilitate your actions to make sure the behavior happens.
Then, each day, simply mark a YES or a NO by the behavior.
That’s all you get. YES or NO. No asteroids hitting your house, no rogue gremlin cats, no excuses. You don’t get to explain WHY you didn’t complete your task; you simply get to state that you completed it (YES) or you did not (NO).
Here’s a sample for you to follow:
I will get up 10 minutes earlier each morning and meditate for that 10 minutes before starting my day. I WILL get into bed by 9 pm every night to facilitate this action. When my alarm goes off, I WILL get up and complete my task without question.
You can put it on a chart so it’s easy to place the days of the week across the top and the boxes for YES or NO beneath. Does this sound like kindergarten? Yes, a little bit! But it also helps you hop over that hurdle of accountability and turn an INTENTION into an ACTION. And ACTIONS are what will get you results!
Questions? Hit me up by sending me a message.
AZ
