I hear it all the time: “I just get bored doing the same thing so I like to mix it up.” I understand that, I really do. I’d get bored too if I had to do the same thing over and over again. Going through the motions every day without ever seeing results would suck. But to first get a result you need to establish a goal and/or find a way to challenge yourself.
When people say “I get bored easily,” they are not necessarily getting bored with the actual workouts or exercises. This usually indicates a lack of challenge. That’s what makes it feel boring and repetitive like you’re Bill Murray in some exercise version of ‘Groundhog Day’. Challenge is required to make you feel like you’re not just going through the same old motions every day.
I believe it’s much easier to go through the motions and blend in with the crowd, settling for average rather than awesome. So, how do you push past that and go for awesome? You find a place where people will push you to be your best, where they see your true potential and help you find it over and over again.
Why would someone choose not to challenge themselves and just show up, blend in with the crowd, and choose to not excel?
There could be several reasons. Fear of failure or judgement:
“If I don’t succeed then what? Everyone including me will think I’m a failure.”
Or fear of success:
“I don’t deserve to be happy or successful.”
Whatever the reason, it generally boils down to our own limiting beliefs. These beliefs are generally self-imposed limits we place on ourselves which stifle our true potential. Now, I have no desire to run a marathon, and maybe the idea of running through the mud and crawling under barbed wire sparks no desire in you whatsoever, but there is a difference between saying “I don’t want to…” and “I’ll never be able to…”
While the first talks about desires and goals, the second phrase focuses on your beliefs.
I know for a fact the only limitations to anyone’s potential are the ones they create for themselves. You can do anything you choose to work toward. I’ve seen people who couldn’t lift a 10 lb weight when they started with me do 10 pull ups. I’ve seen people who smoked a pack of cigarettes lecture me on my snack choices. I’ve seen people who were sick, on medication, and over 100 lbs overweight lose their weight, get off their meds, and be utterly happy and healthy for the rest of their life.
So yes, you can do it. Believe it.
Related: Top 5 Secrets to Breaking Past a Weight Loss Plateau
“The difference between the pro and the amateur is the ruthless execution of the basics.”
The most common question asked of someone who has lost substantial amount of weight is, “So, how did you do it?”
How many of these people do you think would reply, “Oh, I do a bunch of stuff: spinning, yellow fact, pilates, kraz maga, underwater basket weaving. I just do a bunch of different stuff because I get bored easily!”
No fucking way! I have never heard anyone who has lost a lot of weight say that, but I have heard plenty of people struggling for years to lose the same 10 lbs say similar things. People who lose a lot of weight and keep it off use words and phrases like, consistency, routine, I made it fun, I did it even on bad days, I found a home, a place where I belong, I pushed through.
I’m sure the person losing 100 lbs gets bored during their workouts from time to time. Steph Curry or Lebron James must get bored during practice, and Amy Schumer probably gets bored writing jokes or meeting her publicist, but all of these people are successful because they found a way to make these things fun and they see the bigger picture and the end goal.
These “repetitive things” don’t have to suck. You can make them fun, and generally the reason they suck has to do with your own mood that day or your general mindset.
The key to success is finding something that challenges you, sticking with it, and then getting really good at it.
Find a tribe that will support and push you. If you really want something or have a goal that is important to you, you should not stop pursuing it until you achieve mastery—and the master knows the path to mastery is never over.
Bruce Lee said, “I do not fear the man who has done 1000 techniques. I fear the man who has done 1 technique 1000 times.”
If you really loved what I wrote here, and live in or near Lincoln Park Chicago, come check out my studio. We are starting our next challenge soon, and if we are a good fit for one another, I would love to have you take part.
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