Growth Can Be Uncomfortable
Growth.
When my business coach asked me what my focus was for the second half of the year, I answered growth. And how I laid them out in my head, they all grew on each other:
Growth in myself.
Growth in my resources for clients.
Growth in clients and members.
It started with making time for undistracted personal development time and working out. Both are things I kiiiind of did, but not consistently.
One evening I was cleaning and cutting up 7lbs of green beans (last time we plant 25 green bean plants in our garden) while listening to the RealAF podcast and the guest was Ben Newman. He’s a performance coach, speaker, and author and he was sharing about his experience doing 75Hard.
75Hard is kind of like CrossFit in the sense that there is one rule: you talk about it all the time ;) Simmer, I also did CrossFit for many years so I can make that joke (shout out Fringe!).
Anywho...Ben dropped a lot of gold in that podcast, but I remember 2 things:
“You can’t ask your clients to do anything that you’re not doing.” Mmmm that hit me in the gut as I thought about the words that come out of my mouth as a coach and my actual actions and justifications on some things.
“Don’t try to think about getting through the whole thing (75Hard) just start.” Mmmm also a good one.
So, 2 weeks post having COVID (I only say this because after having it I felt like a champion after feeling horrible for 2 weeks), 1 day after signing up for an online fitness membership, and growth as my word I committed to.
These are the rules:
- Drink 1 gallon of water a day
- Read 10 pages from a non-fiction book
- Follow a diet (this is totally up to you)
- No cheat meals or alcohol
- Take a progress picture
- 2 workouts a day with 1 being outside
Finish all of these by the end of the day - which for me was midnight
So, I took my photo and sent it to Sean to announce my start, downloaded the app to track all the tasks, and set my alarm for 5:00 am...gross, I know.
Sean about pooped his pants because he’s already completed this twice and I had no part in it because I had no time to do the workouts and because it was just dumb (can you tell my mindset was sucky for a while?!).
So, the first week I felt amazing and it was very interesting how my brain started to be solution-oriented when it came to making time for the workouts as that was my biggest hurdle.
On day 21 I was at my dad’s to help him out post-surgery. We were on the couch, he was watching TV, I was working on a presentation, and we were just chatting it up. He turned off the TV and announced he was going to bed - I looked at the clock at it was 12:23 AM. Mother &^*%$# I hadn’t read my 10 pages as I usually read right before bed and that’s usually earlier than midnight….
I could have changed my rule to finish before I went to bed, but that would have been justifying why I didn’t do it and that’s one of the reasons I signed up for this thing.
So, I started the next day back at Day 1.
Over the next 75 days, the following happened:
- 75 photos were taken
- 150 workouts were completed
- 5 books were read
- 30+ podcast episodes were listened to
- 9,600 ounces of water was drank
- 20+ hours spent in the kitchen meal prepping
- Zero snacking sessions were had (this was tough!)
But more importantly:
- My days were more efficient
- My to-do lists were more realistic
- My energy was way up
- My mind was more focused
- Our family worked together to help me accomplish this
The hardest part was the last 7 days. For some reason, I just didn’t have the motivation and really had to push myself to do all the things because there was NO WAY I going to let myself slip!
On day 75 I went for my typical walk (think mall walker pace, not a stroll) on my normal trail and thought, “okay, I can’t finish this thing with a walk. let’s see if you can run the full 45 minutes.”
And I did and I’m alive (a little sore) to share it!
So, to bring this alllll back together - I needed to get uncomfortable in order to grow and I’ll 100% say this accomplished it. I like having a challenge outside of work to create space between life and business and I’ll 100% say this accomplished that, too.
It can be uncomfortable to grow.
It can be uncomfortable to put yourself first.
It can be uncomfortable to ask for help to accomplish something.
But it’s 100% worth it and you’re 100% worth it.
Has there ever been a time when you’ve signed up for something that has been out of your comfort zone but been 100% worth it?! I’d love to hear about it!