With the increase in shorter days and cooler temps motivation can start to decrease as well. One more pumpkin spice latte and an apple fritter, please! I will run/bike/lift/Zumba/kumbaya tomorrow.
Hmmm. What have we learned here on the journey if nothing else? Tomorrow never really comes. I promise that.
In the Fall I love lounging and cuddling an indulging. I always have made the Fall my off season, off on everything that is. Then I re-focus in January. I don't know about you, but I am growing tired of letting myself go, only to get back at it in January. I feel that my resolutions and goals are recycled each year much like the much loathed fruit cake in a tin. THIS is the year I lose the weight! The same weight I have been loosing and gaining every year for my entire adult life. THIS is the year I stick with a training program! You know, the one that I started and don't stick with. Ever. EVER. THIS is the year that I xyz... when we all know I will pqr.
Enough already. I say this not out of anger, but more out of exhaustion. I am just over it all. Enough.
I realize that delaying things to tomorrow is typically due to poor planning on my part for today. I also realize that I tend to think of goals as one and done - lose the weight, go back to old habits, shocked weight is back on, lather-rinse-repeat.
I have decided to let the coming of a new season, my favorite season at that, plus the start of a new month set me on my way to good habits once again. This time not all at once. and not set on specific number goals such as weight / measurements or speed / power. Those goals are short term. I want to focus on the habits that lead to those other things. Habits are lifetime! Habits evolve! Goals are definitive and once accomplished... then what?
Ironman blues. Post-wedding letdown. These things are real because we set our eyes on one specific thing, and lose sight of processes and daily happenings that add up to result in those things.
When I am in my zone I am doing great! My weight stabilizes and my workouts are consistent. My power and speed increase. I am on top of the world! I see improvements on all fronts. When I get out of my zone, like I have been this entire year, I can easily get out of control on some fronts. Ugh. In the case of 2013, it happened on nearly all fronts. Speed, power, weight loss? All gone. Why? Because I fell out of habit. I lost sight of the big picture.
Ironically, just as I have been fighting with motivation this year due to life's curve balls I have recently been receiving messages on my email, Google+ account and on Facebook about motivation and how I do it all.
Good question, my friends. Good question indeed. I wonder that myself sometimes.
This has inspired me to make October a re-focus month for myself. How can I do it all? One day at a time. Every month I am going to focus on one thing that I do and try to tweak it or really reinforce the habit. No more off seasons, from now on just life.
To kick this all off I am proclaiming October to be Rock-It-Ober!
The Deal:
I am making a goal of getting back into my healthy lifestyle habits one month at a time: prepping and cooking meals for the week, establishing my nightly routine of getting everything ready for the next day, logging my food intake, spending time on Yoga and getting back into morning workouts. This may be a lot to focus on at once, so my goal is to focus on one habit each month. Not that I cannot do the others, but to really FOCUS on one habit.
1. Nightly Routine - setting myself up for success by making sure of everything I have going on the next day, packing all workout and work bags so that they are ready to go, having food for the day prepped and ready to go, house picked up and run a load of dishes and clothes.
2. Morning workouts - Swims and run in the morning. I need to get back into this habit as it made for a much happier day not having these workouts hanging over my head all day long. Work and life intrudes during the day, so getting the workouts done first thing assures that I can accommodate life as it happens.
3. Meal planning and prep. Success for me is being able to have "grab and go" meals ready for me in my fridge or freezer to hit the road for work. I eat 2/3 of my meals at work, so I like having things readily available that I know ahead of time the nutritional values. Keeps the guesswork low.
4. Logging my food. Piggy back onto #3, keeping track of my nutrition so that I know if I am eating too much or too little. Got to get back on point!
5. Yoga and massage. I realize that I need to keep this as part of my recovery tool and so moving forward I want yoga and massage to be a monthly part of my routine.
This month I am going to focus on #1 - nightly routine. I feel that this is the backbone of which all other habits stem for me. Success today started yesterday.
Here we go!
Are there any habits that you feel really good when you are in, and really bad when you are out of? Do you find yourself setting the same goals each year? Are there any goals you have looming, or any frustrations that you have about your current lifestyle? Try breaking them down into habits and work on forming foundation habits each month. If one is too tough, don't give up just keep trying and roll with it until it is a habit, even if it takes half of the year. Every day moving forward is... well you know the rest. It is progress.
Are you ready to rock it?
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