Exercise: A Key to Personal Development (#25)

After graduating college in 2011, I landed a job in a different city where I had no friends or relatives. I quickly found myself bored with tons of free time on my hands. It wasn’t long before I decided that starting a gym membership was a great opportunity to be around other people.

 

Yep, you read that right – my initial motivation for starting a gym membership was to get out of the house and meet people. However, it’s the personal development I’ve gained through exercise that keeps me going, seven years later.

 

Joining a social group or team is always a good excuse to exercise 😉

 

For example, I’ve always been an organized person but it wasn’t until I got involved with habit-based exercise that I developed traits such as discipline. As a result I started gaining more and more self-confidence as my body began to change. Results led to more confidence, and that confidence ultimately led to more self-discipline!

 

The confidence and discipline I gained from working out started translating into other areas of my life as well.

 

What about you? Perhaps you’ve been working out consistently for a while now and have also experienced similar personal development as well. As a personal trainer, I can attest to witnessing the following growth characteristics in many of my clients, regardless of age or gender:

 

  • self-confidence
  • optimistic outlook of the future
  • charisma
  • charm
  • less self-awareness
  • increased self-respect
  • discipline and organization
  • autonomy

 

Not only does regular exercise come with health benefits, it also unlocks different aspects of your life.

 

As you advance in your exercise journey you’ll begin noticing different personal development traits such as these. Ultimately, my desire for you is to develop these traits through consistent exercise so that they develop into other areas of your life. This is where exercise meets daily life!

 

Choose to make a long-term investment in yourself through regular exercise, today.

 

Your future self will thank you 🙂

Key Takeaways:

  • Personal development from regular exercise keep you going
  • Fundamental characteristics from routine exercise translate into other areas of your life
  • Invest in yourself through regular exercise
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Mini Habits! (#21)

You and I are creatures of habits. It’s amazing how many decisions are made in our daily lives without thinking. Some studies even show that subconscious habit makes up 40% of our daily actions! Therefore, in order to keep that ‘40%’ full of healthy actions we’ll discuss how to change unhealthy habits with “mini habits”.

 

One misconception about habits is that they take a lot of effort to build, but I disagree. Nature shows us that a small snowball rolling downhill will eventually get bigger and stronger with enough momentum. The snowball doesn’t require much “effort” once it gets going. In the same way, we’ll use effortless mini habits to build daily momentum towards our goals.

 

 

A small snowball (mini habit) doesn’t require much effort once momentum kicks in.

 

 

There’s a saying that goes “success is built upon success”. Fortunately this quote never mentions how big the success has to be! Think of a mini-habit as a daily task towards your goal that’s SO simple that it’s hard not to do it every day. For instance:

 

  • If your goal is to improve your gym consistency, start a mini habit of driving past your local gym on the way home each day (nothing more!)
  • If you want to build a strong core, start a mini habit of simply laying in sit-up position on the ground for a few seconds (yep! that’s it!)
  • If you want to drink more water each day, start a mini habit of simply filling up a water bottle (I didn’t even say you had to drink it!)

 

“Great! But isn’t this a little TOO simple…what’s the catch?”

 

Mini habits are designed to get you comfortable with taking the first step towards your new goal (a healthier habit).

 

 

Therefore, these too-easy-not-to-do mini-habits simply serve as your “daily bare minimum” accomplishment for the day. However, I assure you it won’t be long before you naturally feel compelled to do more simply because you “might as well”. You’ll figure:

 

  • “I’m already driving by the gym each day (mini habit accomplished), I might as well go inside on the treadmill for a couple minutes”
  • “I’m already down here in sit-up position (mini habit accomplished), I might as well do a couple”
  • “I’ve already filled my water bottle (mini habit accomplished), I might as well drink some”

 

Remember: The “mini habit accomplished” is your main goal, anything else is an extra bonus.

The power of a simplistic habit checklist goes a long way.

 

Furthermore, I would seriously recommend making your momentum visible by utilizing a journal or checklist calendar. Keeping track of your progress this way is a great way to see your “success building upon itself”. Seeing your daily momentum gives yourself a satisfying sense of accomplishment every day. The longer your daily “success streak” gets, the more you’ll want to keep it alive.

 

And boom – you’ve just created discipline without even realizing it.

Let’s get that snowball rollin 🙂

 

Key Takeaway:

  • New habits are best acquired through daily momentum
  • Daily momentum is best sustained through simple, mini habits
  • A mini-habit (baby step) is something that’s “too-easy-not-to-do“
  • Keep track of your daily progress in a journal or calendar checklist
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Your Biggest Competition: YOU (#14)

Man starring at himself in mirror.

One summer while working at a gym I became curious about how fast I could sprint 40-yards. I decided to time myself on the indoor track and my first sprint came out to around 4.8 seconds. As a former athlete I didn’t think 4.8 seconds was very fast, and so it turned into a self-competition to reach a “fast enough time”.

 

Notice, I never gave myself an actual goal of how fast I wanted to run.

 

The only “goal” I had was to keep beating my best time.

 

Competing against the yourself provides an intrinsic motivation like nonother.

