In Pursuit of Perfection

"The only road to take is perfection itself / The stars lead the way"

-- Armin Van Buuren ft Susana - If You Should Go

I've spent the past couple of hours talking to a close friend of mine about my fitness plans for the new year. We discussed my goals and plans and how realistic they were. He expressed concern about my lack of a "disaster recovery plan" should I falter along the way. He felt that my strict diet and training regimen may be too tough to maintain - that I'm better off incorporating a plan B.

But here's the thing: I tend to respond better to things in a yes/no, on/off, black/white fashion. This is why I was able to quit smoking eight years ago after many years of smoking two packs a day; I simply told myself that I'd never allow myself to touch a cigarette again for the rest of my life. I could not even handle an unlit cigarette in my hands; it was out of the question. It was this extreme commitment that made it possible for me to quit "cold turkey."

I didn't tell myself that I'd cut back to only a few cigarettes a day, or that I'd allow a little "cheating" on occasion. I simply forbade myself to ever smoke again. And the simple mental trick I used had such a reinforcing effect that I often woke up in a cold sweat after dreaming about succumbing to temptation, for instance, while out having a few drinks with friends at a bar and being offered a smoke. The emotional commitment was that intense.

Now, after years of not smoking, I hardly remember what I found so pleasurable about the habit and am often repulsed by the smell of cigarette smoke. I can't believe I actually smelled that bad! It's a disgusting habit.



So, I've been thinking about how to develop a similar commitment to my training and diet to ensure that I meet my goals and that's when it hit me: take the same on/off "switch" approach that you used to quit smoking. I would have to refuse to miss any workouts whatsoever - no excuses, and I could not allow cheat meals or junk food of any kind until the goals were met.



This represents a radical departure from my old way of doing things. In the past, I'd always incorporate some weekly cheat meals or even daily "snacks" to help "keep me sane" as I was fond of telling myself. I'd also let myself miss workouts when I felt the excuse was valid enough. But after a while, the same thing would always happen - as soon as the initial motivation and focus would shrink a little, I'd fall off the wagon and let myself revert to my old behavior. So this begs the question, if you don't have the necessary self-control to function properly while allowing yourself the occasional break or reprieve, then doesn't it stand to reason that you should eliminate the very things that lead to your loss of self-control in the first place? Am I not better off refusing to give myself these "outs" and excuses to fail? Could I possibly respond better if I take a more disciplined approach - the kind close friends warn you against? Could I be one of those people for whom you cannot give an inch for fear they'll take the whole mile?

I know it's not realistic to keep this up for the very long term, but I intend to modify my approach once my goals are met in order to make it more a lifestyle I can live with. My hope is that by that time, I would have learned to replace old, bad habits with good new ones; that I will have acquired a taste for eating healthy and will be repulsed by greasy, sugary foods the same way I'm repulsed by cigarettes now; that I will make such a habit of daily training that I couldn't imagine missing a workout for fear of withdrawal symptoms.

Like the Phoenix rising out of the ashes reborn, you must first burn if you want real, positive changes in your life or physique. Now, where did I leave those matches?

Approach Must be Different

· Approach must be different; cannot do the same old stuff again.

· How can I be certain that I will not repeat the same mistakes again?

(i) I must understand my physical, psychological, and emotional makeup.
(ii) I must examine past patterns of behavior and pin-point the triggers to failure.
(iii) I must take what I learn and construct a plan or pattern of behaviors that will take these lessons into consideration and prevent them from reoccurring.

· Goals must be met; failure is not an option.

- Reward and punishment.

(i) I must increase emotional investment in my goals the pleasures of achievement must savored; the pains of failure must be real. The "quitters mindset" must be vanquished; there must be consequences.

· Goals must be specific; I must know exactly what I want to achieve, when I want to achieve it, and how I plan to achieve it.

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· Preventing the same mistakes.

- I realize that I hate exercise and love food; I am a sloth and a glutton.

- Changing these deeply-rooted behaviors will not be easy.

- Physically, I have the strength and agility of a man many times older than me.

- Psychologically, my self-esteem and self-confidence are so low as to be virtually non-existent.

- Past patterns of behavior show that a break in routine will trigger an avalanche of unwanted behaviors. The biggest culprit is the missed workout. Missed workouts trigger more missed workouts until, eventually, I stop training entirely. This then leads to junk-food binges.

- Setbacks in my diet are a secondary concern. They can potentially derail a fitness program, but so long as training remains in place, I remain in fitness mode.

- Continuous training also wears down motivation and willpower. I must include frequent breaks in training.

- Progress towards goals must be monitored. Weekly/Monthly goals must be set and reviewed at every week's end.