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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Why We Struggle with Workout Consistency (#4)

If you’re like me, you’ve struggle with consistency in one area or another. (And if you’re really like me, you’ve struggled to keep consistent with playing the guitar!) Arrghhhh! 😒)

 

I’ve started and stopped the guitar dozens of times!

 

When I first practiced the guitar I noticed a trend: I’d practice guitar for an hour or so – and then not touch it again for several months! This cycle continued for years until I finally realized that my skill level was a reflection of my consistency (or lack there of).

 

Developing consistency is something that’s vital for our all-around personal development.  When it comes to exercise consistency, my personal belief has always been quantity over quality. Through my years as a personal trainer, I’ve witnessed far more with the guy who exercises to 4-5 times a week for 15-minutes, than the guy who does intense 1-hour workouts whenever he “has time”.

 

There’s nothing like the feeling of stacking up consecutive victories!

 

In my experience I’ve found that success comes from taking small, consistent steps. The awesome part is that taking small, consistent steps can be applied to practically anything:

 

  • Instead of trying to exercise 5 times a week for 1 hour, trying starting out with 3 times a week for 20 minutes.
  • Maybe commit to reading one chapter a day instead of trying to finish an entire book in one sitting.
  • Rather than setting out to meditate for 20 minutes each day, try three minutes instead

 

Consistency leads to habits, while habits lead to long-term success. They say it takes 21 days to build a new habit, so determine to develop that 3-week foundation and you’ll be exercising regularly in no time!

 

Key Takeaways:

  • Your consistency is paramount to your success
  • For developing consistency, quantity of effort means more than quality
  • Trying to do “too much, too soon” can hinder your progress (start off small!)
  • Consistency will lead to your long-term success
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