Whether you want to lose fat, build muscle or have another goal, the people who have the most success are usually the ones who are mentally prepared the best for the journey they are about to start. Below are a list of actions you can take to mentally prepare yourself for your fitness journey.
Think long term
Long term thinking is key to long term results. It is hard to do, but instead of thinking about what you want to happen next week, try to think about what you want in 3, 6 & 12 months.
Clearly defining your goals for these timeframes will allow you to have a good idea of how you will progress and what you can expect to achieve.
knowing this before you start will mentally prepare you for whats to come.
Have a clear plan
Once you have your goals set out, you can create a plan to achieve them. This should be very clear in what you have to do to reach your goals.
For example “I will need to train 3 times a week and focus on developing better eating habits such as eating 5 portions of fruit & veg everyday and only eating until I am 80% full”.
Most of the time fear is created by the unknown, once you know exactly what you have to do, it becomes less daunting and more achievable.
Acknowledge some things will go wrong
You will miss a workout, you will eat more than you were supposed too.
Life will get in the way sometimes but as long as you know this will happen and its not the end of the world when it does.
You can move on, get back on track as soon as you can and not let it derail your progress.
Realise people will try to sabotage you
This happens quite a lot, you know what i mean “ah go on sure 1 bar of chocolate/pint/bag of chips etc wont do any harm”.
Most of the time its unintentional, but if your prepared for it you can deal with it when it happens.
A good way is to politely decline saying you are in training, if that doesnt work and they persist, maybe lose the politeness and tell them to fuck off.
You can pre-empt this with family/ friends by telling them you are trying to achieve something and ask to help by not pushing food on you and so on.
Accept you will have to make sacrifices
Anything worth doing is going to require some sacrifices.
Try to think ahead and identify any obvious ones you may have to make or are willing to make.
Knowing in advance can allow you to come up with a possible alternative or elimate a spur of the moment decision.
By taking these steps you:
- Will be better prepared to reach your goals,
- Know exactly what you have to do,
- Know what you can expect to achieve,
- Know what can possible go wrong,
- Know what you may have to give up,
- Know how to deal with set backs
Altogether making you mentally stronger and more likely to be successful.
Any questions please ask below.
Thanks
Shane