How you do anything is how you do everything -Signal V. Noise.
We want to chat a little bit about how this mindset can help you attain your goals both in the gym and outside of it. When you think of your goals with this approach, reaching a goal becomes less about compartmentalizing habits and specific achievements, and soon becomes more about forming connections between multiple areas of your life.
Cold Showers
If you know us, you will know that we think taking cold showers are the bomb :). Taking cold showers has many mental and physical benefits, but we like them the most for what they do for our character and habits. It never gets easier to get into that super cold water. In fact, it can be super nerve wracking each time. Sometimes you need to spend a few minutes pumping yourself up just to get in.
However, we also know that if we convince ourselves to get into that cold shower, we can pretty much get through anything the day throws our way. For example, if there is a super hard workout on the board, you might get less anxious. The Assault bike has nothing on cold showers. It might even help you start to get over yout fear (as it has for Coach Matt with public speaking). This process of facing your fears and being consistent with doing hard things will slowly make you realize that fear doesn’t need to have power over you. By doing this difficult thing each day, you can begin to develop a resilience to external stressors that you don’t have any control over.
It Works Both Ways
This is just one example of the quote above. This could also be tied to negative habits as well. Let’s say, for example, you are the only one working out in the gym. You purposely cut some time from your score and put it on the board. You may think this only affects this one situation, when in reality, if it was that easy to do it in the gym, why not outside the gym? Somehow you justified this was okay to do, why couldn’t you justify looking for shortcuts in everyday life. It is more about character and how you treat every situation, and not just one or the other.
Take every opportunity you can to develop your character during mundane tasks, chores, interactions… Etc. This will better enable you to start reaching your goals inside and outside the gym. The easy and hard things in life can always serve a purpose and help you grow. Remember this and see how you can use them to better yourself and those around you.