Conquer fear and unleash your potential.
This month, I received a lot of emails and questions regarding self-doubt. Specifically, many of you in the community (and just outside of it) were wondering how to get around this contradicting desire to start a program accompanied by a fear that you just won't finish it.
"I want to start a fitness programme, but I'm scared I won't be able to finish it, and it will be money wasted."
Fear of failure and fear of wasting money are two very legitimate fears with very detrimental costs.
When you’re weighing up a health practice (or any practice, really), it’s very common to naturally and maybe even somewhat unconsciously conduct a cost-benefit analysis.
But because our brains are very good at trying to protect us from immediate risk - sometimes we’ll be biased towards only weighing up immediate costs while barely giving any thought to short-term and long-term benefits.
For example: what is the Cost of NOT starting a program?
Another year frustrated with where your physical health is.
Another year of inconsistent training.
Another year of aches and pains that maybe would have gone away if you had exercised.
What are the short-term benefits of embarking on a program?
Consistency.
Accountability.
Being presented with weekly goals that progress with you.
Having a regime to lean on when you don't feel motivated. Those of you who are hitting up random workouts and classes will understand what I mean. When you're up, you're up, but when you're feeling low on motivation, it can be really hard to stay consistent with something that is random and/or goal-less (of course, not ALL group classes are like this, but the majority are just about getting bums on mats and that often means compromising on programming specifics).
No more guesswork - sometimes, when motivation is low, even the slightest amount of doubt can infiltrate our mind and make us think that we should stop or that "this is a waste of time."
So, if you’re avoiding a program because you’re afraid of not having the time/means/willpower to complete it, take some time to perform a cost/benefit analysis and see what comes up for you.
Often, when you break it all down, you realise that the fear of failure is coming from a lack of self-trust, and this lack of self-trust will ONLY get better when you start proving to yourself that you CAN be trusted.
That you DO have your own back.
