Years ago, when I worked in the fitness industry, a certain phenomenon cycled around this time of year. People began their new year with resolutions to ‘get in shape’ and went to the gym daily, often exercising until exhaustion for about three straight weeks. Regardless of their progress, after about a month, many people just stopped coming to the gym. Although a few people intermittently returned when bikini season or a new school year arrived, unfortunately, most just waited until the next “new year” to try again.
This is the challenge of creating life-changing goals. Sometimes, life schedules and unforeseen events overwhelm even the most dedicated of resolution setters. Most times, though, despite the desire and energy to make a lifestyle change, a life-changing shift requires a different perspective or attitude. Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare portrays two perfect attitudes for embarking on a life changing journey.
In the fable, the overly caffeinated hare thought better of himself because he was quicker than the slow and deliberate tortoise. When the tortoise challenged the hare to a race, the haughty hare raced ahead and then took a nap, which allowed the steady tortoise to pass him by and win the race. Although the fable aims to teach that slow and steady wins the race, the hare’s story also offers wisdom regarding goal setting and achievement.
To achieve our desired goals, we need to approach them with the enthusiasm of the hare and the patience of the tortoise. First, we need the hare’s confidence, energy, and enthusiasm to bound ahead while envisioning the desired outcome. When you set your goals, list them all with the end in sight as if you have already achieved them. Then, adopt the attitude of the tortoise and pace yourself so you can endure the entire journey. Lifestyle changes can become overwhelming, and at first, the temptation arises to make dramatic changes. Rather than immediate and dramatic changes, remember that with patience and pace, you will still accomplish all you set out to do.
How to Apply the Two Perspectives
With health and fitness goals, create incremental goals over a period of weeks or months. If you have never been to the gym and are just getting started, establish a twelve-week plan that starts with simple activities and gradually add more exercises, visits, miles, or classes, until you attain the bigger goal [e.g., running a 10K, losing ten pounds]. Then, every twelve weeks, enlist help or seek resources to reset your goals and devise a new twelve-week plan. With this strategy, you can make tremendous strides toward health and fitness within a year.
Another helpful way to make lifestyle changes, especially when eliminating unhealthy habits, involves lists. With the energy of the hare, spend some time making a long list of all the habits you wish to change in one column and then all the habits you wish to incorporate in the next column. Then, still with enthusiasm, use a calendar to plan each week by adding one or two items from each column of the list. This way, like the tortoise, you can pace yourself until you arrive at the end of the year with many new habits and fewer unhealthy ones.
If you find you are quickly reaching your goals, then you may need to evaluate whether you are challenging yourself. The hare could easily finish the race and understandably, he became bored. You can avoid this fate by daring to ask more of yourself, knowing you also have the patience to endure the journey ahead. Then, by next January, you can be proud of just how far you have traveled.
This is the challenge of creating life-changing goals. Sometimes, life schedules and unforeseen events overwhelm even the most dedicated of resolution setters. Most times, though, despite the desire and energy to make a lifestyle change, a life-changing shift requires a different perspective or attitude. Aesop’s fable of the tortoise and the hare portrays two perfect attitudes for embarking on a life changing journey.
In the fable, the overly caffeinated hare thought better of himself because he was quicker than the slow and deliberate tortoise. When the tortoise challenged the hare to a race, the haughty hare raced ahead and then took a nap, which allowed the steady tortoise to pass him by and win the race. Although the fable aims to teach that slow and steady wins the race, the hare’s story also offers wisdom regarding goal setting and achievement.
To achieve our desired goals, we need to approach them with the enthusiasm of the hare and the patience of the tortoise. First, we need the hare’s confidence, energy, and enthusiasm to bound ahead while envisioning the desired outcome. When you set your goals, list them all with the end in sight as if you have already achieved them. Then, adopt the attitude of the tortoise and pace yourself so you can endure the entire journey. Lifestyle changes can become overwhelming, and at first, the temptation arises to make dramatic changes. Rather than immediate and dramatic changes, remember that with patience and pace, you will still accomplish all you set out to do.
How to Apply the Two Perspectives
With health and fitness goals, create incremental goals over a period of weeks or months. If you have never been to the gym and are just getting started, establish a twelve-week plan that starts with simple activities and gradually add more exercises, visits, miles, or classes, until you attain the bigger goal [e.g., running a 10K, losing ten pounds]. Then, every twelve weeks, enlist help or seek resources to reset your goals and devise a new twelve-week plan. With this strategy, you can make tremendous strides toward health and fitness within a year.
Another helpful way to make lifestyle changes, especially when eliminating unhealthy habits, involves lists. With the energy of the hare, spend some time making a long list of all the habits you wish to change in one column and then all the habits you wish to incorporate in the next column. Then, still with enthusiasm, use a calendar to plan each week by adding one or two items from each column of the list. This way, like the tortoise, you can pace yourself until you arrive at the end of the year with many new habits and fewer unhealthy ones.
If you find you are quickly reaching your goals, then you may need to evaluate whether you are challenging yourself. The hare could easily finish the race and understandably, he became bored. You can avoid this fate by daring to ask more of yourself, knowing you also have the patience to endure the journey ahead. Then, by next January, you can be proud of just how far you have traveled.
