Ease On Down the Road

I was reading a book the other day that was talking about building a foundation for success. The author likened it to training for a marathon:

"You wouldn't just sign up today and run a 25-mile race tomorrow. You need to do lots of practice runs to build up your strength and stamina. Without training and practice, you're likely to become
discouraged and drop out of the race." -Judith S. Beck, Ph. D.

Aside from the obvious error (25-mile race), the above quote is pretty brilliant. When I decide on a race, the first thing I do is prepare a training plan. I don't even think about running until the schedule is mapped out and I'm as prepared for every eventuality as I can be. Then, and only then, does the training begin. If I skip any of the key training runs along the way, I'm decreasing the likelihood of a desirable end result.

Why then don't we apply this sort of preparation to other areas of our lives? Dr. Beck is referring to buiding a foundation for diet success - regardless of the type of nutritional plan you follow, you are less likely to succeed if you don't "train", "building up your diet muscles and stamina" using cognitive therapy techniques and learning "skills that enable you to tolerate hunger and resisting cravings".

I believe that the same techniques can be used in preparing for, and implementing, your strength training plan as well. It's all about learning how to silence the negative thoughts, reframe them into something positive and getting out of your own way. If we pave the road to success, we're less like to get a flat tire while driving over a sink hole.

Over the next six weeks, I'm going to apply Dr. Beck's Cognitive Therapy methods to my training regime. Feel free to join in - I'll be posting the daily tasks, as well as my progress. If you've got any questions about it along the way, just ask!

Left. Right. Repeat.

One step closer.