I hate the vagina.
Never thought I’d say that.
It’s already mid-January and I don’t feel like a new me. It doesn’t even feel like a new year. I’ve basically only left this chair to use the bathroom. It’s exam season. And this medical degree is starting to take the pedal to the metal.
So I’ve been *attempting* to learn the path of the trigeminal nerve.
And the facial nerve.
And the olfactory nerve.
And the opthalmic nerve.
And which cranial fossae they arise from.
And their branches.
And which muscles/viscera/skin they innervate.
And associated pathologies.
Repeat for the rest of the brain, pelvis, penis, vagina and immune system. And cancers.
Kill me pls.
If you’re a medic, apologies for the flashbacks. If you’re not, say pterygopalatine ganglion three times.
Times like these bring out the procrastination demons like nothing else. I’m noticing myself compulsively flicking off my notes and on to social media the closer I get to the exam.
Despite proving to myself again and again that that half-working is a fruitless task, here it comes, creeping back in. So I took a leaf out of the Paul Mort book and asked the uncomfortable questions.
This article is a 2-in-1:
1) A 6 pronged-attack on the procrastination demons.
2) How you can apply this framework to achieve any goal this year by knocking out the obstacles.
So this still applies to you if you’re not a student. Bear with me, I'll tie it back to fitness.
I encourage you to follow along with me with a notebook. If you don’t, this will be nothing more than a semi-entertaining read. This is an exercise in honesty, where the beauty is in the probing.
Shining the light of consciousness on to the areas we hide from ourselves. Sorry if this is a bit intense for a Wednesday afternoon.
Time to dig up the darker reaches of your mind. Your demons can’t hide once you’re staring them in the face.
Let’s begin:
Write down a current goal that you’ve previously struggled to achieve.
There has to be a degree of pain and frustration here. The more comfortable you are with your current state, the more able you are to rationalise away the fact you haven’t hit the goal. You convince yourself it was never really that important anyway, and you’re just fine the way you are. Self-acceptance is great, but it’s not going to help me pass my exam. And it won’t help you hit single digit bodyfat.
Louis CK puts it very nicely: Self love vs self awareness:
I chose to write out the process on something non-fitness related, so that you can do it on a fitness goal, coming up with your own honest answers without being contaminated by mine. At least you don’t have to show anyone your page - meanwhile here I go publicly naming and shaming myself.
The process goes like this:
A) Ask the questions
B) Establish a plan of action
C) Get accountable, measure your progress.
Keeping score of your progress is paramount.
"If you don’t have the courage to keep score, you open up the space to lie, rationalise and justify” - Paul Mort."
Need accountability? Join the Protocol group to post your daily habits , training/nutrition logs, etc.
A) The uncomfortable questions
Write responses to the following questions, being as unfiltered as possible. Get the obvious answers out the way, then continue to sit with the question until the real nasties start coming out.
The questions aren’t gospel. Feel free to go off piste, whatever it takes to probe your sore bits. It’s like foam rolling.. you’ve got to get that hockey ball right up into your piriformis to release it.
1)What is the pain of failing?Why is it important to you? Medium term goal, specific 90 day checkpoints, measurable criteria?
2) What are the perceived obstacles? Why haven’t you achieved it already?
3) What would you be most afraid that people found out about you?
4) What is the biggest lie you’re telling yourself about this?
5) Are you making progress, and how do you know?
