Health and fitness is 30% exercise, 70% nutrition and 100% mindset. Success starts in your head and your ability to achieve your goals is going to heavily rely on your mindset. Have you ever thought any of the following “I will never be able to look like that, I have a slow metabolism”, “I have tried everything and nothing works” or “they have great genetics that's why it works for them.” If any of the above sounds familiar it's time to ditch the fixed mindset.
People with a fixed mindset believe they have fixed characteristics whether referring to intelligence, personality or ability. They believe these things cannot be changed and therefore avoid failure and mentally stop themselves before they even start. Whereas those with a growth mindset believe that with effort anything can be changed and they are willing to put in the work.
Adopting a growth mentality can be done and doing so will allow you to master your mindset and take control of your fitness and health. So how do you adopt a growth mindset? Here are our top 4 tips:
- Embrace failures and setbacks as an opportunity to learn and grow. Rather then being discouraged by setbacks, embrace them and let it motivate you to keep trying, improving and growing. For example you set out for a run but can only run for a few minutes before having to start walking. Rather then saying “I'm not good at running” and never running again, set yourself a goal of running 1km. Over time this distance will increase and before you know it you could be an avid runner!
- Change the language you use with yourself. Change “I can’t” to “I can” and “I'm not good at that” to “I'm going to get better at that”. Simply changing the language you use will translate and become your reality.
- Don’t be afraid to try new things. Step out of your comfort zone and try new things whether it's new forms of exercise, group classes, starting at a gym or a new food. You will never know unless you try!
- Use positive self talk. Be your own biggest supporter. Be nice to yourself and don’t put yourself down. Remind yourself of your goals and remember you CAN do it. Rather then striving for perfection just focus on trying your best. Over time the daily progress will lead to big changes.
You are only as healthy as your mindset is. Putting in the work to master your mindset will correlate to improvements in all areas of your life. Like anything, changing your mindset will require consistency, time and patience
