Fit for Life: Your Enemies Are All Around

Fit for Life: Your Enemies Are All Around

I was listening to a podcast the other day that one of my friends and fellow Fit Body owners was highlighted on, and the interviewer/CEO of the franchise asked one last question to close out the episode. 

The question he asked was, what is your biggest enemy, and the guest said two things: 

One was perfection, and the other was procrastination. 

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I am currently reading a book called Extreme Ownership, written by Jocko Willink, a Navy Seal who led U.S. Troops through some of the heaviest firefights encountered in Iraq. In the book, he continually describes a different type of enemy—an enemy out to kill and harm other people who live a way of life they disagree with. 

I know there is quite a contrast in enemies, but another definition of the word enemy is a thing that harms or weakens something. 

 

I say all this because I want you to realize that we don't need to be at war in a hostile country to have enemies in our lives who want to do harm or hold us back. 

In the book, the author discusses leadership on the battlefield and how tactics and strategies carry over and apply to everyday life. When dealing with specific enemies, he details their mindset, knows how they train, what tactics they use, and what weapons they carry. 

In other words, he knows and identifies who the enemy is and their capabilities. 

The same thing we need to do when fighting our own enemies daily. 

Let's look at the few my friend mentions in the podcast that we face regularly and identify ways to combat and overcome them in everyday life. 

The first one he mentions is perfection, which leads to procrastination. 

We wait for the perfect time to act on something we dream about or want to do. 

We keep making excuses like our schedules are too full or that there is too much going on. 

Here's a news flash: the timing will never be perfect, and you will always have something going on. 

 

If there is something you know you need to do, the only way it will happen is if you start taking action towards your goal. Even imperfect action is better than no action because it gets the ball rolling instead of procrastinating and kicking the can down the road. When you do that, you make zero progress towards your goals. 

Whenever I talk to a lead or prospective client on the phone, I always ask, how long have you been wanting or thinking about hitting your fitness goals? Sometimes, the answer is months; sometimes, it's years. 

Then, I asked them to imagine where they would be if they started their journey and how good they thought they would look and feel. That's when I told them that if they start now, six months from now, they won't be imagining anymore; they will be living their dreams and attacking their goals. 

Hindsight is always 20/20, so we can't beat ourselves up about the past and what we didn't do. We can only learn from our mistakes and move forward with new knowledge and intentions. 

I procrastinated opening my own business for many years before I actually pulled the trigger and bought into FBBC. I was 46 years old and opening my first brick-and-mortar. I had no plan and no knowledge of operating systems, sales, or marketing. 

The timing could have been better then, too, but I made a decision and took action (lots of imperfect action). Now it's 10 years later, and my biggest regret is that I didn't do it sooner.  

What caused my procrastination was complacency, which is another silent enemy. 

I now have the words "Complacency Kills" tattooed on my forearm to remind me never to get complacent again and to always push myself to get better each and every day, regardless of how well things are going.

Humans tend to take the safer route or the path of least resistance, especially when things go well. 

We make a sale, lose hunger, become complacent, and make fewer sales calls. We hit a weight loss goal and loosened up on our nutrition discipline. Our bank accounts grow, then we spend more money and stop saving.

We can become complacent and content and stop pushing ourselves to the next level, and that is a mistake to avoid. 

There was a time when I was doing well and wasn't hungry enough to go through the trials and tribulations of entrepreneurship. I was training many people, paying rent at a box gym, and had money coming in. I was complacent, keeping me from procrastinating in my dream of owning my gym. 

It wasn't until I realized I could scale what I was doing and help more people get fit that I made the leap into gym ownership. I knew I was missing my calling and had to step up my game to reach a new level in life. I left the easy, complacent life I was living and took on a whole new set of challenges, and I am glad I did. 

So next time you think about your enemies, don't think about the haters and social media trolls that write negative things about you online, as they are harmless when you ignore them. 

Worry about the enemies in our head that hold us back from achieving our best lives and goals.  

Do this by making fast decisions and taking action. This will help you avoid procrastination, step out of complacency, and start to become a better version of yourself.

 

Coach Matt