The first whole week of the new year has come to an end! How did it go?! Did you start strong and feel great? Or did things not go as planned, and you already feel like you’ve fallen behind? I surveyed our BAC members to ask how the first whole week of the year went, and this is what they said:
For most, the first week of the year went as planned—but for 34% of voters, it didn’t. If you “fell off” or never got started, it’s okay. Life happens, and a single week doesn’t define your year.
When I meet with clients, they often come to me, dwelling on what they failed to do. And, while it’s okay to feel disappointed that things didn’t go as planned, too often, we view our wellness journey as pass or fail:
🗣️ “I was good.”
🗣️ “I was bad.”
🗣️ “I started strong, then it all went out the window.”
Do you hear the all or ‘nothingness’ in those phrases? I passed. I failed. I started on the path to pass, and then I failed.
What if we shift the “pass and fail” mindset to an “experiment and adjust” mindset?
What if we view nutrition and fitness as if we were starting and training for a new job? Hear me out:
If you arrive three minutes late to work on your second day, do you quit and walk out because you “failed” and might as well start over and find a new job? Or, do you apologize (if someone was expecting you) and strategize to leave home earlier or account for the time it takes to walk from the parking lot to your designated work area for the next time?
Let’s say it’s day one on the job, and you do a task for the first time. You do an “okay-ish” job with the task—not excellent, not perfect. After all, you don’t know all the company lingo and acronyms because YOU JUST STARTED! Does your boss fire you because you weren’t perfect on your first try on day one? Or, will you quit the moment the boss gives you some feedback to improve on certain areas because this means you aren’t perfect?
Your boss (assuming they are not a total tyrant, lol) will not fire you because you aren’t perfect on day one. They expect you to struggle, hit some bumps, and make mistakes as you learn because that happens when you are new to something! They expect you to show up and progress. You likely accept this, too. You know that a new job comes with a steep learning curve, but you continue to show up, learn from your mistakes, adjust, and readjust tasks until you find your groove and a work rhythm that works best for you.
We get pretty good at our jobs over time because we show up consistently. We may need to call out sick, run late a few days, and make mistakes, but we show up consistently. We don’t quit the job and vow to start over again the next week, month, or year when we make a mistake or hit a bump. We keep showing up to work with good intentions and do our best. Some days, we give our jobs 100%; some days, it’s 5% because you were up all night with a stomach bug.
What if we treat the healthy habits we want to implement with the same mindset we do a new job? Some days, we give 100%. On a rocky day, we give 10%. We know that making a mistake or hitting some obstacles are not official grounds for quitting; instead, they are opportunities to learn from. Instead of quitting or dwelling on the obstacle or mistake, what if we explore ways to prevent or work around the barrier next time?
See? That’s how we shift from a “pass and fail” mindset to an “experiment and adjust” mindset. This “experiment and adjust” mindset can help with consistency—and consistency, my friends, is where we see some real wins!
So, if things didn’t go as planned last week and you felt like your wellness goals took a nosedive and a back seat, remember, a single week doesn’t define your year. If your goals didn’t unfold perfectly, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed—it just means you’re human. And being human is precisely what we’re embracing this month! Let’s take last week for what it was and adjust for next week. No perfection is required—just showing up!
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