Don’t underestimate the little achievements

So tonight I have had my usual outdoor training session and it was such positive session.

It started well, I didn’t have a session last Wednesday so I’ve had a 2 week break and the difference in the light was unbelievable. I actually arrived in daylight! I’ll be honest training in the dark freaks me out so it was amazing to be in the light.

Then I actually did some “running”. Now when I say running, I mean the tiniest amount of jogging, very slow jogging, ever. To most people they would look and laugh or be very dismissive of my “running” but to me this signified  progress.

Now I have always “hated” running, I’m not sure why. I think maybe because I associated it with feeling out of breath & uncomfortable and I associated it with PE classes at school, when I predominantly disliked a lot of my form group. I can remember doing bleep tests in PE and missing the beep on purpose so I could sit down, no one ever challenged that, I suspect my PE teachers viewed me as a lost cause. I can remember slowing down during the Sports Day 300m heats race (girls ran 300m for some odd reason) so that I wouldn’t qualify for the final.

So my “running” today has been a huge milestone. On the face of it, the tiniest step ever but to me a massive deal!  And what made it such a milestone, an achievement if you like was that I didn’t even bat an eyelid when my trainer/coach/yoda said that is what I was going to do. I didn’t think of a billion excuses or use my safety mechanism of “I can’t”. No I just did it.

Secondly one of the last things I did before I found out I was pregnant with the boy was go for a run. Now I haven’t run anywhere near as far or fast today, but it was a step closer to being back at that point.

And all this prompted a discussion about progress, my progress. And one of the things that I’ve come to realise is mega important to me is little milestones. See it is easy to get caught up in the end goal. “Oh I need to loose 5 & 1/2 stone, I’ll aim for 2lb a week” then what happens? Well that goal is a long way down the line, if I only ever focussed on that I’d be so demotivated as it seems so out of reach, I know it is possible  but it feels a long way off. Also when you then have a week where you don’t hit a 2lb loss, you feel crappy, demotivated, like giving up etc.

So for me one of the biggest changes I’ve had mentally, probably since Christmas is I’m not focussing on the weight loss. I want to train, I enjoy it, I’ll get fit, I’ll eat clean and then weight loss will be the bi-product of that, it’ll happen, but I’m not stressing about it.

Also I need little moments of progress, little points in time to celebrate. That could be upping reps, upping weights or in tonight’s case, a tiny amount of running.

It is easy to dismiss small achievements as not valid but they are the building blocks to overall progress. Just that one small thing has given me a boost for the next week or so, given me some motivation. I was literally buzzing after my session tonight.

So my point is, don’t underestimate even the smallest achievements, they are what keep you going!

H x

PS my other little achievement today is I didn’t say the word “bollocks” at all in my session, I think that might actually be a first!