Learn to look at things as a great opportunity rather than a pressure situation where you can make a mistake. – Jarmo Kekalainen (GM of Columbus Blue Jackets)
When you are facing a tough situation (or just any situation) and don’t believe that you can do it, you are blocking the road ahead. Or at least making the road a lot harder to travel than it has to be. Mindset that we hold plays a huge, and often ignored part in being able to achieve goals not only in training but in life. (more…)
How many times in the past have you gotten excited about starting a new exercise routine, diet plan, planned a daily time for mediation or set in motion some other mind-bending and body-transforming activity? And how many times have you stopped before things even properly took off? (more…)
If the times of of low-motivation are frequent in your life it might be worth digging deeper and discovering why your motivation keeps fading. Different people will have different reasons for it. I’ve listed few major issue below. This list, by no means, is comprehensive but they are the most common issues I’ve come across with clients (or myself for that matter). (more…)
Confession: I wrote this earlier this year but decided not to make it public at the last minute as I thought that this post was a bit too personal. I chickened out!
BUT after reading it yet again I changed my mind. Hopefully it’ll inspire you to write your manifesto as well. That way you can focus spending your time on things that really matter to you. So here you have it.
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I am currently re-reading Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Geoff McKeown. I highly recommend everyone to read it, especially in this day and age where million different things are pulling us in two million different directions. This book brings clarity.
This week’s post is short and sweet. A while back I wrote about creating your own life mission statement ( <—– Click me, it feels nice) to provide guidance when facing difficult decisions in life. It acts like a compass and helps you to navigate through.
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“When I go, I want to go doing what I do best. If I died tomorrow, I couldn’t complain. It’s been good.” – Lemmy Kilmister
This article will force you to think of your life from an angle that you might have been ignoring lately. Even if you think “rock n’ roll” is a marching technique used in the army. Even if you think that “Motörhead” is a type of V8 combustible petrol engine. And even if you think that “Lemmy” is one of Woody Allen’s pet gold fishes. Which I doubt you do.
I write about health and fitness. Mentioning ‘Lemmy’ and ‘health’ in the same sentence sounds as about right as ‘Bieber’ and ‘music’ in the same sentence. It’s the same as scratching your nails on a chalk board. It just doesn’t sound right.
But I also write about life and it’s hard to think of a person who lived more than Lemmy Kilmister. He lived life to the fullest doing the things that he loved. I am not glorifying his lifestyle here, it’s not what I would enjoy doing. Yet it doesn’t mean that we can’t learn from the way that he lived. No matter how removed someone’s life is from yours, you can always learn from each and every person just by studying their attitude towards life.
Australian nurse Bonnie Ware, who cared for the dying for the last twelve weeks of their lives wrote down their most discussed regrets. At the top of the list? “I wish I’d have the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.” That’s deep.
Lemmy didn’t try to fit in or to please anyone. The first Motörhead record sounded the same as the 22nd. He wore what he wanted. He had two massive ugly moles on his cheek, he didn’t care. He lived in a small apartment above he’s favourite bar. No mansions. He was a true essentialist doing what was important for him.
So do the things that you enjoy. Is life where you strive for a six pack, the perfect tan and the perfect body worth it? Are you making a contribution? You train 6 days a week, your eating habits look more like a math class and your social life would make Guantanamo Bay’s isolation section look like a party. If you would die tomorrow, would you be happy how you spent your time? At your funeral are people going to talk how good you looked on the beach every summer?
I enjoy training. Honestly, I occasionally obsess over it. It makes me feel good and keeps me sane. I try to get my vegetables in each day. But there are days that I don’t feel like training. I don’t always eat enough vegetables, protein or drink enough water because of other things in life get in the way. When I don’t I’d like to think that I’ve sacrificed those things for something that was more important at that time. Maybe I had a healthy, balanced meal prepared at work but decided to go out for a lunch with a mate instead. I chose to eat something that wasn’t as top-notch healthy as I would’ve had pre-made. But I chose the company over the meal. Because that’s what I valued more at the time.
I want to be able to have lunch outside without worrying what is the healthiest option to have or worrying whether this is organic or not. Sometimes good enough is good enough. I don’t want to be a calorie counting, food obsessing, health robot.
If you are living your life prioritising your looks over everything else, you are not living your life true to yourself but rather to please and impress other people. You care what others think of you. I don’t care what your argument is. It is invalid. Who cares how organic and nutrient rich your diet is if you never get to break bread with other people. You might live to a hundred but was it all worth it in the end. Don’t just add years to your life. Add quality years doing things that are important.
