Rituals of Success and Failure in Health and Fitness

We all have them. Some rituals make us excited about exercise, while others free us from sickness, and still others make us great athletes. Some hold us captive, unable to escape the locks of moderate health, lackluster muscle gain, and continual fatigue. It's time to take a deeper look at rituals in our daily routine that can be created, molded, and perfected, to make each day healthier than the next.

It all begins with focus and intent. If you ask ten people what these two words mean, you'll likely get ten different answers. To me, focus is knowing exactly what it is that you want. When you have focus, a tunnel vision effect takes place. Your peripheral vision is limited, and you have your eye on the prize. In the case of health and fitness, peripheral vision is would be any distractions that would limit your total success with your objective. The prize is optimal health and accelerated fitness.

Intent is the driving force that propels you forward to realizing your goals. Picture it like this; if a baseball is the focus (Keep your eye on the ball!), then the perfect swing that drives the ball over the wall in center field is the intent. One without the other leaves you far from any goal you need to attain.

The most frequent ritual that I see with people missing their goals is "negative self-talk." This is the voice inside your head that says, "I know I'm okay, but, I'm not that good!" You may hear things such as, "I'm fine with third place. She's better than me anyway." Negative self-talk will hold you back from your goals without doubt one hundred percent of the time. Your intent just dropped the ball. It didn't even go foul. When I was interviewing a sports psychologist for my book, she told me some amazing stories. I recall her speaking of an Olympic runner she was counseling. As he prepared for major events, he would be doing fantastic until he arrived at a certain level of competition. At that same level, for three years, he would become injured or seriously ill prior to competition. At some competitions, he would simply perform sub-standard.

This athlete knew his body. He knew about proper rest, eating right, the benefits of massage, race day preparation, etc. Subconsciously he was self-sabotaging his career. He didn't believe he had what it took to make it to the top of his sport. This self-sabotage could have taken the form of purposely overtraining to make the body weak, or mentally giving up so he would have to face the consequences of his achievements. Frequently, athletes, and people in general, fear success as much as failure. Fortunately, the runner was willing to seek the proper therapy and now is a world-class athlete.

Sometimes the opposite is true of people's beliefs in themselves. It's vital to have proper attitude and desire. Equally important is to know your limits. I see this most frequently with young males who have an over abundance of testosterone. They decide that it's a great idea to "max" on bench press each time they work their chest muscles. For an eighteen-year-old male, the chest is exercises every other day because "it's a beach muscle!" This overindulgence can also apply to those who decide to run a marathon with a one-month notice. If they have little or no running experience or foundation, the risk of injury is over 50%. Again, the desire is great, and the bravado that leads to injury is a less than desirable trait.

Although it's great to try a variety of exercises, a ritual of switching intensive training between four or five sports will yield moderate results at best. I've seen this often in the martial arts. An early twenties man will come in the martial arts school rattling off the styles he's studied. "I've done tae know do, kung-fu, karate, jiu-jitsu, and some Thai boxing." That's amazing since it takes nearly twenty years to master one style. It's said that any training up to your black belt is simply the foundation of learning. The point of all this is to find an activity you enjoy and master it to the best of your ability. It's wonderful to explore new arenas, but remember "focus and intent."

All too often, an individual will allow another person's improper judgment to effect their beliefs in themselves. Sometimes friends are jealous of your plans, which may include adventure travel or a rejuvenating spa getaway. They may wish they could do the same. So, if a time comes when you don't get the support you need, continue to believe in yourself and stick with your plans. Remember, if you don't take care of yourself, who will?

Taking time for yourself is something that movers and shakers forget to do at times. It has become part of our culture. This isn't a good thing; it's just a ritual that must change if we are to flourish with optimal fitness and wellness. Since you are business-minded, let me present it to you this way. When you are building web pages, creating files, fulfilling orders, or locking cells in Excel, and you don't optimize your hard drive and remove corrupt files, your system will crash.

Picture your computer as your body. Your files and folders are your heart and lungs. The guy with the tape on his glasses that comes in to fix your computer when it crashes is your heart surgeon performing open-heart surgery. In this worse case scenario, your computer will be rebooted following a yell of "clear!"

To avoid this unwanted high tech bill, begin the ritual of periodic breaks from the grind - A walk, a massage, a romantic dinner with someone special, or taking an extended nap.

A ritual not to be forgotten is the setting of goals. There is always much talk about what to set, when to set them, how lofty should they be, and where to start. It needs to begin with desire. This is the burning feeling that tells you that something is very, very important to you. It needs to make you passionate. Your goal should be backed with piles of reasons why you are so committed to arriving at your goal, that you can't even fathom letting anything stand in your way. It is my theory that goal setting should be done in three parts. They are immediate, intermediate, and long term.

The immediate goal defines what massive action you will take now to assure you create momentum to carry you forward. Intermediate goals are the steppingstones that carry you to the long-term goals. The intermediates can also be a point to reassess your progression and make necessary adjustments. The long-term goal is the end result. It's the marathon, the ideal weight, the first place, the 190 cholesterol, and so on. Think of it this way: Immediate=Initiate, Intermediate=Reevaluate, Long-term=Goal attainment.

Note: Goals can be made at the beginning of each year, each month, each week, and each day. The only difference is the magnitude of the final attainment. The similarity is the joy of accomplishment.

It's time to assess your current rituals. Are they empowering or self-limiting? Are you getting what you want from your current behaviors, patterns, and ideas of what it takes to become fit, trim, healthy, wise, relaxed, and confident? If not, then it's now time to create a compelling future of total wellness through dynamic changes in the aspects of your live that will bring you desired results. Follow the process of goal setting and attainment. Forge a compelling path towards total wellness through careful planning and an optimistic outlook.

Some of you are already creating a compelling and exciting future of wellness for you and those you love. If you haven't yet - "When would now be a great time to begin?" I would say now is a great time. So that brings me to my final disenabling ritual. Procrastination! Procrastination is an evil that can be found anywhere you see results that are delayed, people who are unfulfilled, and wellness that is not optimized. Procrastinate the procrastination. In other words, put off the procrastination so the only choice remaining is to take immediate action. That sure does simplify things, doesn't it?

Realize your full potential by taking immediate, massive, and continuous action towards your goals with rituals that are empowering and fun. Bring a friend or spouse along for the ride.