How the perfection trap is keeping you stuck

16th May 2016 by Kieran Igwe Health & wellbeing, Motivation 0 comments

Last week I took a friend out for hike over in the Peak District. As always we got to talking about life. More specifically the balance between advancing his career and staying in shape.

Ladybower Reservoir – Peak District

He struggled to squeeze in work, study, family and all the other things he had to tend to in a day AND eat well and exercise.

As a result he’d gotten heavier than he’s ever been and felt pretty crappy about it (he’s used to being ‘the sporty one’).

Where it started to go wrong

Turned out the reason he wasn’t taking care of his diet and exercise the way he’d like is he’d made this fatal mistake. Something we’re all guilty of:

He’d been waiting for the perfect time.

He was waiting until he got more £ so he could buy the best quality food.
He was waiting to be able to cook ALL his meals from scratch.
He was waiting until he had the time to get to the gym 4 days/week like he used to.

Ultimately he was waiting for a time where he had no other purpose in life other than to get in shape.

I think we both knew deep down that time would never come.

It’s never a good time to make changes

There’s ALWAYS something. Family, work, birthdays, holidays, weddings. As long as you’re alive life happens, right?

So my advice?

I asked if he was doing everything he could with the resources (time, £money, knowledge) he had available to him right now.

He reluctantly answered not. There were definitely some better choices he could make without much sacrifice.

For example, instead of having a bowl of sugary cereal for breakfast he could easily switch for protein porridge (oats, fruit, protein powder) instead.

Protein porridge

Which means… It’s ALWAYS a good time to change

We all get caught up in our own head trash. That we can’t do it right now because everything isn’t perfect.

But that day he decided to turn it around.

Instead of focusing on what he couldn’t do because of XYZ he started to focus on what he COULD do. Right now. Within the context of his current life.

It might not be as big a change as he might ultimately want. But that’s cool. He wasn’t where he wanted to be, and the path he was headed on wasn’t destined to help him achieve the level of health and fitness he wanted.

So he changed the course.

Not with a dramatic statement. But with a small change. That he could do that very day.

He started to do what he could with the resources (time/knowledge/£money) he had RIGHT NOW.

Adopt the mindset of doing what you can

If you’re looking to flip your health and fitness, get used to starting with what you’ve got.

Not only will you slowly but surely start to see results. But when you do have more resources, you’ll be in the habit of using what you have rather than always thinking you need something more before you start.

And overtime that’ll give you some pretty amazing results.

Summary

Don’t get caught in the trap of waiting for the perfect time. Trust me, it never comes.

Be one of those people who starts by making small changes within the context of what they CAN do.

Anytime you catch yourself saying “I can’t do that because…” be sure to add “but I can start by…” onto the end.

Do that and you’ll become one of those people who works away quietly at their health and fitness goals and -seemingly overnight – transforms their health, fitness and body.

Here’s to you achieving your goals!