The first piece in January encouraged patience when considering a change - be particular about 'when to change'. We then moved on to the notion that more care should be taken for 'why we change' - to pay attention to the real reasons we want to. Of course, change is often necessary, so last week covered some options on 'how to change'.
February is the month of ‘failed’ New Year's Resolutions. Why do we falter so soon?
Change plays a vital role in consistency. In fact, one of our main biological survival mechanisms is homeostasis, maintaining stability while adapting to differing conditions. Simply put, you change one element to maintain another, more important element.
Successful pursuit of our goals can be synonymous with homeostasis. Tough, meaningful goals are rarely achieved through a straightforward journey. They include unexpected challenges; things change, and sh*t happens. Our environment is changeable, and we will need to change with it.
Yet, when navigating change, we should beware of the many distractions that lead us astray.
The French philosopher and spiritual writer, Antonin Sertillanges, wrote: “you should beware above everything else in trusting false teachers”. He wrote that over 65 years ago, without so many distractions as now!
In danger of sounding like a broken record, I will again refer to the example of online content. Online content favours grandiosity. So, many online ‘teachers’ push out grandeur. It makes perfect sense.
Grandeur is wonderful in principle! In the world of performance, it’s portrayed as success. Celebrating success and achievement is an important component of performance. We all share success, and we should. Because it feels good! And our digital world provides the tools to do so, easily.
However, like much of what we write, without self-awareness and moderation, we unconsciously head down a path, changing the journey from our goal, to a dead end.
We see this in the form of training session stats. What we lifted. How fast we ran. How far we cycled. The prolific online sharing is fantastic in celebrating our success. I wrote about this in depth previously, so I won't repeat it here.
What lingers is the danger of distracting ourselves. Be conscious of when the dopamine hit takes over. Because, just as we know how addictions start, you will look for it again. And searching for this dopamine hit is the ultimate distraction, leading us astray.
We forget these stats are a means to an end. They exist for assessment purposes and reality checks—to make sure we’re on the right path. Let the means not distract us from our goals.
When we stop getting that dopamine hit from grandeur, we get it from skipping the gym, binging on junk food, and training without purpose. Of course, this is one example. I’m sure you can think of many more whereby this same process changes the path of your journey.
Ron and I hope these posts can help you navigate change throughout February and the whole year. From learning why you want to perform, when to change and how to adapt, you are well equipped to manage distractions that may jeopardise your goals.
Thanks for reading.
Shane
Website, Videos and more: https://linktr.ee/activeedgesportstherapy