You’ve heard this DOZENS of times, right?
“Be Patient”, “Patience is a virtue” are all things manyof us have been told countless times in our lives but something that few manage to grasp, what does it mean? more importantly, why is patience important to you and your goals, fitness and otherwise. In my opinion, patience is important because it enables you to actualize the result you desire by allowing yourself the time to grow capable enough not just physically, but also mentally. Any achievement worth grinding for is worth being patient for, and in order to reach the level that you can actualize your desire, takes a new version of yourself strength and fitness is one of those for me.
It takes strength to be patient
because in the world of social media, 5g data and rising internet celebrities, many people have found the idea that they’re ready for multimillion dollar lifestyles or 6 pack abs before they’ve even entered the arena. Without patience, the desires that we have that we DESERVE to manifest, are mere shells of what they could become if we put in the time and the effort it takes to achieve them. Rome wasn't built in a day, nor was Disney or Amazon, we need to be dreaming in galaxies, and achieving those dreams is going to take time, and that’s where true strength is shown. To use the example of fitness, everyone has seen advertisements to “the secret to 6 pack abs” “3 simple movements to drop 40 pounds” anything to grab attention and sell a shortcut that ultimately could damage your health in the long term. Steroids and other PED’s look like an easy shortcut for those rushing the process to see results today, but what happens behind the scenes, slowly chip away at the integrity and overall health of your body in the longer term. That’s where the strength to exercise patience comes in, taking the time to spend 5 years studying, educating yourself about YOUR body, how it functions and learning yourself inside and out to enjoy the next 80 years of life, vs 2 years of short term success followed by a health issues and inconsistency, which sounds more successful?
Fitness is a major motivator of mine personally as a personal trainer, not simply for the appearances and health benefits, but also for the amount of mental growth, humbleness, patience and variety pursuing a better, stronger version of yourself requires. From the ability to manipulate your body, to the ability to mentally check your ego and push the boundary of where the old you ends and the new begins, crushing comfort zones on a daily basis in order to reach new heights takes TIME. Time as we know, requires patience and that requires you to always think beyond your impulses. Impulses are frequent and near impossible to avoid because they’re manifested within your own mind, most often the lower level neural paths within it that control, the “lizard brain”, power, sex, survival, etc. It’s these processes that might lead one to attempt a dangerous weight at the gym after an injury or tweak before they have taken the proper steps of stepping back, correcting the tissue damage, bringing the weaker muscles up to par and allowing safe and effecient movement to return before attempting heavy weights again. Following an injury, like most aspects in life, it’s critical to have patience because in order to surpass where you stopped, you need to step down what feels like a few rungs on the ladder, do the tedious but important work and rebuild yourself from a different view before returning to the progression ladder.
Without Patience, and Planning, the Road becomes Unpredictable.
Having a plan in place can be helpful in keeping patient during a process by giving you a different set of stimulus, a tangible one that can make it feel as though you’re still progressing, albeit, laterally but progression is progression! This is true in not just fitness but in everything in life, setting a plan in place to buy a home might look like spending time and money inteligently to increase a credit score, saving $100 per paycheck in order to establish a down payment on a loan, hiring a knowledgable realtor to find a listing etc. Think of devloping and following a plan, as a road map and having patience as the vehicle to get you to your destination in one piece, rather than in pieces, because without it, biting off more work than you can chew AT THE TIME can lead to stress, sickness and potential burn out, turning a hobby into a high stress task without a plan to prevent it can lead to losing a potential outlet for stress release and trying to skip ahead and avoid putting in the work often backfires and SLOWS you down in the long run.
Allowing Variety into a plan to keep excitment alive.
Following a plan and dilligently checking boxes for an extended period of time, inevitably gets boring and eventually most people will bail because they start feeling trapped, that's where variety comes in. Allowing some flexibility to an otherwise well thoughout plan of progression can be just what you need to keep motivated and patient. That might look like a cheat day on a diet, an early Christmas gift to yourself as reward for hard work, or it might look like taking a break from a big assignment to work on a pleasure project! The key here is that no matter what process you’re currently involved in, being patient and following a plan can be difficult after a time, so building ways to keep the process alive can help across the board in helping your mind and body, succeed.
What this looks like for me personally,
- Daily Strength Training program and Cardio 5x per week, varied depending on my specific goals at the time, this month being strength.
- Spending time alone each day and focusing on the quality of my breathing, this helps me to observe my thoughts and allow my body a chance to ease the stress of daily living through calming my ANS (Autonomic Nervous System)
3. Reading, I prefer to do most of my reading during my training periods as it helps me retain what ive read and gives time to let it process undistracted. Philosophy, Psychology, and Medical Journals are among the most favored readings of mine.
The key to this is that im not married to the idea that all of these NEED to be done or i’ll fall apart, but that if an impulse to get a burger comes up, or i dont have time to read that day, its not the end of the world because in comparison to the number of days in my life i’ll be productive, having 2 days off plan doesnt even register. adding the flexibility of variety to your process aids patience by allowing you to avoid workplace burn out, stress, and the discomfort that structure can sometimes bring. By combining your conscious intention and goals, with your natural instincts and impulses, you enter a state of oneness with your body, mind, and intention that is inevitably destined to have you succeed.
Start small today, exercise patience by commiting yourself to finishing at least one task before starting on another, by waiting in line without pulling your phone out every 2 feet, or even by just not switching channels between commercial breaks and build from there, one day at a time.
