In my previous message I talked about recommitting to the process of achieving your goal everyday.
It's essential to know why your goal is important to your health and well being as that will help you recommit everyday and take the purposeful action needed to make it happen.
Today I'm going to introduce what I believe is a game changing mindset. Whether it is your health and/or performance if you adopt this you can make significant change and progress happen.
I going to use my own health situation as an example. I have been feeling some symptoms for a while that were causing me some concern. These symptoms were such things as feeling tired for much of the day, bouts of inflammation on the skin, disrupted sleep, and lack of motivation to train. I recently talked about some tests I received which identified I have elevated cortisol and very low testosterone.
Now I think the easy and convenient association to make is my low testosterone and elevated cortisol are causing the above symptoms. So therefore, treat the low testosterone and elevated cortisol and everything will be ok, right?
Not so fast. I felt it was important to take a step back on reflect on how my own behaviours we contributing to the test results I received. The reality is my behaviour is what I ultimately have control over. Whether my cortisol and testosterone are high or low are directly influenced by my behaviours. Therefore, it's important to be COMPLETELY HONEST with myself and look at how my current actions are contributing to my state of health.
So to do this I simply took at a piece of paper and on one side wrote down the symptoms, and on the other, what I believe are the main contributing factors (causes) that I have direct influence over (see below).
Why is the exercise important?
As I identify above, there are several things (sleep routine, relaxation exercises, gratitude, meal timing, nutrition to support training), that I can modify that will help lower cortisol and increase testosterone. If I just simply look at treating high cortisol and low testosterone with say, only supplements or medication, I am not taking ownership over my own behaviour and likely will not see any significant change my long term health.
This can be applied to a performance or nutrition challenge as well. For example, an athlete will often come to me with the goal of improving their bike strength. Being a weak cyclist is a symptom. What could be contributing to a weak cycling performance (bike fit, training prescription, nutrition, etc.)? All of these things the athlete has direct control over. Another example is a nutrition client who comes to me to lose weight for concerns the excess weight is causing health problems. What is contributing to the excess weight (food choices, portion size, frequency of eating, etc.)? Again, when you identify the contributing factors you can highlight the symptoms which are contributing to the main symptoms that you have control over.
This becomes a very powerful exercise because you take the reigns for your future health and performance.
You own your choices and actions.
Own your journey and #MakeTodayMatter.
Your Coach,
Patrick
P.S. Need help developing a strategy to meet your goals? Email me at patrick@endurancejourney.com or send me a note on facebook and let's chat. Our Group Training, Nutrition and Coaching Programs provide the support and guidance you need to help you achieve your ideal health and performance.
