We had a great turn out for the seminar, thank you to everyone who came out. Also thank you to Nikki for making a Paleo friendly green chili and sharing it with everyone. We had a lot of group interaction and discussion, which I think everyone gained from. There were a lot of great topics brought up as far as goals, obstacles, scarifies, motivation, accountability, execution, self talk. and support. Many people brought up some great topics, which I think most were feeling but haven’t shared with anyone before. All of the things we discussed during this seminar are extremely important in accomplishing the things we strive for. Yes we’re all going to fail or fall off at times, but what really makes you the person you are or want to be is what do you do in the face of adversity. “Life isn’t about how many times you fall, it’s about how many times you pick yourself up.”
For those of you who attended the seminar please write to comments, what did you take out of the seminar? What points were made that you feel can help you a long your path towards success? Please share your thoughts for those who were unable to make it.
Below is a great essay titled “Perfection is Not Reality” written by Lisbeth from Functional Fitness Lisbeth. Also check out www.crossfitlisbeth.com for more great essay’s and articles.
Stop the madness.
You cannot eat perfectly, work out perfectly, live perfectly.
Or if you did, you’d be a miserable SOB that no one would ever want to talk to, or work with, or sweat near.
You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to screw up. You’re going to fall horribly off the wagon sometimes. Derail. In the ditch. Wheels off the bus. (Use every single transportation metaphor in the entire English language if you have to. Metaphors for everyone!)
It happens. And it really doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do after the wheels are off the bus.
Do you pick yourself up and carry on? Or do you go back to your couch and feel sorry for yourself and give up? Or do you try again but keep making the same mistakes over and over again?
That’s where you really tell me something about yourself and your character.
I’m not interested in the person who never made a mistake. And I’m not interested in the person who made a lot of mistakes and did not learn from them. But I’m really interested in the person who made a lot of mistakes and learned from them and got better. That’s the person who can teach all of us something. That’s the person to keep your eyes on. That’s the person to stand near in the workout and feed off their energy — because that person is going somewhere we all want to go.
Someone said this to me today: “The stress from pursuing perfection will a lot of times outweigh the benefits.” And he’s right: sometimes, we make our own kind of crazy and it’s counter-productive to our goals. We think we have to live at 100%, when instead sometimes we’ll be at 103%, sometimes at 80%, sometimes at 90%. What matters is your batting average, not each swing of the bat.
So, dial everything in and go like hell, but don’t think everything has to be perfect all the time. It can’t be. And that’s okay. You’re going to learn a hell of a lot more from driving that bus with 3 wheels than you ever did with 4. And when you take it into the guardrail (and you will) get out and put the spare on and keep going.
Thanks again to Courtney and Brandon for hosting such a wonderful Seminar… You two continue to impact my life in such a postive way each and everyday. The new Journals are fantastic and have a ton of great information in them. Jeff and I feel so blessed that we are able to be apart of this community and are share are success and weaknesses with all of you. One of the questions on the Goal sheet asked “How do you talk to yourself Before/During/and after each WOD”? So here is how I answered that question. Before each workout I am scared and nervous. I start think about how I cant do that or I suck at that. Then during the WOD I tell myself I feel like I am going to die!! I also tell myself well atleast I came and I may not be giving it my all but at least I am here. After I leave the gym I say to myself the whole ride home that I can’t believe I sucked so bad today. I could have done better. After putting that on paper it made me realize that my head is full of negitive talk. So the number one thing I walked away with last night was that I become to satisfied with my diet and workouts to soon. I self sabotage right before I reach either that good day of eating right or that moment in a work out where I could have done one more or ran a bit faster. I know that I can do better and Brandon and Courtney know that I have more potential. I am tired of being satisfied. I want and deserve more. This gym is not a place to just come and workout. This gym for me is a place where I can come and change my life. I need to start taking advantage of this opportunity. Thanks agian to Courtney and Brandon for putting up with me. 🙂
Thanks Brandon and Courtney for putting on the Post Resolution seminar last night. It was a great opportunity to listen and share goals and challenges with other Surge athletes. It was also great to meet some new folks who train at times other than 5:15 AM!
What a great essay from Functional Fitness Lisbeth…it hits on a number of the topics covered during the seminar.
Too often, goals are viewed as dreams or fantasy…”I wish I could do XYZ someday”, “I wish I were ABC”, “in my next life I will QRS”, etc. However, with motivation and commitment, we all have the choice to turn our goals into reality. Each of us will find that our motivation and commitment will vary in intensity over time and across different goals, that’s what makes us all unique and special individuals. The common element that ties us together is the pursuit of these goals…no matter our goal, we will all only get there one step at a time. Small, focused goals are the path to big success.
Think of the child who dreamed of being a pilot or being a doctor or President of the United States of America. In each case, there was no single “big bang” moment…not a pilot today, but bang, pilot flying 747s tomorrow. No, instead, the dreamer’s goal was supported and encourage by those who cared about her when she was child. As an adolescent, the dreamer sought out the necessary scholastic opportunities to prepare himself for flight training. Then as a young adult, she may have sought out private instruction on a small plane or joined the military for flight training. From there our dreamer gradually gained the necessary flight time to qualify for larger aircraft until he had the necessary qualifications to pilot a 747. This dreamer could only realize her ultimate goal through the successful completion of 100’s of small goals along the way.
Our pursuits at Surge for a healthier, happier life or our personal goals outside of the gym will be realized the same way…one step at a time. Focusing on the small successes along the way feeds motivation and commitment, making us hungry for more.
Seminar was great and the journal is a must be sure and get one. Just a thought on self talk. Negative self talk according to some of the gurus is twice as powerful as the positive. I try and avoid it by playing head games. During a wod at sometime or another we have all hit the zone were we become a machine. In every wod I search for that, don’t always hit it but when I do the program starts and the magic kicks in. I run tapes of the coaches in my head chest out, heels to the but, easy easy, your over half done. I also try and strategize and plan how I’m going to do the wod. Sometimes I play pac man and let the rabbits take off and try and stay steady and pass them as they drop off. I mentally refuse to be intimidated by the wod on the board. I just say to myself this is going to be interesting welcome to crossfit. I think we have our mental tools for the gym, curious what goes on in other peoples heads.