Have you ever watched an Olympic sprint distance race? The commentators usually spend 5-10 minutes discussing their predictions for the race while the runners walk around, stretch, and get psyched for the event. The judge finally calls for the runners get into the blocks, then set, then BANG! the starting gun fires. For a 100m race, it's over in under 10 seconds.
When I look back through my log of body stats, an interesting pattern begins to emerge. Over 10 plus years, I've started more than 20 diet and exercise plans. I'd usually get serious, pick a day to start, log my measurements, and take my "before" pictures. The times I was more serious, I'd weigh in and take measurements every week. Other times, I'd make a single weight and measurement log entry and then there would be a huge gap in time until I started over again. Those times I probably gave up and quit within the week.
Other than the first entry on Sunday, February 15, 2004, every starting weigh in was on a Monday. "You can't start a diet in the middle of the week," I'd tell myself. "I'll get ready and REALLY get started after the weekend. My friends are probably going to want to have dinner Saturday, so I don't want to have to miss that." I'm not sure why it never occurred to me that they'd want to go out the next weekend, and the next weekend after that! "Plus," I'd rationalize, "I want to start with a workout also, and I don't want to spend my weekend at the gym.
I don't remember much about February 25th, 2014. I know it was a Tuesday, and we always play volleyball on Tuesdays, but that's about it. The only other remarkable thing about that day was the fact that I logged in my measurements, weight, took some photos, and logged my first DDP Yoga workout since briefly giving it a 2-week try back in 2012.
Do I think starting on a Tuesday made the difference in my success when I failed so many times before? No. Then why was I finally able to break through after failing so many times before? I had no idea whether or not this time would be any different than all the other times, but whatever triggered me to start was obviously bigger than waiting until Monday, March 3rd to get started. I just couldn't wait another 6 days.
I only managed to complete 2 workouts in the first week, and 2 the second. The beginner schedule suggests 3 workouts per week to start. It wasn't exactly a record start. Then, something weird happened. I did 6 workouts in week 3. The following week I did 4, and in the fifth week I did at least one 20 minute workout per day, every day. The last rest day I took was July 2nd, and I guarantee that whatever caused me to skip a day was not worth it.
As with most of the insights and advice I'm giving, this applies to every area of life. It's not just about losing weight. I used to spend days getting ready for the starting gun that would fire on Monday. My advice to you is jump that gun. There are no penalties for early starts. This is not a sprint, it's not even a race. It's you saying, "I'm tired of where I am. It's time to go somewhere better." You may not even know where you want to go at this point, but I promise to get into that later.
Unfortunately, there's no bus, taxi, or flight to take you to where we're headed. You are going to have to walk. The good news is there are people who know how to help you along your journey. There's no reason to struggle with trying to cut a new path when there are maps, trails, and guides available to get you going in the right direction.
What's the takeaway for now? Stop getting ready to get ready and just GO!
If you're still waiting for the starting gun, here it is...
BANG!
CJ
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