A conversation I had years ago with one of my great friends and fellow gym owners regarding four things that we are always trying to be our absolute best at: to be the best husband, father, fitness coach and business owner all at the same time.
If you’re a parent, I’ll bet you desire similar things – being a loving spouse and parent, doing a great work in your career and if you’re reading this, you care about your health and well-being.
In all likelihood, the chances of us being superstars at everything we want to be in life is unrealistic. When we feel like we are doing great in one area of our life, we’re probably not doing great in another area.
There are times when we feel like we are failing at everything, and for me that’s a sign of burnout. Those are the times I need to take a step back and assess what’s going on.
I recently went on a vacation with my family. I was not always 100% present, I still answered emails (it’s really hard to shut off completely), read articles and worked on the business. By the time we were in day five of our week-long vacation, I finally felt relaxed and at ease. I was connecting with my wife and kids in a way that had been missing. I was being a better husband and father, the two most important roles in my life.
When we have health and fitness goals, or anything else we are striving to be better at, it can help to slow down, center our focus and attention on what’s most important and begin taking action.
Too often people choose too much at once. They want to do this punishing training program that promises to burn fat and boost their metabolism and at the same time they’re going from 0-100 in a new diet that slashed calories and elimates foods they normally eat. Inevitably, they’ll crash and burn and achieve none of their goals or intentions.
If you have not been to the gym and you’re starting a new exercise program, work through that new training program and the schedule it requires until you create consistency. Your fitness consistency becomes a fitness habit. Then, from our example, you can shift your primary focus to nutrition.
There’s a balance back and forth when we have multiple things going on that we’re trying to achieve. Some weeks nutrition is spot on and some weeks it’s not. Maybe the week your diet is off is the week your training routine is dialed in. When you recognize a big imbalance, that’s when you ease off of one and place more focus on the other.
As long as we are making progress at one thing, being consistent and present with everything else, we’re getting results. This can apply to being a better partner, performing better at work or hitting that fat-loss goal.