You may have experienced this; you begin a new project, like a fitness journey, full of energy and enthusiasm. Then when you get into the thick of things, this energy fades away, bit by bit. You’re still excited about the overall vision, but you’re not so hyped about the nitty gritty, day to day tasks, that are required as part of the work. After all, it’s the beautiful house that you seek at the end, not all the brick laying and cementing work that holds your enthusiasm.
But the brick laying and cement work IS the foundation of that beautiful house in the end. Every little bit you’re doing now counts toward realizing that end vision and establishing the base for your fitness goals. It’s just easy to lose sight of that because you’re caught up in the daily micro-tasks that keep coming, one after another.
The journey becomes difficult, because your end vision begins to slip away from you. To counter the fading vision you must bring it back to the forefront (both physically and mentally). Surround yourself with anything that’s reminds you of your end goal, such as a vision board you created just one month ago, like-minded people (find a gym buddy/family), pictures of others who have achieved the same goal (Jackie’s 102 LB loss in a year), objects that represent the goal, etc.
There are a number of ways to foster this type of thinking. For example, my nephew had a goal of getting a new car on his own, so he bought a small toy car model of the car he wanted from Walmart and placed it on his dresser so he could see it every day. Just last week he was able to go purchase the car of his dreams with no co-signer. In front of my work desk is my life map, an inspiring quote of the moment and pictures of my top goals, and these continuously remind me of my end vision, in a conscious and subconscious manner. These are examples of environmental reinforcement at work and they demonstrate a very effective and effortless technique requiring little work on your part. Whatever your motivation is to keep you going, remember to constantly connect with your end vision. No Mess
