Have you experienced The Valley of Disappointment?

Embarking on a new fitness journey can be daunting, it can be hard to know where to start, what we are aiming for and how we are going to get there.

Introducing something new in our life, like visiting the gym, changing our diet or learning a new skill is going to require a level of behaviour change and an adjustment to our daily habits.

Earlier this year I read ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear and he breaks down our daily behaviours into a series of small habits and has some great advice on how to change our habits to work for us.

Habits may be small but they can become so ingrained that they prove hard to change.

I remember for myself how hard it was to make working out a part of my weekly routine, and how demotivating it was to be putting in what felt like a ton of effort and not getting the results I was expecting in 3-4 weeks.

I know that I am not the only one that felt like this, let me introduce to you The Valley of Disappointment.

As soon as I read it it made sense, and changed how I motivate myself not just in exercise but in all areas of life. Which is why I want to share it with you.

When we embark on a new behaviour often it feels like we make no progress until we reach a critical threshold where all the action happens at once.

He gives the example of an ice cube sitting in a room at -10°. If we increase the temperature to -9° nothing much happens, same for -8° and -7° right up until we get to that magical 0° when the ice starts to melt.

The same goes for behaviour change. We make a few changes, say going to the gym twice a week for a month, cut out dessert and after a month look in the mirror and feel like nothing has changed.

This is the point where a lot of people lose motivation and give up. They’ve given up before the point where the magic happens, before the ice has started to melt!

Good habits are the result of small consistent changes over a long period of time. Months, even years. It is so easy to call quits in that valley of disappointment, where it feels like our efforts are not matched by the results.

Progress is not linear and we need to remember that the effort we put in now is not being wasted, it is being stored until later when its true value, the combination of all the effort put in before is revealed!

If you feel like you are stuck in this place there are a few things you can do;

-Be accountable to someone!

-Have a clear goal of what it is you want to reach.

-Have a customised, progressive plan on how you will reach this goal.

This is where I come in, contact me on 07747676414 or maxineellison@me.com

Together we can work our way through the valley of disappointment and see real results!