After talking on the phone and then sitting face to face with a workout buddy of mine last week, I realized that I had to write about how to power small wind and why you should celebrate the small victories.
I could hear her voice crackle a little, like when you are holding back tears. “I’m done. This is stupid. Why am I even doing this? I’m not losing any weight.”
She was discouraged. I tried to console her a little bit, “it’s okay, everyone has moments like these and hits plateaus.”
You are not alone. Then it hit me. “Wait how much did you lose?” She loss .5 of a pound in the last 30 days, after eliminating processed sugars.
To me….That’s AMAZING! Especially being that she was not working out consistently. Oh and the month prior, before eliminating sugars she only maintained her weight.
“So you did lose some weight? I get it wasn’t what you expected but this is a win and a step in the direction you want to go.”
You have to be conscious of the small stuff because that leads to your big win. It’s a snowball effect. If you forget to do this, you will give up just when you are close to a breakthrough.
I suggested that she increase her cardio (being consistent, a few times a week) with the dieting and then reevaluate.
The reevaluation is for two reasons. One is to see if what you are doing is working and allow for adjustments. The second is to keep a record of your successes. Seeing this progress will keep you working hard. This powers your small wins and ultimately pushes achievement.
It’s easy to get lost in the work and forget how far you have actually traveled on your journey. The log is a physical reminder.
Thanks for this great post Jay! It is always too easy to focus on what we haven’t achieved over what we have, so I love your ideas on celebrating all our achievements, no matter how small. This philosophy doesn’t just apply to weight loss either, whatever your discipline is the important thing is just to keep on going, it doesn’t matter if you aren’t moving forward fast as long as you’re moving forward! How can we stay motivated in times like these?
Hi Danny,
How can we stay motivated? For me it’s all about doing something related to my goals everyday. When motivation is lacking I have two people in particular I call or text that help to remind me of the reason why I work so hard. So I think it’s about (in part) having someone you trust that can be honest with you and help give you the push you need.