One of the most entertaining books I’ve ever read is Fit2Fat2Fit by Drew Manning. Naturally it ends with a nutrition and exercise plan you can follow by yourself, but reading how a modern-day fitness god decides to gain an obscene amount of fat in six months and then lose it all in the same amount of time definitely makes for a reasonable fun story. But I’m not bringing this up because I want you to read the book, and rather because of one of my favourite passages in it, which was actually about Michael Jordan, and the Chicago Bulls’ struggle to win the first of many consecutive championships.
Drew Manning during his quest to gain and lose weight
Jordan, as related by Manning, decided to put an end to losing at the NBA Finals by simply getting his fitness to a peak level. Seems pretty straightforward, but what makes this particularly different is, he focused on the process instead of the end goal. Instead of spending time at the gym to win a NBA ring, he did it to become better at whatever he was doing at the gym itself. We all know what happened next. Jordan became a basketball legend. His skills on the court captured the imagination of millions of fans worldwide. He may be the most recognised athlete of any discipline on Earth.
And he did it by not thinking of becoming a NBA champion during his training.
Now, why am I bringing this up? Easy. In all things in life, we tend to focus too much on the end goal, so much that we lose a grasp on the present, reaching a point of desperation when it doesn’t arrive as fast as we expect or want. This is a hard feeling to endure, and it happens not only in fitness, but in all aspects of life. But, how can you fight it? How can you keep on track? How can you refrain from quitting?
The answer is, make today’s goal the most important goal ever.
Want to become a guitar god? Practice your basic licks today until getting closer than yesterday to musical perfection.
Want to increase your clean & jerk by 10 Kg before the end of year? Then the goal is pushing yourself to the limit in today’s workout.
Want to drop two sizes in time for summer? Then today’s goal is eating as healthy and delicious as possible in all your meals.
Focus on the present, and your future goals will simply and inevitably arrive. It will be your rightful reward. The one you earned. The one you worked so hard for.
Julio Gutierrez – Coach