Making Changes

We made it! Another revolution around the sun. This time last year people were reflecting on experiences of the previous year as well as setting goals and resolutions for the year ahead. January 1st fell on a Tuesday in 2019 and this year it falls on a Wednesday. The majority of resolutions won’t be started until Monday the 6th of January. At least that’s what I find working in the gym. Look out 2024, that’s when January 1st falls on a Monday!

Some of the top New Year’s Resolutions include; quitting smoking, managing debt, losing weight or getting a better job, just to name a few. Sadly, statistics show that only 40% of the people who make a resolution or set a goal actually stick with it to fruition. It’s not entirely your fault; change is hard and when coupled with slumps, plateaus and automatic negative thoughts, it’s easy to give up on what you set out to achieve.

Former pro baseball player, Johnny Bench, once said, “a slump is like a soft bed; easy to get into and very hard to get out of.” He wasn’t kidding, when you find you’ve hit a plateau or you’re feeling stuck it’s very easy to revert back to what you know and pick up with old habits. There are ways and strategies to move forward, allowing you to reinvest in your goals. I can only draw upon my own personal experience and that of my clients, but slumps and plateaus can happen in any situation with any life change or improvement. They also vary in exactly when the plateau can happen.

When you first journey down a path towards change, there is a lot of reward for minimal effort. After some time the reward vs. effort changes and you may find that it takes more work for what seems like a smaller reward. You’re approaching, or you’ve hit your plateau and if you push through it – when appropriate, you will eventually be highly rewarded. As a trainer, I usually see a plateau around the 6 week mark. At the start of a new exercise or nutrition program, your body goes through an adaptation phase you can feel these changes fairly quickly. Right around the 4-6 week mark you can start to see the changes. This is also when your body has grown accustomed to the demands you’re placing upon it and you approach or hit a plateau. This is when more effort and attention is needed. This is also when things start to look like they’re going nowhere. It’s what you do at this time that can determine how quickly you can get off the plateau or out of the slump.

Every change looks like a failure in the middle. Did you catch that? Let the weight of that sink in as you reflect on past attempts to achieve a goal or change one. When thoughts shift to the future we begin asking ourselves, “What happens when I don’t succeed?” we stop trusting the process and fear it’s not going to work. Things can feel like they’re up in the air and our internal beliefs and external habits are called into question.

The biggest obstacle to any kind of change is the voice that tells you that it’s impossible: we are our own worst critics. The inner voice that is covered in ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts). These ANTs loathe change. At first it appears nice by helping to rationalize any backsliding and encouraging and/or rationalizing further movement away from the change or goal and towards the previous status quo.

Ever talk yourself from one tiny slip in a diet into an entire cheat, reward, fill in the blank weekend? So how do we get off the plateau and move forward?

• Identify your readiness to change when you’re ready, the motivation to change will come organically and you will know it’s time. You won’t need to wait until January 1 or a Monday.
• Believe you can do it. Your thoughts can drag you down. Instead of thinking or saying, “this will never work.” try writing how you can and will reach your goal. Give yourself daily affirmations on your progress. Also, train yourself to reframe the ANTs. Instead of thinking, “people are judging me.” try reframing that to “people are learning from me.” or “people are cheering for me to succeed.” or even “I am inspiring others to make a change as well.” The key to quieting the ANTs is to learn self love and self acceptance as you are – BEFORE the desired change. Believe in what you want so much that it has no choice but to materialize.
• Think constructively about set backs. How do you react to backsliding? Is it all or nothing, or do you view a setback as temporary? Remember to be kind to yourself, when you have a set back refocus, and move forward. If we’re talking about nutrition one ‘bad’ meal or snack isn’t going to ruin months of hard work.
• Finally, build mental strength. This will help with follow through as motivation declines. Instead of focusing on the what, look to the why, let that be the motivating factor. Also, set smaller goals within the big goal and focus on achieving those. I had a client who wanted to compete in a figure competition and worked extremely hard to make that a reality. As a side goal, she wanted to be able to string together multiple strict pull ups, she hit the pull up goal around the same time she was struggling with trusting the process that can serve as proof of progress and keep the momentum going forward.
• Also, have the courage and willingness to ask for help and support. Most people hire a coach, trainer or other professional because they need help with accountability, motivation or education. Having a weakness in one or more of these areas can increase your time to achievement of the goal by 2-3X, which increases the likelihood of falling into a slump. Putting a plan in place to move forward from a plateau or temporary setback will allow you to reinvest in your aspirations for change and give you the power to make the necessary and desired changes. The question then becomes, “What happens when I succeed?”