Success leaves clues.
In every facet of life, if you pay attention, not only to what other people say, but how they act, their choices, and their habits, you can start to learn what makes someone successful.
Now, as always, “success” means something different to everyone, and that’s totally okay.
For today's sake, let's measure success in achieving the fitness or nutrition goal you wrote down at the beginning of the year.
I like to study why some people get results, and why others don't.
In my opinion, there are five key factors that go into the difference between the person that does get results and the person that's frustrated because they can't seem to see any progress.
Now, there may be others, but these are the main five, the five that make the biggest difference.
1. A clear picture of what success looks like. I say it all the time, write your goals down. I would bet less than 10% of people reading this have their goals written down. Answer and document the question "what does success look like?" Those that have a clear documented picture of what they're going after know what the target is, and are going to have more success hitting it. It can change (hello, 2020), but writing them down is so important.
2. A deep understanding of why they are doing it. I reference this a lot, for no other reason other than I think it's important. We spend a lot of time talking about what we're going to do (lose weight, drop inches), and how we're going to do it (circuits, nutrition, etc), but we don't spend enough time talking about why. What is the real deep down reason that you want to make these changes? As you know by now, it's more about that than it is the number on the scale.
3. A positive growth mindset. This journey that we're all on that we call life is going to be filled with ups and downs, just like a rollercoaster. If you approach it like a rollercoaster, without the ups and downs, what's the fun of it? It's those that not only know there are going to be ups and downs, but they stay positive throughout the setbacks, use them as learning experiences, and are always aiming to just be a little better than yesterday, 1% better.
4. They stack small wins. Making the healthier choice of the two when presented with two crappy choices is a small win. They don't go for the big home run, they don't yo-yo, and they don't try to bite off more than they can chew. Aiming to go for a walk around the block instead of not working out at all is a small win. Getting ten more grams of protein per day is a small win. It's these small wins, added up over time, that build this foundation, this wall, that is an indestructible creation of habits that create lifelong results.
5. They show up daily. Consistency will always, I repeat, always, win out in this world. The relentless pursuit of just doing something every single day. I like to call it excellence in the ordinary. It's doing the ordinary things (sleeping, eating healthy, exercising a couple of times per week) done with an extreme amount of excellence, consistently.
As I mentioned above, success leaves clues.
Those with any kind of success in fitness and nutrition, follow the five habits above.
They don't chase the shiny object.
They don't look for quick fixes.
They don't beat themselves up when things get hard.
The funny part?
Notice I didn't talk about the type of workout they do, a specific exercise, or a fancy diet.
Those are just tools.
It's not the tools you use that make the biggest difference, it's the habits you instill in yourself.
Which one of these are you going to try to develop starting today?
Go take action.
1% Better.
Dedicated to Your Success,
Doug Spurling