One of the biggest barriers that one will find towards achieving any goal, is how they set themselves up to succeed or fail.  We live in a society where it seems we set ourselves up to fail far more than we set ourselves up to succeed.

One of the best methods to set yourself up to succeed is to speak with authority over your own actions.  Whether you are trying to make changes to your nutrition, or trying to figure out how to get to the gym often enough during the week…start taking authority over those situations.

A few things that you can do…first for your nutrition.  Remove the word can’t!

Instead of saying something like “I can’t eat cake” and feeling like you are literally leaving something on the table or beating yourself up, embrace the phrase “I don’t eat cake”.  Or you might have a phrase such as “I don’t eat sugar, unless it is a birthday party”.  The difference in the phrasing simply is a matter of in one instance you are a victim (can’t) and in the other you are taking a stand and owning the decision.  One is empowering (don’t) and one is deflating (can’t).

The same is true about your training.  First let me give the disclaimer that I know that life happens and things do not always go as planned, but you can commit to getting in some sort of workout and not accept the excuses we tell ourselves.  We will say things like “I will go to the gym, if I’m not too tired” or “I will just see how I feel”.  Get rid of the disclaimers and go no matter how you feel.  If you absolutely cannot make it to the gym, commit to going for a walk.

Yes, it is very yoda-like.  You either will or you won’t.  There is no try and the best way to be successful is to not give yourself any excuses before you start.  If life happens and you can’t make it, great…accept that and be content, but don’t start the day or week by sabotaging your efforts.  When we add a qualifier or a “but” to statements, we are already in the mindset that we are going to be too tired to do anything.

Start your Monday by saying “I will get to the gym 3 times this week.” or “I will work out 3 times” That’s it.  Nothing else.  Keep that front and center, not the possible reasons you won’t be able to do something.

It’s Monday, commit to getting better and leave the obstacles and excuses behind you.

If you have read Steven Covey’s 7 Habits book, then you know about the circle of influence and you know about the circle of concern.  In a short snippet, the circle of influence are those things that you have direct control over.  In the book it would be things like your clients, your family, your schedule, etc.  The circle of concern are those things that we find ourselves worrying about but cannot control.  From a business standpoint these are things like, the client who might use your business, the weather…anything that we have no direct control over.

I want to take a minute and have you apply these same principles to your training.  I want you to stop focusing all your time and energy on the things that pop up in your circle of concern and focus more on your circle of influence.

These items fall into the category of circle of concern:

1. Everyone else’s range of motion

2. Everyone else’s time and rep count

3. The weight on your neighbors bar

4. The weather

5. The actual workout

6. How your coach deals with all of the above

You cannot affect these and you cannot change these items.  And more importantly focusing on them helps you in no shape, form or fashion.  If you spend all your time worrying about these things, then you neglect to get better in the areas that you need to get better in.  The areas that you directly influence…the areas we call the circle of influence.  These are:

1. Whether or not you show up daily

2. Your nutrition and sleep

3. Your range of motion

4. The weight on your bar

5. Your mindset and attitude

6. How you and your coach approach your workout

7. How you handle adversity

8. Your effort

The neat thing about focusing on the things that we can control, is it has a carry over effect into the things that we cannot control.  If we are consistently showing up, pushing ourselves, moving correctly, eating right and sleeping well.  Others want those results and we have the opportunity to share that with them.  We continue in our path of controlling what we can.  Set the bar high for yourself and push yourself constantly.  All the coaches know that CrossFit thrives on intensity, but that intensity comes from within…by pushing yourself to be better…not worrying about the person on the platform next to you.

See everyone at the lab!