Size your bites properly

Starting tomorrow I WILL DO EVERYTHING I HAVEN’T DONE FOR YEARS.

Beyond the shadow of doubt, you have been here, but did you commit?

I’m 50% sure you tried and 99.8% sure you failed and I will tell you why, but first let’s look at my MMA class journey.

For clarity - before I signed up to that class, my daily routine consisted of eating breakfast for 3 on my own, going to school intentionally decreasing my energy expenditure to minimum (I was extra lazy) all while still feasting on food enough for 3 people, then getting back home, having a well-earned beauty sleep, afterwards gaming until late night while maintaining Pomodoro Technique - 40 minutes of gaming 10 minutes of devouring anything I found in fridge.

Based on that one could assume - I was unprepared for any kind of physical activity whatsoever, even tying my laces was a challenge, no kidding.

Back to the gym, before opening that heavy door I couldn’t even imagine that it would turn out to be the biggest slice of pie I ever got served. I joined the line for a pre-session roll call, all hyped up looking at the fittest dudes imagining me kicking their ass in no time. We started a quick warm up. Couple minutes of jogging, swaying our arms to the sides, jumping around, burpees, push ups, jumping jacks, sprints, the coach just didn’t stop. Honestly, I thought that today it’s physio, no martial arts, just conditioning, but after 45 minutes that felt like infinity to me, the coach whistled, we laced our gloves and started another part of our session. You are absolutely right thinking that during “warmup” I almost passed out several times, the sound of my heartbeat switched up music and the speed of my movements made sloth look like the flash - I felt like grandma at CrossFit gym.

There it was, the biggest slice of humble pie I have ever been served. What I thought was a workout, was actually a warm up for others. While I was drenched in sweat, gasping for air and seeing stars, other guys were getting light sweat and barely visible redness on their cheeks.

Long story short - I quit in a month, which I still consider an achievement, because 3 times a week I battled for my life. You see, for me this was too much of a leap to extremes. I hardly walked 5000 steps a day, not even talking about any cardio exercise apart from my PE classes, which I regularly skipped. In the meantime I somehow imagined myself performing physical activities at way above average level.

Common wall we all hit - biting more than we can chew.

Would I be better off training lightly for a couple months, sorting out my diet, getting used to being active, before joining that class?

For sure.

Would I remain in the class if I wasn’t battling for my life each workout?

For sure.

So the question here is, if you are unprepared to do all those things you aspire, be it working out, starting a business, picking up more girls - doesn’t matter, how do you begin?

Do you start overfilling your life with rigorous work, unattainable schedule, cutting off everything that pulls you back and perform at your best each and every day?

No.

Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t become Mr.Olympia, the Terminator and Governor of California all at once.

First he developed his body, then he developed his acting and him being the public figure he was qualified to become the Governor, even though he probably aspired to become all of that in a short time, it took years of gradually adding layers of complexity to his life only when becoming a master in one realm.

So, how do you become that person you want to be?

1.Define what success looks like (it will change over-time so don’t be afraid to update it on the go)

2. Identify actions you need in order to become that person.

3. Commit to them gradually, only adding something extra when you have turned the previous one into a habit

For example: you want to be fit, rich, and smart, but now you are fat, broke and relatively dumb.

Your course of action:

• Start to implement physical activity and good diet into your daily routine, this becomes a habit

• Then you start adding some work on lucrative skills or any other business ventures you want to perceive, it becomes a habit

• You add reading or whatever activity you choose to the mix
  

Thus, you gradually make your life more “complex”, without hitting that wall.

It doesn’t mean that you have to train for 3 years before starting reading books, it means you have to gradually add new commitments into your life so you don’t get overwhelmed.

P.S. Research suggests that turning regular activity into a habit on average takes 66 days, so remember to be patient and consistent.