Week 22 Report

I went on an awesome little trip with my hubby last weekend.  We visited Monticello, we visited a grist mill, we went on a beautiful, yet challenging, hike at Crabtree Falls.  My fitbit clocked 108 flights of stairs climbed that day!

There were lots of great things about my weekend...and some not so great.  I ate sugar again.  The ever popular "I'm on vacation so I deserve a treat" voice won again.  I made a conscious choice to eat the sugar, thinking I would get right back on when I got home, but it didn't work out that way.  I had another day of treat-eating to go before I could get back on track.  I also had to read almost an entire health book to make me WANT to get back on track!  It was only two days, but the mind does funny things when I go off my plan.  It doesn't take long before I find myself wondering if the plan is really that important.  I thought about all the out-of-town events I have coming up where I'll need to make exceptions to my diet or else be a really giant pain to the guests I am staying with, and I just felt my resolve to live this lifestyle weaken considerably.  I didn't gain weight, but I felt myself caring less about the whole effort.  My mind was starting to go the direction of "Eat, drink, and be merry."  It was crazy!

Fortunately, I had better voices going on in my head as well.  Underneath the "Eat, drink, and be merry" fog, I knew I wanted more than that.  I knew I had this blog and friends to hold me accountable.  I made myself read a health book, not wanting to do it, but knowing it would motivate me and it totally did.  I had that inner resolve that I would not give up on this journey, no matter how many setbacks I hit along the way and no matter how long it takes me to reach my destination.  As I was processing all of this, I came across this quote:

"It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get back up." --Vince Lombardi

Then I got an e-mail from Brian Johnson titled "Never Waste a Mis-take.  It's all awesome data!"  I talk about this in my video more.  It is an awesome way of approaching our mistakes.  This was Brian's message:

Have you ever made a mistake?

(Hah.)

Right.

(I’ve made a mistake or 3 million as well.)

Here’s the deal: When we approach it with the right mindset (that would be a growth, experimental mindset), we come to realize that those mistakes are P R E C I O U S.

The data we get on what DOESN’T WORK is priceless.

Therefore, never (!) beat yourself up about a mis-take.

Simply remind yourself that we either win or we learn and that no movie was ever shot from start to finish without a ton of re-takes. Then say to yourself “Needs work!” as you rewind your game film, see yourself executing the oops scene perfectly and then get back at it.

Repeat.

Forever.

So…

Practical Reflection Time:

What was your last mistake?

What did you learn?

Run it through our little Mis-take process above and +1 it.

I actually took the time to write down my past few mistakes and what I learned from them.  It was a very revelatory process and I highly recommend it.  I'm starting to think this is THE KEY to success, at any endeavor.  My natural inclination is to think success (particularly weight loss) is all about being perfect and doing everything right the first time. I want that to be my experience.  I wish it came that easy for me!  Really though, the key is getting back up, trying again, learning from my mistakes, and moving forward after I make them.  I think that is going to make all the difference in this journey.  I will do as many retakes as I need to finally get the scene right!  I will reach my destination!