Eat Your Elephant

Happy Friday Virtus Family.

Have you ever noticed that the rich tend to get richer, the fit tend to get fitter and the unhealthy tend to become even more so?

When we become successful, more opportunities naturally present themselves to us. If we are struggling with our job or relationship, every other area of our life becomes more difficult to manage.

As we progress along the journey of life, we become more of what we are and we are because of what we do.

Of course, there can be catalysts for immense change, but for the most part, we are creatures of habit. Hard-wired to continue down the same path regardless of whether it is helping or hindering us in our quest to become our best self.

The further we get down this path, the harder it becomes to turn around and head in the other direction. This is of course, is a wonderful thing if we are moving in the right direction. But can be catastrophic if we are headed down the wrong path.

There are many reasons for this.

One is the sunk-cost fallacy or the escalation of commitment. Basically, we have put so much time/money/energy into something that the thought of cutting our losses and changing paths is crazy talk. We are incapable of making the smart decision and instead dig deeper and deeper to try to recoup our losses, but inevitably and irrationally end up with nothing.

Another reason, and the one which I think we have the most control over, is momentum.

Momentum, in the context of self-actualisation, is the compounding effect of our daily actions to allow us to do, and be more than the previous version of us was capable of.

Everything we do either takes us slightly closer or slightly further away from the person we want to be.

In isolation, none of our decisions make a tangible difference, but 100s or 1000s of them will ultimately determine which path we are walking down and whether or not we are moving closer to our goals.

That's the name of the game right? To achieve the things we set out to? To reach our goals?

Goal-setting tends to get a bad rap, and I can understand why. Lots of talk and not enough action. Plenty of overpromising and underdelivering. A whole lot of questions and nowhere near enough answers. If you resonate with these sentiments, you're not alone. I feel the same, and when coaching improvement is your profession like it is mine, or you're someone who hunts progress, something needs to change.

On Monday we are back at Virtus after 230 days on the sidelines. 230 days of my brain spinning wondering how we can improve what we do, and how we do it.

One of the constants of those thoughts was the gravity of teaching the importance of momentum and more specifically, how we can all use it to help walk our paths towards the person we want to be.

There are many reasons why we don't achieve what we set out to. We quit too early, we change course, we cease to trust in the process, we forget why we started or we never start in the first place.

Momentum simplifies the chaos, it quietens the noise and clears the fog that can rest between you and your goals. By learning how to build momentum, when we fall, we are still falling forwards, moving in the direction that we know we want to head.

Achieving our big hairy goals is much like eating an elephant.

In one sitting, it just ain't happening, but if we learn which bites to take, each one can help us build momentum to eventually get where we need to.

I want you to do these 3 things, and when we are back in the gym next week, we will be introducing our members to our new accountability & success system to help you actually achieve what you set out to.

1. Identify your elephant: What are the big goals you want to achieve?

2. How can you break those goals down into manageable and measurable chunks?

3. What are the daily tasks that will help you chew your chunks?

Do these things, and lean into our new accountability system and you'll consume your elephant faster than you thought possible.

If I've learnt anything over the past 230 days, it's that nothing can be taken for granted. We should be living a life of love and compassion and purpose and self-actualisation. If you want something, commit to doing the work, leaning on your allies, and achieving the things you dream of.

Onwards

Wallace