Me, my scales and I

I knew already that my scales weighed slightly light. So I bought myself some of those fancy "we can tell you everything about yourself including how much fat you are carrying" scales fom the Sportsmans Warehouse yesterday. And set them up and compared old and new today. My old scales are 1kg out. Which means I have to lose 1 more kg to get to my target goal of 70kg. Sigh. And maybe I didn't really want to know my depressing body fat percentage, or that I've put on a smidgin of weight since last week.

Here were my options. Get depressed. Give up. Go eat cake.

But I chose not to do any of those things. Just to take a step in the right direction (tuna and cucumber wholemeal sandwich with no spread for lunch), then another one (small mandarin for a snack)...... because I am going to make it to a fitter, lower cholesteroled, 5k running me.

Then I went and adjusted my start and current weights on my 12WBT profile, just to keep me honest.

Driving around Canberra doing errands this afternoon, my resolve strengthened even more.  I thought about all the things that have held me back in the past and hold me back now.  Most if it is really about resolve, discipline, determination and focus.

I get great ideas for things I want to do, start and then let them die a death as I either get bored of them, decide they aren't reall worth it anyway or get excited by something new.

I know I can be outcomes focussed and bloodymindedly determined when I really put my mind to it.  That's how I've gotten ahead at work.  Because I love what I do, it's important for other people, and it makes a real difference in people's lives.  I've achieved amazing and wonderful things that way and have had heaps of fun as well as some stress and anxiety along the way.

So why can't I put this into action when it affects me?  Maybe I don't think I'm worth it, or I'm not smart enough.  Maybe I'm just plain lazy. I could did around and get to the root cause of all this, or I could start making a real concerted effort to change my behaviour, not because I have to, but because I want to.

Listening to Michelle's messages and even more, reading through all the comments from people on the 12WBT forums, it seems that self sabotage is the thing that holds most people back from achieving their goals.  So I'm not alone.

There seem to be two things that help people achieve their goals.  The first is being absolutely organised.  Setting a routine into a diary and then sticking to it faithfully.  The second is to actually live the mantra JFDI.

And today I realised very clearly that these two things aren't just about achieving health and fitness goals but for reaching life and career goals more broadly.

I have been toying with the idea for a couple of months now about doing a PhD.  I'd gotten to the stage where I had just started talking to people about what I wanted to do.  I've been on leave and have another week to go so even went as far as setting up a couple of meetings while I am off work.

Then, last week, I had a car accident in a car park (my fault) and had a bunch of other bad news. I went into an absolute slump of despair and thought to myself that there was no way I could ever complete a PhD.  That I didn't have the determination, oomph or discipline to finish one, even if I could work out what I wanted to say and write.  Today, after my little scales episode, wandering around Canberra doing messages, I realised that I had ben just getting in my own way again and there was no reason I couldn't complete his PhD.  And I got excited about it all over again.  So thankfully, I hadn't cancelled any of my meetings and am going to do some testing with academics and people in the area I want to research to see whether the projects can have legs, strong legs, strong lean and fit and sculpted legs. 

So 12WBT is about your body, but even more, it's about your mind and about you being in control of your behaviour.