3 words that will help you bust up excuses and get moving.
A lot of workout mantras out there leave very little room for error.
Crush it! Make it happen! No excuses! Go big or go home!
They all kind of feed that "all or nothing" warrior with whom some of us are all too familiar. I mean, there was a time I embraced that approach, and it definitely has its appeal. When I was ALL? Helloooooo results! When I was NOTHING? We meet again, square one.
As someone who was once very loyal to the "all or nothing" mindset, I have embraced a new relationship and mantra in the last few years that have served me way better than any of those "crush it!" mantras ever have.
Better Than Nothing.
How has “better than nothing” served me?
- FUELED MOTIVATION. It got me out of a two-year workout slump, kicked off by a major life transition. While it took me a while to embrace the One-Minute Workout, I couldn’t argue that 1 minute of squats would always be more than—and therefore better than—zero squats. Next thing you know, I’m regularly working out again.
- FOCUSED ON WINS, NOT GAPS. It kept me coming back for more, and if there’s anything that will get us to our goals faster, it’s consistency. I’m specifically thinking of those summer speedwork sessions when I was getting back to running and training for a 10k. Summer running temps make me want to cry, and I was new to speed work, so I was miserable for a lot of reasons. Rarely could I do a whole workout as prescribed, but rather than feeling discouraged, I mentally high-fived myself and kept coming back to my mantra: hey, this is better than nothing! I was doing NO speed work before, and that kept me coming back each week.
- CREATED MORE OPTIONS. No longer do I look at my day and see what I can’t do. Instead, I see opportunities for what’s possible. When my plan calls for a 7 mile run, but I only have time for 3 miles, I get out the door and run 3. Or, I do 10 pushups in between calls because that’s what I can do today. Old me would’ve skipped the run because I didn’t have time to do what was planned, and 10 pushups would’ve seemed pointless. Current me sees the value of maintaining the habit of showing up. No longer am I boxed into what things should look like, which gives me so many more options, PRs, and wins on the day.
Consistency, not mediocrity.
For those of you who shudder at the idea of doing anything less than what the plan calls for or 100% of what you’re capable of doing, I simply encourage you to think about how it may be holding you back. This approach isn’t about denying what you’re capable of or settling for mediocrity, it’s about embracing what’s possible right now vs. idealizing what could be tomorrow.
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– Jeanne Torre, MSW, LCSW, NBC-HWC
Health Advisor & Run Coach | Email Jeanne
