By the time this blog is posted, the NFL season will be on its way. YEAH! I love NFL football, and since moving to Santa Fe, I miss living close to NFL action.
But don’t think I’m going to ask you to work out like an NFL player. I know what an NFL exercise program is like and I know it’s not complete. But there is something to be said about the NFL player’s exercise routine, which includes consistency and pushing yourself a little beyond what you can do each time to get a little bit better each day.
Consistency, pushing yourself, and trying to get a little better each day — these are the keys to any exercise program. And that last part is something you will hear NFL players and coaches say all the time: “We’re just trying to get a little bit better each day.” It is cliché, but it is absolutely true.
How to put a little NFL and a little kaizen in your exercise program.
Kaizen is a Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement in all areas of business practices and personal development. I preach similar principles to all my clients and the people I work with here in Santa Fe. Gradual, steady improvement is the only way to approach a long-term goal without driving yourself crazy. I wanted everything now, so this was a big, uncomfortable pill for me to swallow, and I still choke on it now and then. But the alternative — the highs and lows and the stress that it produces — is not worth it.
You need a laid-out, realistic exercise program in which you push yourself a little further than you are comfortable with. And uncomfortable comes in many different flavors — physical, mental, and emotional. For any success to happen you have to be OK with the uncomfortableness.
- This means your muscles may burn a little more than you’d like, or if you live in a high altitude as we have in Santa Fe, you may be huffing and puffing more than you’d like.
- This means you may have to put away your ego and what you think is right, trust in the program you have chosen, and do it.
- This also means you will have to be OK with the feelings that come to you before and during your exercise program. Nothing comes for free; you’ve got to work it.
Say yes to your inner NFL player.
Scene: You standing at the mirror looking at yourself in the morning. “I’m just trying to get a little bit better today.”
Sounds hokey, doesn’t it? It feels even hokier when you actually do it…at the start. It gets easier and easier each time you say it. You don’t have to use that exact sentence. Keep the idea and find your own words.
From Washington, DC, to North Carolina to Los Angeles to Santa Fe I have used this with varying levels of consistency and with my own words. When I am more consistent in saying those words, they come true. Now combine that with a thought-out program and being OK with the uncomfortableness that goes along with it, and what do you have? Success. Meaning you are a success. Now go stand in front of the mirror and make yourself uncomfortable.
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