Good morning…
Today most of the Seacoast is under some type of a winter advisory, and for me it means no church and a day stuck inside. I was hoping I might be able to venture out at some point and maybe go X-Country skiing, however the mix of ice rain ruins that idea. I am grateful of having the comforts of shelter and pray for those who do not.
This past week I chatted about starting a collection of marbles in an empty jar, adding a single marble for whenever you work out or run. I will be honest, this first month of 2019, I have not been consistent with my running or strength training, so my jar does not have many deposits. This makes for a quite loud clank when the marble hits the bottom. I can attempt to blame my schedule for a near empty jar, but truthfully, I lost motivation.
As a running coach and a personal trainer, I understand behavioral science and the importance of repetitive activity for continued adherence. My lost motivation may have been influenced by external factors such as schedule changes, sleep struggles (too tired to workout), injuries, or even life struggles, but ultimately the decline was the result of adherence.
Often when I see a NFLF client has not logged their runs or workouts onto our online log for a period, a red flag goes up! Lack of adherence often leads to a behavioral change and if left unaddressed, the desired goal becomes a burden, not an inspiration.
Part of why we feel like we are different from other options in this growing fitness industry, is because we care about every individual beyond a finish line or a beach body. I will share something personal with you for the sake of helping understand the value of adherence. I have sought out professional counselling multiple times in my life to help me address issues holding me back from being the person I want to be. One of the best things I came to understand, is how external factors (finish lines, beach bodies, snazzy cars, etc..) will not permanently satisfy my internal fulfillment. This understanding plays right into our NFLF foundational mission. We most definitely can help individuals with goals (and we do) but helping create an adherence based on strong internal belief is a far greater measure of success for us and the client. External is a finish line versus internal which becomes a lifetime of activity.
Again, being personal, success such as PR’s better physique, and accolades have been a part of my life, for not always the best reasons. Thankfully I now understand better, in order to maintain positive reasons for running and working out (adherence), I must view the internal benefits, not an external result. While the marbles filling up the jar will be external, my desire for them is to represent my physical and mental health gained by running and other workouts.
This past week I dropped a total of 3 marbles in the jar. With my travels out to Colorado for a visit with my daughter and grandsons, it will be challenging to drop more marbles in, but I will try.
Have a great and safe Sunday!
God Bless
Mike
