We’ve all heard the old saying, “A journey of 1,000 miles begins with a single step.”💯

But why is it so hard to remember it when pursuing positive health changes and outcomes? Maybe because we’re brainwashed by marketers to believe in quick, miracle fixes for everything – instant weight loss, spot reductions, and more.

Sorry, but ancient sayings persist for a good reason: They’re true!

So, the secret to making big, positive changes isn’t instant gratification. It’s making small changes to create new daily habits. The philosophy made a huge best-seller of the book “Atomic Habits,” which suggests we make molecular change at first, then add to it more and more, and repeat this until a new, positive behavior becomes ingrained in our life.

It’s the ages-old idea of delayed gratification: If I make this small sacrifice today, I will be really, really happy about it later.

👉🏽 If I save 10 percent of my paycheck, I’ll have money when it’s time to retire.

👉🏽 If I reduce my number of junk snacks by, say, one for the first week, then I’ll have cut them all in no time.

👉🏽 If I lift a small weight to start out, and then keep lifting it until I’m stronger, I can add more weight later… and repeat the process until I’m as strong, mobile, and balanced as I like.

👉🏽 if I add 1 corrective exercise/self-care activity once a week and show my body some love and gratitude, I’ll have 52 new exercises or stretches that keep my body balanced and able to keep up with the life I want to live.

So, as 2023 begins, keep in mind this super-wise advice to start small, make progress one step at a time… be consistent… be patient… and you will BE SUCCESSFUL in whatever you pursue.

Can you commit to having a vision of what you want, making small changes, and accept that the pay-off may be in the future?

It’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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Confusion.

Confusion comes from many sources:

✅ No understanding of your body and what it needs

✅ Basing what you need to do from what worked with other people and trying to copy it.

✅ “Doing your research” until your ears bleed. The last one is based on fear and will lead you down a neverending rabbit hole.

Not saying you shouldn’t be educated, but if you find yourself constantly acquiring more information and trying to either cobble together a routine or, worse, not acting on anything, you are led by fear.

Fear of what? I have no idea. That is for you to explore.

But how much information do you need? Is it your goal to become a practitioner? Because if you are ignoring good advice from people who have been it for decades, you’re deluding yourself in your quest to become more informed.

Learn by doing.

Learn by doing the activities, understanding how they apply to you, making adjustments, and being open to pivots while still keeping your focus on your vision.

Putting your ego aside and working on the third checkpoint. Following this outline will allow your confusion to start to clear up, and the first two checkpoints will disappear.

And once that fog lifts, your desire to get “fit” or “strong” will be more nuanced, and you will know what actions you need to take.

Need a little help with lifting that fog? Use this link https://calendly.com/ekemba_solcorefitness/ica-interview to schedule a complimentary consultation where we will go over:

👉🏽Where you are now and want to go.

👉🏽 What actions you need to take to get there

👉🏽 What may be holding you back

👉🏽 Action steps that will help get you there. Your goals are there waiting for you to take the steps toward them.

It’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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I saw ANOTHER ad for a piece of equipment that is all you are supposed to be all you need (false) and promoted it so that you could work out your terms.

The idea is that as long as you pick a workout that you like at a time you like, and it tells you what to do.

And since you are moving, sweating, finishing, and something (not a person) is telling you what to do, you view it as a success.

Well, if that is your only measurement of success, CONGRATS. There are tons of people out there for this is all they desire. From a physiological viewpoint, it definitely isn’t, but everybody has a goal whether they consciously choose it or not.

But what if you are using exercise to accomplish a goal you want? Doesn’t it make sense that you develop a plan?

👉🏽 Didn’t you have a plan to get your degree You didn’t just take whatever classes sounded fun?

👉🏽 Didn’t you have a plan that brought you to where you wanted in your career? You didn’t just jump from job to job hoping that it would achieve your career goals.

