Doing The Unthinkable 11 September 2020 Have the last several months of lockdown, uncertainty and social distancing made you a little bit self-reflective? Have you been thinking about yourself in terms of your own perception of success and failure? Or maybe you’ve not been evaluating yourself, as such, but dreaming more about the things that you could do… There is a lot more talk these days about being more active, eating more healthily and simply doing more of the things that are good for us. But let’s face it, it’s a bit more complicated than that isn’t it? Jumping into some sports gear or becoming a vegan is easily enough said but, for many of us, it’s much harder done. Why? Because mental resilience and fortitude is just as significant to our overall health as physical wellbeing is. It’s the gatekeeper to our success and it makes perfect sense to pay attention to it. Here are 10 tips to help you unlock your ability to do the unthinkable: Make a list Question your doubt Make a plan Find a cheerleader Make quitting difficult Bet on yourself There’s no such thing as ‘can’t’ Never give up Record it all Love your success! First things first... ...Put together a dream list of the things you want to accomplish; understand them and then set them up to knock ‘em down! Our goals are infinitely personal. Working towards self-improvement, tweaking our diets to be a little more healthy, stopping smoking, making the decision to be a bit more active, learning a completely new language or doing our best to change our mindset in any way, always requires a clear understanding of our starting point. If we want to eat more healthily then we should, ideally, have a full understanding of what our diet looks like at the moment and the areas of it that are not already healthy. Otherwise, how do we know what to change and, crucially, why we’re about to focus so much time and effort on doing so? It’s no different when it comes to mindset and our habitual engagement with self-limiting beliefs. Your brain might continually be whispering things like: ‘Oh, you’ll never be able to complete a Park Run’ ‘It’s no use trying to eat more healthily, you’ll never be able to stick with it long enough’ ‘10,000 steps a day? Not a chance.’ ‘A vegan diet for one day each week… you won’t like it’. 'You won't stick with the online language lessons, don't bother paying for them.' An understanding of our baseline(s) is solidified by an acknowledgement of them. That is to say, ‘I recognise that I [insert observation here] and I accept that this has been my position for [insert time period here]. However, in order for me to achieve XZY I need to change my position and I can do this by doing 123’. To start filling in the blanks, now is the time to... ...Ask yourself: what’s stopping me? Until now, have you been of the mindset that you couldn’t achieve a certain goal? Has experience encouraged you to believe that you just can’t, no matter how hard you try? Or perhaps somewhere along the line your confidence took a hit and you’ve not got it back yet? Any of those are entirely valid reasons for any self-limiting beliefs. But, and it’s a big ‘but’, you’ve got an ace in the hole; a reason bigger than anything else to push those beliefs aside and go for it. Do you know what it is? The reason is you. L'Oréal got it right when they said, ‘Because I’m worth it’. Now, if you’re going to invest yourself in doing the unthinkable, you’re going to need to... ...Make a plan of action Making a plan of action allows you to visualise not only the end result (and, yes, the starting position) but also every step along the way. It’s at the planning stage where you map out the journey from where you are now to exactly where you want to be and when. Instead of having just one huge end goal, breaking it down into more manageable, smaller pieces will help give you focus, provide you with more opportunity to feel motivated by the milestones you lay out for yourself and, in the short term, see your progress stack up more readily. If you know where you want to go, it’s so much easier to get there. Next, you’ll want to start making your goal feel more real because there is only so much planning you can do before it’s time to take action. So, it’s time for you to… ...Find an accountability partner Having an accountability partner is a fantastic way of working towards your goals. Together, you can motivate each other and you will inevitably find that the responsibility you feel towards achieving the goal becomes even stronger. By involving another person in your journey, and inviting them to select you as their partner in return, doing the unthinkable together offers its own incentive: you will have a micro support network who will understand exactly what you’re going through at every step of the way. Maybe your accountability partner will be your spouse, or your sibling. Perhaps your partner will be your best friend or even a colleague at work. There are only two real criteria for an accountability partner: Trust - necessary if you want to get the most of the partnership and see your partner as a confidant. Compassion - mutual respect and care for each other at every step will transform your relationship with each other as well as the journey to your goal(s). Once