I recently started working out again, it has been awhile since the last time I tried this. I’ve never been the kind of guy who works out hardcore all the time. I’ve gotten into running and working out a few times before being sidelined due to injuries. Recently I decided I wanted to go all in with working out. I have always had pretty small muscles and more fat than I would like on my body. I have told myself for years, “Oh, I will just start that workout next week.” or “I will start tomorrow.”. I have known all along that it would never happen as I told myself those lies, but I was okay with that because it was comfortable.
The other reason I was complacent towards working out was because it was a completely foreign skill. Much like learning a new language, I had no familiarity with working out. Everything I knew I learned from reading online or watching other people work out. I had never really done any of it myself. And I let that keep me from diving in.
It’s the same story with most of us.
There is a skill or trait that we have always wanted to be able to do, but have never taken the time to develop it. Our answer has always been, “Well, it’s just not the right time.” or “I don’t know about that.”, or any other number of lame excuses. But, it is possible to stop procrastinating and start producing.
You can do it without anyone keeping you accountable.
Just do it.
A couple weeks ago I signed up at a local gym and my goal is to physically go there at least three times a week, if not more. Now that I have invested in my personal success, I am the one responsible for the returns, not another person.
I also discovered a weight lifting program designed to help anyone lose weight while building muscle. It gradually adds weight to every workout. You start out doing hardly any weight and within a month of working out (only 3 times a week for this program) you should be able to lift 30-45 pounds more than the first workout you did. If in 3 weeks I can be 45 pounds ahead of where I was last week, I will be ecstatic. And when, not if, I get to the end of month two, I will be 60+ pounds aheads of where I started.
But in order to get there, I have do one crucial thing.
Humble myself.
That is what it takes anytime you begin to develop a new skill or improve a mediocre one. You have to own up to the fact that you are not where you want to be, but with consistent effort and dedication, you can arrive. For me that meant getting into the gym and lifting hardly any weights regardless of what anyone there thinks about me or my lifting abilities.
I am often far too concerned with what other people think and that has kept me out of the gym for years. I thought it would be embarrassing to go in and start out bench pressing or squatting less than a hundred pounds. I legitimately feared I would be laughed away from the weight racks.
I am weak.
Through humility, I become stronger.
Are you afraid of being laughed at? Mocked? Or feeling embarrassed because you are not on the same level as others in regards to a specific skill? Me too. But, what can they do to me? Nothing. I have already caught other people giving me funny looks in the gym as I do repetitions with smaller amounts of weights. It is humbling. I am starting at the bottom where everyone starts. Not just me. They may be looking now because they think it is funny, but in six months they will be looking because I have worked my butt off and they cannot believe how far I have come in such a short time. I am dedicated to making that a reality.
All it takes is a little humility and hard work.
Hard work is the easy part.
Are you willing to humble yourself? Tell me in the comments.