Episode 41 of F&T looks to tie together some of the lessons learned over the last 10 weeks of podcasts and newsletters.
In my first Nottingham chapter, the following stands out for me:
1. People will piss you off, the world will get you down, but what can you do regardless?
Twenty years ago my dad told me about his chin-up campaign, itself something he consciously enacted twenty years before that – these things come in waves and they come in cycles – every day I have a reminder go off to ask me what I can do to make today (even) better.
2. Not everyone sees the world as you do.
No matter how good your intentions are, or how much experience you might have – I’ve recently relearned this through traveling, flatmates, workmates and clients.
3. Would you hang out with you? Why not?
Not to be confused with fake it until you make it, this is a case of putting your best foot forward – fix up, look sharp and treat yourself like someone you respect and watch how the people around you notice.
4. Can you spare 10-20 minutes a day to do nothing, and, maybe, even think nothing?
Yes, yes you bloody well can. Look at your screen time and tell me you can’t.
If you have a sauna at your gym, or a motorway commute, or a garden, or a chair in a room, just sitting without your phone, and ideally in silence, can be a terrific unlock for a sense of calm, boredom and, if you stick with it, peace and inspiration. Do it before you knock it!
5. You might not [yet] have what you need for the outcomes you want
This time last year, the gym that I now work in didn’t exist. I needed time to pass for the building I like, the team I enjoy, and the facilities I love to come into being. One year ago I would have loved what I have now. One year ago, I might not have been ready for it. There are a million what ifs, and I pulled the trigger on the what is that made the most sense to me and continues to get better with each passing day. It’s not that I couldn’t have known I’d feel like this a year ago – I felt that I could. It’s that the wheels to be put in motion hadn’t even been built this time last year.
6. The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago, but now will do too
There’s never a good time to start but if you never do, you’ll never know. Compound interest exists across all the six pillars of fitness, but you might have to risk some physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial capital to find out exactly how. Or you can sit on it.
7. Ask
Ask people who are older than you, who are younger than you, who are from different countries and cultures, or maybe possess different abilities to you and yours.
Currently I’m playing the role of yoot to a number of elders, and I’m loving every minute.
Which of these do you resonate with? What have you re/learned recently?
Who do you know might benefit from thinking on fitness differently? Share this with them!
You can be the reason someone struggles less, or not at all, or even gets a head start on living their best from the get go.
And if you want structured lifestyle coaching that actually makes sense in and out of the gym, message me.
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Fitness & Thinking
Forget six packs – we look at six pillars of fitness: physical, mental, social, spiritual, emotional and financial.
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