Consistency Over Perfection
The phrase “Consistency Over Perfection” is now my mantra.
This post outlines how I went from discouraged about my fitness progress to pushing through and making real progress in many areas of my life.
Fitness Goals
Last year, in December, I maxed out at a weight of 198 lbs. This is the most that I’ve ever weighed. Ever.
Per my usual habit, I set my Fitness Goals and posted them on my underutilized fitness blog, Get Gary Fit.
The problem is that I only looked at setting goals to get back in shape. I know what I have to do and I know that I gained a bunch of weight back. Frankly, this felt overwhelming. Year after year, it felt like I was reporting on what I didn’t accomplish the year before and what I wanted to do going forward to “do better.”
Then I just let it sit for a bit. At first was a bit discouraged as this was my ninth year of “trying to get fit.”
Fitness Values
What are values anyway?
In The Confidence Gap, Russ Harris defines values as
Values are “desired qualities of ongoing action.” In other words, your values describe how you want to behave as a human being: how you want to act on an ongoing basis, what you want to stand for in life, the principles you want to live by, the personal qualities and character strengths you want to cultivate.
Values can’t be completed. And as he puts it, “Goals are ‘desired outcomes.’
What changed my perspective was knowing that you can live by your values even if you don’t hit your goals 100% of the time. We aren’t looking for perfection. Consistency is what we strive for.
No matter what your circumstances, living by your values brings fulfillment. That builds momentum, which in turn will fuel achieving your measurable goals. Without defined values, goals are just a to-do list with zero motivation.
My overall fitness value is well-being, which I define as:
To look after one’s own well being, maintain or improve fitness, and mental health.
Instead of focusing on the pounds that I was losing, I decided to focus on my well being. I’m doing this to feel better, live longer, and be able to support those that are in my life for years to come.
When my mood is low and motivation is lacking, I use my fitness value as my North Star. It’s what fuels consistency.
The Results
I started out with a small change, eating Paleo / Keto consistently for 21 days, then a month, and week after week since then.
How am I doing so far? In the last 72 days, I’ve lost 28 lbs.
Once I realigned and focused on my fitness value, I was able to push through and make progress that I haven’t experienced in a long time. The awesome thing is that by setting new habits for myself, it’s affecting other areas of my life for the better. Clear values plus tiny wins have kept the momentum going.
I’m excited to keep pushing, creating my Art, and being consistent. It’s something to strive for, and now my values explain why.
Get the Shirt
Pictured below is Mike Vacanti. He’s a great guy, an on-point fitness coach, and you should definitely buy one of his shirts. Both he and the shirt inspired this blog post.
