Progress Not Perfection

I believe that everyone has goals.  Your goal may be related to strength, nutrition, weight loss or overall health.  While goals may differ, one major road block to achieving a goal can be the quest for perfection.  

If our actions fall short of our expectations, then it is easy to spiral into negative thinking.  If your goal is to make it to training 4 days a week and you miss the first day or two, you might feel that it is a waste of time to do the remaining two days. Two days was not the perfection you wanted to achieve, but two days is better and closer to your goal than zero days. 

Another possibility is that you are focused on a certain exercise, but you aren’t quite getting it the way you would like or think you should. You may think you will never get it. I know many women are working on pushups and become frustrated with their lack of progress.  

Have you given yourself credit that your form has improved or that you are able to control the lowering phase just a little more than last time?  If we have just introduced a new exercise to training or you are doing something for the first time, please don’t expect to be a master at it right away.  It takes time! We all need to focus on our progress, not perfection.  Focusing on the lack of perfection leads to negativity, discouragement, giving up or quitting. Acknowledging, and celebrating progress focuses on the positive changes that will keep us moving forward toward achieving our goals!

-Coach Erin