There Are 3 Killers To Great Progress

Like a thief in the night, these great killers sneak their way into areas of our lives, especially with our health and fitness.

The danger is with allowing them to stay and take residence in our minds and in our habits.

Only when we turn on the lights and sound the alarm, showing that we know they're there, do these shadowy forces retreat from bothering us and keeping us under threat of poor consequences.

So let's turn on the lights and reveal the first of these 3 great killers...

Perfectionism

Have you ever made a small mistake and thought about how everything is ruined and is all downhill from there?

This is among the most common challenges for people - getting out of their own way.

Perfectionism takes away one of our most powerful tools as human beings, our ability to be flexible, to adapt.

Holding the belief of perfectionism is like holding ourselves hostage, setting the stage for the same lousy conditions to repeat day-after-day because we believe we're already good enough as is.

As hard as it is to adapt, we have no other choice. Embracing flexible consistency is when we allow some chaos, some surprise and wonder into our lives, some ability to make mistakes. This reduces the rigidly held armor we invoke upon ourselves when an opportunity for growth and change presents itself - say failing a lift or missing a few reps, eating out poorly or failing to prep.

Rather than jump ship, we can learn from the experience and come back better.

To combat perfectionism, we must balance the things we can control with the things we can't control and still be able to move forward toward our goals.

Next...

Overthinking

Thinking is good, overthinking is too much.

At the essence of overthinking is this tricky belief that thinking itself can create change. And well, it can't.

We can plan, strategize, connect the dots, and so much more when trying to improve our health and wellness, however, this can only be productive when the result is action. Overthinking is when we constantly ruminate upon thoughts that lack serious action. It's stale.

Many times the thoughts we're ruminating on are not the positive, reassuring thoughts that we all dream filled our minds. Instead, they're doubtful, negative, and unaccepting.

"That weight is far too heavy for me, I can't lift that."

"I've tried everything, I just can't change my weight or how I look and feel. This must be how I am."

"Tracking my food intake is hard, it's just not for me."

To fight back against overthinking we must make the abstract more concrete, and follow up on the actions that need doing to rid ourselves of the need to return back to those thoughts.

Take action.

And finally...

Playing The Short Game

In short, falling out of practice.

So many people can muster the energy and commitment to make a change in their life in the short term. However, very few have the discipline and vision to follow through in the long term. The pain of starting over (again) is far greater than sticking with the process, but many of us struggle to see past the current pain, accept it as a part of the process, and move through it.

If we can extend our time horizons, we may find that we have more energy and time for the things we want and need (exercise, eat well, spend time with family, produce at work, chill, etc.).

Regarding the above, is there truly an end date on any of them? Or does our commitment to these extend beyond the immediate, beyond the short frame of mind we've applied to it? (summer, a vacation, a wedding, etc.)

Settling into a steady practice, i.e. building habits, can bring the same short-term progress you can make with any endeavor and carry into the long term. All it takes, is practice.

So what can we learn?

That many robust and well-equipped people believe success is about having everything in order, laid out ahead of time, and going exactly as planned. This is a fragile place to take a stand. Instead, it's about riding the waves.

This means embracing a degree of chaos and uncertainty, not overthinking things, and zooming out to see the long term. Action.

Which of these silent killers do you most struggle with?

How much does it impact your happiness and progress?