 

This went on for months until I finally peaked at around 4.49 seconds.

 

In “Why Not Me”, we learned to narrow our focus on becoming the best version of ourselves. Moreover, we ultimately become the best version of ourselves by competing against ourselves. Perhaps the best thing about self-competition is that it prevents you from comparing yourself to others. With self-competition the focus is on you. This is why I suggest visual strategies like journaling to help focus you on your daily progress (and not anyone else’s 🙂 )

 

Self-competition makes it easier to stop comparing yourselves to others.

 

What are some things you did yesterday that you can do even better today?

 

  • Can you exercise for 5 more minutes today?
  • Raise the intensity?
  • Increase your sets and reps?

 

Even if you’re new to the gym start by recognizing where you’re currently at and take baby steps from there. If you only go to the gym once a  week, try going twice a week for a month. If you only know how to use one cardio machine, try learning a new one next time. Regardless of skill level, the key is to continuously have something to work towards.

 

Soon enough you’ll notice that you’re not just your greatest competitor, but your greatest ally as well.

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Self-competition requires practice
  • We ultimately become the best version of ourselves through self-competition
  • Self-competition prevents you from comparing yourself to others
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What’s Next? (Unfamiliar Opportunities) (#13)

Man busy at gym

While I’m a huge advocate of mastering what you already know, there comes a time where we internally ask ourselves, “what now?” As human beings, we’re naturally wired for goal achievement (this is why most of us don’t enjoy being bored). Psychologist Abraham Maslow takes this a step forward by referencing self-actualization as our deepest human need (ie. “fulfillment of our potential”).

 

Taking gradual steps in ‘unfamiliar territory’ gives us a chance to grow!

 

Take myself for instance.

 

For most of my life I was very timid around people I didn’t know. I showed traits of low self-esteem like avoiding eye contact, being stuck in my head, not giving honest opinions, and questioning myself. However, one day I decided it would be cool to share my fitness passions with others. I (very slowly) began journaling different health and fitness topics each day. Eventually I gained the confidence to share my ideas with friends, and today (years later) I’m here sharing these same ideas with YOU!

 

I went from being shy to sharing fitness tips in front of hundreds of employees!

 

So where are the unfamiliar opportunities in your life: Is it longer workouts? Consistent gym attendance  Public speaking? Trying a new machine?

 

Whatever it is, the best way to grow is by taking small, realistic steps at a time. For instance, it might be more beneficial to warm up with an unfamiliar cardio machine for 2-minutes instead of 15-minutes. When we view growth as a never-ending process it keeps us from the unnecessary temptation of doing “too much, too soon”.  As a friend used to tell me,

 

“The way you eat an elephant is one bite at a time”

 

Trying something new requires the risk of being “bad” the first couple of times – but no worries! Just remember: we ultimately become good at what we practice over and over again! 🙂

 

Reference Link: https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html

 

Key Takeaways:

  • We long for fulfilled potential
  • Take small, gradual steps towards something unfamiliar
  • View growth as a “never-ending process”
  • We get good at what we practice
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“The Beautiful Growth Mindset (Facing Challenges)” (#10)

Man smiling.

A children’s study showed that kids who were praised solely for their intelligence couldn’t handle adversity as well as those who were praised for their effort. 

 

When ability becomes one’s lone focus it leads to a fixed mindset. Effort, however, develops the growth mindset.

 

So which mindset are you aiming for?

Natural ability (without effort) has a capped ceiling.

 

As you see, our mindset plays a significant role in how we perceive challenges. The fixed mindset basically says “it is what it is”, while the growth mindset says, “I have an opportunity to challenge myself and grow”.

 

Let’s take a closer look at the two mindsets.

The Fixed Mindset says:

  • “I either can or can’t, period”
  • “Either you got it or you don’t”
  • “If I fail, I’m a failure”
  • “I’d rather stick to what I’m good at”
  • “That’s just the way it is”
  • “I give up when I’m frustrated”
  • “Everything is based on my abilities”
  • “I’m satisfied”
  • *Me-focused

 

The Growth Mindset says:

  • “Hard work and effort can help me get to where I want to go”
  • “Practice and effort is the key to becoming skillful”
  • “Failure is something that I do, not who I am, and is a vital part of the learning process”
  • “I’d rather try new skills”
  • “What else can I improve at?”
  • “I persevere when I’m frustrated”
  • “Everything is based on my attitude and effort”
  • “Whats’s next?”
  • *Mission-focused

 

 

 

Here at Daily Fit Boost we focus on the process rather than the outcome and we NEVER stop growing! And the good news is that it’s never too late to switch from a fixed to a growth mindset once you realize it’s possible.

 

 

The effort required is based on each individual goal – and whether you think you can do it!

 

So let’s GROW!

 

As you work towards your fitness goals you’ll eventually get to a place where you develop effort-less habits.

 

Key Takeaways:

  • It’s better to be praised for your effort than your ability
  • Our mindset plays a significant role in how we perceive challenges
  • It’s never too late to shift to a growth mindset

* (Study Source: Dr. Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University and author of the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, studies mindset in children.)

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