you’ve got your accountability partner lined up and keen to work with you it’s time to start sprinkling some social pressure into the mix and... ...Put yourself in a situation where it’s difficult to back out One of the easiest ways to do this is by making your goal public. A social post or simply telling a group of friends and family is enough to take things to the next level. By making such a public declaration of your intentions means to announce to the world that you are invested in yourself; you are confident about your desire for change and, moreover, you are announcing to your audience that you respect and value yourself enough to push yourself further towards your own betterment. What’s more, your willingness to, quite literally, put yourself out there, might just be enough of an inspiration to encourage someone else to do the same and to embark on their own journey towards their unthinkable. If you really want to go the extra mile and put your self-confidence to the test, why not... ...Put some money on it Oh, that sounds scary, doesn’t it? Suddenly, even more than engaging an accountability partner or making your ambitions widely known, the act of making a wager (ok, money is just one example) that you stake on your own success, makes your commitment concrete. Solid. Inescapable. And that’s a good thing. You’ve put the finishing touches to your plans and have very firmly laid the foundations for your focus on success. The goal is no longer an abstract idea you’ve been fantasising about. The goal is unashamedly out there in the real world now and the measures you’ve set up will help drive you across the finish line. Staking a wager is also good because, as the optimist in you will happily keep reminding you: you’re not going to lose the wager anyway. It’s a zero-sum game for those who believe it enough to play. Whether you saw her face or not, you are a believer. And what do believers do? They... ...Adopt the ‘I can’ attitude; reject the ‘I can’t’ lie This might just be the hardest part of this entire journey. In those moments when you are alone or deep in the middle of a painful, tiring training session or really, really craving a slice of cake… in those moments you will have only yourself to wrestle with. It will be you, and you alone, that you will be able to rely on to pull you through those moments and continue pushing you forward towards the light when all you might want to do is stop and give in. The good news? Those moments are temporary. Your success will last forever. The bottom line is that yes, you really can do what you put your mind to. If you want to lose weight, you can. If you want to get fitter, you can. If you want to learn something, you can. So, what are you going to do? You’re going to... ...Stick. With. It. Nothing worth doing is easy. Those things are not quick to be done and they are not without their trials and tribulations. But, oh, are they worth it. Think of any of the people you admire and are inspired by. More than likely, they will have been in your shoes before they got where they are now. That worry you might be feeling this side of the journey? They were there and they triumphed. Just like you will. Want to see, for sure, how well you are doing? Then pick up a pen or start a spreadsheet and... ...Document your journey A fantastic way of proving to yourself that your hard work and effort is paying off is to keep track of your progress. Why? Because it is very easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. If you are looking to lose weight the incremental changes that happen each day might not be so easily observable to the naked eye, but a written log of your weight each day… well, suddenly your dedication becomes that much clearer to see. If you are looking to get fitter, paying attention to your heart rate, your pace or the amount of weight you lift over time is much easier to do when you can see a record of your progression rather than relying on the mirror or instinct to keep you on the path to glory. Hard facts trump guesstimations every time. If you feel like you're still grappling with a new language, looking back over a list of key achievements, such as mastering a new verb conjugation or figuring out the exceptions to a grammatical rule can help you see just how much progress you have really made and enable you to... ...Bask in your glory and be hungry for more! All that’s left to say is congratulations. Not so much for achieving your goal (still, of course, congratulations) but more so for having the self-confidence and dedication to proving to yourself that you are incredibly capable of achieving whatever you set your mind to. It should also go without saying that our limitations are as personal as our goals. However, MedicAlert is here to help provide everyone with an underlying medical condition the peace of mind to feel freer to do their unthinkable. If you, or a loved, has an underlying medical condition, why not take a look at the many benefits a membership will bring so that you can spend less time worrying and more of it doing the unthinkable. Click below to receive the latest MedicAlert news, articles and offers directly to your inbox SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER Article Categories Hints and Tips
