Let’s talk about barriers that keep you from achieving your fitness goals.
These are excuses that keep you from exercising, even when you want to.
Why? Because your excuses have a huge impact on your performance. The right decisions make it easy to become a top performer, while excuses just slow you down and keep you stuck.
Three of the most common excuses we see working with clients are:
Need more information and/or will figure it out later
Staying unhealthy is convenient
Self-discipline is limited
We’ve all been there before. Held back by our own beliefs of what's possible. These excuses keep you from reaching your full potential and until we face these underlying barriers head-on, they will remain hurdles to getting you the results you want.
So, let’s look at how we can tackle these excuses!
Need more information and/or will figure it out later
Let’s face it, if it was only about information, you would have found what you are looking for already. You don’t need more tips and tricks, what you need is to understand the driver that makes you feel like you do. This mentality requires you to figure it out alone and continues the cycle of procrastination.
Combat your resistance by seeking out HELP; you don’t have to tackle your goals solo. Our suggestion: connect with a trusted, supportive, tried, and true system to follow. This could be in the form of expert programming, a coaching program or joining a challenge to really kickstart your health approach.
Staying unhealthy is convenient
It’s a matter of knowing that choosing the easy and convenient approach to health, which is staying exactly as you are, will keep you exactly where you are. Let us be clear, staying where you are is a wonderful place if this is your focus. We’re talking to those that want a health change but are using the convenience of staying unhealthy as a form of self-sabotage.
Most people choose not to start because they already feel like they’re too late. But imagine what your life could look like even in just 6 months if you put the hard work in now? By acting and doing one thing today, your life ahead of you has the potential to be even greater than it is today. We want this for you!
Self-discipline is limited
It’s true, given the circumstance, self-discipline can be limited. Energy to get yourself up and going isn’t infinite and we have to be considerate of our time. Most people download multiple apps in attempt to keep them accountable and stay motivated, but few find success using these tools. If it were that easy, you’d likely already be doing it too. So, here’s another approach.
Let’s look at self-discipline as it applies to fitness. Ask yourself, what did I want to do and what did I actually end up doing this month? Write down the pending tasks that remain. Past behavior can be a great prediction of future behavior, so be honest with yourself about what isn’t working and use this to shape your approach.
Classify these fitness-related efforts into three buckets - Delete, Defer, and Do it. Perhaps you tried, but failed many times, to wake up for that 7am fitness class. Delete this from your efforts. Many people get caught up on the failure and become stagnant with continuing towards their goals. Instead, quickly pivot and shift the approach to your task. Zoom out and make it more digestible before you lose the motivation to get to the gym. For example, why not keep the goal of exercising 3x per week in the DO IT bucket?
These are just some of the ways to overcome excuses in the way of reaching your fitness goals. What other barriers are holding you back?
Let us know.
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