 Nothing ruffles my feathers like someone trying to squash another person’s dreams.
“You’ll never run again” “You’re just not cut out for …. “ “You’ll always struggle with…” Take Keiran Behan’s story, as an example: When he was 10, he found out he had cancer in his leg. Doctors removed the tumor but botched the procedure – causing major nerve damage. But this little boy had BIG dreams to become an Olympic gymnast. Doctors shook their heads and told him he’d never walk again. I had to see a psychiatrist who said you have to accept the worst. But that just drove me on; I wanted to prove them wrong. They were saying it was over but I wasn’t having it. -Keiran Behan So he worked at his rehab, relearned how to walk, and 15 months later he was back on his feet in the gym. But a couple months later, he slips from the high bar and hits his head – causing severe brain damage. He’d have blackouts from the slightest movements. Sometimes just a blink made him pass out. He missed an entire year of school to recover. So he had to relearn to walk again, retrain his brain and his coordination. Once again the doctors told him his athletic career was over. But he wasn’t giving up. He spent hours retraining his brain and hand-eye coordination by chucking a ball against a wall and catching it. Then he worked his way to using a walking stick. Finally, after three years of constant training his athletic skills returned. In 2010, after years of training, he qualified for the European Championships, but ruptures his knee (ACL) during practice. This time he almost threw in the towel. It was the nearest I ever came to quitting. Sheer despair really but I’d been through a lot worse and knew that, whatever happened, I could always come back. -Keiran Behan And just like before, he bounced back. He spent 9 months rehabbing his knee. Then in 2011 he stood victorious as he qualified for the 2012 London Olympics. Never giving in. Daring to really go for it. Keeping the flame alive. Even if your goals aren’t Olympic in nature, we can ALL adopt this Olympic Spirit: A lot of setbacks and hard times, it's molded me as a person and it's made me stronger. If people can get hold of my story and be inspired by it. Everyone goes through their own difficulties and their own obstacles in their everyday lives. -Keiran Behan Kelan Ern The Renegade Life Coach
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 Today is the day!
You told yourself you’d hit to the gym after work. But work was more hectic than you thought. Now you’re drained. You drive home, clean up a bit, but then you make the mistake of sitting down. You can feel your energy fading – along with your motivation. You know you should get that workout in. But the idea of dragging yourself to the gym is quickly turning into a pipe dream. You feel like you just can’t get yourself to get up. So then you decide you’ll workout tomorrow instead. But this too is questionable. This cycle can go on for days… weeks… even months. And it’s frustrating because part of us wants to work out, and knows we’ll feel so much better once we do – but another part of ourselves would rather just crash on the couch. So why do we procrastinate workouts? Let’s look at three culprits: 1. I’m Too Busy 2. I Don’t Feel Like It 3. I Can’t Wake Up In Time 1) I’m Too Busy Have you found there are “more important” things to do than getting to the gym? Maybe there’s paperwork to catch up. Maybe there are clothes to fold. Maybe you have to make dinner. The tricky part is all of those might be valid. All of those might be important. But those reasons can quickly turn into excuses. Especially if those same reasons stop you day after day. 2) I Don’t Feel Like It. Some days we just aren’t in the mood. We’re tired. We’re stressed out. We’re not feeling motivated. Because we’re not in the right mood, we wait until a “better day” or when we’re in a “better mood”. Behind this reason is often the belief that, “I need to be motivated before I act” – which is FAR from the truth. I’ve met many fit people and some days they are gung-ho and super-motivated but sometimes they aren’t – but they work out anyway. Lack of motivation doesn’t stop them. 3) I Can’t Wake Up In Time Mornings can be rough. The alarm disrupts our perfect slumber. So we hit snooze once… twice… a dozen times until finally we frantically have to get ready for the day. Maybe the bed is too cozy Maybe it’s too cold outside Maybe you’re too tired. It can be tough waking up, especially if you’re a night owl. Or if you’re in the habit of snoozing your alarm clock. Sure – exercising in the morning has benefits. But if the mornings don’t work, find a time that does. For some people, lunch hours or evening works much better for them. So it could be any one of these or combination of these. Whatever the reason, let’s look at two ways to prevent this cycle of procrastinating workouts. Imagine The Finish Line As you imagine your next workout, what comes to mind? Do you imagine how pleasant and enjoyable it’s going to be? Do you think about how happy you’re going be while doing it? How much fun you’re going to have? Probably not. When most people imagine working out, they picture all sorts of unpleasant things. Their focus zooms in on the painful exercises… how hard it will be… how tired they’ll be… how sore they’ll be… everyone watching them… It’s easy to see how they talk themselves out of it. Focusing on these things will make anyone unmotivated. But just like a photographer, you can adjust and shift your focus to other qualities of a landscape. More beautiful aspects. More inspiring aspects. In fact, let’s take a lesson from the Navy SEALS on this. Years ago, the Navy SEALS were in a dilemma, 76% of their top candidates were dropping out.The Navy knew these recruits were more than capable, yet few were making the cut. So they called psychologist, Eric Potterat to figure out how to boost the recruits’ mental toughness. Potterat created four habits (called The Big Four) that worked so well, it increased graduation rate by 50%! One habit was known as "Imagining How Good It Will Feel". When recruits needed a boost to keep them going through a brutal workout, he taught them to imagine successfully completing a workout. This allowed them to tap into powerful emotions like feeling successful and accomplishing something. And this allowed them to power through it. Here’s how you can use this: Visualize A Successful Workout Imagine yourself successfully completing the workout. Think about how good that will feel at the end. Feel that success and that accomplishment. Even if it’s just one workout, it’s still an accomplishment. Even if you can’t perform as well as you used to, it’s still an accomplishment. Visualize it as best as you can. Bring in as many senses as you can. And you don’t have to focus on the completing the entire workout. You can use this for certain parts of your workout; using something Potterat calls “segmenting.” In an interview with Business Insider, Potterat states: "If you're thrust into a seemingly overwhelming, stressful situation, the best thing you can do is just kind of manage one step at a time and focus on what's controllable." Pick out certain exercises and how they will feel once you’ve accomplished them. For me, I don’t enjoy doing pullups. If I imagine doing pullups, it’s not very motivating. But if I imagine what it’s like after completing pullups, it’s very motivating. Use it for certain exercises. When you break it down like this, it’s somewhat like crossing off items on a checklist. You can give yourself a surge of accomplishment by finishing each of those small steps. Here are some additional aspects you can focus on: When you’re done how much more alert and energized will you feel? How much more peace of mind will you have after the work out? How much better will the rest of your day feel? Do you think that feeling of accomplishment will carry with you the rest of the day? 5-Minute Commitment Working as a fitness professional, I learned that the most successful clients had certain things in common. One of which was the quantity of workouts they did on their own (called “off-day workouts”). In many cases, these would make or break people. You see, when people need to show up for a session with a trainer, they have accountability. So it’s not too difficult to show up. But it’s a different story when they have to show up on their own. So I gave them a challenge. Even if you’re tired. Even if you don’t feel like it. Even if you’re not motivated. Even if you’re not in the mood. 5-Minute Commitment
Well, guess what? In most cases, they’ll finish the entire workout. Instead of waiting for motivation to strike them like lightning, they acted their way into motivation. It’s similar to the quote by William Butler Yeats, “Do not wait to strike till the iron is hot; but make it hot by striking.” Commit yourself to just five minutes. Worst-case scenario, you still accomplish a small workout. Best-case scenario, you finish the entire thing. Kelan Ern The Renegade Life Coach |
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