👉🏽 If you have kids, didn’t you choose a partner and plan to have kids? Not just randomly using the Nick Cannon philosophy. Ok, that one is a joke 😝

To feel fulfilled and accomplished and come into a greater place than you have ever imagined, you must take deliberate steps toward it.

And doing different activities, aka cross-training, is not a full holistic program. 100% of the time, you will have to do confusing and uncomfortable activities.

If you have a specific goal, random acts of movement will not get you there.

Have you been caught up in this vicious circle?

It’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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It was all about the ego with me at the beginning.

I always wanted to move and feel the way I knew I could, which meant doing the same activities that I loved and pushing myself. Grrrrr🐲

Sure I followed what I had been taught over the past 15 years (at that time 😝) that was supposed to keep me balanced, but it was definitely about pushing myself in activities that I knew I was good at.

That and the lack of real available education on how to get and keep your body balanced holistically caused me to crash and burn.

And for those who know my story, you know that this lead me to Osteopathy and a whole new specific, integrated and holistic way of training and treating the body.

But what it also lead me toward is the beginning of working with my emotions and a deeper understanding of my mindset. Because the physical pain was terrible, but the loss of identity, the confusion, and the emotions I felt was almost insurmountable.

This lead me to self-help/mindset books and Buddhism, which has continued to this day.

I learned at an early age to keep pushing and achieve with the thought that it would make things better. And I did achieve A LOT, but it came with A LOT of anxiety and strife.

But I didn’t correlate this with how I was operating; I thought it was part of the process. It wasn’t until I got hurt and was presented with the 1st of MANY lessons that I, of course, had to find a different way of operating.

To understand that feeling uncomfortable isn’t just about pushing yourself. It’s about digging deep and feeling those feelings that are trying to communicate with you to help. Not to make you feel bad, which was my perception of them.

It was running away and fighting those feelings that caused me to feel bad, which made me feel worse and want to keep pushing.

Vicious circle.

Suffering has a cause. And it’s getting friendly with that suffering that is a transformative process.

Hard Yes. Worth it, priceless.

Have you had similar lessons?

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We hear every year that the vast majority of New Year’s Resolutions fail. But why is that? How can we learn from all that failure to ensure we succeed? Here are some of the reasons for failure – and a solution for each.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐔𝐧𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 – 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐦𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬 (𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐬) 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐬𝐭.

The solution: Start small and consistently progress. Here’s an obvious example that makes the point well. If you want to become a runner, you don’t try a marathon on your first day. Maybe you commit to jogging for five minutes a day on three days a week for the first couple weeks, and then add a minute or two at a time until you’re comfortable jogging for longer distances.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐆𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐫.

The solution: Involve a friend, loved one or acquaintance…or, best yet – a coach! Share your goals. Keep each other on track through mutual reliance and accountability. The reason for failure: Not planning and then stumbling into each new week without thinking about it. The solution: Sitting down with a calendar now and again at the start of each month to see what’s coming up that a) might be an opportunity for you or b) might be a challenge. Surprises will still occur, of course, but you’ll be less likely to be thrown off your game.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠.

The solution: Regularly assess your progress and write it down. This will keep you from feeling frustrated because you are probably making progress even when it feels pointless. Stay in the “gain” idea – where you’re improving, as the facts show — rather than in the “gap” – between present reality and an impossible ideal.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐍𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤.

The solution: Learning to rise above all that nonsense. Give yourself positive affirmations every day. Reward progress as you make it. Be grateful for everything that’s going well. HELP SOMEONE ELSE. Now, these were culled from research, experience, and common sense around the idea of New Year’s Resolutions. But they’re solid statements that can guide you at any point in life, no matter what the calendar says.

𝐁𝐔𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐒: 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐀 𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐘𝐎𝐔 𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐁𝐄. The solution: Take 30 min and write in a journal (not your computer) and brainstorm on who you want to be. What does it feel like? What does it look like? What emotions does it bring up for you? NOW set the goals that bring you closer to this. 😀

Sometimes you just gotta look at something from a different angle!

Whadda ya think?

It’s not just working out, it’s building a foundation for a better life.

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