I am willing to sacrifice some of my body fat and not worry about whether the party I am attending is going to have healthy options or not. If there is six different desserts on offer, you bet I will try them all. If I would die tomorrow I doubt I would regret doing so. I’ve been on the other side doing the opposite and it’s not life.
By doing so I accept the fact that I won’t necessarily have a cover model body. Whatever choices you make, understand the consequences and acknowledge that if you eat out six days a week it will affect your body image goals. There’s nothing wrong or right about it, you just have to be clear. Ask yourself what is the most important thing for you. If you are 40kg overweight and have a high chance of dying of a heart failure before your kid’s tenth birthday you have a choice to make. Which one is it?
I don’t want to be on my death bed wishing I hadn’t worked so hard while missing out on life. This doesn’t mean that I have the urgency to go and down a bucket of ice cream each weekend or get shitfaced each Saturday. I don’t. If there’s a party on and I rather stay at home reading or watching a movie that’s what I will do. Why keep up with the appearances if that’s not what you want to do. I strive that whatever I do each day is something that I want. Not doing it because I have to or because other people expect you to do so or it is the “right” thing to do. No, I do it because that’s important for me.
Does this mean that you have to be selfish and ignore everyone else’s needs in your life? No. If you are in a relationship sometimes you have to make compromises. But even then you do things that you know are important to your partner. Which, if you are with the right person, makes them the important things for you to do. That’s how you keep a healthy and happy relationship. And healthy relationship equals a better life with the person you want to spend your time with. So if you really twist things around, you are actually doing it for yourself as your partner’s happiness increases your happiness.
Well, a lot of talk about dying in this post. It’s a morbid thought but there’s no way around it, we are all going to die. So why not think about it instead of pushing it under the carpet. Death and taxes. That’s where it’s at. Hopefully mine and your time is far far far in the future but I urge you to value your life based on the fact that, eventually, you will die. Whether you want to dedicate your life to health, training, helping other people, family, music, good times or whatever. Do what matters to you the most and what makes you happy.
Lemmy lived for music, he played his last gig few weeks before his death. Once he learned that he was on his way out, he’s words were “I’ve had a good run, fuck it”.
Live your life so that when you reflect back on it you can do so with no regrets. Make it count.
Album I listened to while pulling out All The Aces (get it?):
Motörhead – Bomber
References:
Bonnie Ware, “The Top Five Regrets of The Dying”, The Guardian
Recommended Reading:
Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown
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You get nothing for nothing if that’s what you do. – It’s So Easy, GN’R
Starting anything new in life will be difficult and can make us feel awkward. Losing weight, getting stronger or overcoming an injury. None of them easy when you first start out.
It’s good to aim high but if you set the goal too far ahead there is a chance you will become discouraged at some stage when things don’t go your way. And as sure as the earth is round and the moon orbits the earth, at some point, things won’t go your way.
This doesn’t mean that you should accept the failure and set for mediocre results (don’t ever!) but rather to be ready for what you are up against.
But you can prepare yourself for all of this by accepting the following two points. These will help you when the going gets tough. (Mental) Preparation is half the battle!
Last week I wrote about focusing on habits and the process instead of the end goal. In the past I’ve also written on finding the positive side on everything that life throws at you. So to continue the trend this week’s post is a bit of hybrid of the two topics, habits and being positive. I think it’s important to use daily positive affirmations to switch your mindset from failure to a more success orientated. It’s especially important during the times when motivation fades.
It’s a funny little thing, being positive. People with positive attitude have the best outlook on life no matter what the situation they’re in. We all know some of these people. I can think of one right know and I can’t think of a single moment I’ve seen them upset, always smile on their face. I like to think myself as some-what positive but I wish I could be like them. However, it must be the Finnish in me that stops me from achieving that kind of outlook, yet. It’s a work in progress and I am getting better. I think.
Compare that to the cynical and negative folks who see the bad in every situation, even in great ones. Each of us knows some of these people. They’re the ones who’s company makes you feel like you have a pair of shoes on made out of lead. Again, I can think of one right know. Even thinking about them makes me feel lethargic. These are the folks you do not want to hangout with, ever.
So, when you focus on the positive you’ll be happier and more enthusiastic about life in general and others around you will feel the same. This doesn’t mean that you always need to be super happy, praising joy to the world, blasting in eternal sunshine while riding unicorns farting rainbows. (more…)
This is a short post. I wanted to share a great little tip to try if you’ve been struggling with your health and fitness routine lately or if you are someone who is just starting out. You are going to find out what type of motivation works for you.