My lessons from 42 days of sweating

You may recall a VERY SWEATY picture I posted at the beginning of the year (don’t worry, I won’t subject you to it!). I was a few weeks into the “Tough Mother Challenge.” An online fitness challenge to build up my core strength and fitness. I’m sliding into 40 this year and there are more aches and pains than I would like!

Now, I am three months on from starting this new challenge which has created a change of behaviour and attitude towards a very specific part of my life. When clients start with me to work on their careers, work-life balance or business, they are at the beginning of the journey. The idea of how coaching can help may seem strange or a little out of reach. You reach out to an expert or someone that is further on in their journey than you; which is the very thing I did when I connect with Dr. Joanna Helcke.

These are my lessons from 42 days (and counting) days of sweating!

1. Accountability is key
Nothing beats having someone to report to. To know that person notices when you don’t ‘turn up’. Tracking it visually gave it an extra boost; ticking off the days I had completed showed my progress too!

2. Scheduling is essential
I used my time blocking approach to make sure I booked in the time to fling myself around a room. Every day I’d ask myself “where can I fit this in?.” It takes time to create a new habit. For me, it took 42 days to see this new behaviour as part of my life. Change doesn’t happen overnight.

3. 80% is good enough
Some days I couldn’t get through a whole workout; from that dratted virus wiping out my energy to just not having the puff to get through the session. But attempted is better than doing nothing!

4. Measurements can’t lie
The mental and physiological results were instant, but it was great to track my process physically. We had three fitness tests which gave us a baseline to start with; a few of my starting points were 0, so the only way was up!

5. Progress is varied
I noticed very early on that I have NO UPPER BODY strength. So, anything that involved this was hard. Really hard. Yet, my legs are actually quite strong. So, my progress was different. I saw my tricep dips output double vs a maintenance on burpees, during the fitness tests. But both were hard – whilst my strength improved on the one, my technique improved on the other.

So, what can you take away from this?

1. Do you want improvement or change? You need to work with people who know more than you on the topic. Make sure it is someone that you trust, that you have a belief in, and that will provide you with the results you want.

2. You need to have skin in the game. It’s harder to commit to things where you haven’t invested. For me, that investment was time, public accountability AND money. The only way you will reach your goals is by taking it seriously. Putting in the work and working past your comfort zone. Yes, it’s a massive cliché, but it’s true.

3. You need to pay attention to the mini-wins in your progress. Be sure of your end game and understand your starting point, but don’t let that little progress go unnoticed.

4. You need to ask “how you will keep it going?” Me, I’m signing up to the monthly membership (which keeps the power of point 2!) as I have realised that I still need to “tap into” the variety and expertise of the person.

If you remember nothing else, remember it’s so much harder to make a change on your own.

What are you looking to change? How will you start working a little harder to make it happen?

Join The Balance Collective with Clara Wilcox to continue the conversation.