I wasn’t sure what to discuss in the blog this week as I would say that it has been a pretty uneventful week, which isn’t a bad thing! It was just about the process, following routine and putting in the work. No big highs or lows. I suppose though that in itself is worth discussing, the transition from a period of change into the new normal.
In my very first blog of this new process I discussed how exercise was just such a part of life I didn’t really think much about it anymore. That doesn’t mean I lack passion, interest or drive, it is just that it is so integral to my routine that I don’t need to seek motivation to get it done or feel as though it is an added pressure in my routine. Conversely, for anyone at the beginning of the journey fitting in workouts feels like a huge pressure and they constantly need to find motivation to get it done and if the motivation isn’t there it simply does not happen. That was me at the beginning of this business journey.
I wouldn’t say the motivation wasn’t there, far from it, but I would say that everything felt like a massive effort, I struggled to fit it all in and was continually forgetting to do something. That’s why there have been so many ups and downs. because the routine wasn’t there. A routine takes time to build up though and I do think we (Giulio and I) are beginning to get there. As I said last week, the momentum is building. Someone asked me what I was doing differently to create this momentum and the answer I gave them was nothing. Not a single thing. The momentum is building because we have found a way to consistently put in the work every single week and we are beginning to see the rewards. Rather than anything changing it is just the accumulative effect of putting in the work.
This week was business as usual, the new normal, as we got our heads down and did everything that we needed to do. What has changed though is our focus and the clarity of what we need to do and the importance of this should not be underestimated. Again comparing this to someone else at the start of their fitness journey, the beginning is so tough because there is so much to think about. It isn’t just about doing a workout. You have to decide which one to do, you have to think about technique, form, what weights to use, muscle soreness, recovery time, what to eat pre workout and the list can go on and on. It can be really overwhelming. However, as time goes on and you get to grips with the training itself you can strip away all those concerns and all you need to think about is finding time for it and that seems like much less of a challenge.
That is where we were at this week. We were able to strip back a lot of the challenges we had faced before such as making decisions about how to divide our workload. We used to spend time deciding what each of us were to do but now we are both clear about our roles and we just get on with it. We also have a clear vision about the direction we are going in, something that was a little blurry at first as we tried to take on too much too quickly. We are now clear about our first couple of objectives, we are giving them all our focus and then we can gradually expand at the right time and finally, we are have made clearer lines between work time and down time. This has been crucial as when you work for yourself you say things like “it’s great we can take time off whenever we want’ but the reality is you take no time off, ever. We have now ring fenced some times in the week to take off though and we have been sticking to it, which has definitely made us more productive overall.
Turning change into the new normal is not an easy task and time is the biggest factor. It takes time to build routines, to iron out any issues and to figure out how this change is going to look long term. So if you are making changes don’t expect to build a new routine overnight, just put in the work every week and one day you will realise it has become your new normal.
Fit Bird
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